Chapter XII: Introduction: The Boy Companies (10)

Nine Court plays were given during the winter of 1606–7, on 26 and 29 December 1606, and on 4, 6, and 8 January and 2, 5, 15, and 27 February 1607. The entry in the Stationers’ Register for _King Lear_ and the title-page of Barnes’ _The Devil’s Charter_, both dated in 1607, show these to have been the plays selected for 26 December and 2 February respectively. In the same year were also published Tourneur’s _The Revenger’s Tragedy_ and Wilkins’ _The Miseries of Enforced Marriage_, and to it I assign the production of _Timon of Athens_. On 16 July 1607 Heminges lent his boy John Rice to appear as an angel of gladness with a taper of frankincense, and deliver an eighteen-verse speech by Ben Jonson as part of the entertainment of James by the Merchant Taylors at their hall.[613] During the summer the company travelled to Barnstaple, to Dunwich, to Oxford, where they were on 7 September, and possibly to Cambridge. _Volpone_ had probably been given in both Universities before its publication about February 1607 or 1608.

During the winter of 1607–8 the company gave thirteen Court plays, on 26, 27, and 28 December 1606, and on 2, 6, 7, 9, 17, and 26 January, and 2 and 7 February 1607. On each of the nights of 6 and 17 January there were two plays. In 1608 was published _A Yorkshire Tragedy_, with Shakespeare’s name on the title-page, and to it I assign the production of _Pericles_, in which Shakespeare probably had Wilkins for a collaborator. About May the company had to find their share of the heavy fine necessary to buy off the inhibition due to the performance of Chapman’s _Duke of Byron_ by the Queen’s Revels.[614] The year was in many ways an eventful one for the King’s men. They had, I suspect, to face a growing detachment of Shakespeare from London and the theatre; and the loss was perhaps partly supplied by the establishment of relations with Beaumont and Fletcher, whose earliest play for the company, _Philaster_, may be of any date from 1608 to 1610. About 16 August died William Sly, leaving his interest in the Globe to his son Robert and legacies to Cuthbert Burbadge and James Sands. Both he and Henry Condell had been admitted to an interest at some date subsequent to November 1606, the moiety of the lease not retained by the Burbadges having been redistributed into sixths to allow of this. The deserts of Pope, Phillips, and Sly are all commemorated in the _Apology_ of Thomas Heywood, which, though not published until 1612, was probably written in 1608.[615] Sly’s death complicated an important transaction in which the King’s men were engaged. This was the acquisition of the Blackfriars, of which the freehold already belonged to the Burbadges, but which had been leased since 1600 to Henry Evans and occupied by the Children of the Revels. About July 1608 Evans was prepared to surrender his lease, and the Burbadges decided to take the opportunity of providing the King’s men with a second house on the north side of the Thames, suitable for a winter head-quarters. As in the case of the Globe, they shared their interest as housekeepers with some of the leading members of the company. New leases were executed on 9 August 1608, by which the house was divided between a syndicate of seven, of whom five were Richard Burbadge, Shakespeare, Heminges, Condell, and Sly, while the other two, Cuthbert Burbadge and Thomas Evans, were not King’s men. When Sly’s death intervened, his executrix surrendered his interest and the number of the syndicate was reduced to six. Probably, however, the King’s men did not enter upon the actual occupation of the Blackfriars until the autumn of the following year.[616] In fact the plague kept the London theatres closed from July 1608 to December 1609. The King’s men were at Coventry on 29 October 1608 and at Marlborough in the course of 1607–8. The plague did not prevent them from appearing at Court during the winter of 1608–9, and they gave twelve plays on unspecified dates. But their difficulties are testified to by a special reward ‘for their private practise in the time of infeccion’, which had rendered their Christmas service possible.

