Part II

(1909), may be supplemented for the Tudor period by the valuable study of M. D. George, _The Origin of the Declared Account_ (1916, E. H. R. xxxi. 41). The Record Office series of _Lists and Indexes_ includes lists of _Declared Accounts_ (ii) and _Exchequer Accounts_ (xxxv). Normally the auditing of royal expenditure was a function of the mediaeval Exchequer. The procedure was for the officer charged with incurring expenditure to appear as accountant before the Auditor-Baron and his Clerk, and produce detailed statements, known as ‘particulars’, together with vouchers for sums already spent out of any ‘imprest’ or advance that had been made to him, and the warrants under which his expenditure was authorized. From these the Exchequer officers prepared a ‘compotus’ or balance sheet, signed it, when the balance was settled, as a record that the accountant was ‘quietus’ or quit from debt to the Crown, and passed it through the King’s Remembrancer to the Lord Treasurer’s Remembrancer, in whose office it was enrolled by the Clerk of the Pipe on the roll of ‘foreign’ or non-revenue accounts. It was then returned to the King’s Remembrancer, who kept it, with the particulars and vouchers as subsidiary documents. It was a lengthy and cumbrous process. Moreover, the Lord Treasurer, like the Lord Chancellor, was one of the high officers of state whose functions came at an early date under the control of the barons, and the same motives, which led the sovereign (cf. ch. ii) to develop in the Wardrobe and Chamber an executive machinery independent of the Lord Chancellor, also led him to desire that his more private expenditure should be withdrawn from the survey of the Exchequer. Thus we find the Treasurer of the Chamber accountable (cf. ch. ii) at the end of the fifteenth century to the King alone, and in the mid-sixteenth century to the Court of Surveyors or to _ad hoc_ auditors specially appointed by the King or the Privy Council. When the Court of Augmentations absorbed the Court of Surveyors in 1553, its establishment included two Auditors of Prests, and although this court was itself merged in the Exchequer under Mary, the more up-to-date methods of auditing were continued by Elizabeth’s appointment in 1560, as themselves Exchequer officers, of two ‘Auditores de lez Prestes et Compotorum forinsecorum nostrorum’. The main difference between the methods of the Auditors of the Prests and that of the Auditor-Baron appears to have been that the personal appearance of the accountant was no longer necessary, who now himself prepared in duplicate a balance sheet known as his Original Account, or Book of Account, of which one copy was signed after examination and returned to him as evidence of his quittance, while the other was kept by the Auditors, who based upon it a summary known as the Declared or Recorded Account, which took the place of the old _Compotus_. This also was in duplicate. Apparently the Auditors kept one copy, on paper, and sent another, on parchment, for preservation, as of record, in the Pipe Office. I understand Miss George, however, to think that the accountant was entitled to the paper copy, if he chose to pay a fee for it, which he very often did not. The amount of detail taken into the Declared Account from the Original Account varied for different offices. The Revels Declared Accounts are very summary; those of the Treasurer of the Chamber, at any rate as regards play-payments, practically duplicates of the Original Accounts, except that, unfortunately, the names of plays, which sometimes appeared in the Original Accounts, are usually omitted. The Auditors also kept the subsidiary documents submitted with the Original Account, and became involved in a controversy, recorded in T. Fanshawe, _The Practice of the Exchequer Court_ (1658), with the King’s Remembrancer, who claimed that they should come to him. The King’s Remembrancer did apparently see the Declared Account on its way to the Pipe Office, and enrolled it, or a further summary of it. About 1603 all the Household accounts appear to have gone before the Auditors of the Prests, except those of the Cofferer, which still followed the old course of the Exchequer. The procedures here described explain the provenance of such Household accounts as belong to the official repositories now united in the Record Office; some others, preserved there or elsewhere, come from the private archives of the accountants themselves, being either the audit duplicates supplied to them, or office copies and drafts of their own Original Accounts, or the journals, pay books, and ledgers from which these were prepared.

CHAMBER ACCOUNTS

The following accounts appear to be extant.

(a) _Mediaeval Period._

A few accounts and subsidiary documents of the reigns of Edward II, Edward III, and Richard II are included in the Foreign Accounts on the Great Rolls of the Exchequer (_P. R. O. Lists and Indexes_, xi. 108, 109), and in the Exchequer Wardrobe and Household Accounts (_L. and I_. xxxv. 376, 379, 380, 382, 386, 391, 392, 396, 540). The earliest are described, with extracts, by J. C. Davies, _The First Journal of Edward II’s Chamber_ (_E. H. R._ xxx. 662).

(b) _Early Tudor Period._

A number of accounts passed from the Augmentation Office to the Exchequer and were amalgamated in 1839 with others from the office of the King’s Remembrancer in a series of Exchequer Accounts, Various. Here they are numbered 413 to 427. They are mainly accounts of revenue and subsidiary documents, but a few accounts of payments presented to the Record Office by the Trevelyan family have been added to the series, and with them are listed as Wardrobe and Household Accounts (_L. and I._ xxxv) some other payment accounts from the Miscellaneous Books of the Treasury of Receipt of the Exchequer, and one from the Miscellaneous Books of the Court of Augmentations. Other payment accounts are in the British Museum and in unofficial collections. It may be the case, as Newton, 359, suggests, that these or some of them were abstracted from the Records by officials of antiquarian tastes, but it must be remembered that duplicates even of audited accounts were often kept by the accountants. These accounts are generally known as The King’s Books of Payments. The following can be traced:

i. _Accounts of John Heron._

Three Books of Payments, for 1505–9, 1509–18, and 1518–21 respectively, with many royal signatures by way of audit, are now in the P. R. O. (_Misc. Books of Treasury of Receipt_, 214, 215, 216). The contents of the Henry VIII books are abstracted in Brewer, ii. 1441; iii. 1533. There must once have been an earlier book, for Collier, i. 49, 52, 76, gives extracts from one for 1492–1505, which he describes as ‘formerly in the Chapter-house, Westminster’, as well as from the three now extant, which he describes as ‘in the Chapter-house’. Possibly this was _Addl. MS._ 21480, which has been traced back (Newton, 359) through the hands of Craven Ord (a friend of Collier) and Thomas Astle to those of Peter Le Neve, a Deputy-Chamberlain of the Exchequer. But _Addl. MS._ 21481, which also came from Le Neve, is a duplicate of the R. O. books for 1505–18, and therefore _Addl. MS._ 21480 may only have been a duplicate of the missing volume. Both the _Addl. MSS._ contain the royal signatures. Craven Ord made some extracts which are now _Addl. MSS._ 7099, 7100, and to these those supplied by Astle to R. Henry, _History of Great Britain_, vi (1793), app., and those in S. Bentley, _Excerpta Historica_ (1831), 85, owe their origin. Collier, i. 49, also cites a small book for 1501–2 kept (perhaps under Heron) by one Robert Fowler, which refers to parallel payments made by Thomas Trollop.

ii. _Accounts of Brian Tuke._

A book signed monthly by Henry VIII, with some entries from 31 Dec. 1528 to 30 June 1529, but mainly covering the period from 17 Nov. 1529 to 29 Dec. 1532, was printed by N. H. Nicolas from a MS. then in his possession as _The Privy Purse Expenses of Henry the Eighth_ (1827) and misdescribed as an account of the Treasurer of the Household. Presumably this MS. is identical with that owned by Sir O. Bridgeman in 1634 and now _Addl. MS._ 20030. It overlaps with an account for 1 Oct. 1528 to May 1531, presented by Sir W. C. Trevelyan to the P. R. O. (_Exchequer Accounts, Various_, 420/11); extracts are given in _Trevelyan Papers_ (C. S.), i. 136, and an abstract in Brewer, v. 303. Collier, i. 116, and Nicolas (_ut supra_), xxviii, give extracts from an account for Feb. 1538 to June 1541 in the possession of the Royal Society, presumably a duplicate of the account for the same period in _Arundel MS._ 97, incorrectly catalogued by the B.M. as an account of the Treasurer of the Household, and abstracted in Brewer, xiii. 2. 524; xiv. 2. 303; xvi. 178, 698. An account for May to Sept. 1542 in _Stowe MS._ 554 is abstracted in Brewer, xvii. 474. Collier, i. 117, gives extracts from an account for 1543–4 in Craven Ord’s collection.

iii. _Accounts of William Cavendish._

Account for 31 March 1547 to 31 Sept. 1549, of which extracts are given in _Trevelyan Papers_, i. 191, ii. 13, were presented by Sir W. C. Trevelyan to the P. R. O. (_Exchequer Accounts, Various_, 426/5, 6). _Misc. Exch. Augm._ 439 for 1547–8 is referred to by Newton, 359, as a Chamber account, and is presumably a duplicate.

iv. _Account of Edmund Felton._

A Declared Account for 1 Apr. to 31 Dec. 1557 is in _D. A. Pipe Office_, 541. Stopes, _Hunnis_, 145, cites a ‘Compotus Marie Rither and Edmond Felton’ for 5 and 6 Edw. VI (_Queen’s Remembrancia_, 77/5) as a Chamber Account. It is doubtless a Cofferer’s Account.

(c) _Elizabethan and Jacobean Periods._

i. _Accounts in P. R. O._

The P. R. O. contains Chamber Accounts in four forms. Original Accounts, as submitted for audit, are in _Audit Office, Accounts Various_, 3/127–9. These are no doubt the ‘very incomplete’ set from which extracts are given by Cunningham, xxvii. So far as play-payments are concerned, they do not appear to be more detailed than the Declared Accounts annually drawn up from them by the auditors, of which there are duplicate sets, both nearly complete, belonging respectively to the Audit Office and to the Pipe Office in the Lord Treasurer’s Remembrancer’s Department of the Exchequer. They cover the terms of office of Mason (1558–66), Knollys (1566–70), Heneage (1570–95), Killigrew (1595–6), and Stanhope (1596–1617). From the Pipe Office series I supplemented Cunningham’s extracts in _M. L. R._ ii (1906), 1; iv (1909), 153, and give a complete record of play-payments below. The payments are also given for 1558–85 from the Audit Office series in Wallace, i (1912), 210, and very imperfectly from the Pipe Office series for 1559–97 in Stopes, _Hunnis_, 318. Finally, there are Enrolled Accounts in the King’s Remembrancer’s Department (Scargill-Bird^1, liv). A single book for 1569–70 is in the same Department (_Exchequer Accounts, Various_, 430/15). It appears to be an office book, and has some original signatures by way of receipts for payments.

ii. _Accounts in British Museum._

_Harl._ 1641 and 1642 are duplicates of Heneage’s accounts for 1585–6 and 1593–4 as prepared for audit. _Harl._ 1644 is an office book, 1581–3, containing signatures by way of receipts for wages and the like.

iii. _Accounts in Bodleian._

_Rawlinson MS._ A. 204, ff. 212, 269, contains duplicates of Stanhope’s accounts for 1604–5 and 1610–11 as prepared for audit, and _Rawlinson MSS._ A. 239 and 240 (formerly _Pepys MSS._ 78 and 79) are similar duplicates of his accounts for 1612–13 and 1616–17. They are possibly office drafts, with some notes by a checking officer or an auditor, but are not signed either by accountant or auditors. Occasionally they are slightly more detailed as regards play entries than the Declared Accounts. Thus in 1610–11 and 1612–13 they give some dates of performances instead of the mere number for the season, and in 1612–13 they even give the titles of the plays. Extracts of these titles are given in Halliwell-Phillipps, ii. 87, and _N. S. S. Trans._ (1875–6) 419, and more completely below. Similar entries are given by P. Cunningham in _Sh. Soc. Papers_, ii. 123, not direct from the manuscript, but from notes taken therefrom by Vertue and Oldys. These had passed, in the case of the Oldys notes through Percy, to Steevens, and from him to Hazlewood, who had copied them, as Oldys and Steevens had done, into an interleaved Langbaine. Malone had already used Vertue’s notes.

I should add that many ‘declarations’ or memoranda on the business of the Treasurer of the Chamber and the state of his finances from time to time are to be found in the Domestic State Papers, in Lansdowne and other B.M. MSS., and in a volume (_Lord Steward’s Misc._ 301) collected by Sir J. Caesar.

REVELS ACCOUNTS

The following accounts appear to be extant:

(a) _Early Tudor Period._

(i) _Accounts of Richard Gibson._

Brewer, ii. 1490; iii. 35, 1548; iv. 418, 837, 1390, 1392, 1415, 1603, 3073, gives abstracts of a series of accounts, ranging from 1510 to 1530, some or all of which are presumably taken from _Miscellaneous Books of the Treasury of the Receipt of the Exchequer_, 217, 228, 229.

(ii) _Accounts of John Bridges._

It appears from extracts given by Kempe, 69, that some accounts of John Bridges between 1539, when he became Yeoman of the Revels, and 1544, when Cawarden became Master, are at Loseley.

(iii) _Accounts of Sir Thomas Cawarden._

Many of these are at Loseley, often in more than one copy. Kempe, 69, gives a few extracts for the last years of Henry VIII, and the most important documents for the next three reigns, ranging from 1547 to 1559; are printed by A. Feuillerat in _Materialien_, xxi and xliv, with accompanying warrants and other subsidiary documents. From 1547 to 1550 the accounts are mainly office copies of ‘particular’ books, setting out the details and cost of each individual revel, airing, or the like; but for 1550–55, and again for 1555–9, the ‘particular paye bookes’ are brought together with summaries in two great ‘Certificates’ (_Loseley MSS._ 62 and 63), which relate to the Tents as well as the Revels. The second of these includes, as well as money accounts, inventories of the office stuff and notes of its employment in masking and other garments during 1555–60, and a similar record for 1550–5 is in _Loseley MS._ 112. These Certificates, although signed by the Clerk, Clerk Controller, and Yeoman, are not audited. Probably they are office copies of Original Accounts prepared for audit.

(b) _Elizabethan Period._

Eleven Original Accounts of the Masters or Acting Masters of the Revels, with annotations by the Auditors, are in _R. O. Audit Office, Accounts Various_, 3, 907 (formerly 1213). They relate to the periods: (i) Feb. 1571–May 1572; (ii) June 1572–Oct. 1573; (iii) Nov. 1573–Feb. 1574; (iv) March 1574–Feb. 1575; (v) March 1576–Feb. 1577; (vi) Feb. 1578–Oct. 1579; (vii) Nov. 1579–Oct. 1580; (viii) Nov. 1580–Oct. 1581; (ix) Nov. 1582–Oct. 1583; (x) Nov. 1584–Oct. 1585; (xi) Nov. 1587–Oct. 1588. It will be seen that a regular annual system, starting with the opening of the season for revels at All Saints in each year, was ultimately adopted. All these accounts were printed in P. Cunningham, _Extracts from the Accounts of the Revels at Court_ (1842, _Sh. Soc._), but (ii) imperfectly and (xi) from an unaudited duplicate in the same bundle. These vagaries are corrected in the text of Feuillerat (1908, _Materialien_, xxi), who also gives an account for Nov. 1587–Oct. 1589 from _Lansd. MS._ 59, f. 38, which in part duplicates (xi), and much illustrative matter, including an estimate in some detail of the expenditure from Christmas 1563 to Shrovetide 1565 from _S. P. Dom. Eliz._ xxxvi. 22. The Audit Office series of Declared Accounts for the Revels is imperfect, but contains two, printed by Feuillerat, for the years 1581–2 and 1583–4, for which there are no Original Accounts. The Pipe Office series appears to be complete.

(c) _Jacobean Period._

There are only two Original Accounts, for 1604–5 and 1611–12, which are printed by Cunningham. The Pipe Office Declared Accounts are complete. I have not examined those of the Audit Office. The Original Accounts for 1604–5 and 1611–12, and especially the former, have been the subject of a good deal of controversy. The facts are as follows. They were printed in 1842 by Peter Cunningham, then a clerk in the Audit Office, who described them as a separate discovery from the Elizabethan bundle, which he also printed. Twenty-six years afterwards, in 1868, he attempted to sell them to the British Museum, stating that he had found them some thirty years before ‘under the vaults of Somerset House--far under the Quadrangle in a dry and lofty cellar, known by the name of the “Charcoal Repository”’. Their official character was realized, and they were sent to the Record Office, and placed amongst the papers known as _Audit Office, Accounts Various_, 3, 908 (formerly 1214), with a note that Mr. E. A. Bond, Keeper of the Manuscripts in the British Museum, ‘saw reasons for doubting the genuineness of one, at least, of these papers, from the peculiar character of the writing and the spelling’. It is probable that Bond had in mind, wholly or mainly, the play-list of the 1604–5 book, which does use some spellings, such as ‘Shaxberd’ and ‘aleven’, which are unusual although by no means unparalleled, and is, moreover, in a style of handwriting sufficiently different from the rest of the document to have at first sight a suspicious air. But it is an integral part of the book, occupying ff. 2, 2^v of its three small folio sheets, with other matter both on ff. 1, 1^v, and on ff. 5, 5^v, which form the second half of its sheet, and therefore, if a forged insertion, it occupies a long blank conveniently left by the original scribe just where, according to Revels practice, such a list ought to come. Bond’s scepticism was shared by Sir Thomas Duffus Hardy, and although the grounds of it did not extend beyond the play-list in the 1604–5 account, the acceptance of this as a forgery naturally reflected some suspicion upon the corresponding list for 1611–12. The position, however, called for some reconsideration when, in _A Note on Measure for Measure_ (1880) and subsequently in the fifth edition (1885) of his _Outlines_ (ed. 9, ii. 163, 309), Halliwell-Phillipps called attention to evidence that Malone, at some date before his death in 1812, and therefore before Cunningham was born, was acquainted at least with the substance of the 1604–5 list. The Bodleian contains a number of Malone’s note-books, which are believed to have been purchased from Mr. Rodd, a London bookseller, in 1838, and contain material collected after the issue of Malone’s _Shakespeare_ of 1790 with a view to a second edition ultimately produced by Boswell in 1821. With them were a bundle of loose scraps, which have since been mounted and bound as a supplementary volume. One of these scraps (_Malone MS._ 29, f. 69^v) consists of a list of plays headed ‘1604 & 1605 Ed^d. Tylney’, which substantially agrees with the list in the Revels book, even to the unusual spelling ‘Shaxberd’, although it is clearly not a transcript of the Revels list, but merely an abstract of this, or a similar document, in an unknown hand other than Malone’s. One of the plays named in the Revels book, _The Spanish Maze_ of Shrove Monday, is omitted. No use of the scrap had been made by Boswell, although he prints (_Variorum_, iii. 360) extracts made by Malone from the Elizabethan Revels books, together with a letter of 7 Nov. 1591 from Sir William Musgrave, of the Audit Office, inviting Malone to inspect them, and an official memorandum on the ‘State of the Books of Accounts and Records of the Master of the Revels, still remaining in the Office for Auditing the Public Accounts in 1791’. It is, I think, inconceivable that, if the Jacobean as well as the Elizabethan books had then been discovered, no reference should have been made to them either by Musgrave or Malone, and the most probable explanation of the Bodleian scrap is that the Jacobean books turned up later, and that an abstract of the 1604–5 list was then prepared for the use of Malone. It is true that in that case the Jacobean books would naturally have been added to the ‘proper presses’ which Musgrave says that he had provided for the Elizabethan ones, whereas Cunningham found the two sets apart. But as Cunningham also says that he had redeemed the Elizabethan bundle from ‘a destructive oblivion’, it is possible that Musgrave’s successors had been neglectful. Moreover, although the 1604–5 list does not appear in the 1821 _Variorum_, it is difficult to see on what other grounds Malone can have stated of _Othello_ (_Variorum_, ii. 404), ‘We know that it was acted in 1604’. Probably, indeed, he had seen the list, before he abandoned in a note of 1800 to Dryden’s _Grounds of Criticism in Tragedy_ his earlier opinion that _Othello_ was one of Shakespeare’s latest plays. Further, there is similar indirect evidence that he had also come across the 1611–12 list. In 1808 he privately printed and in 1809 published an _Account of the ... Tempest_, written ‘some years ago’. The chief object of this was to fix an inferior date by Shakespeare’s use of a pamphlet of 1610. The superior date he took for granted, saying (p. 31) ‘That it was performed before the middle of 1611, we have already seen’, and adding the foot-note ‘Under a former article’. There was no former article, but in the preface Malone describes the essay as making ‘a part of the Disquisition concerning the order of the plays in an enlarged form’, and no doubt the former article would have been included in the disquisition, had Malone ever completed his own work. Boswell, reprinting the essay in _Variorum_, xv. 414, altered the foot-note to refer to the essay on the Chronological Order of Shakespeare’s Plays in ‘vol. i’. This is in fact in vol. ii, but though Boswell here states (ii. 465) that there is evidence that the _Tempest_ ‘was produced in 1611’, he does not give any evidence beyond the pamphlet of 1610. Probably he did not know everything that Malone knew. But how did Malone arrive at ‘the middle of 1611’, since the 1604–5 list does not take us beyond 1 Nov. 1611? I suppose he assumed that public production preceded performance at court. Later in the essay (_Variorum_, xv. 423) he says that the play ‘had a being and a name in the autumn of 1611’.

Since Halliwell-Phillipps’s discovery the prevalent view, suggested by him, has been that if the lists, or at any rate that of 1604–5, are forged, the forger had before him a genuine original. More recently, however, the matter has been fully investigated by Mr. Ernest Law, who stimulated the Record Office to a minute examination of the 1604–5 document, including chemical and microscopical tests of the ink conducted by Professor J. J. Dobbie at the Government Laboratories. As a result, Mr. Law’s own view that the list is genuine is confirmed by such high palaeographical authorities as Sir George Warner of the British Museum and Sir Henry Maxwell Lyte, Mr. Scargill-Bird, and other officers of the Record Office, as well as by Professor Feuillerat, than whom no one knows the Revels documents better, and Professor Wallace. Mr. Law set out the evidence and the whole history of the case in _Some Supposed Shakespeare Forgeries_ (1911). His view was controverted in a review and a number of subsequent communications in the _Athenaeum_ for 1911 (i. 638; ii. 101, 131, 421) and 1912 (i. 469, 654; ii. 142) by a writer using the signature ‘Audi Alteram Partem’, whose rather amazing contentions Mr. Law disposed of in the same periodical (1911, ii. 297, 324, 388; 1912, i. 390, 470) and in _More about Shakespeare Forgeries_ (1913). A recent controversy between Mrs. C. C. Stopes, Mr. Law, and Sir E. M. Thompson (_T. L. S._ 2, 23, 30 Dec. 1920; 27 Jan., 10, 24 Feb. 1921) has led to no different result.

I do not think that, in view of the palaeographical investigation, it is any longer possible to reject the genuineness of the 1604–5 list, and although that of 1611–12 has not been so minutely tested, it is pretty obviously of a piece with the ‘Book’ of which it forms a part, and had it stood alone, probably no suspicion would have fallen upon it. In fact, it would really be more plausible--although this also is not in the least plausible--to take the whole documents as forgeries, than to take the lists as forged insertions in genuine accounts.

It must be added that there are some singular things about the substance of the books, with which Mr. Law does not seem to me quite to grapple. On the whole, that of 1604–5 is rather less perplexing than that of 1611–12. But the scribe has been oddly confused about his dates. On f. 1^v he has written ‘iij^o’, instead of ‘ij^o’ for the regnal year. And at the top of f. 2 he has apparently written ‘1605’ and then corrected it to ‘1604’. The Queen’s Revels are called by their obsolete name of ‘The Boyes of the Chapell’, which is odd in an official document, but so they are, much later, in the Treasurer of the Chamber’s account for 1612–13. It is more important that, while the Treasurer of the Chamber records payments for two plays to the Queen’s Revels, one on 1 Jan. and the other on 3 Jan., the Revels list omits the play on 3 Jan. altogether, and instead records a performance of _Love’s Labour’s Lost_ by the King’s men ‘betwin Newers Day and Twelfe Day’. No complete explanation of this is possible. The most that can be said is that there is independent evidence of a performance of _Love’s Labour’s Lost_ in Jan. 1605, but at a date after and not before Twelfth Night. This is derived from two letters. The first is from Sir Walter Cope to Robert Cecil, Viscount Cranborne, preserved at Hatfield (_Hist. MSS._ iii. 148) and printed by Halliwell-Phillipps, ii. 83:

‘I have sent and bene all thys morning huntyng for players juglers and such kinde of creaturs, but fynde them harde to fynde; wherfore, leavinge notes for them to seeke me, Burbage ys come, and sayes ther ys no new playe that the Quene hath not seene, but they have revyved an olde one cawled _Loves Labore lost_, which for wytt and mirthe he sayes will please her excedingly. And thys ys apointed to be playd tomorowe night at my Lord of Sowthamptons, unless yow send a wrytt to remove the corpus cum causa to your howse in Strande. Burbage ys my messenger ready attendyng your pleasure.’

The letter is undated, but endorsed ‘1604’. Cecil’s title was Viscount Cranborne from 20 Aug. 1604 to 4 May 1605. A second letter, from Dudley Carleton to John Chamberlain on 15 Jan. 1605 (_S. P. D. Jac. I_, xii. 13) gives within near limits the date of the performance. Carleton says,

‘It seems we shall have Christmas all the yeare and therefore I shall never be owt of matter. The last nights revels were kept at my Lord of Cranbornes, where the Q. with the D. of Holst and a great part of the Court were feasted, and the like two nights before at my Lord of Southamptons. The Temples have both of them done somewhat since Twelftide but nothing memorable, save that it was observed on Friday last at night the greatest part of the femal audience was the sisterhoode of Blackfriers.’

Mr. Law (_More about S. F._ 50) rightly rejects the suggestion of ‘Audi Alteram Partem’ that the ‘last night’ referred to was necessarily 14 Jan., the night before the date of Carleton’s letter; but I think he is wrong in taking it as the last night of Christmas. This, of course, was traditionally Twelfth Night, the day in 1605 of Jonson’s _Mask of Blackness_. But surely Carleton’s whole point lies in the exceptional prolongation of the Christmas festivities of this year beyond Twelfth Night, and I feel clear that all the revels he here refers to fell between 6 and 15 Jan. On 7 and 8 Jan. came _Hen. V_ and _E. M. O._ Putting the facts together, we get a performance, either at Southampton’s house or Cranborne’s, between 8 and 15 Jan. of _Love’s Labour’s Lost_, which the Queen had not seen before. It is not therefore at all likely that there had been another performance of the same play at court between 1 and 6 Jan. It is true that the Queen might by some accident have missed such a performance. But that would not have prevented the Treasurer of the Chamber from paying for it, whereas he would not pay for a performance ordered as part of an entertainment given by Southampton or Cranborne. Nor would it have been the duty of the Revels Office to attend such a performance, which makes it rather mystifying that they should have confused it with the second Queen’s Revels performance at court some days earlier, which it would have been their duty to attend. The vagueness of the phrase ‘betwin Newers Day and Twelfe Day’, suggesting that the list was prepared retrospectively from memory, when the account was made up in the autumn of 1605, may perhaps help to explain an error. On the other hand, a forger, presumably knowing nothing of Cope’s letter, which first came to light in 1872, could hardly have guessed at a revival of _Love’s Labour’s Lost_ in 1605.

The discrepancies between the Revels list of 1611–12 and the corresponding accounts of the Treasurer of the Chamber are rather numerous. The Revels list records thirteen plays from 1 Nov. to 25 Feb. ‘before the Kinges Maiestie’, including two which, although, I suppose, ordered for the King, were in fact only given before the Queen and Prince. The Treasurer paid for only ten plays as before the King, and for many others before the younger members of the royal family only, with which the Revels would not normally be concerned. The two records agree as to 1 and 5 Nov., 26, 27, and 29 Dec., and 2, 23, and 25 Feb. On 28 Dec. the Treasurer notes a play by the Prince’s men which the Revels list does not. On 1 Jan. the Revels list notes a play by the King’s men, which the Treasurer does not. The play on 5 Jan. is assigned by the Treasurer to the King’s men, and by the Revels list to the Whitefriars. The plays on 12 and 13 Jan. appear from the Revels list to have been joint performances by the King’s and Queen’s men, but the Treasurer notes the play on 12 Jan. only, assigns that to the Duke of York’s men, and refers to Henry but not to the Queen as present. He also paid for one play by the King’s men before Henry, of which he does not give the date, and which may be that of 13 Jan. Both records note a play by the Duke of York’s men on 24 Feb., but while the Revels list does not indicate that James was absent, the Treasurer treats the performance as one before the royal children only. I do not know that all this is beyond the blundering of the clerks concerned, especially perhaps the Clerk of the Revels, at a time when the functions of the office in relation to court plays had become trivial. On the other hand, I am not clear that plays ordered by the Queen and paid for out of her privy purse, instead of by the Treasurer of the Chamber, may not sometimes have been produced under Revels Office auspices; if so, some of the discrepancies might be thus accounted for. But obviously the facts necessitate some caution in the use of the 1611–12 list.

ABSTRACT OF PAYMENTS

I now give in tabular form an abstract of all entries in the Chamber and Revels accounts, which enable us to establish the succession of court performances during 1558–1616. These are arranged under years running from Michaelmas to Michaelmas. Four columns are devoted to the Chamber Accounts. Col. 1 records the dates of the performances, as recorded in the Declared Accounts. Any correction or closer information as to date derivable from other sources is added in square brackets. For the Jacobean period I also show the personages before whom the performances were given, K. standing for James, Q. for Anne, H. for Henry, C. for Charles, E. for the Princess Elizabeth, and F. for the Elector Palatine. Col. 2 contains the verbatim descriptions in the accounts of the companies performing and their payees, and in a very few cases of the nature of the performances. A few miscellaneous entries are inserted in this column. Probably an exhaustive examination of the records of the subordinate royal households during 1603–16 might enable a few additions to be made. It is also possible that an occasional play, perhaps on a progress, may have been rewarded out of the Privy Purse. But the main series of performances provided for the regular winter ‘solace’ of the sovereign appears to be fairly complete. Col. 3 shows the amounts of the rewards. Col. 4 adds the dates of the warrants for payment as given in the Declared Accounts and in brackets the places where they were made out, W. for Westminster, H. for Hampton Court, G. for Greenwich, R. for Richmond, J. for St. James’s, Wi. for Windsor. I add references to the parallel extracts of Cunningham from the Original Chamber Accounts (C.), and to the notes of the signing of warrants in the Privy Council Register (D.) where these exist. A fifth column, for certain years, adds the relevant extracts from such Revels Accounts as survive. The references are to Feuillerat’s edition. Any discrepancies of importance between Chamber, Privy Council, and Revels records are dealt with in foot-notes. The variant dates of warrants in the ill-kept Privy Council Register are not important.

CHAMBER ACCOUNTS. REVELS ACCOUNTS.

_Perfor- _Payees._ _Amount._ _Warrant._ mance._

=1558–60= (_Pipe Office, Declared Accounts, Roll 541, mm. 17, 22_).

-- ‘Quenes ... £6 13_s._ 4_d._ F. 34 (_1555–60_). enterlude players [779] ‘ffurnisshinge a for her hyghnes pley by the accustomed rewarde children of the dewevnto them at Chapple.’ Newe yerestyde.’

-- ‘to players of £13 6_s._ 8_d._ F. 79 (_1558–9_). enterludes.’ ‘playes and other pastymes sett forthe and shewen in her Maiesties presence.’

=1560–1= (_D. A. 541, m. 28_).

Xmas. ‘Lorde Robte £6 13_s._ 4_d._ 21 Jan. (W.); Dudleyes C. xxvii. players.’

Xmas. ‘Sebastiane £6 13_s._ 4_d._ 21 Jan. (W.); Westcott M^r of C. xxvii. the Children of Polles.’

=1561–2= (_D. A. 541, m. 37_).

Xmas. ‘Lorde Robert £6 13_s._ 4_d._ 6 Jan. Dudeleys playo^{rs}.’

Xmas. ‘Sebestiane £6 13_s._ 4_d._ 6 Jan. Westcote M^r of the Children of Powles.’

-- ‘Sebastiane £6 13_s._ 4_d._ 9 Mar. (W.); Westecote M^r of C. xxvii. the Children of Powles.’

=1562–3= (_D. A. 541, m. 47_).

Xmas. ‘playo^{res} of £6 13_s._ 4_d._ 10 Jan. (W.); the Lorde Robte C. xxviii; Duddeley.’ D. vii. 134.

Xmas. ‘M. of the £6 13_s._ 4_d._ 10 Jan. (W.); children of C. xxviii; Poles.’[780] D. vii. 134.

=1563–4= (_no entry in D. A._).

F. 116. ‘Charges agaynst Cristmas and Candelmas ffor iij plays at Wyndsor.’[781]

=1564–5= (_D. A. 541, m. 67_).

Xmas ‘therle of £13 6_s._ 8_d._ 18 Jan. (W.); (2 plays).Warwickes C. xxviii; players.’ D. vii. 187.

Xmas. ‘Sebastian £6 13_s._ 4_d._ 18 Jan. (W.); F. 117. ‘in Westcote M^r of [782] C. xxviii; Ienevery ffor the Children of D. vii. 187. cayrtene playes by Powles.’ the gramar skolle of Westmynster and the childerne of Powles.’

2 Feb ‘Sebastian £6 13_s._ 4_d._ 9 Mar. (W.); Westcott M^r of C. xxviii; the Children of D. vii. 204. Poles.’ F. 116. ‘Cristmas ... ffor a maske and a showe and a play by the childerne of the Chaple.’

[_In margin_] ‘Edwardes tragedy’.

F. 117. ‘The xviij^{th} of februerie ... for a play maid by Sir Percivall Hartts sones with a maske of huntarsand diuers devisses and a rocke or hill ffor the ix musses to singe vppone with a vayne of sarsnett dravven vpp and downe before them.’