The plague led to an early provincial tour. The company were at Ipswich on 9 May, at Hythe on 16 May, and at New Romney on 17 May 1609. Their winter season was again interfered with, and a further grant was made in respect of six weeks of private practice. Amongst the plays so practised may, I think, have been _Cymbeline_. They gave thirteen plays at Court on unspecified dates during the holidays of 1609–10.[617] One of these may have been _Mucedorus_, the edition of which with the imprint 1610 represents a revised version performed at Court on the previous Shrove Sunday. This might be either 18 February 1610 or 3 February 1611. The epilogue contains an apology for some recent indiscretion of the company in a play of which no more is known, but which might conceivably be Daborne’s _A Christian Turned Turk_, since this certainly brought its players into some disgrace. By April the company were at the Globe, playing _Macbeth_ on 20 April, _Cymbeline_ probably shortly before, and _Othello_ on 30 April.[618] To this year I assign _The Winter’s Tale_ and Beaumont and Fletcher’s _The Maid’s Tragedy_. It also saw the production of Jonson’s _Alchemist_, with a cast including Burbadge, Lowin, Condell, Cooke, Armin, Heminges, William Ostler, John Underwood, Tooley, and William Ecclestone. This is the last mention of Armin in connexion with the King’s men, but it is sufficient to show that the production of his _Two Maids of Moreclack_ by the King’s Revels about 1608 did not involve any breach with his old company. Of Ecclestone’s origin nothing is known.[619] Ostler and Underwood came from the Queen’s Revels, probably when the Blackfriars was taken over in 1609. In fact an account of the transaction given by the Burbadges in 1635 suggests that the desire to acquire these boys was its fundamental motive. They say:

‘In processe of time, the boyes growing up to bee men, which
were Underwood, Field, Ostler, and were taken to strengthen the
King’s service; and the more to strengthen the service, the
boyes dayly wearing out, it was considered that house would bee
as fitt for ourselves, and soe purchased the lease remaining
from Evans with our money, and placed men players, which were
Heminges, Condall, Shakspeare, &c.’

This narrative seems, however, to have antedated matters as regards Field. Or, if he did come to the King’s men in 1609, he almost immediately returned to the Queen’s Revels at Whitefriars, joining the King’s again about 1616.[620]

About 8 May 1610 some superfluous apparel of the company was sold by Heminges on their behalf to the Duke of York’s men (q.v.). On 31 May Burbadge and Rice were employed by the City to make speeches on fish-back at the civic pageant of welcome to Prince Henry.[621] The autumn travelling took the company to Dover between 6 July and 4 August 1610, to Oxford in August, and to Shrewsbury and Stafford in 1609–10. During the following winter they gave fifteen Court plays on unspecified days. They were playing a piece on the story of Richard II, not now extant, at the Globe on 30 April 1611, and _A Winter’s Tale_ on 15 May.[622] During 1611 Jonson’s _Catiline_ was produced, with a cast similar to that of _The Alchemist_, except that Armin was replaced by Richard Robinson, whose earlier history is unknown. Robinson, playing a female part, and Robert Gough also appear in the stage directions of _The Second Maiden’s Tragedy_, licensed for the stage by Sir George Buck on 31 October 1611. Gough was probably one of Strange’s men in 1592. He appears in the wills of Pope in 1603 and of Phillips, who was his brother-in-law, in 1605, but with no indication that he belonged to the King’s men. Beaumont and Fletcher’s _A King and No King_ was also licensed by Buck in 1611, and to this year I assign Shakespeare’s _Tempest_. On 25 August 1611 the interest in the Blackfriars originally intended for Sly was assigned to Ostler. Ecclestone, on the other hand, later in the year than the production of _Catiline_, but before 29 August, left the company for the Lady Elizabeth’s men.

The only provincial visit by the King’s men recorded in 1610–11 was to Shrewsbury. They gave twenty-two plays at Court during a rather prolonged winter season extending from 31 October 1611 to 26 April 1612. Two of these, on 12 and 13 January, were joint performances with the Queen’s men, and the plays used, Heywood’s _Silver Age_ and _Rape of Lucrece_, were from the repertory of the latter.[623] The King’s men also gave _The Tempest_ and _A Winter’s Tale_, _A King and No King_, Tourneur’s _The Nobleman_, and _The Twins’ Tragedy_. On 20 February 1612 the actors’ moiety of the Globe was again redistributed, into sevenths, so as to allow of the admission as a housekeeper of Ostler, who had married a daughter of Heminges. From the statement of the interests held by the parties to this transaction, it is to be inferred that Heminges and Condell had between them bought out since 1608 the representatives of Sly. On 21 April 1612 the company was at New Romney and at some date during 1611–12 at Winchester. Heminges received a payment for services to the Lord Mayor’s pageant of this year, which was Dekker’s _Troja Nova Triumphans_.[624]