F. 117. ‘Shroftid [4–6 March] ... new and diuers showes made by the gentillmen of Greys Ine.’

[_In margin_] ‘Gentillmenne of y^e Innes of Court. Diana, Pallas.’

=1565–6= (_D. A. 541, m. 76_).

Xmas ‘Sebastian £20 3 Jan. (W.). (3 plays) Westcote M^r of the Children of Powles ... for two seūall playes ... at the Courte ... and one other also before her Ma^{tie} at the Ladye Cecilias Lodging at the Savoye.’

=1566–7= (_D. A. 541, m. 92_).

Xmas ‘Sebastyan £13 6_s._ 8_d._ 11 Jan. (W.); (2 plays) Westcote M^r of D. vii. the children of 322 (12 Jan.). Powles.’

Shrove- ‘John Taylor M^r £6 13_s._ 4_d._ 13 Feb. (W.); tide of the Children D. vii. 327. (9–11 of Westm^{r}.’ Feb.).

Shrove- ‘Richarde £6 13_s._ 4_d._ 16 Feb.; tide Farraunte M^r of D. vii. 331 (9–11 the children of (W. 17 Feb.). Feb.) Windsore.’ [11 Feb.]. [783]

=1567–8= (_D. A. 541, mm. 102–3_).

Xmas. ‘John Tailer M^r £6 13_s._ 4_d._ 10 Jan. (W.). F. 119. ’ theis of the Children playes Tragides at Westm^r.’ and Maskes ... Xmas ‘The Lord Ryches £13 6_s._ 8_d._ 11 Jan. (W.). viz. ... seven (2 plays).Plaiers.’ playes, the firste namede as playne Xmas ‘Sebastian £13 6_s._ 8_d._ 13 Jan. (W.). as canne be, The (2 plays).Westcote M^r of seconde the the Children of paynfull Powles.’ plillgrimage, The thirde Iacke and Shrove- ‘William Hunnys £6 13_s._ 4_d._ 3 Mar. (W.). Iyll, The forthe tide M^r of the sixe fooles, The (29 Feb. Children of the fiveth callede -2 Mar.). Quenes Ma^{tes} witte and will, Chappell ... for The sixte callede ... a Tragedie’. prodigallitie, The sevoenth of Shrove- ‘Richarde £6 13_s._ 4_d._ 1 Mar. (W.). Orestes diuers tide. Ferrante M^r of howses, ... the children of as Stratoes and a Windesore.’ Tragedie of the Kinge of Scottes, to y^e whiche belonged howse, Gobbyns howse, Orestioes howse Rome, the Pallace of prosperitie Scotlande and a gret Castell one thothere side.’ [784] F. 123. ‘Revelles vppon Shrovesonday and Shroftuisday at nighte.’

=1568–9= (_D. A. 541, m. 113_).

26 Dec. ‘the Lorde Riches £6 13_s._ 4_d._ 28 Dec. (H.); players.’ C. xxix.

1 Jan. ‘Sebastian £6 13_s._ 4_d._ 2 Jan.; Westecote m^r of C. xxix. the Children of Powles.’

22 Feb. ‘Richard £6 13_s._ 4_d._ 25 Feb. (W.); Ferraunte Scole C. xxix. m^r of the Children of Windesore.’

=1569–70= (_D. A. 541, m. 115_).

27 Dec. ‘Richarde £6 13_s._ 4_d._ 2 Jan. (Wi.); Ferrante Schole C. xxix. m^r to the Children of Windesore.’

6 Jan. ‘Willm Hun̄ys m^r £6 13_s._ 4_d._ 7 Jan. (Wi.); of the children C. xxix. of her ma^{tes} Chappell.’

5 Feb. ‘the Lorde Riches £6 13_s._ 4_d._ 7 Feb. (H.); playo^{res}.’ C. xxix.

=1570–1= (_D. A. 541, m. 127_).

28 Dec. ‘Sebastian £6 13_s._ 4_d._ 22 Feb. Westecote M^r of the Children of Powles.’

Shrove- ‘Willm̄ Honnyes, £20 28 Feb. tide (25 Richarde –7 Feb.) Farraunte and (3 plays).Sebastian Westcote M^{rs} of the Children of the Q ma^{tes} Chapple Royall Windsore and Powles.’

=1571–2= (_D. A. 541, m. 137_).

27 Dec. ‘Lawrence Dutton £6 13_s._ 4_d._ 5 Jan. (W.); F. 144. ‘Lady and his D. viii. 61 Barbara showen on fellowes.’[785] (12 Jan.). Saint Iohns day at nighte by Sir Robert Lanes Men.’

28 Dec. ‘Sebastian £6 13_s._ 4_d._ 9 Jan. (W.); ‘Effiginia A Westcott M^r of D. viii. 62 Tragedye showen on the Children of (12 Jan.). the Innosentes Powles.’ daie at nighte by the Children of Powles.’

1 Jan. ‘Richard Farrant £6 13_s._ 4_d._ 5 Jan. (W.); ‘Aiax and vlisses gent M^r of the D. viii. 62 showen on New Children of (12 Jan.). Yeares daie at Windsor.’ nighte by the Children of Wynsor.’

6 Jan. ‘Willm̄ Hunnys £6 13_s._ 4_d._ N.D.; D. viii.‘Narcisses showen M^r of the 62 (12 Jan., on Twelfe daye at childer of the ‘John’ Nighte by the Chappell.’ Hunnis). Children of the Chappell.’

17 Feb. ‘John Greaves and £13 6_s._ 8_d._ 26 Feb. (W.); ‘Cloridon and Thomas Goughe D. viii. 71 Radiamanta showen servauntes to Sr (29 Feb.). on Shrove sundaye Robt. Lane at Nighte by Sir Knighte.’[786] Robert Lanes Men.’

19 Feb. ‘John £13 6_s._ 8_d._ 22 Feb. (W.); ‘Paris and Vienna Billingesley.’ D. viii. 71 showen on [787] (29 Feb.). Shrovetewsdaie at Nighte by the Children of Westminster.’

=1572–3= (_D. A. 541, m. 150_).

Xmas ‘Therle of Leic. £30, ‘videlt. 1 Jan. (H.). F. 174. Scattered (3 plays).players.’ for eūye playe entries refer to vj^l xiij^s all these iiij^d and for companies except a more rewarde Sussex’s and to-- by hirMa^{tes} ‘the play of owne comaundem^t Cariclia’, x^lIn all xxx^l.’ ‘Theagines’, ‘the picture of Andromadas’, ‘the monster’, ‘the playe of fortune’.

1 Jan. ‘Richarde £6 13_s._ 4_d._ 2 Jan. (H.). Farrante M^r of the children at Wyndesore.’

-- ‘Sebastian £6 13_s._ 4_d._ 7 Jan. (H.). Westecote M^r of the Children of Polles.’

6 Jan. ‘Elderton and the £6 13_s._ 4_d._ 7 Jan. (H.). Children of Eyton.’

-- ‘Therle of Sussex £6 13_s._ 4_d._ 7 Feb. players.’

-- ‘Laurence Dutton £6 13_s._ 4_d._ 10 Feb. s^runte to therle of Lincoln.’

3 Feb. ‘M^r Moncaster.’ £20, ‘vj^l 10 Feb. xiij^s iiij^d and for a more rewarde by her Ma^{tes} owne comaundem^t xiij^l vj^s viij^d.’

=1573–4= (D. A. 541, _mm_. 165–6).

Xmas ‘Therle of £20, ‘xiij^l 9 Jan. (W.); F. 193. ‘Predor: & (2 plays) Leicestres vj^s viij^d and D. viii. 177 Lucia, played by [26, 28 players.’ by waye of (8 Jan.). Therle of Dec.] speciall Leicesters rewarde for servauntes vpon theyre chardges Saint stevens cunyng[788] and daye.’ skill shewed ‘Mamillia, playde therein vj^l by therle of xiij^s iiij^d.’ Leicesteres seruauntes on Innosentes daye.’

27 Dec. ‘Sebastian £6 13_s._ 4_d._ 10 Jan. (W.); ‘Alkmeon, played Westcote M^r of D. viii. 178. by the Children of the Children of Powles on Saint Powles.’ Iohns daye.’

1 Jan. ‘Willm̄ £6 13_s._ 4_d._ 10 Jan. (W.); ‘Truth, Elderton.’ D. viii. 178. ffaythfullnesse, & Mercye, playde by the Children of Westminster for Elderton vpon New yeares daye.’

3 Jan. ‘Laurence Dutton £6 13_s._ 4_d._ 11 Jan. (W.); ‘Herpetulus the and the rest of D. viii. 178 blew knighte & his Fellowes (10 Jan.). perobia playde by s^runtes to the my Lorde Klintons L Clinton.’ servantes the third of Ianuary.’

6 Jan. ‘Richarde Ferant £10, ‘vj^l 10 Jan. (W.); ‘Quintus ffabius Scholem^r.’ xiij^s iiij^d D. viii. 178. played by the and in respecte Children of of his chardges Wyndsor ffor M^r coming hyther ffarrant on Twelfe lxvj^s viij^d.’ daye.’

2 Feb.} ‘Richarde £26 13_s._ 4_d._, 18 Mar. (G.); F. 206. ‘ffor 23 Feb.} Moncaster.’ ‘xiij^l vj^s D. viii. 210. ... Timoclia at viij^d and the sege of Thebes further her by Alexander Ma^{tes} speciall showen ... by M^r rewarde for suche Munkesters costes and Children.’ chardges as he F. 213. ‘Percius & was at for the Anthomiris playde same xiij^l vj^s by Munkesters viij^d.’ Children on Shrovetewsdaye.’

21 Feb. ‘Therle of Leic £10, ‘vj^l 22 Feb. (H.); ‘Philemon & [789] his plaiers.’ xiij^s iiij^d D. viii. 198. Philecia play by and forther by the Erle of waye of her Lecesters men on highnes rewarde Shrove Mundaye.’ for suche chardges F. 227. ‘Italyan as they had Players at Wynsor furniture of bene & Reding ... the at for the the xv^{th} of July same lxvj^s 1574.’ viij^d.’

=1574–5= (_D. A._ 541, _m._ 178).

26 Dec. ‘Therle of £10. 9 Jan.; F. 239. 27 Dec. Lecesters C. xxx. ‘gloves for my players.’ Lord of Lesters boyes y^t plaied at thecoorte.’ F. 244. 25 Dec. ‘my Lord of Leicesters menns playe.’

1 Jan. ‘the Erle of £6 13_s._ 4_d._ 9 Jan.; F. 239. 1 Jan. Leic’ players.’ C. xxx. ‘chymney sweepers in my Lord of Leycesters mennes playe & for mosse & styckes.’

27 Dec. ‘the lord Clynton £6 13_s._ 4_d._ 11 Jan.; F. 244. 27 Dec. players.’ C. xxx. ‘the Duttons playe.’

2 Jan. ‘the lord Clinton £6 13_s._ 4_d._ 11 Jan.; players.’ C. xxx.

6 Jan. ‘Richard Farrante £13 6_s._ 8_d._ 23 Jan. (H.); F. 244. ‘King m^r of the C. xxx. Xerxces syster in children of the ffarrantes playe, chapell of ... cariage ... Wyndsor.’ for the playe ... on twelfe nighte.’

2 Feb. ‘Sebastian £13 6_s._ 8_d._ 16 Feb.; Westecote M^r of C. xxxi. the Children of Powles.’

13 Feb. ‘William Hunys £13 6_s._ 8_d._ 16 Feb. (R.); F. 244. 13 Feb. m^r of the C. xxxi. ‘M^r Hvnnyes his children of her playe.’ ma^{tes} Chappell.’

13 Feb. ‘Richarde £13 6_s._ 8_d._, 17 Feb. (R.). [F. 238. The [15 Feb. Moncaster.’ ‘vj^l. xiij^s. following ?]. iiij^d and for a rehearsals took reward gyven by place: 14 Dec. ‘my her heignes vj^l. Lord Chamberlens xiij^s. iiij^d’. players did show the history of Phedrastus & Phigon and Lucia together.’ 18 Dec. ‘my Lord of Leicesters menne showed theier matter of Panecia.’ 20 Dec. ‘my lord Clyntons players rehearsed a matter called Pretestus.’ 21 Dec. ‘the showed ij other playes.’]

13 Feb. ‘Therle of £10. 16 Feb. (R.); [14 Feb.].Warwickes C. xxxi. [790] players.’

=1575–6= (_D. A. 541, mm. 195–6_).

26 Dec.} ‘John Dutton, £20. 2 Jan. (H.); 1 Jan. } Lawrence Dutton, D. ix. 68. Jerome Savage, etc. Thearle of Warwickes players.’

27 Dec. ‘Richard Farraunt £10. 30 Dec. (H.); M^r of the D. ix. 67 children of the (29 Dec.). Chappell at Wyndsore.’

28 Dec. ‘Thearle of £10. 30 Dec. (H.); Leicestre D. ix. 68 players.’ (29 Dec.)

6 Jan. ‘Sebasten £10. 7 Feb. (H.); Westcott M^r of D. ix. 71 the children of (7 Jan.). Powles.’

2 Feb. ‘John Adams and £10. 4 Feb. (H.); the rest of my D. ix. 81 Lorde (-- Jan.). Chamberlaynes servaunt players.’

27 Feb. ‘Alfruso £10. 12 Mar. (W.). Ferrabolle and the rest of the Italyan players.’

4 Mar.? ‘to ---- Burbag £10. 14 Mar. (W.). [791] and his company Servauntes to thearle of Leicester.’

5 Mar. ‘Lawraunce Dutton £10. 8 Mar. (W.); [792] and the rest of D. ix. 95 his company (11 Mar.). Servauntes to thrighte honourable Thearle of Warwicke.

6 Mar. ‘Richard £10. 11 Mar. (W.); Moulcastre to D. ix. 94. hime.’

[Sept. ‘Richarde -- 11 Nov. 1577. -Oct.] Farrant, M^r of the Children of her Ma^{tes} chappell of Winsore viz. for the chardges of xv of the singinge men of the said chappell and sixe of the children repayringe thither to Readynge at her ma^{tes} laste being there.’

=1576–7= (_Audit Office, Declared Accounts, Roll xv, Bundle 382_) [Pipe Office missing].

Xmas ‘Therle of £16 13_s._ 4_d._ 20 Jan. (H.); F. 256, 269. ‘The holidays. Warwickes D. ix. 270. Paynters Daughter [26 Dec.] players.’ ... on S^t Stevens 27 Dec. ‘the Lord £10. 12 Jan. (H.). daie ... by therle Howardes of Warwickes players.’ seruauntes ... the Xmas ‘Therle of £16 13_s._ 4_d._ 20 Jan. (H.); Duttons plaie.’ holidays. Leicesters D. ix. 270. F. 256. ‘Toolie [30 Dec.] players.’ ... on St. Iohns Xmas ‘Sebastian £16 13_s._ 4_d._ 20 Jan. (H.); daie ... by the holidays Westcote m^r of D. ix. 270. Lord Howardes [1 Jan.] the Children of seruantes.’ Powles.’ F. 256. ‘The Xmas ‘Richard Farrante £16 13_s._ 4_d._ 20 Jan. (H.); historie of the holidays. m^r of the D. ix. 270. Collyer ... on the [6 Jan.] children of the Sundaie folowing Chappell.’ [30 Dec.] ... by th’ erle of Leicesters men.’ F. 266. ‘ffor cariadge ... for the Earle of Leicesters to the court 28^o Decembris.’ F. 266. ‘for that their [Leicester’s?] plaie was deferred until the Sundaie folowing [30 Dec.].’ folowing [30 F. 256. ‘The historie of Error ... on Newyeres daie ... by the Children of Powles.’ F. 256. ‘The historye of Mutius Sceuola ... by the on Twelf daie ... Children of Windsore and the Chappell.’

2 Feb. ‘Therle of £16 13_s._ 4_d._ 3 Feb. (H.); F. 256. ‘The Sussexes D. ix. 280. historye of players.’ the Cenofalles ... on Candelmas daie ... by the Lord Chamberleyn his men.’

17 Feb. ‘The Lord £10. 20 Feb. (W.); F. 270. ‘The Howardes D. ix. 293 Historie of players.’[794] the Solitarie Knight ... on Shrove-sundaie ... by the Lord Howardes seruauntes.’

18 Feb. ‘Therle of £10. 20 Feb. (W.); F. 270. ‘The Warwikes D. ix. 293 Irisshe Knyght players.’ ... on Shrovemundaie ... by the Earle of Warwick his seruauntes.’

17 Feb. ‘Sebastian £10. 20 Feb. (W.); F. 270. ‘The [9 Feb.] Westcote.’ D. ix. 293. historye of Titus [795] and Gisippus ... on Shrove-tuysdaie ... by the Children of Pawles.’

April. ‘Durham Place (an N.D. Italian playe [‘Apparelling their done before charge.’] her ma^{tes} Privy Council).’