The actor-list attached to _The Captain_ in the Beaumont and Fletcher Folio of 1679 probably belongs to the original production of the play between 1609 and 1612. It names Burbadge, Condell, Cooke, and Ostler. It was one of the plays selected for the Court season of 1612–13, during which, on 14 February, took place the wedding of the Elector Palatine Frederick and the Princess Elizabeth, and which was therefore singularly rich in plays, notwithstanding the interruption of the festivities due to the death of Prince Henry on 7 November 1612. Heminges lent a boy for Chapman’s mask on 15 February. The twenty plays given this winter by the King’s men, the exact dates of which are not upon record, were Shakespeare’s _Much Ado about Nothing_ (performed twice), _The Tempest_, _A Winter’s Tale_, _Julius Caesar_, _Othello_, and _1 and 2 Henry IV_, Jonson’s _Alchemist_, Beaumont and Fletcher’s _Philaster_ (also performed twice), _The Maid’s Tragedy_, _A King and No King_, _The Captain_ and the lost play of _Cardenio_, Tourneur’s _Nobleman_, and four plays of unknown authorship, _The Merry Devil of Edmonton_, _The Knot of Fools_, _The Twins’ Tragedy_, and _A Bad Beginning Makes a Good Ending_. On 8 June there was a special performance of _Cardenio_ for the Savoyan ambassador. Some unknown cause seems to have brought Shakespeare back in 1613 to the assistance of his fellows, and he collaborated with Fletcher in _The Two Noble Kinsmen_ and in _Henry VIII_ or _All is True_, possibly a revision of the _Buckingham_ which formed part of the repertory of Sussex’s men in 1594. During a performance of _Henry VIII_, on 29 June 1613, the Globe was burnt to the ground. Some contemporary verses mention Burbadge, Heminges, and Condell as present on this occasion. A levy was called for from the housekeepers to meet the cost of rebuilding, and owing to the inability of the representatives of Augustine Phillips to meet the call upon them, Heminges was enabled to recover one of the alienated interests, which he divided with Condell.

The company was at Oxford before November in 1613, and also visited Shrewsbury, Stafford, and Folkestone during 1612–13. They played sixteen times at Court in the winter of 1613–14, on 1, 4, 5, 15, and 16 November and 27 December 1613, and on 1, 4, and 10 January, 2, 4, 8, 10, and 18 February and 6 and 8 March 1614. The rebuilding of the Globe was complete by 30 June 1614, and in the course of 1613–14 the company visited Coventry. Cooke died in February 1614, being then a sharer. Ostler died on 16 December, and his interests in the Globe and Blackfriars became matter of dispute between his widow and her father, John Heminges. The ascertained dates of Ostler’s career render it possible to assign to 1609–14, the period of his connexion with the King’s men, three plays in which he took part. These are Webster’s _Duchess of Malfi_, at the first production of which, if the actor-list of the 1623 edition is rightly interpreted, the parts of Ferdinand, the Cardinal, and Antonio were played respectively by Burbadge, Condell, and Ostler, Fletcher’s _Valentinian_, played by Burbadge, Condell, Lowin, Ostler, and Underwood, and his _Bonduca_, played by Burbadge, Condell, Lowin, Ostler, Underwood, Tooley, Ecclestone, and Robinson. _Bonduca_ must be either earlier than Ecclestone’s departure for the Lady Elizabeth’s men in 1611, or after he quitted that company and presumably rejoined the King’s in 1613.

The King’s men gave eight plays at Court on unspecified days during the winter of 1614–15. On 29 March 1615 they were in trouble with other companies for playing in Lent, and Heminges and Burbadge appeared on their behalf before the Privy Council. In April 1615 they were at Nottingham. They gave fourteen plays at Court between 1 November 1615 and 1 April 1616, and again the precise dates are not specified. They also appeared before Anne at Somerset House on 21 December 1615.

Shakespeare died on 23 April 1616, and with this event I must close my detailed chronicle of the fortunes of the company. A new patent was issued to them on 27 March 1619, probably to secure their right to perform in the Blackfriars, which was being challenged by the action of the City.[625] Since 1603 Shakespeare, Phillips, Sly, Cowley, Armin, and Fletcher have dropped out of the list, and are replaced by Lowin, Underwood, Tooley, Ecclestone, Gough, and Robinson, together with Nathan Field, Robert Benfield, and John Shank, who now appear for the first time as members of the company.[626] Benfield and Field are last traceable with the Lady Elizabeth’s men in 1613 and 1615 respectively, Shank with the Palsgrave’s men in 1613. The only names common to both patents are those of Burbadge, Heminges, and Condell. But in fact Burbadge died on 13 March 1619, while the patent was going through its stages, and his place was almost immediately taken by Joseph Taylor, from Prince Charles’s men. About the same time Field left the company.[627] Heminges, described as ‘stuttering’ in 1613, cannot be shown to have acted since the _Catiline_ of 1611. He had probably devoted himself to the business management of the company, in which he always appears prominent. Condell also seems to have given up acting about 1619, and during the rest of the history of the company up to its extinction in 1642, its mainstays were Lowin and Taylor, who became depositaries of the tradition of the great Shakespearian parts. John Downes, who was prompter to the Duke of York’s men after the Restoration, relates how, when Betterton played Hamlet, ‘Sir _William_ [Davenant] (having seen _Mr. Taylor_ of the _Black-Fryers_ Company Act it, who being instructed by the Author _Mr. Shakespear_) taught _Mr. Betterton_ in every Particle of it’; and how Davenant was similarly able to act as Betterton’s tutor for Henry the Eighth, for he ‘had it from Old _Mr. Lowen_, that had his Instructions from _Mr. Shakespear_ himself’.[628] When Heminges and Condell came to print Shakespeare’s plays in 1623, they prefixed ‘the names of the principall Actors in all these playes’ as follows: ‘William Shakespeare, Richard Burbadge, John Hemmings, Augustine Phillips, William Kempt, Thomas Poope, George Bryan, Henry Condell, William Slye, Richard Cowly, John Lowine, Samuell Crosse, Alexander Cooke, Samuel Gilburne, Robert Armin, William Ostler, Nathan Field, John Underwood, Nicholas Tooley, William Ecclestone, Joseph Taylor, Robert Benfield, Robert Goughe, Richard Robinson, John Shancke, John Rice.’ The order is a little puzzling. The first ten entries may be those of the original members of the Chamberlain’s company in 1594; and if so, their order does not matter. But it is difficult to believe that the other sixteen can represent either the order in which the men began to play for the company, or the order in which they became sharers. Of course, there may have been comings and goings known to Heminges and Condell, but not now traceable. Thus Field and even Taylor may have come for a short while and gone again before 1611. But it seems impossible that Tooley, who was ‘fellow’ to Phillips in 1605, could really have been junior to the recruits from the Queen’s Revels in 1609. On the whole, one must suppose that, if Heminges and Condell aimed at an exact chronology, their memory occasionally failed them. The omission from the Folio of Duke, Beeston, Sincler, and Sands may indicate that the list is confined to sharers. It is probable that Fletcher, who is also omitted, was not a sharer and did not act in any Shakespearian play.

xxi. THE EARL OF WORCESTER’S AND QUEEN ANNE’S MEN

William Somerset, _nat._ 1526; succ. as 3rd Earl of Worcester,
1548; m. Christian, d. of Edward, 1st Lord North; _ob._ 22 Feb.
1589.

Edward Somerset, s. of William; _nat._ 1553; Lord Herbert of
Chepstow; succ. as 4th Earl, 1589; m. Elizabeth, d. of Francis,
2nd Earl of Huntingdon; Deputy Master of the Horse, Dec. 1597;
Master of the Horse, 21 Apr. 1601; Earl Marshal, 1603; Lord
Privy Seal, 2 Jan. 1616; _ob._ 3 Mar. 1628.

Henry Somerset, s. of Edward; _nat._ 1577; Lord Herbert of
Chepstow from 1589; m. 16 June 1600, Anne, d. of John, Lord
Russell; succ. as 5th Earl, 1628; cr. 1st Marquis of Worcester,
1642.

Anne, d. of Frederick II, King of Denmark and Norway; _nat._ 12
Dec. 1574; m. James VI, King of Scotland, 20 Aug. 1589; Queen
Consort of England, 24 Mar. 1603; _ob._ 2 Mar. 1619.

[_Bibliographical Note._--The records of Worcester’s men in
1602–3 are printed and discussed by W. W. Greg in _Henslowe’s
Diary_ (1904–8). The will of Thomas Greene (1612) was printed
by J. Greenstreet in the _Athenaeum_ (29 August 1895), and the
Bill, Answer, and Orders in the Chancery suit of _Worth et al.
v. Baskerville et al._ (1623–6) by the same in the _Athenaeum_
(11 July and 29 August 1885) and _N. S. S. Trans._ (_1880–6_),
489. Both are reprinted in Fleay, 192, 271. The Court of
Requests suit of _Smith v. Beeston et al._ (1619–20) is printed
by C. W. Wallace in _Nebraska University Studies_, ix. 315.]