=1577–8= (_D. A. 541, mm. 209–12_).

26 Dec. ‘The Earle of £10.[796] 9 Jan. (H.); Leicesters D. x. 138. seruantes.’

27 Dec. ‘Richarde £10. 20 Jan. (H.). F. 277. Probably Farrante m^r of for a rehearsal, the children of ‘the cariadge of her ma^{tes} the partes of y^e chappell.’ well counterfeit from the Bell in Gracious strete to St. Iohns to be performed for the play of Cutwell.’

8 Dec. ‘The Earle of £10. 12 Jan. (H.). Warwickes players.’

30 Dec. ‘Sebastian £10. 31 Jan. (H.). Westcott.’

5 Jan. ‘The Lorde £10. 9 Jan. (H.); [797] Howarde baron of D. x. 138. Effingham his players.’

6 Jan. ‘Earle of £10. 12 Jan. (H.). Warwickes players.’

2 Feb. ‘The Lorde £10. 15 Mar. (G.), Chamblaynes in duplicate; players.’ D. x. 185 (14 Mar.).

9 Feb. ‘The Earle of £10. 18 Feb. (H.). Warwickes players.’

11 Feb. ‘The Countes of £10. 14 Feb. (H.). Essex players.’

(11 Feb.) ‘The Earle of £6 13_s._ 4_d._, 18 Feb. (H.). Leicesters ‘for makinge players.’ their repaire to the Courte w^{th} their whole company and furniture to presente a playe before her ma^{tie} uppon Shrove-tuesdaye at nighte in consideracon of their chardgies for that purpose although the plaie by her ma^{ties} comaundement was supplyed by others.’

-- ‘for a mattres N.D. [‘Apparelling hoopes and charge’] boardes with tressells for the Italian Tumblers.’

=1578–9= (_d. a. 541, m. 222_).

26 Dec. ‘Therle of £10. 16 Jan.; F. 286. ‘An Warwicke D. xi. 21 Inventyon or playe sr^auntes.’ (R.). of the three Systers of Mantua ... on St Stephens daie ... by thearle of Warwick his servauntes.’

28 Dec. ‘y^e lord £10. 16 Jan.; F. 286. ‘An history Chamblaynes D. xi. 21 of the creweltie of players.’ (R.). A Stepmother ... on Innocentes daie ... by the Lord Chamberlaynes servauntes.’

6 Jan. ‘y^e sayd lord £10. 16 Jan.; F. 286. ‘The Chamblaynes D. xi. 21 historie of the sr^auntes.’ (R.). Rape of the second Helene ... on Twelf daie.’

F. 299. 6 Jan. ‘my Lord Chamberleynes players second plaie.’

1 Jan. ‘ye M^r of ye £10. 16 Jan.; F. 286. ‘A Morrall [798] Children at D. xi. 21 of the marryage of Pawles.’ (R.). Mynde and Measure ... on the sondaie next after Newe yeares daie ... by the children of Pawles.’

4 Jan. ‘Therle of £10. 16 Jan.; F. 286. ‘A Leicestres D. xi. 21 pastorell or players.’ (R.). historie of A Greeke maide ... on the sondaie next after Newe yeares daie ... by the Earle of Leicester hisservauntes.’

6 Jan. ‘M^r Ferr^aunte £10. 16 Jan.; F. 286. ‘The [27 Dec.] M^r of the D. xi. 21 historie of ---- ... [799] Children of her (R.). on St Iohns daie ... Ma^{tes} by the children of chappell.’ the Quenes maiesties chappell.’ F. 298. 27 Dec. ‘for cariage of the stuffe that served the plaie for the children of the chappell to the courte and back agayne.’

(2 Feb.) ‘Jerome Savage £6 13_s._ 4_d._, 11 Mar.; F. 303. ‘The history and his companye ‘in consideracon D. xi. 81 of ---- provided to sr^auntes to of a playe (W. 18 have ben shewen ... Therle of w^{ch} was in Mar.). on candlemas daie Warwickes.’ readynes to have ... by the Earle of bene presented Warwickes before her servauntes.... Being Ma^{tie} on in redines at y^e Candlemas night place to have last paste’. enacted the same. But the Quenes maiestie wold not come to heare the same and therefore put of.’

1 Mar. ‘therle of £10. 13 Mar.; F. 303. ‘The history Warwickes D. xi. 75 of the Knight in the sr^auntes.’ (W.). Burnyng Rock ... on shrovesundaie ... by the Earle of Warwickes servauntes.’

2 Mar. ‘Richarde £10. 12 Mar.; F. 303. ‘The history Ferrante M^r of D. xi. 70 of Loyaltie and the children of (W.). bewtie ... on Shrove her ma^{tes} monday ... by the chapell.’ children of the Quenes maiesties chappell.’

3 Mar. ‘ye lorde £10. 13 Mar.; F. 303. ‘The history [800] Chamblaynes D. xi. 75 of murderous players.’ (W.). mychaell ... on shrove-tuesdaie ... by the Lord Chamberleynes servauntes.’

=1579–80= (_D. A. 542, m. 8_).

26 Dec. ‘the Lorde £10. 25 Feb. F. 320. ‘A history Chamblaynes (W.); of the Duke of players.’ D. xi.377 Millayn and the (25 Jan.). Marques of Mantua ... on S^t Stephens daie ... by the lord Chamberlaynes seruauntes.’

27 Dec. ‘Richarde Farrant £10. 25 Jan. F. 320. ‘A history m^r of the (W.); of Alucius ... on children of her D. xi.377. S^t Iohns daie ... Ma^{tes} by the Children of Chappell.’ her Maiesties Chappell.’

1 Jan. ‘y^e players of £10. 25 Jan. F. 320. ‘A history the Erle of (W.); of the foure sonnes Warwicke.’ D. xi. 377. of ffabyous ... on Newe Yeares daie ... by the Earleof Warwickes servauntes.’

3 Jan. ‘Sebastian £10. 25 Jan. F. 321. ‘The history Westcote master (W.); of Cipio Africanus of the children D. xi. 377. ... the sondaye of the Churche night after newe of S^t Paules.’ yeares daie ... by the Children of Pawles.’

6 Jan. ‘the players of £10. 25 Jan. F. 321. ‘The history the E of (W.); of ---- ... on Leicester.’ D. xi. 377. Twelve-daye ... by the Earle of Leicesters seruauntes.’

15 Jan. ‘the Lorde £10. 25 Jan. Straunge his (W.); Tumblers ... in D. xi.377. consideracon of certen feates of Tumblinge by them done before her Ma^{tie}.’

2 Feb. ‘the L. £10. 23 Feb. F. 321. ‘The history Chamblaynes (W.); of Portio and players.’ D. xi. 398. demorantes ... on Candlemas daie ... by the Lord Chamberleyns seruauntes.’

16 Feb. ‘the saide L. £10. 23 Feb. F. 321. ‘The history Chamberlaynes (W.); of Serpedon ... on players.’ D. xi. 398. Shrovetwesdaye ... by the lord Chamberleyns seruauntes.’

14 Feb. ‘the players of £10. 23 Feb. F. 321. ‘The history the Erle of (W.); of the Soldan and Derbye.’ D. xi. 398. the Duke of ---- ... on Shrovesondaye ... by the Earle of Derby his seruauntes.’ [F. 326. ‘Examynynge and rehersinge of dyuers plaies and choise makinge of x of them to be showen before her Maiestie.’ In addition to the 8 above were the tumbling and F. 320. ‘A historye of ---- provided to haue bene shewen ... on Innocentes daie ... by the Earle of Leicesters seruauntes being in readynes in the place to haue enacted the same.... But the Queenes Maiestie coulde not come forth to heare the same/therefore put of.’]

=1580–1= (_D. A. 542, m. 21_).

27 Dec. ‘Therle of Sussex £10. 14 Jan. F. 336. ‘The Earle srauntes.’ (W.); of Sussex men. A D. xii. 321 storie of ---- ... (30 Jan.). on S^t Iohns daie.’

1 Jan. ‘Therle of £10. 20 Jan. F. 336. ‘The Earle Darbyes players.’ (W.); of Derbiesmen. A D. xii. 321 storie of ---- ... (30 Jan.). on newe yeres daye.’

6 Jan. ‘Sebastian £10. 18 Jan. F. 336. ‘The [801] Wastcote m^r of (W.); children of Pawles. the children of D. xii. 321 A storie of Pompey Powles.’ (30 Jan.). ... on twelf nighte.’

2 Feb. ‘the Lorde £10. 13 Feb. F. 336. ‘The earle Chamblaynes (W.); of Sussex men. A players.’ D. xii. 330 storie of ---- ... (14 Feb.). on Candlemas daie.’

5 Feb. ‘the M^r of the £10. 14 Feb. F. 336. ‘The (W.) Children of the (W.); children of the Chappell.’ D. xii. 330. Quenes maiesties chappell. A storie of ---- ... on shrove-sondaie.’

7 Feb. ‘Therle of £10. 14 Jan. F. 336. ‘The Earle Leiscesters (W.); of Leicesters men. players.’ D. xii. 330 A storie of ---- (14 Feb.). ... on shrove- tuesdaie.’

26 Dec. ‘to them £10. 14 Jan. F. 336. ‘The Earle [Leicester’s] (W.); of Leicesters men. more.’ D. xii.321 A Comodie called (30 Jan.). delighte ... on St Stephens daie.’

=1581–2= (_D. A. 542, mm. 32–3; Harl. MS. 1644, ff. 78^v, 80^v, 81^v_).

26 Dec. ‘the M^r of the £10. 14 Apr. F. 345. Table II, ‘v Children of (W.); playes’. Powles.’ D. xiii. 393 (G.).

28 Dec. ‘the Servauntes £10. 21 Jan. of the Lorde (W.); Straunge ... for D. xiii. 311. certen feates of activitie shewed her Ma^{tie}.’

31 Dec.} ‘the M^r of the £20. 1 Apr. (G.); 27 Feb.} Children of her D. xiii. 374. ma^{tes} Chappell.’

=1582–3= (_D. A. 542, mm. 44–5_).

26 Dec. ‘William Hunnys £10. 17 Feb. F. 349. ‘A Comodie (Wi.) the m^r of the (R.). or Morrall devised children of the on A game of the chappell.’ Cardes ... on St Stephens daie ... by the Children of her maiesties Chapple.’

27 Dec. ‘the Seruauntes £10. 17 Feb. F. 349. ‘A Comodie (Wi.) of the Lorde of (R.). of Bewtie and Hunsdon.’ Huswyfery ... on St Iohns daie ... by the lord of Hundesdons servauntes.’

30 Dec. ‘the Seruauntes £10. 17 Feb. F. 349. ‘A Historie (Wi.) of Thearle of (R.). of Loue and ffortune Darby.’ ... on the sondaie ... next before newe yeares daie ... by the Earle of Derbies servauntes.’

1 Jan. ‘John Simons ... £13 6_s._ 8_d._ 17 Feb. F. 349. ‘Sundrey (Wi.) for showinge (R.). feates of Tumbling c̄ten ffeates of and Activitie were actiuitye and shewed before her Tomblinge.’ maiestie on Newe yeares daie at night by the Lord Straunge his servauntes.’

6 Jan. ‘the Seruauntes £10. 17 Feb. F. 350. ‘A historie (Wi.) of the Lorde (R.). of fferrar ... on Chamberlayne.’ Twelf daie ... by the Lord Chamberleynes servauntes.’

10 Feb. ‘The Seruantes of £10. 17 Feb. F. 350. ‘A historie (R.) Thearle of (R.). of Telomo ... on Lecester.’ Shrovesondaie ... by the Earle of Leicesters servauntes.’

12 Feb. ‘Richarde £10. 17 Feb. F. 350. ‘A historie (R.) Mulcaster ... (R.). of Ariodante and w^{th} his Geneuora ... on Scholers.’ Shrove-tuesdaie ... by m^r Mulcasters children.’

=1583–4= (_D. A. 342, m. 56_).

26 Dec.} 12 Mar. F. 362. Table III, 29 Dec.} ‘her ma^{tes} £20. (W.), paid ‘vj histories, one 3 Mar. } servauntes.’ 9 May. Comedie.’

6 Jan. } ‘the master of £15. 12 Mar. 2 Feb. } the children of (W.), her ma^{tes} paid 29 Mar. Chappell.’

1 Jan. } ‘the Erle of £20. 12 Mar. 3 Mar. } Oxforde his (W.), servauntes ... paid 25 Nov. paide to Johon Lilie.’

=1584–5= (_D. A. 542, mm. 66–8_).

26 Dec.} ‘Robte Willson to £40. 14 Mar. F. 365. ‘A pastorall 3 Jan.} thuse of him (G.). of phillyda & Choryn 6 Jan.} selfe and the ... by her highnes 23 Feb.} rest of her servauntes on S^t ma^{tes} players.’ Stephens daie.’

‘The history of felix & philiomena ... by her maiesties servauntes on the Sondaie next after newe yeares daye.’

‘An inuention called ffiue playes in one ... on Twelfe daie ... by her highnes servauntes.’

‘An inuention of three playes in one prepared to haue ben shewed ... on Shroue Sondaye ... by her maiesties servauntes. ... But the Quene came not abroad that night.’

‘An Antick play & a comodye ... on Shrouetewsdaie ... by her maiesties servauntes.’

27 Dec. ‘Henry Evans ... £6 13_s._ 4_d._ 7 Apr. (G.). F. 365. ‘The history for one play ... of Agamemnon & by the children Vlisses ... by the of Therle of Earle of Oxenford Oxforde.’ his boyes on St Iohns daie.’

1 Jan. ‘John Symons and £10. 14 Mar. F. 365. ‘Dyuers other his fellowes (G.). feates of Actyuytie Servantes to were shewed and Therle Oxforde ... presented ... on for ... feates of newe yeares daye ... actiuitye and by Symons and his vawtinge.’ fellowes.’

=1585–6= (_D. A. 542, m. 79; Harl. MS. 1641, ff. 20^v, 21_).

26 Dec. ‘her Ma^{tes} £10. 31 Jan. (G.). players.’

27 Dec. ‘the Servantes £10. 31 Jan. (G.). of the lo admirall.’

1 Jan. ‘her Ma^{tes} £10. 31 Jan. (G.). players.’

6 Jan. ‘the Servantes of £10. 31 Jan. (G.). the lo: admirall and the lo Chamblaine.’

9 Jan. ‘John Symondes £10. 31 Jan. (G.) and M^r Standleyes Boyes ... for Tumblinge and shewinge other feates of activitie.’

13 Feb. ‘her ma^{tes} £10. 28 Feb. players.’ (G.); D. xiv. 20 (6 Mar.).

=1586–7= (_D. A. 542, m. 94_).

26 Dec.} 1 Jan.} ‘the Quenes £40. 18 Mar. (G.). 6 Jan.} ma^{tes} 28 Feb.} players.’

27 Dec. ‘the Erle of £10. 31 Mar. (G.). Lecesters players.’

26 Feb. ‘Thomas Giles m^r £10. 9 Apr. (G.); of the Children D. xv. 24. of Paules.’

=1587–8= (_D. A. 542, mm. 108, 115_).

26 Dec.} £20, ‘for their 20 Mar. F. 378, 388. ‘vij 6 Jan.} ‘the Queenes chardges and (G.); playes besides 18 Feb.} ma^{tes} paines as also D. xv. 425. feattes of Activitie players.’ by waye of her and other shewes by ma^{tes} rewarde the Childeren of for geving their Poles her Maiesties attendaunce in owne servantes & the recitinge and gentlemen of Grayes playing certein In.’ playes and enterludes before her ma^{tie}‘.

28 Dec. ‘John Simons ... £10. 6 Mar. (G.). for certein feates of actiuitie by him and his Companie.’

1 Jan.} ‘Thomas Giles m^r £20. 29 Feb. (G.). 2 Feb.} of the children of Powles.’

=1588–9= (_D. A. 542, mm. 125–6_).

26 Dec.} ‘the Quenes £20. 16 Mar. F.388. ‘at Christmas 9 Feb.} Ma^{ts} Players.’ (W.); Newyearstide & D. xvii.109. Twelftide there were shewed presented & 27 Dec.} ‘Tho Gyles m^r of £30. 23 Mar. enacted before her 1 Jan.} the children of (W.); highnes ffyve playes 12 Jan.} Powles.’ D. xvii.115. & ... at Shrovetide there were shewed & ‘the Lorde £20. 29 Feb. presented before her 11 Feb.} Admyrall his (W.); twoe plaies All [802] } players ... for D. xvii.90. which playes were twoe Enterludes enacted by her or playes ... Maiesties owne and for showinge servantes the other feates of children of Paules & activity and the Lord Admiralls tumblinge.’ men besides sondry feates of actyvity tumbling and Matichives.’... F. 390, ‘a paire of fflannell hose for Symmons the Tumbler’.

=1589–90= (_D. A. 542, m. 142_).