The first company under the patronage of this house had a long and wholly provincial career.[629] The earliest record of it is at Barnstaple in 1555. On 10 October 1563 it was at Leicester. On 13 and 14 January 1565 it was at Sir George Vernon’s, Haddon Hall, Derbyshire, under the leadership of one Hamond.[630] It is further traceable in December 1565 at Newcastle, before Michaelmas 1566 at Leicester, in 1567–8 at Gloucester, in 1568–9 at Ipswich, Stratford-on-Avon, and Bath, on 11 August 1569 at Nottingham, in 1569–70 and 1570–1 at Gloucester and Barnstaple, in 1571 at Leicester and Beverley, on 9 January 1572 at Nottingham, before Michaelmas at Leicester, on 31 December 1572 at Wollaton, Notts. (Francis Willoughby’s), on 6 January 1573 at Nottingham, in 1572–3 at Bath, in 1573–4 at Abingdon, and in January 1574 at Wollaton again. As the Earl of Worcester’s eldest son bore the courtesy title of Lord Herbert, it is probably the same company which appeared at Leicester, after Michaelmas in 1574, as ‘Lorde Harbards’. But it is named as Worcester’s again in 1574–5 at Stratford-on-Avon, on 28 April 1575 at Nottingham, and after Michaelmas in the same year at Leicester, in 1575–6 at Coventry, in 1576–7 at Stratford-on-Avon and Bath, and on 14 June 1577 at Southampton, where it consisted of ten men. On 19 January 1578 it was at Nottingham, in 1577–8 at Coventry, in 1580–1 and 1581–2 at Stratford-on-Avon, in 1581–2 at Abingdon, on 15 June 1582 at Ipswich, in the same year at Doncaster.

Two incidents in successive years suggest that Worcester’s men were not always quite so amenable, as vagrants should have been, to municipal discipline. The first was at Norwich on 7 June 1583. Here there was a fear of plague, and the company were given 26_s._ 8_d._, on a promise not to play. In spite of this they played in their host’s house. The Corporation ordered ‘that their lord shall be certified of their contempt’, and that they should never again receive reward in Norwich, and should presently depart the town on pain of imprisonment. It was afterwards agreed, however, on submission and earnest entreaty, not to report the misdemeanour to the Earl of Worcester. The second occasion was in the following March in Leicester, and the entries in the Corporation archives are so interesting as to deserve reproduction in full.[631]

[Sidenote: M^r Mayor
M^r J. Tatam
M^r Morton.]

Tuesdaie the third daie of Marche, 1583, certen playors whoe
said they were the seruants of the Quenes Maiesties Master
of the Revells, who required lycence to play & for there
aucthorytye showed forth an Indenture of Lycense from one M^r
Edmonde Tylneye esquier M^r of her Maiesties Revells of the one
parte, and George Haysell of Wisbiche in the Ile of Elye in the
Countie of Cambridge, gentleman on the other parte.

The which indenture is dated the vj^{th} daie of Februarye in
the xxv^{th} yere of her Maiesties raign &c.

In which Indenture there ys one article that all Justices,
Maiores, Sherifs, Bayllyfs, Constables, and all other her
officers, ministers & subiects whatsoeuer to be aydinge &
assistinge vnto the said Edmund Tilneye, his Deputies &
Assignes, attendinge & havinge due regard vnto suche parsons
as shall disorderly intrude themselves into any the doings and
actions before mencioned, not beinge reformed, qualifyed & bound
to the orders prescribed by the said Edmund Tyllneye. These
shalbee therefore not only to signifye & geve notice vnto all
& euery her said Justices &c. that none of there owne pretensed
aucthoritye intrude themselves & presume to showe forth any
suche playes, enterludes, tragedies, comodies, or shewes in
any places within this Realm, withoute the orderlye allowance
thereof vnder the hand of the sayd Edmund.

NOTA. No play is to bee played, but suche as is allowed by the
sayd Edmund, & his hand at the latter end of the said booke they
doe play.

The forsed Haysell is nowe the chefe playor &c.

Fridaye the 6 of Marche.

Certen players came before M^r Mayor at the Hall there beinge
present M^r John Tatam, M^r George Tatam, M^r Morton & M^r
Worship: who sayed they were the Earle of Wosters men: who sayd
the forsyd playors were not lawfully aucthorysed, & that they
had taken from them there commyssion, but it is untrue, for they
forgat there box at the Inne in Leicester, & so these men gat yt
& they sed the syd Haysell was not here hymself and they sent
the same to Grantom to the syd Haysell who dwellith there.

William Earle of Worcester &c. hath by his wrytinge dated the 14
of Januarye Anno 25^o Eliz. Reginae licensed his Seruants viz.
Robert Browne, James Tunstall, Edward Allen, William Harryson,
Thomas Cooke, Rychard Johnes, Edward Browne, Rychard Andrewes
to playe & goe abrode, vsinge themselves orderly &c. (in theise
words &c.) These are therefore to require all suche her Highnes
offycers to whom these presents shall come, quietly & frendly
within your severall presincts & corporacions to permytt &
suffer them to passe with your furtherance vsinge & demeanynge
themselves honestly & to geve them (the rather for my sake)
suche intertaynement as other noble mens players haue (In Wytnes
&c.)

M^r Mayor
M^r Jo. Heyrycke
M^r Noryce
M^r Ja. Clarke
M^r George Tatam
M^r Morton
M^r Rob^t Heyrycke
M^r Ellys
M^r Newcome.

Memorandum that M^r Mayor did geve the aforesaid playors an
angell towards there dinner & wild them not to playe at this
present: being Fryday the vj^{th} of Marche, for that the tyme
was not conveynyent.

The foresaid playors mett M^r Mayor in the strete nere M^r
Newcomes housse, after the angell was geven abowte a ij howers,
who then craived lycense ageyne to play at there inn, & he told
them they shold not, then they went away & seyd they wold play,
whether he wold or not, & in dispite of hym, with dyvers other
evyll & contemptyous words: Witness here of M^r Newcome, M^r
Wycam, & William Dethicke.

More, these men, contrary to M^r Mayors comandment, went with
their drum & trumppytts thorowe the Towne, in contempt of M^r
Mayor, neyther wold come at his comandment, by his offycer, viz.
Worship.

William Pateson my lord Harbards man }
Thomas Powlton my lord of Worcesters man } these ij

were they which dyd so much abuse M^r Mayor in the aforesayd
words.

NOTA. These sayd playors have submytted them selves, & are sorye
for there words past, & craved pardon, desyeringe his worship
not to write to there Master agayne them, & so vpon there
submyssyn, they are lycensed to play this night at there inn, &
also they have promysed that vppon the stage, in the begynyng of
there play, to shoe vnto the hearers that they are licensed to
playe by M^r Mayor & with his good will & that they are sory for
the words past.

The latter part of this record is intelligible enough; evidently there was a repetition of the misrule at Norwich. But the earlier part, which refers to a different matter altogether, is distinctly puzzling. The ‘theys’ in the first sentence of the Corporation minute of 6 March are complicated, and it has sometimes been supposed that there was really a company of Master of the Revels’ men, and that it was Worcester’s men who questioned the licence of these.[632] On the whole, I think that a different interpretation of the documents is the more natural one. No doubt Worcester’s men had found it necessary, as a result of the powers granted to Tilney as Master of the Revels by the patent of 24 December 1581, to renew the authority under which they travelled. In addition to a fresh warrant from their lord licensing them to travel as his household servants, and dated 14 January 1583, they obtained on the following 6 February a further licence from Tilney, issued under the clause of his commission which appointed him to ‘order and reforme, auctorise and put downe’ all players in any part of England, whether they were ‘belonginge to any noble man’ or otherwise.[633] This licence, but not the other, they left at their inn in Leicester, while passing through on some previous occasion; and here it was found by some unlicensed players, who appropriated it, and either through misunderstanding or through fraud, imposed it upon the Corporation as an instrument constituting a Master of the Revels’ company. There are two difficulties in this theory. One is that George Haysell, to whom Tilney’s licence was issued, is not one of the actors named in the Earl of Worcester’s warrant. But there are other cases in which the constitution of a company in the eyes of its lord was not quite the same as its constitution from the point of view of business relations, and I should suppose that Haysell, who was evidently not himself acting at the time, was the financier of the enterprise, and gave the bonds which Tilney would probably require for the satisfaction of the covenants of his indenture of licence. The other difficulty is that Leicester is not the only place in which the presence of a Master of the Revels’ company is recorded. Such a company was at Ludlow on 7 December 1583 and at Bath in 1583–4.[634] But, after all, this need mean no more than that the bogus company kept up their fraud for two or three months before they were exposed. If Tilney had really started a company of his own, it might have been expected to have a longer life. The establishment in 1583 of the Queen’s men makes it the less probable that he did so.