26 Dec.} ‘John Dutton and £20. 15 Mar.; 1 Mar.} John Lanham her D. xviii.420. ma^{tes} S^ru^antes for themselves and their companie.’

28 Dec.} ‘the Servauntes £20. 10 Mar. (G.); [803] } of the Lorde D. xviii.410. } Admirall ... for 3 Mar.} shewinge certen } feates of activities ‘the servauntes of the Lorde Admirall ... for playinge.’

‘Chris-} tide.’ } ‘Thomas Giles m^r £30. 10 Mar.; [28 } of the children D. xviii. 410 Dec.] } of Powles.’ (G.). [804] } 1 Jan. } 6 Jan. }

=1590–1= (_D. A. 542, m. 155_).

26 Dec.} ‘Lawrence Dutton 3 Jan.} and John Dutton £40. 7 Mar.; 6 Jan.} her ma^{tes} C. xxxii; 14 Feb.} players & there D. xx. 327 companye.’ (G., 5 Mar.).

1 Jan. ‘John Laneham and £10. 7 Mar.; his companye her C. xxxii; ma^{tes} players.’ D. xx. 328 (G., 5 Mar.).

27 Dec.} ‘George Ottewell £20. 7 Mar.; 16 Feb.} and his companye D. xx. 328 the Lorde Straunge (G., 5 Mar.). his players for [plays] ... and for other feates of Activitye then also done by them.’[805]

=1591–2= (_D. A. 542, m. 168_).

26 Dec. ‘y^e Queenes £10. 29 Feb. (W.); ma^{tes} players.’ D. xxii. 286 (27 Feb.).

7 Dec. } 8 Dec. } 1 Jan. } ‘y^e seruantes of £60. 24 Feb. (W.); 9 Jan. } y^e lo: Straunge.’ D. xxii.264 6 Feb. } (20 Feb.). 8 Feb. }

2 Jan. ‘y^e servauntes £10. 20 Feb. (W.); of y^e Earle of D. xxii.264. Sussex.’

6 Jan. ‘y^e servauntes £10. 28 Feb. (W.); of y^e Erle of D. xxii.263 Hartford.’ (20 Feb.).

=1592–3= (_D. A. 542, m. 181_).

26 Dec.} ‘the servantes of £20. 11 Mar. (J.); [806] } the Erle of D. xxiv.113. 6 Jan. } Pembroke.’

27 Dec.} ‘Servantes of the £30. 7 Mar. (J.); 31 Dec.} Lorde Strange.’ D. xxiv.102. 1 Jan. }

=1593–4= (_D. A. 542, m. 194: Harl. MS. 1642, f. 19^v_).

6 Jan. ‘her Ma^{tes} £10. 31 Jan. players.’

=1594–5= (_D. A. 542, m. 208_).

26 Dec.} ‘To Willm̄ Kempe £20. 15 Mar. (W.). 28 Dec.} Willm̄ Shakespeare [27 } & Richarde Burbage Dec.?] } seruantes to the [807] } Lord Chamƃleyne vpon the councelles warr^t dated at Whitehall xv^{to} Martii 1594 for twoe seuerall comedies or Enterludes shewed by them before her Ma^{tie} in xpmas tyme laste paste viz^d vpon S^t Stephens daye & Innocentes daye xiii^l vj^s viij^d and by waye of her ma^{tes} Rewarde vj^l xiij^s iiij^d.’

28 Dec.} ‘Edwarde Allen, £30. 15 Mar. (W.). 1 Jan.} Richarde Jones & 6 Jan.} John Synger, seruaunts to the Lord Admyrall.’

=1595–6= (_D. A. 543, m. 12_).

26 Dec.} ‘John Hemynge and £50. 21 Dec. 1596 (W.). 27 Dec.} George Bryan 28 Dec.} srvu^antes to the 6 Jan.} late Lorde 22 Feb.} Chamƃlayneand now srvu^antes to the Lorde Hunsdon.’

1 Jan.} ‘Edwarde Allen £40. 13 Dec. 1596 (W.). 4 Jan.} and Martyn Slater 22 Feb.} seruauntes to the 24 Feb.} Lorde Admyrall.’

=1596–7= (_D. A. 543, m. 25_).

26 Dec.} 27 Dec.} ‘Thomas Pope & £60. 27 Nov. 1597 (W.); 1 Jan.} John Hemynges D. xxviii. 151. 6 Jan.} servauntes to the 6 Feb.} Lord Chambleyne.’ 8 Feb.} [808]

=1597–8= (_D. A. 543, m. 39_).

26 Dec.} ‘John Heminges £40. 3 Dec. 1598 (W.); 1 Jan.} and Thomas Pope D. xxix. 324. 6 Jan.} servauntes to the 26 Feb.} Lorde Chamƃleyne.’

27 Dec.} ‘Roƃte Shawe and £20. 3 Dec. 1598 (W.); 28 Feb.} Thomas Downton D. xxix. 325. servauntes to the Erle of Nottingham.’

=1598–9= (_D. A. 543, m. 55_).

26 Dec.} ‘John Heminges £30. 2 Oct. 1599 (N.); 1 Jan.} and Thomas Pope C. xxxii. 20 Feb.} servantes vnto the Lorde Chamberleyne.’

27 Dec.} ‘Robert Shawe and £20. 2 Oct. 1599 (N.). 6 Jan.} Thomas Downton 18 Feb.} servauntes to Therle of Nottingham.’

=1599–1600= (_D. A. 543, m. 57_).

26 Dec.} ‘John Hemynge £30. 17 Feb. (R.); 6 Jan.} servaunt to the C. xxxiii; 3 Feb.} Lorde D. xxx. 89 Chamberlaine. (18 Feb.).

27 Dec.} ‘Robert Shawe £20. 18 Feb. (R.); 1 Jan.} servaunt to Therle C. xxxiii; of Nottingham.’ D. xxx. 89. [809]

3 Feb. ‘Robert Browne £10. 18 Feb. (R.); [5 Feb.] servaunt to Therle D. xxx. 89. [810] of Darby.’

=1600–1= (_D. A. 543, m. 69_).

26 Dec.} ‘John Hemynges £30. 31 Mar. (W.); 6 Jan.} and Richarde C. xxxiii; 24 Feb.} Cowley servunts D. xxxi. 217 to the Lord (11 Mar.). Chamƃleine.’

28 Dec.} ‘Edwarde Allen £30. 31 Mar. (W.); 6 Jan.} servaunte to the C. xxxiii. 2 Feb.} Lord Admyrall.’

1 Jan.} 6 Jan.} ‘Roƃte Browne.’ £20. 31 Mar. (W.).

1 Jan. ‘Edwarde Peers £10. 24 June (G.); M^r of the D. xxxi. 453. children of Poules.’

6 Jan. ‘Nathanyell Gyles £5. } m^r of the } children of the } 4 May (W.); Chapple, for a } C. xxxiii. showe w^{th} } musycke and } speciall songes } p’pared for the } purpose.’ } 22 Feb. [the same] ... £10. } ‘for a play’.

=1601–2= (_D. A. 543, m. 83_).

26 Dec.} 27 Dec.} ‘John Hemyng £40. 28 Feb. (R.). 1 Jan.} servaunte to the 14 Feb.} Lord Chamberleyne.’

27 Dec. ‘Edward Allen £10. 28 Feb. (R.). servaunt to the Lord Admyrall.’

3 Jan. ‘William Kempe £10. 28 Feb. (R.). and Thomas Heywoode servauntes to Therle of Worcester.’

6 Jan.} ‘Nathanyell Gyles £30. 7 Mar. (R.). 10 Jan.} M^r of the 14 Feb.} Children of her Ma^{tes} Chappell.’

=1602–3= (_D. A. 543, mm. 95, 97_).

26 Dec.} ‘John Hemynges £20. 20 Apr. (W.); 2 Feb.} and the rest of C. xxxiv. his companie servauntes to the Lorde Chamberleyne.’

27 Dec.} ‘Edwarde Allen £30. 22 Apr. (W.); 6 Mar.} servaunte to the C. xxxiv. -- } Lorde Admyrall and the reste of his companie.’

1 Jan. ‘Edward Peirs m^r £10. 31 May (G.). of the Children of Paules.’

6 Jan. ‘Martyn Slater £10. 20 Apr. and his fellowes servauntes to the Erle of Hertforde.’

-- ‘John Hassett ... £10. 29 July (H.). for presentinge and makinge shewe before his highnes of his skyll in vaultinge w^{ch} he performed w^{th} his ma^{tes} good lykinge.’

=1603–4= (_D. A. 543, m. 115–17_).

2 Dec. ‘John Hemyngs one £30. 3 Dec. (Wilton); (K.) of his ma^{tes} C. xxxiv. players ... for the paynes and expences of himself and the rest of the company in comming from Mortelake in the countie of Surrie unto the courte aforesaid [at Wilton] and there p’senting before his ma^{tie} one playe.’

26 Dec.} ‘John Hemynges £53. 18 Jan. (H.); (K.) } one of his C. xxxv. 27 Dec.} ma^{tes} (K.) } players.’ 28 Dec.} (K.) } 30 Dec.} (H.) } 1 Jan.} (K.) }

1 Jan.} (H.) } 2 Jan.} ‘John Duke one of £13 6_s._ 8_d._ 19 Feb. (W.); (H.) } the Queenes C. xxxv. 13 Jan.} ma^{tes} players.’ (H.) }

4 Jan.} ‘Edward Allen and £30. 19 Feb. (W.); (H.) } Edward Juby two C. xxxv. 15 Jan.} of the Princes (H.) } Players.’ 21 Jan.} (K.) } 22 Jan.} (H.) }

‘Richard Burbadg £30. 8 Feb. (H.); one of his C. xxxv. ma^{tes} comedians ... for the mayntenaunce and releife of himselfe and the rest of his company being prohibited to p’sente any playes publiquelie in or neere London by reason of greate perill that might growe through the extraordinary concourse and assemble of people to a newe increase of the plague till it shall please God to settle the cittie in a more p’fecte health by way of his ma^{ties} free gifte.’

2 Feb.} ‘John Hemynges £20. 29 Feb. (W.); (K.) } one of his C. xxxvi. 19 Feb.} ma^{tes} players.’ (K.) }

20 Feb. ‘Edward Jubie to £10. 17 Apr. (W.); (K.) the use of C. xxxvii. himselfe and the rest of his to the company servauntes prince.’

20 Feb. ‘Edward Pearce £10. 17 Apr. (W.). (K.) m^r of the children of Powles.’

21 Feb. ‘Edward Kircham £10. 30 Apr. (W.); (K.) m^r of the C. xxxvii. children of the Queenes Ma^{tes} Revells.’

[_Apparelling Charges_]

‘To Augustine Phillippes and John Hemynges for thallowaunce of themselves and tenne of theire ffellowes his ma^{tes} groomes of the chamber, and Players for waytinge and attendinge on his ma^{tes} service by com̃ aundemente vppon the Spanishe Embassador at Som’sette howse the space of xviij dayes viz^d from the ix^{th} day of Auguste 1604 vntill the xxvij^{th} day of the same as appeareth by a bill thereof signed by the Lord Chamƃlayne. xxj^{li}. xij^s.’

‘To Thomas Greene for thallowaunce of hymselfe and tenne of his ffelowes groomes of the chamber and the Queenes Players for waytinge and attendinge vppon Countye Arrenbergh and the reste of the comyssioners at Durham howse by com̃ aundmente the space of eighteene dayes viz^d from the ix^{th} of Auguste 1604 vntill the xxvij^{th} of the same as appeareth by a bill thereof signed by the Lord Chamberlayne. xix^{li}, xvj^s.’

CHAMBER ACCOUNTS. REVELS ACCOUNTS.[811] _Perfor- _Payees._ _Amount._ _Warrant._ mance._

Cunningham, 203; Halliwell-Phillipps, =1604–5= (_D. A. 543, mm. 136–8; Bodl. Rawlinson MS. A. 204_). _Bodl. Malone ii. 162; Law, _Sh. Forgeries_, xvi; MS._ 29, f. _Audit_ _Office_, _Accounts Various_, 69^v. 3, 907. The Poets 1604 & 1605 The w^{ch} mayd Ed^d. Tylney Plaiers. 1604. the plaies. 1 Nov.} Sunday after By By the Hallamas Day (K.) } the Hallowmas--Merry Kings being the first of 4 Nov.} ‘John Hemynges one £60. 21 Jan. Wyves of Windsor ma^{tis} Nouembar A play in (K.) } of his Ma^{tes} (W.); perf^d. by the K’s plaiers. the Banketinge 26 Dec.} players.’ C. xxxvi. players. house att Whithall (K.) } Hallamas-- in the called The Moor of 28 Dec.} Banquetting ho^s at By his Venis. The Sunday (K.) } Whitehall the Moor Ma^{tis} ffollowinge A Play 7 Jan.} of Venis--perf^d. by plaiers. of the Merry Wiues (K.) } the K’splayers. of Winsor.

8 Jan.} On S^t Stephens By his On S^t Stiuens Shaxberd. (K.) } Night--Mesure for Ma^{tis} Night in the Hall Mesur by Shaxberd-- plaiers. A Play caled Mesur perf^d. by the K’s for Mesur. players. On By his On Inosents Night Shaxberd. Innocents Night Ma^{tis} The Plaie of Errors by Shaxberd-- plaiers. Errors. perf^d. by the K’s plaiers.

23 Nov.} ‘Edward Jubie one £16 13_s._ 4_d._ 10 Dec. On Sunday following By the On Sunday Hewood. (Q.) } of the princes (W.); C. “How to Learn of a Queens ffollowinge A 24 Nov.} plaiors.’ xxxvii. Woman to wooe by Mat^{tis} plaie cald How to (H.) } ‘John Duke one of £10. 19 Feb.; Hewood, perf^d. by plaiers. Larne of a woman 30 Dec.} the Quenes Ma{tes} C. the Q’s players. to wooe. (K.) } plaiers.’ £20. xxxvi. 1 Jan.} ‘Samuell Daniell 24 Feb. On New Years Night-- The On Newers Night A By Georg (K.) } and Henrie Evans (W.); C. All fools by G. Boyes playe cauled: Chapman. 3 Jan.} ... for ... the xxxvi. Chapman perf^d. by of the All Foulles. (K.) } Quenes Ma{tes} the Boyes of the Chapell. Children of the Chapel. Revells.’

14 Dec.} bet New y^{rs} day & By his Betwin Newers Day (H.) } twelfth day--Loves Ma^{tis} and Twelfe day A 19 Dec.} ‘Edward Jubie one £40. 22 Feb.; Labour lost perf^d. plaiers. Play of Loues (H.) } of the princes C. xxxvi. by the K’s p:^{rs}. Labours Lost. 15 Jan.} plaiers.’ On the 7^{th} Jan. K. By his On the 7 of January (H.) } Hen. the fifth Ma^{tis} was played the play 22 Jan.} perf^d. by the K. plaiers. of Henry the fift. (H.) } p^{rs}. 5 Feb.} On 8^{th} Jan.-- By his The 8 of January A (H.) } Every one out of his Ma^{tis} play cauled Euery 19 Feb.} humour. plaiers. on out of his Umor. (H.) } On Candlemas night By his On Candelmas night Every one in his Ma^{tis} A playe Euery one humour. plaiers. In his Umor.

2 Feb.} On Shrove Sunday The Sunday (K.) } ‘John Heminges one £40. 24 Feb.; ‘the Marchant of ffollowing playe 10 Feb.} of his Ma^{tes} C. Venis’ by Shaxberd-- provided and (K.) } plaiers.’ xxxvii. perf^d. by the K’s discharged. 11 Feb.} P^{rs}.--the same (K.) } repeated on Shrove By his On Shrousunday A Shaxberd. 12 Feb.} tuesd. by the K’s Ma^{tis} play of the (K.) } Comm^d.’ plaiers. Marthant of Venis. By his On Shroumonday A Feb. ‘The same John £10. 28 Apr.; Ma^{tis} Tragidye of The (K.) Heminges.’ C. xxxvii. plaiers. Spanishe Maz. By his On Shroutusday A Shaxberd. Ma^{tis} play cauled the players. Martchant of Venis againe com̃ anded By the Kings Ma^{tie}. =1605–6= (_D. A. 543, mm. 163, 176_).

27 Dec. ‘John Duke one £8 6_s._ 8_d._ 30 Apr.; (K.) of the Queenes C. xxxviii. Ma^{tes} players.’

Xmas ‘John Hemynges £100. 24 Mar.; and one of his C. xxxviii. since Ma^{tes} (K. 10 players.’ plays)

1 Dec.} (H.) } 30 Dec.} ‘Edward Jubie one £50. 30 Apr.; (H.) } of the Princes C. xxxviii. 1 Jan.} players.’ (K.) } 4 Jan.} (H.) } 3 Mar.} (K.) } 4 Mar.} (K.) }

--(H. C. ‘Edward Kirkham £16 13_s._ 4_d._ 31 Mar.; 2 plays) one of the C. xxxviii. Mr^{es} of the Childeren of Pawles.’