The list of this provincial company, as it stood in January 1583, is interesting, because at least four of its members, Robert Browne, Richard Jones, James Tunstall, and above all Edward Alleyn, then only a lad of sixteen, were destined to take a considerable share in the stage history of the future. Edward Browne, too, was afterwards one of the Admiral’s men. Of the rest, William Harrison, Thomas Cooke, Richard Andrewes, as well as of George Haysell (cf. ch. xv) and of the two players who were not named in the warrant, Thomas Powlton and William Pateson, Lord Herbert’s man, nothing or practically nothing further is known.[635] It is possible that the escapades of the company at Norwich and Leicester came, after all, to Worcester’s ears and aroused his displeasure. Visits are recorded to Coventry and Stratford in 1583–4, to Maidstone in 1584–5, to York in March 1585, and thereafter no more. It is also possible that the company passed from Worcester’s service into that of Lord Howard, when the latter became Lord Admiral in 1585. If so, a conveyance by Richard Jones to Edward Alleyn on 3 January 1589 of his share in a stock of apparel, play-books, and so forth, held jointly with Edward and John Alleyn and Robert Browne, must relate, not to a break up of Worcester’s men shortly before the death of the third earl, but to some internal change in the organization of the Admiral’s men.[636] In any case Mr. Fleay’s theory that Worcester’s men, other than Alleyn, became Pembroke’s in 1589 and only joined the Admiral’s in 1594 is quite gratuitous, as there is no evidence of the existence of Pembroke’s men before 1592.[637] Whether there was a Worcester’s company or not from 1585 to 1589, there was certainly one after the accession of the fourth earl. It is traceable at Coventry in 1589–90, at Newcastle in October 1590, at Leicester during the last three months of the same year, at Coventry and Faversham in 1590–1, at Leicester on 26 June 1591 and again in the last three months of the year, at Coventry and Shrewsbury in 1591–2, at Ipswich in 1592–3, twice at Leicester in 1593, both before and after Michaelmas, twice at Bath in 1593–4, at Leicester before Michaelmas in 1595, at Ludlow on 3 December 1595, at Bath in 1595–6, at Leicester on 1 August 1596, at Bristol in August 1598, at York in April 1599, and at Coventry on 3 January 1600 and in 1600–1 and 1601–2.[638]