2 plays} at G. } [July } (K. and K. ‘John Heminges £30. 18 Oct.; -Aug. } of Denmark) one of his C. xxxviii. 1606] } Ma^{tes} 1 play } Players.’ at H. } [7 Aug.} 1606] }

=1606–7= (_D. A. 543, m. 177_).

26 Dec.} (K.) } 29 Dec.} (K.) } ‘John Heminges one of his £90. 30 Mar.; C. xxxix. 4 Jan.} Ma^{tes} Players.’ (K.) } 6 Jan.} (K.) } 8 Jan.} (K.) } 2 Feb.} (K.) } 5 Feb.} (K.) } 15 Feb.} (K.) } 27 Feb.} (K.) }

28 Dec.} ‘Edwarde Jubye £60. 28 Feb.; 13, 24,} one of the C. xxxviii. 30 Jan.} princes players.’ 1, 11 } Feb. }

=1607–8= (_D. A. 543, mm. 195–6_).

26 Dec.} (K.) } 27 Dec.} (K.) } 28 Dec.} (K.) } 2 Jan.} ‘John Hemynges £130. 8 Feb. ‘1608’; (K.) } one of his C. xxxviii 6 Jan.} Ma^{ties} (1607’). (K. } Players.’ 2 plays)} 7 Jan.} (K.) } 9 Jan.} (K.) } 17 Jan.} (K. } 2 plays)} 26 Jan.} (K.) } 2 Feb.} (K.) } 7 Feb.} (K.) }

19 Nov.} 30 Dec.} (K. ‘Edward Juby one £40. 8 May; C. xxxix. 3 Jan.} H.) of the Princes 4 Jan.} Players.’

‘John Hassett & £13 6_s._ 8_d._ 23 Sept. Caleb Hassett ... for feates of activitie by them performed upon a vaughting horse.’

=1608–9= (_D. A. 543, m. 214_).

Xmas. } ‘John Hemynges £120. 5 Apr.; C. xxxix. (K. Q. } one of his H. C. } mat^{es} plaiers.’ 12 } plays) }

-- } ‘Thomas Greene £50. 5 Apr. (K. H. } one of the 5 } Queenes Ma^{tes} plays) } plaiers.’

-- } ‘Edwarde Jubye £30. 5 Apr.; C. xxxix. (K. H. } one of the 3 } Princes Players.’ plays) }

Xmas. } ‘Roƃte Keyser ... £20. 10 Mar. (W.). (K. 2 } for ... plaies plays) } ... by the Children of the blackfriers.’

4 Jan. ‘the same Roƃte £10. 10 Mar. (H.) Keyser ... for one play presented by the Children of the blackfriers before his highnes in the Cockpitt at Whitehall.’

-- -- ‘John Hemynges £40. 26 Apr.; C. xxxix. one of his ma^{tes} plaiers ... by way of his ma^{tes} rewarde for their private practise in the time of infecc̄on that thereby they mighte be inhabled to performe their service before his Ma^{tie} in Christmas hollidaies 1609.’

=1609–10= (_D. A. 543, mm. 233–5_).

‘before (K. Q. ‘John Heminges one £130 2 Mar. (W.). xρmas H. C. of the Kinges and in E. 13 Ma^{tes} players.’ the tyme plays) of the holidayes and afterwardes.’

-- ‘Roberte Keysar £50. 10 May (W.). (K. H. ... in the behalfe 5 plays) of himselfe and the reste of the Children of the Whitefryars.’

27 Dec. ‘Thomas Greene £10. 31 Mar. (W.). (K.) one of the Queene Ma^{tes} players.’

26 Dec.} (K.) } ‘Edwarde Jubye £40. 10 Mar. (W.). 28 Dec.} one of the (K.) } Princes Players.’ 7 Jan.} (K.) } 18 Jan.} (K.) } 9 Feb. ‘the sayd William £6 13_s._ 4_d._ 20 Jan. 1613; C. xlii. (C. E.) Rowley.’

-- -- ‘John Heminges £30. 10 Mar.; C. xl. ... for himselfe and the reste of his companie beinge restrayned from publique playinge w^{th}in the citie of London in the tyme of infecc̄on duringe the space of sixe weekes in which tyme they practised pryvately for his ma^{tes} service.’

=1610–11= (_D. A. 543, mm. 249, 250, 267; Bodl. Rawlinson MS. A. 204_).

-- (K. ‘John Hemynges £150. 12 Feb.; C. xl. Q. H. one of the Kinges 15 players.’ plays)

10 Dec.} ‘Thomas Greene £30. 18 Mar.; C. xl. (H. } one of the Quenes 3 } players ... for plays) } three seuerall 27 Dec.} playes before the (K.) } Kinges Ma^{tie} and the prince’ (_D. A._); ‘for presentinge three severall playes before the princes highnes vppon the x^{th} of Decemb: and S^t Johns daye at night 1610 before the Kinges Ma^{tie}’ (_Rawl. MS._).

19 Dec.} 28 Dec.} (K.) ‘Edwarde Jubye £40. 20 Mar.; C. xl. 14 Jan.} one of the 16 Jan.} Princes players.

12 Dec.} (C. E.)} ‘the sayd William £20. 20 Jan. 1613 (W.); C. xlii. 20 Dec.} Rowley.’ (C. E.)} 15 Dec.} (C. E.)} [Cunningham, xiii, from _Privy Purse Accounts_ of £2 10_s._ 8_d._ Henry.]‘For makinge readie the Cocke pitt fower seuerall tymes for playes by the space of fower dayes in the month of December 1610.’

CHAMBER ACCOUNTS. REVELS ACCOUNTS.[812] Cunningham, 210, from _Perfor- _Payees._ _Amount._ _Warrant._ _Audit Office, Accounts mance._ Various_, 3, 907.

=1611–12= (_D. A. 543, mm. 267–8_).

31 Oct.} By the Hallomas nyght was (K.) } ‘John Heminges £60. 1 June; Kings presented att 1 Nov.} ... for ... the C. xl. Players: Whithall before y^e (K.) } Kinges Ma^{tes} Kinges Ma^{tie} a 5 Nov.} servauntes and play called the (K.) } players.’ Tempest. 26 Dec.} The Kings The 5^{th} of (K.) } players: Nouember: A play 5 Jan.} called y^e winters (K.) } nightes Tayle. 23 Feb.} The Kings On S^t Stiuenes (K.) } players: night A play called A King [symbol] no King.

9 Nov.} ‘the sayd John £80.[813] 1 June; The Queens S^t John night A (H. C.)} Heminges.’ C. xii. players: play called the 19 Nov.} City Gallant. (H. C.)} 16 Dec.} The Princes The Sunday (H. C.)} players. followinge A play 31 Dec.} called the Almanak. (H. C.)} 7 Jan.} The Kings On Neweres night A (H. C.)} players. play called the 15 Jan.} Twiñes Tragedie. (H. C.)} 9 Feb.} (H. C.)} 20 Feb.} The The Sunday following A (H. C.)} Childern play called Cupids Reueng. 28 Feb.} of (H. C.)} Whitfriars. 3 Apr.} (H. C.)} 16 Apr.} (H. C.)}

9 Feb.} ‘the sayd John £26 13_s._ 4_d._ 1 June; By the The Sunday following (H. C. E.)} Heminges.’ C. xli. Queens [Twelfth Night] att 20 Feb.} players Grinwidg before the (H.) } and the Queen and the Prince 28 Mar.} Kings was playd the Siluer (E.) } Men. Aiedg: and y^e next 26 Apr.} night following (H. C. E.)} Lucrecia.

27 Dec.} ‘Thomas Greene £20. 18 June; By the Candelmas night A (K. Q.)} ... for ... the C. xli. Queens play called Tu 2 Feb.} Queenes Ma^{tes} players. Coque. (K. Q.)} servauntes.’

21 Jan.} ‘the sayd Thomas £13 6_s_. 8_d_. 18 June; By the Shroue Sunday: A [814] } Greene’ C. xli Kings play called the (H. E.)} players. Noblman. 23 Jan.} (H. E.)}

28 Dec.} ‘Edward Juby ... £20. 18 June; By the Shroue Munday: A (K.) } for ... the Prince C. xli. Duck of play called 29 Dec.} highnes Yorks Himens Haliday. (K.) } servauntes.’ players.

5 Feb.} ‘the sayd Edward £13 6_s._ 8_d._ 18 June; By the Shrove Tuesday A (H.) } Juby.’ C. xlii. Ladye play called the 29 Feb.} Eliza- proud Mayds (H.) } beths Tragedie. players.

11 Apr. ‘Edward Jubye ... £6 13_s._ 4_d._ 31 Mar. ‘last for ... the 1613; past’ Prynce Palatynes C. xlii. (E.) Servants.’[815]

25 Feb. ‘Alexander Foster £10. 1 Apr.; (K.) ... for ... the C. xl. Ladye Eliz. servauntes and players ... for ... the proud Mayde.’

19 Jan.} ‘the sayd £13 6_s._ 8_d._ 1 Apr.; (H. E.)} Alexander C. xl. 11 Mar.} Foster.’ (H. E.)}

12 Jan. } ‘Willm̄ Rowley £26 13_s._ 4_d._ 20 June (W.); (H. C. E.)} ... for ... the C. xlii. 28 Jan. } Duke of Yorkes (H. C. E.)} Servauntes 13 Feb. } and Players.’ (H. C. E.)} 24 Feb. } [816] } (H. C. E.)}

[Cunningham, xiv, £1 14_s._ 4_d._ from _Privy Purse Accounts_ of Henry.] ‘For makeinge readie the Cockepitt for a playe by the space of twoe dayes in the month of December 1611.’

‘For makinge £3 10_s._ 8_d._ readie the Cockepitt for playes twoe severall tymes by the space of ffower dayes in the monethes of January and February 1611.’

=1612–13= (_D. A. 544, m. 14; Bodl. Rawlinson MS. A. 239, ff. 46^v-48_).

8 June. ‘John Hemynges £6 13_s._ 4_d._ 9 July; ... for ... the C. xliii. kinges Ma^{tes} Players for presentinge a playe before the Duke Savoyes Ambassado^{es}’; _Rawl. MS._ ‘a playe ... called Cardenna’.

-- ‘To him [Hemynges] £93 6_s._ 8_d._ 20 May; (C. E. more’; _Rawl. MS._ C. xliii. F., 14 ‘fowerteene plays) severall playes, viz: one playe called ffilaster, One other called the knott of ffooles, One other Much adoe aboute nothinge, The Mayeds Tragedy, The merye dyvell of Edmonton, The Tempest, A kinge and no kinge, The Twins Tragedie, The Winters Tale, Sir John ffalstaffe, The Moore of Venice, The Nobleman, Caesars Tragedye, And on other called Love lyes a bleedinge’.

-- ‘the sayd John £60. 20 May; (K., 6 Heminges’; _Rawl. C. xliii. plays) MS._ ‘Sixe severall playes, viz: one play called a badd beginininge makes a good endinge, One other called y^e Capteyne, One other the Alcumist. One other Cardenno, One other the Hotspur, And one other called Benedicte and Betteris’.

2 Mar.} ‘Willm̄ Rowley £13 6_s._ 8_d._ 7 June; [817] } ... for ... the C. xlii. (C. E. } Prynces F.) } servantes’; _Rawl. 10 Mar.} MS._ ‘One called (C. E. } the first parte F.) } of the Knaues ... And one other playe called the second parte of the Knaues’.

25 Feb.} ‘Josephe Taylor £13 6_s._ 8_d._ 28 June; (C. E. } ... for ... the C. xliii. F.) } Ladie Elizabeth 1 Mar.} hir servantes’; (C. E. } _Rawl. MS._ ‘one F.) } playe called Cockle de moye ... and one other called Raymond Duke of Lyons’.

-- ‘Phillip Rosseter £6 13_s._ 4_d._ 24 Nov.; (C. E. for ... a play by C. xlii. F.) [2 the Children of or 3 the Chappell’; Nov.?] _Rawl. MS._ ‘for ... the Children of the Queens Majestys Revels, for ... a Commedye called the Coxcombe’.

9 Jan.} ‘To him more ... £13 6_s._ 8_d._ 31 May; (C. E. } for ... two other C. xlii. F.) } playes by the 27 Feb.} Children of the (C. E. } Chappell’; _Rawl. F.) } MS._ ‘one called Cupidds revenge, and the other called the Widdowes Teares’.

1 Jan. ‘The sayd Phillip £10. 31 May. ‘1613’ Rosseter ... for (K.) ... a play by the said Children’; _Rawl. MS._ ‘called Cupides Revenge’. [Sullivan, 139, from _Accounts_ of Elizabeth 29 Sept. 1612 to 25 March 1613 in _Exchequer of Receipt Misc._, Bundle 343.]

-- ‘To her gracs £5. [Oct. plaiers for 20?] acting a Comedie [818] in the Cocke pitt w^{ch} her highnes lost to M^r Edward Sackvile on a wager.’

=1613–14= (_D. A. 544, m. 29_).

4 Nov.} (C.) } 16 Nov.} (C.) } ‘John Heminges £46 13_s._ 0_d._ 21 June; 10 Jan.} and the rest of [819] C. xliii. (C.) } his fellowes his 4 Feb.} Ma^{tes} servaunts (C.) } the Players.’ 8 Feb.} (C.) } 10 Feb.} (C.) } 18 Feb.} (C.) } ‘1614’.}

1 Nov.} ‘the said John £90. 21 June; (K.) } Heminges and the C. xliii. ‘1614’.} rest of his 5 Nov.} fellowes.’ (K.) } 15 Nov.} (K.) } 27 Dec.} (K.) } 1 Jan.} (K.) } 4 Jan.} (K.) } 2 Feb.} (K.) } 6 Mar.} (K.) } 8 Mar.} (K.) }

24 Dec.} ‘Robƃte Lee and £20. 21 June (W.); [820] } the rest of his C. xliii. (K.) } fellowes the 5 Jan.} Queenes Ma^{tes} (K.) } servauntes the Play^iers.’

25 Jan. ‘Joseph Taylor £10. 21 June (W.); (K.) for himselfe and C. xliv. the rest of his fellowes servaunts to the Lady Eliz’ her grace ... for presenting ... a Comedy called Eastward howe.’

12 Dec. ‘To him [Taylor] £6 13_s._ 4_d._ 21 June (W.); (C.) more ... for C. xliv. presenting ... a comedy called the Dutch Curtezan.’

=1614–15= (_D. A. 544, mm. 47, 48, 65_).[821]

-- (K. ‘John Hemynges £80. 19 May; 8 plays) ... in the behalfe C. xiii of himselfe and (19 May ‘1613’). his fellowes the Kinges ma^{tes} players.’

-- (K. ‘Roberte Leigh.’ £30. Apr. (W.). 3 plays) [822]

-- (K. } ‘Edward Juby in £26 13_s._ 4_d._ 15 Apr. 2 plays)} the behalfe of (C.) } himselfe and the reste of his fellowes the Palsgraves players.’

-- (C. ‘Willm̄ Rowley £43 6_s._ 8_d._ 17 May. 6 plays) one of the Princes players.’ 1 Nov. (K.) ‘Nathan ffeilde £10. 11 June; [_Pipe Office D. A._ in the behalfe of C. xliv. (_Revels_), 2805.] himselfe and the ‘Canvas for the rest of his Boothes and other fellowes ... for necessaries for a ... Bartholomewe play called Fayre.’ Bartholmewe Faire.’

=1615–16= (_D. A. 544, mm. 66, 77_).

Between ‘John Heminges £140. 24 Apr. 1 Nov. and the rest of 1617.[823] and his fellowes the 1 Apr. Kings Ma^{tes} (K. Q. Players.’ 14 plays)

-- ‘Roberte Lee and £40. 20 May (G.). (K. his fellowes the 4 plays) Queenes Ma^{tes} Servauntes.’

-- ‘Alexander Foster £26 13_s._ 4_d._ 29 Apr. (W.). (C. one of the Princes 4 plays) highnes Players.’

[A. F. Westcott, _New Poems of James I_, lxxii, from _Accounts_ of Anne for Apr. 1615–Jan. 1616.]

17 Dec. ‘Ellis Worth one £10. 7 Jan. (Q.) of her Ma^{tes} plaiers for so much paid vnto him in the behalfe of himselfe and the rest of his fellowes of that companie for one plaie acted before her ma^{tie} [at] Queenes Court.’

21 Dec. ‘John Heminge one £10. 22 Jan. (Q.) of the Kinge Ma^{tes} plaiers for so much paid vnto him in the behalfe of himselfe and the reste of his fellowes of that companie for one plaie acted before her Ma^{tie} at Queenes Court.’

APPENDIX C

DOCUMENTS OF CRITICISM

[There is much vain repetition in learned controversy, whether literary or ethical. I have attempted, by extract or summary, to indicate the main critical positions taken up by writers of different schools with regard to plays, and at the same time to preserve the incidental information which they furnish on points of stage history. It does not seem to me necessary to do more than cite, as of minor importance, and practically adding nothing, T. Becon, _The Catechisme_ (1564, _Works_, i, f. cccccxxxii); E. Hake, _Merry Maidens of London_ (1567), _A Touchstone for this Time_ (1574), sig. G 4^v; E. Dering, _Catechisme for Householders_ (1572); T. Brasbridge, _Poor Man’s Jewel_ (1578); R. Crowley, _Unlawful Practises of Prelates_ (> 1583), sig. B 3^v; N. Bownde, _Doctrine of the Sabbath_ (1595), 211; J. Norden, _Progress of Piety_ (1596, ed. _Parker Soc._), 177; T. Beard, _Theatre of God’s Judgments_ (1597), 193, 197, 374; W. Vaughan, _The Golden Grove_ (1600), i. 51; F. Hering, _Rules for the Prevention of the Sickness_ (1603), sig. A 4^v; R. Knolles, _Six Books of a Commonweal_ (1606, from J. Bodin, _Six Livres de la République_, 1576–8, 1601), vi. 1; W. Perkins, _Cases of Conscience_ (1608, ed. T. Pickering), 118; R. Bolton, _Discourse of True Happiness_ (1611), 73; L. Bayly, _Practice of Piety_ (_c._ 1612, ed. Webster, 1842), 182, 190; O. Lake, _Probe Theologicall upon the Commandments_ (1612), 267; J. Dod and R. Cleaver, _Exposition of the Ten Commandments_ (1612); G. Wither, _Abuses Stript and Whipt_ (1613), ii. 3; D. Dyke, _Michael and the Dragon_ (1615), 216. Probably such references could be multiplied indefinitely; they show how dread of the stage became a commonplace of pastoral theology. Thomas Spark’s _Rehearsal Sermon_ (1579) is only known from the citation of it by Munday (cf. No. xxvii, _infra_).]

i. 1489 (?). DESIDERIUS ERASMUS.

[From _Epistola_ 31, to an unnamed friend (P. S. Allen, _Opus Epistolarum Des. Erasmi Roterodami_, i. 123), conjecturally dated by Mr. Allen in 1489. Erasmus more briefly commends the educational use both of Terence and Plautus in _De Ratione Studii_ (1511, _Opera_, i. 521). In 1532 he edited Terence, and to the same year belongs _Epist._ 1238 (_Opera_, iii. 2, 1457), which praises the comedies without re-arguing at length the ethical controversy; cf. W. H. Woodward, _Desiderius Erasmus concerning the Aim and Method of Education_ (1904), 28, 39, 113, 164.]

Est enim in his Terentianis comoediis mirifica quaedam sermonis puritas, proprietas, elegantia ac, vt in tam antiquo comico, horroris minimum; lepos (sine quo rustica est omnis, quantumuis phalerata, oratio) et vrbanus et salsus. Aut hoc igitur magistro aut nemine discere licebit quo pacto veteres illi Latini, qui nunc vel nobis peius balbutiunt, locuti sint. Hunc itaque tibi non modo etiam atque etiam lectitandum censeo, verumetiam ad verbum ediscendum.

Caue autem ne homuncionum istorum imperitulorum, imo liuidulorum garritus te quicquam permoueant, qui vbi in ineptissimis authoribus Florista, Ebrardo Graecista, Huguitione se senuisse viderunt, nec tantis ambagibus ex imperitiae labyrintho potuisse emergere, id vnicum suae stulticiae solatium proponunt, si in eundem errorem suum iuniores omnes pelliciant. Nefas aiunt a Christianis lectitari Terentianas fabulas. Quam ob rem tandem quaeso? Nihil, inquiunt, praeter lasciuiam ac turpissimos adolescentum amores habent, quibus lectoris animum corrumpi necesse sit. Facile vnde libet corrumpitur qui corruptus accesserit. Syncerum nisi vas, quodcunque infundis acescit. Itane isti religiosuli ad caetera vel vtilissima talpis caeciores, ad vnam, si qua est, lasciuiam capreae sunt? Imo capri ac stolidi nihil sibi praeter nequitiam, qua sola imbuti sunt (indocti quippe iidemque mali), rapientes, non vident quanta illic sit moralitas, quanta vitae instituendae tacita exhortatio, quanta sententiarum venustas. Neque intelligunt totum hoc scripti genus ad coarguenda mortalium vitia accommodatum, imo adeo inuentum. Quid enim sunt comoediae, nisi seruus nugator, adolescens amore insanus, meretrix blanda ac procax, senex difficilis, morosus, auarus? Haec nobis in fabulis, perinde atque in tabula, proponuntur depicta; vt, quum in moribus hominum quid deceat, quid dedeceat, viderimus, alterum amemus alterum castigemus. En, in Eunucho Phaedria ille ex summa continentia in summam ineptiam amore, tanquam morbo validissimo, immutatus, adeo vt eundem esse non cognoscas; quam pulchro exemplo docet amorem rem esse et miserrimam et anxiam, instabilem et prorsus insaniae turpissimae plenam. Assentatores istos, pestilens hominum genus, Gnatonem suum, artis suae principem, spectare iubeto. Iactabundi et sibi placentes, quales diuitum plerosque imperitos videmus, Thrasonem suum spectent ac tandem cum sua magnificentia quam ridiculi sint intelligant.

Sed de his latius (quum [quae] de litteris scripsimus edemus) nostra leges, volente quidem Deo. Ad praesentem locum satis fuerit tetigisse comoedias Terentianas; modo recte legantur, non modo non ad subuertendos mores, verum etiam ad corrigendos maximopere valere, certe ad Latine discendum plane necessarias iudicauerim. An potius istud ex Catholicon, Huguitione, Ebrardo, Papia caeterisque ineptioribus sperare iubebunt? Mirum vero si his authoribus quis quid Latine dicat, cum ipsi nihil non barbare locuti sint. Huiusmodi amplectatur, qui balbutire volet; qui loqui cupiet, Terentium dicat, quem Cicero, quem Quintilianus, quem Hieronymus, quem Augustinus, quem Ambrosius et iuuenes didicere et senes vsi sunt; quem denique nemo, nisi barbarus, non amauit.

ii. 1523–31. IOHANNES LUDOVICUS VIVES.

(_a_)

[From Commentary on St. Augustine, _De Civitate Dei_ (1522), viii. 27. The book was placed on the _Index Expurgatorius_, ‘donec corrigatur’, and Rainolds, _Th’ Overthrow of Stage-Playes_, 161, says that this was one of the offending passages. Vives, a Spaniard by birth, was lecturer at Louvain 1520–3, mainly in England 1523–8, and at Bruges 1528–31.]

At qui mos nunc est, quo tempore sacrum celebratur Christi morte sua genus humanum liberantis, ludos nihil prope a scenicis illis veteribus differentes populo exhibere, etiam si aliud non dixero satis turpe existimabit quisquis audiet, ludos fieri in re maxime seria. Ibi ridetur Iudas, quam potest ineptissima iactans, dum Christum prodit: ibi discipuli fugiunt militibus persequentibus, nec sine cachinnis et actorum et spectatorum: ibi Petrus auriculam rescindit Malcho, applaudente pullata turba, ceu ita vindicetur Christi captiuitas. Et post paulum, qui tam strenue modo dimicarat, rogationibus unius ancillulae territus abnegat magistrum, ridente multitudine ancillam interrogantem, et exibilante Petrum negantem. Inter tot ludentes, inter tot cachinnos et ineptias solus Christus est serius et seuerus. Quumque affectus conatur moestos elicere, nescio quo pacto non ibi tantum, sed etiam ad sacra frigefacit, magno scelere atque impietate, non tam eorum qui vel spectant vel agunt, quam sacerdotum, qui eiusmodi fieri curant. Sed hisce de rebus loquemur forsan commodiore loco.

(_b_)

[From _De Tradendis Disciplinis_, iii. 6 (1531, _Opera_, vi. 328).]

After comparing the Latinity of Plautus and Terence for school purposes, he adds:

Ex vtroque cuperem resecta quae pueriles animos iis vitiis possent polluere ad quae naturae quasi nutu quodam vergimus.

(_c_)

[From _De Causis Corruptarum Artium_, ii. 4 (1531, _Opera_, vi. 99).]

Venit in scenam poesis, populo ad spectandum congregato, et ibi sicut pictor tabulam proponit multitudini spectandam, ita poeta imaginem quandam vitae; vt merito Plutarchus de his dixerit, Poema esse picturam loquentem, et picturam poema tacens, ita magister est populi, et pictor, et poeta: corrupta est haec ars, quod ab insectatione flagitiorum et scelerum transiit ad obsequium prauae affectionis, vt quaecunque odisset poeta, in eum linguae ac stili intemperantia abuteretur: cui iniuriae atque insolentiae itum est obuiam, primum a diuitibus potentia sua, et opibus, hinc legibus, quibus cauebatur, ne quis in alium noxium carmen pangeret: tum inuolucris coepit tegi fabula; paullatim res tota ad ludicra, et in vulgum plausibilia, est traducta, ad amores, ad fraudes meretricum, ad periuria lenonis, ad militis ferociam et glorias; quae quum dicerentur cuneis refertis puerorum, puellarum, mulierum, turba opificum hominum, et rudium, mirum quam vitiabantur mores ciuitatis admonitione illa, et quasi incitatione ad flagitia, praesertim quum comici semper catastrophen laetam adderent amoribus, et impudicitiae; nam si quando addidissent tristes exitus, deterruissent ab iis actibus spectatores, quibus euentus esset paratus acerbissimus. In quo sapientior fuit qui nostra lingua scripsit Celestinam tragicomoediam; nam progressui amorum, et illis gaudiis voluptatis, exitum annexuit amarissimum, nempe amatorum, lenae, lenonum casus et neces violentas: neque vero ignorarunt olim fabularum scriptores turpia esse quae scriberent, et moribus iuuentutis damnosa ... Recentiores in linguis vernaculis multo, mea quidem sententia, excellunt veteres in argumento deligendo. Nullae fere exhibentur nunc publicae fabulae quae non delectationem vtilitate coniungant.

iii. 1531. SIR THOMAS ELYOT.

[From _The Governour_, i. 13 (ed. H. H. S. Croft, i. 123).]

‘They whiche be ignoraunt in poetes wyll perchaunce obiecte, as is their maner, agayne these verses [Horace, _Epist._ ii. 1. 126–31], sayeng that in Therence and other that were writers of comedies, also Ouide, Catullus, Martialis, and all that route of lasciuious poetes that wrate epistles and ditties of loue, some called in latine _Elegiæ_ and some _Epigrammata_, is nothyng contayned but incitation to lechery.

First, comedies, whiche they suppose to be a doctrinall of rybaudrie, they be undoutedly a picture or as it were a mirrour of man’s life, wherin iuell is nat taught but discouered; to the intent that men beholdynge the promptnes of youth unto vice, the snares of harlotts and baudes laid for yonge myndes, the disceipte of seruantes, the chaunces of fortune contrary to mennes expectation, they beinge therof warned may prepare them selfe to resist or preuente occasion. Semblably remembring the wisedomes, aduertisements, counsailes, dissuasion from vice, and other profitable sentences, most eloquently and familiarely shewed in those comedies, undoubtedly there shall be no litle frute out of them gathered. And if the vices in them expressed shulde be cause that myndes of the reders shulde be corrupted: than by the same argumente nat only entreludes in englisshe, but also sermones, wherin some vice is declared, shulde be to the beholders and herers like occasion to encreace sinners.’ Quotes Terence, _Eunuchus_, v. 4. 8–18, on the moral end of comedy and virtuous counsel from Plautus, _Amphitruo_, ii. 2. 17–21; Ovid, _Remedia Amoris_, 131–6; and Martial, _Epigr._ xii. 34. ‘Wherfore sens good and wise mater may be picked out of these poetes, it were no reason, for some lite mater that is in their verses, to abandone therefore al their warkes, no more than it were to forbeare or prohibite a man to come into a faire gardein, leste the redolent sauours of swete herbes and floures shall meue him to wanton courage, or leste in gadringe good and holsome herbes he may happen to be stunge with a nettile. No wyse man entreth in to a gardein but he sone espiethe good herbes from nettiles, and treadeth the nettiles under his feete whiles he gadreth good herbes. Wherby he taketh no damage, or if he be stungen he maketh lite of it and shortly forgetteth it. Semblablye if he do rede wanton mater mixte with wisedome, he putteth the warst under foote and sorteth out the beste, or, if his courage be stered or prouoked, he remembreth the litel pleasure and gret detriment that shulde ensue of it, and withdrawynge his minde to some other studie or exercise shortly forgetteth it.... So all thoughe I do nat approue the lesson of wanton poetes to be taughte unto all children, yet thynke I conuenient and necessary that, when the mynde is become constante and courage is asswaged, or that children of their naturall disposition be shamfaste and continent, none auncient poete wolde be excluded from the leesson of suche one as desireth to come to the perfection of wysedome.’

iv. c. 1538 (?). NICHOLAS UDALL.

[From Prologue to _Roister Doister_ (? 1566–7).]

What Creature is in health, eyther yong or olde, But som mirth with modestie wil be glad to use As we in thys Enterlude shall now unfolde, Wherin all scurilitie we utterly refuse, Avoiding such mirth wherin is abuse: Knowing nothing more comendable for a mans recreation Than Mirth which is used in an honest fashion:

For Myrth prolongeth lyfe, and causeth health. Mirth recreates our spirites and voydeth pensivenesse, Mirth increaseth amitie, not hindring our wealth, Mirth is to be used both of more and lesse, Being mixed with vertue in decent comlynesse. As we trust no good nature can gainsay the same: Which mirth we intende to use, avoidyng all blame.

The wyse Poets long time heretofore, Under merrie Comedies secretes did declare, Wherein was contained very vertuous lore, With mysteries and forewarnings very rare. Suche to write neither _Plautus_ nor _Terence_ dyd spare, Whiche among the learned at this day beares the bell: These with such other therein dyd excell.

v. 1551. MARTIN BUCER.

[From _De honestis ludis_, a section of _De Regno Christi_, presented to Edward VI by Bucer, who was then Regius Professor of Divinity at Cambridge, on 1 Jan. 1551, printed in 1557, and again in _Scripta Anglicana_ (1577), ii. 54.]

Poterit iuuentus etiam exerceri agendo comoedias et tragoedias: populisque his honesta, et ad augendam pietatem non inutilis exhiberi oblectatio: sed piis, et ad regnum Christi doctis atque sapientibus viris opus fuerit, qui comoedias eas atque tragoedias componant: in quibus nimirum eiusmodi imitatio repraesentetur, consiliorum, actionum, atque euentuum humanorum, siue communium et vulgarium, vt fit in comoediis: sive singularium et qui sint maioris admirationis, quod proprium est tragoediae, quae ad certam morum correctionem, et piam conserat vitae institutionem.

Vt si comoedia repraesentetur iurgium pastorum Abrahae et Lot, atque horum a se inuicem discessio.... In huiusmodi comoedia tractari possent, et vtili ad piam institutionem oblectatione repraesentari, hi loci.... Ad eundem modum suppeditet piae comoediae vberem sane et aedificandae pietati peridoneam materiam, historia quaesitae, obtentae et adductae Isaaco sponsae Ribkae: ex hac enim historia queat describi pia parentum cura, quaerendi liberis suis religiosa connubia: fides bona et officiositas proborum seruorum.... Non dissimile argumentum desumi queat et ex ea historiae de Iacobo parti qua describitur, vt metu fratris, relictis parentibus, ad Labam auunculum suum concesserit....

Tragoediis, Scripturae vbique perquam copiosam offerunt materiam, historiis prope omnibus S. Patrum, regum, Prophetarum et Apostolorum inde ab Adam vsque, primo humani generis parente. Omnino enim refertae sunt hae historiae diuinis et heroicis personis, affectionibus, moribus, actionibus, euentibus quoque inexpectatis, atque in contrarium quam expectarentur cadentibus, quae Aristoteles vocat περιπετείας. Quae omnia cum mirificam vim habeant fidem in Deum confirmandi, et amorem studiumque Dei accendendi admirationem item pietatis atque iusticiae, et horrorem impietatis, omnisque peruersitatis ingenerandi atque augendi: quanto magis deceat Christianos, ut ex his sua poemata sumant, quibus magna et illustria hominum consilia, conatus, ingenium, affectus atque casus repraesentent, quam ex impiis ethnicorum vel fabulis vel historiis! Adhibendae autem sunt in vtroque genere poematum, comico et tragico, vt cum hominum vitia et peccata describuntur, et actione quasi oculis conspicienda exhibentur, id fiat ea ratione, vt quamuis perditorum hominum referantur scelera, tamen terror quidam in his diuini iudicii, et horror appareat peccati: non exprimantur exultans in scelere oblectatio, atque confidens audacia. Praestat hinc detrahere aliquid decoro poetico, quam curae aedificandi pietate spectatores; quae poscit vt in omni peccati repraesentatione sentiantur, conscientiae propriae condemnatio, et a iudicio Dei horrenda trepidatio.

At dum piae et probae exhibentur actiones, in his debet exprimi quam clarissime sensus divinae misericordiae laetus, securaque et confidens, moderata tamen, et diffidens sibi exultansque in Deo fiducia promissionum Dei cum sancta et spirituali in recte faciendo voluptate. Hac enim ratione sanctorum et ingenia, et mores, et affectus, ad instaurandam in populo omnem pietatem ac virtutem, quam scitissima imitatione repraesentantur. Eum autem fructum vt Christi populus ex sanctis comoediis et tragoediis percipiant praeficiendi et huic rei erunt viri, vt horum poematum singulariter intelligentes, ita etiam explorati et constantis studii in regnum Christi: ne qua omnino agatur comoedia, aut tragoedia, quam hi non ante perspectam decreuerint agendam.

Hi quoque curabunt, ne quid leue aut histrionicum in agendo admittatur: sed omnia exhibeantur sancta quadam, et graui, iucunda tamen, sanctis duntaxat, actione: qua repraesententur non tam res ipsae, et actiones hominum, affectus et perturbationes, quam mores et ingenia: ac ita repraesententur, vt excitetur in spectatoribus studiosa imitatio: eorum autem quae secus sunt instituta et facta, confirmetur detestatio, et excitetur declinatio vigilantior.

His observatis cautionibus, poterit sane multa, nec minus ad virtutem alendam prouehendamque, vtilis ludendi materia iuuentuti praeberi, maxime cum studium et cura eiusmodi et comoediarum et tragoediarum excitata fuerit, cum lingua vernacula, tum etiam lingua Latina et Graeca. Extant nunc aliquot non poenitendae huius generis comoediae et tragoediae, in quibus, etiamsi docti mundi huius desiderent in comoediis illud acumen, eumque leporem, et sermonis venustatem, quem admirantur in Aristophanis, Terentii, Plautique fabulis: in tragoediis, grauitatem, versutiam, orationisque elegantiam, Sophoclis, Euripidis, Senecae: docti tamen ad regnum Dei, et qui viuendi Deo sapientiam discere student, non desiderant in his nostrorum hominum poematis doctrinam coelestem, affectus, mores, orationem, casusque dignos filiis Dei. Optandum tamen, vt quibus Deus plus dedit in his rebus praestare, vt id mallent ad eius gloriam explicare, quam aliorum pia studia intempestiuis reprehensionibus suis retardare: atque ducere satius, comoedias atque tragoedias exhibere, quibus si minus ars poetica, scientia tamen vitae aeternae praeclare exhibetur, quam quibus vt ingenii linguaeque cultus aliquid iuuatur, ita animus et mores impia atque foeda et scurrili mutatione conspurcantur.

vi. 1559. WILLIAM BAVANDE.

[From _A Woork of Ioannes Ferrarius Montanus touchynge the good orderynge of a Common-weale_, translated from the _De Republica bene instituenda Paraenesis_, published by Ferrarius, a Marburg jurist, in 1556.]

[Extracts] f. 81. ‘The laste of all [the seven handicrafts in a commonweal] is the exercise of stage plaiyng, where the people use to repaire to beholde plaies, as well priuate as publique, whiche be set forthe partlie to delight, partlie to move us to embrace ensamples of vertue and goodnesse, and to eschue vice and filthie liuyng’ ... f. 100^v. ‘_Chapter viii, Concernyng Scaffolds and Pageauntes of divers games and plaies and how farre thei be to be allowed, and set forthe in a Citee_.... Plaies, set foorthe either upon stages, or in open Merket places, or els where, for menne to beholde. Whiche, as thei doe sometime profite, so likewise thei tourne to great harme, if thei be not used in such sorte, as is bothe ciuill and semely in a citee, whiche wee dooe abuse, when anythyng is set foorthe openly, that is uncleanlie, unchaste, shamefull, cruell, wicked, and not standyng with honestie.... Soche pastimes therefore muste bee set foorthe in a commonweale, as doe minister unto us good ensamples, wherin delight and profite be matched togither.... It is a commendable and lawfull thing to bee at plaies, but at soche tymes as when we be unoccupied with grave and seuere affaires, not onely for our pleasure and minde sake, but that hauyng little to doe, we maie learne that, whiche shall bee our furtheraunce in vertue.... There shall be no Tragedie, no Comedie, nor any other kinde of plaie, but it maie encrease the discipline of good maners, if by the helpe of reason and zeale of honestie, it bee well emploied. Which then is doen, when, if thou either hearest, or seest anything committed that is euill, cruell, vilanous, and unseamely for a good manne, thou learnest thereby to beware and understandest that it is not onely a shame to committe any soche thinge but also that it shall be reuenged with euerlasting death. Contrariwise, if thou doest espie any thing dooen or saied well, manfully, temperatly, soberly, iustly, godlilye, & vertuously, thou ... maiest labour to doe that thyself, whiche thou likest in another.... With whiche discrecion, who so beholdeth Tragedies, Comedies, ... plaies of histories, holie or prophane, or any pageaunt, on stage or on grounde, shall not mispende his time. But like as a Bee of diuers floures, that be of theire owne nature of smalle use, gathereth the swetenes of her honie: so thence gathereth he that which is commodious for the trade of his life, ioigneth it with his painfull trauaile, and declareth that soche histories and exercises bee the eloquence of the bodie.’

vii. 1563–8. ROGER ASCHAM.

[From _The Scholemaster_ (1570), as reprinted in W. A. Wright, _English Works of Roger Ascham_ (1904), 171. The tract, which was largely based on the teaching of Ascham’s friend John Sturm, was begun as a New Year gift for Elizabeth in December 1563, and left unfinished at the author’s death in 1568. The best modern edition is by J. E. B. Mayor (1863).]

_The first booke teachyng the brynging vp of youth_.... P. 185. In the earliest stage of Latin, Ascham ‘would haue the Scholer brought vp withall, till he had red, & translated ouer y^e first booke of [Cicero’s] Epistles chosen out by _Sturmius_, with a good peece of a Comedie of _Terence_ also.... P. 208. There be som seruing men do but ill seruice to their yong masters. Yea, rede _Terence_ and _Plaut_. aduisedlie ouer, and ye shall finde in those two wise writers, almost in euery commedie, no vnthriftie yong man, that is not brought there vnto, by the sotle inticement of som lewd seruant. And euen now in our dayes _Getae_ and _Daui_, _Gnatos_ and manie bold bawdie _Phormios_ to, be preasing in, to pratle on euerie stage, to medle in euerie matter, when honest _Parmenos_ shall not be hard, but beare small swing with their masters.... _The second booke teachyng the ready way to the Latin tong_.... P. 238. Read dayly vnto him ... some Comedie of _Terence_ or _Plautus_: but in _Plautus_, skilfull choice must be vsed by the master, to traine his Scholler to a iudgement, in cutting out perfitelie ouer old and vnproper wordes.... On _Imitatio_ ... P. 266. The whole doctrine of Comedies and Tragedies, is a perfite _imitation_, or faire liuelie painted picture of the life of euerie degree of man.... One of the best examples, for right _Imitation_ we lacke, and that is _Menander_, whom our _Terence_ (as the matter required) in like argument, in the same Persons, with equall eloquence, foote by foote did follow. Som peeces remaine, like broken Iewelles, whereby men may rightlie esteme, and iustlie lament, the losse of the whole.... P. 276. In Tragedies, (the goodliest Argument of all, and for the vse, either of a learned preacher, or a Ciuill Ientleman, more profitable than _Homer_, _Pindar_, _Vergill_, and _Horace_: yea comparable in myne opinion, with the doctrine of _Aristotle_, _Plato_, and _Xenophon_,) the _Grecians_, _Sophocles_ and _Euripides_ far ouer match our _Seneca_, in _Latin_, namely in οἱκονομία _et Decoro_, although _Senecaes_ elocution and verse be verie commendable for his tyme.’ ... P. 284. Ascham describes some contemporary Latin tragedies.... P. 286. ‘Of this short tyme of any pureness of the Latin tong, for the first fortie yeare of it, and all the tyme before, we haue no peece of learning left, saue _Plautus_ and _Terence_, with a litle rude vnperfit pamflet of the elder _Cato_. And as for _Plautus_, except the scholemaster be able to make wise and ware choice, first in proprietie of wordes, then in framing of phrases and sentences, and chieflie in choice of honestie of matter, your scholer were better to play, then learne all that is in him. But surelie, if iudgement for the tong, and direction for the maners, be wisely ioyned with the diligent reading of _Plautus_, than trewlie _Plautus_, for that purenesse of the Latin tong in Rome, whan Rome did most florish in wel doing, and so thereby, in well speaking also, is soch a plentifull storehouse, for common eloquence, in meane matters, and all priuate mens affaires, as the Latin tong, for that respect, hath not the like agayne. Whan I remember the worthy tyme of Rome, wherein _Plautus_ did liue, I must nedes honor the talke of that tyme, which we see _Plautus_ doth vse. _Terence_ is also a storehouse of the same tong, for an other tyme, following soone after, & although he be not so full & plentiful as _Plautus_ is, for multitude of matters, & diuersitie of wordes, yet his wordes, be chosen so purelie, placed so orderly, and all his stuffe so neetlie packed vp, and wittely compassed in euerie place, as, by all wise mens iudgement, he is counted the cunninger workeman, and to haue his shop, for the rowme that is in it, more finely appointed, and trimlier ordered, than _Plautus_ is.... The matter in both, is altogether within the compasse of the meanest mens maners, and doth not stretch to any thing of any great weight at all, but standeth chiefly in vtteryng the thoughtes and conditions of hard fathers, foolish mothers, vnthrifty yong men, craftie seruantes, sotle bawdes, and wilie harlots, and so, is moch spent, in finding out fine fetches, and packing vp pelting matters, soch as in London commonlie cum to the hearing of the Masters of Bridewell. Here is base stuffe for that scholer, that should becum hereafter, either a good minister in Religion, or a Ciuill Ientleman in seruice of his Prince and contrie: except the preacher do know soch matters to confute them, whan ignorance surelie in all soch thinges were better for a Ciuill Ientleman, than knowledge. And thus, for matter, both Plautus and Terence, be like meane painters, that worke by halfes, and be cunning onelie, in making the worst part of the picture, as if one were skilfull in painting the bodie of a naked person, from the nauell downward, but nothing else.’

viii. 1565. WILLIAM ALLEY.

[From _Miscellanea_ of notes to a _Praelectio_ of 1561 in Πτωχὸμυσεȋον: _The Poore Mans Librarie_ (1565). On Alley, v. ch. xxiii, s.v.]

Alas, are not almost al places in these daies replenished with iuglers, scoffers, iesters, plaiers, which may say and do what they lust, be it neuer so fleshly and filthy? and yet suffred and heard with laughing and clapping of handes.

ix. 1565–71. RICHARD EDWARDES.

[The Prologue to _Damon and Pithias_. It appears from the title-page that this had been ‘somewhat altered’ between the production of the play in 1565 and its publication in 1571; cf. ch. xxiii.]

On euerie syde, wheras I glaunce my rouyng eye, Silence in all eares bent I playnty do espie: But if your egre lookes doo longe suche toyes to see, As heretofore in commycall wise, were wont abroade to bee: Your lust is lost, and all the pleasures that you sought, Is frustrate quite of toying Playes. A soden change is wrought. For loe, our Authors Muse, that masked in delight, Hath forst his Penne agaynst his kinde, no more suche sportes to write. Muse he that lust, (right worshipfull) for chaunce hath made this change, For that to some he seemed too muche, in yonge desires to range: In whiche, right glad to please, seyng that he did offende, Of all he humblie pardon craues: his Pen that shall amende: And yet (worshipfull Audience,) thus much I dare aduouche. In Commedies, the greatest Skyll is this, rightly to touche All thynges to the quicke: and eke to frame eche person so, That by his common talke, you may his nature rightly knowe: A Royster ought not preache, that were to straunge to heare, But as from vertue he doth swerue, so ought his woordes appeare: The olde man is sober, the yonge man rashe, the Louer triumphyng in ioyes, The Matron graue, the Harlot wilde and full of wanton toyes. Whiche all in one course they [in] no wise doo agree: So correspondent to their kinde their speeches ought to bee. Which speeches well pronounste, with action liuely framed, If this offende the lookers on, let _Horace_ then be blamed, Which hath our Author taught at Schole, from whom he doth not swarue, In all suche kinde of exercise decorum to obserue, Thus much for his defence (he sayth) as Poetes earst haue donne, Which heretofore in Commedies the selfe same rase did ronne: But now for to be briefe, the matter to expresse, Which here wee shall present: is this _Damon_ and _Pithias_, A rare ensample of Friendship true, it is no Legend lie, But a thinge once donne in deede as Hystories doo discrie, Whiche doone of yore in longe time past, yet present shalbe here, Euen as it were in dooynge now, so liuely it shall appeare: Lo here in _Siracusae_ thauncient Towne, which once the Romaines wonne, Here _Dionysius_ Pallace, within whose Courte this thing most strange was donne, Which matter mixt with myrth and care, a iust name to applie, As seemes most fit wee haue it termed, a Tragicall Commedie, Wherein talkyng of Courtly toyes, wee doo protest this flat, Wee talke of _Dionysius_ Courte, wee meane no Court but that, And that wee doo so meane, who wysely calleth to minde. The time, the place, the Authours here most plainely shall it finde, Loe this I speake for our defence, lest of others wee should be shent: But worthy Audience, wee you pray, take thinges as they be ment, Whose vpright Judgement wee doo craue, with heedefull eare and eye, To here the cause, and see theffect of this newe Tragicall Commedie.

x. 1566. LEWIS WAGER.

[From Prologue to _The Life and Repentance of Marie Magdalene_ (1566). cf. ch. xxiii.]

We and other persons haue exercised l. 10. This comely and good facultie a long season, Which of some haue bene spitefully despised; Wherefore, I thinke, they can alleage no reason. Where affect ruleth, there good iudgement is geason. They neuer learned the verse of Horace doubtles, Nec tua laudabis studia, aut aliena reprehendes....

I maruell why they should detract our facultie: l. 24. We haue ridden and gone many sundry waies; Yea, we haue vsed this feate at the vniuersitie; Yet neither wise nor learned would it dispraise: ...

Doth not our facultie learnedly extoll vertue? l. 31. Doth it not teache, God to be praised aboue al thing? What facultie doth vice more earnestly subdue? Doth it not teache true obedience to the kyng? What godly sentences to the mynde doth it bryng! I saie, there was neuer thyng inuented, More worth for man’s solace to be frequented.

Hipocrites that wold not haue their fautes reueled Imagine slaunder our facultie to let; Faine wold they haue their wickednes still concealed; Therfore maliciously against vs they be set; O (say they) muche money they doe get. Truely, I say, whether you geue halfpence or pence, Your gayne shalbe double, before you depart hence....

We desire no man in this poynt to be offended, l. 80. In that vertues with vice we shall here introduce; For in men and women they haue depended: And therfore figuratiuely to speake, it is the vse. I trust that all wise men will accept our excuse. Of the Preface for this season here I make an ende; In godly myrth to spend the tyme we doe intende.

xi. 1569. ANON.

[T. Warton, _History of Poetry_, iii (1781) 288 (ed. Hazlitt, iv. 217), ascribes to this year a ‘Puritanical pamphlet without name’, _The Children of the Chapel stript and whipt_, which he says was ‘among Bishop Tanner’s books at Oxford’. It is not, however, now traceable in the Bodleian. Warton’s extracts are quoted in ch. xii, s.v. Chapel.]

xii. 1569. HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.

[From _Henry Cornelius Agrippa, of the Vanitie and uncertaintie of Artes and Sciences_, Englished by Ja[mes] San[ford] Gent. (1569), a translation of _De incertitudine et vanitate scientiarium et artium atque excellentia Verbi Dei declamatio_ (1530), written in 1526 (_Opera_, ii. 1).]

‘Cap. 4. Of Poetrie’ condemns it as lying. ‘Cap. 20. Of the Science of stage Plaiers.’ After defining the player’s art and citing the discussion between Cicero and Roscius recorded by Macrobius (cf. no. xliii and ch. xi) and the banishment of players by the City of Marseilles (cf. _Mediaeval Stage_, i. 7), Agrippa concludes, ‘And therefore to exercise this Arte, is not onely a dishonest and wicked occupation, but also to behold it, and therein to delite is a shameful thinge, bicause that the delite of a wanton minde is an offence. And to conclude, there was in times paste no name more infamous then stage players, and moreouer, al they that had plaide an Enterlude in the Theater, were by the lawes depriued from all honour.’ Plays are briefly referred to in ‘Cap. 59. Of Holy daies’ and ‘Cap. 63. Of the whoorishe Arte’.

xiii. 1574. GEOFFREY FENTON.

[From _A Forme of Christian Pollicie gathered out of French_ (1574). No single source has been traced and the treatise is probably a compilation.]