By the end of 1601 the Earl of Worcester was holding the Mastership of the Horse and other important offices at Court, and may have thought it consonant with his dignity to have London players under his patronage. On 3 January 1602 his company was at Court. On 31 March the Privy Council, after attempting for some years to limit the number of London companies to two, made an order that Oxford’s and Worcester’s men, ‘beinge ioyned by agrement togeather in on companie’, should be allowed to play at the Boar’s Head and nowhere else.[639] In the course of 1602 _How a Man may Choose a Good Wife from a Bad_ was published as played by Worcester’s men. By 17 August the company were in relations, under the style of ‘my lorde of Worsters players’, with Henslowe, who opened an account of advances made for their play-books and apparel, on the same lines as that which he kept during 1597–1603 with the Admiral’s men.[640] An early entry is of 9_s._ for a supper ‘at the Mermayd when we weare at owre a grement’. The account was continued until the spring of 1603, when Henslowe’s famous diary was disused. No theatre is named, but it is probable that, with or without leave from the Privy Council, the company moved to the Rose, which had been vacated by the Admiral’s men on the opening of the Fortune in 1600. Certainly this was so by May 1603, when an acquittance for an advance entered in the account refers to a play to be written for ‘the Earle of Worcesters players at the Rose’.[641] There is no complete list of the company in the diary. The names of those members incidentally mentioned, as authorizing payments or otherwise, are John Duke, Thomas Blackwood, William Kempe, John Thare, John Lowin, Thomas Heywood, Christopher Beeston, Robert Pallant, and a Cattanes whose first name is not preserved. The payees for the performance of 1601–2 were Kempe and Heywood. One Underell was in receipt of wages from the company, together with a tireman, who made purchases of stuffs for them. It is impossible to say which of these men had been with Worcester’s and which with Oxford’s before the amalgamation. Heywood, who was playwright as well as actor, had written for the Admiral’s from 1596 to 1599, and had bound himself to play in Henslowe’s house for two years from 25 March 1598. Pallant had been with Strange’s or the Admiral’s in 1590–1, and Duke, Kempe, and Beeston with the Chamberlain’s in 1598. Since then Kempe had travelled abroad, returning in September 1601. It is little more than a guess that some of these men may have played with Henslowe as Pembroke’s.[642] Several members of the company borrowed money from Henslowe, in some cases before their connexion with the Rose began. Duke had a loan as early as 21 September 1600, and Kempe on 10 March 1602.[643] Blackwood and Lowin borrowed on 12 March 1603 to go into the country with the company.[644] This was, no doubt, when playing in London was suspended owing to the illness of Elizabeth. A loan for a similar purpose was made on the same day to Richard Perkins, and suggests that he too was already one of Worcester’s men. There is, indeed, an earlier note of 4 September 1602 connecting him with one Dick Syferweste, whose fellows were then in the country, while Worcester’s were, of course, at the Rose. But this itself makes it clear that he was interested in a play of Heywood’s, which can hardly be other than that then in preparation at the Rose, and perhaps Syferwest was an unfortunate comrade in Oxford’s or Worcester’s, who had been left out at the reconstruction.[645]

During the seven months of the account Worcester’s men bought twelve new plays. These were:

_A Medicine for a Curst Wife_ (Dekker).
_Albere Galles_ (Heywood and Smith).
_Marshal Osric_ (Heywood and Smith).
_The Three Brothers_ (Smith).[646]
_1 Lady Jane_, or, _The Overthrow of Rebels_[647] (Chettle,
Dekker, Heywood, Smith, and Webster).
_Christmas Comes but Once a Year_ (Chettle, Dekker, Heywood, and
Webster).
_1 The Black Dog of Newgate_ (Day, Hathaway, Smith, and another).
_The Blind Eats Many a Fly_ (Heywood).
_The Unfortunate General_ (Day, Hathaway, and Smith).
_2 The Black Dog of Newgate_ (Day, Hathaway, Smith, and another).
_A Woman Killed with Kindness_ (Heywood).
_The Italian Tragedy_ (Smith).

As a rule the price was £6 a play; occasionally £1 or £2 more. Dekker had 10_s._ ‘over & above his price of’ _A Medicine for a Curst Wife_. This had originally been begun for the Admiral’s and was evidently transferred to Worcester’s by arrangement. After buying _2 Black Dog of Newgate_ for £7, the company apparently did not like it, and paid £2 more for ‘adycyones’. It is possible to verify from the purchase of properties the performance of nine of the twelve plays. These are _Albere Galles_ (September), _The Three Brothers_ (October), _Marshal Osric_ (November), _1 Lady Jane_ (November), _Christmas Comes but Once a Year_ (December), _1 Black Dog of Newgate_ (January), _The Unfortunate General_ (January), _2 Black Dog of Newgate_ (February), and _A Woman Killed with Kindness_ (March). The production of this last may, however, have been interfered with by Elizabeth’s death. Two plays of the series are extant, _A Woman Killed with Kindness_, printed in 1607 and described in 1617 as a Queen’s play, and _1 Lady Jane_, which may be reasonably identified with _Sir Thomas Wyatt_, also printed in 1607 as a Queen’s play, and by Dekker and Webster. Dr. Greg regards Mr. Fleay’s identification of _Albere Galles_ with _Nobody and Somebody_ as ‘reasonable’; but it appears to rest on little, except the fact that the latter was also printed as a Queen’s play (S. R. 12 March 1606) and the conjecture that the title of the former might be a corruption of _Archigallo_. Payments were made in respect of a few contemplated plays, which apparently remained incomplete at the end of the season. These were _2 Lady Jane_ (Dekker), an unnamed tragedy by Chettle, an unnamed play by Middleton, and another unnamed play by Chettle and Heywood. The company also produced some plays of earlier date. _Sir John Oldcastle_ was presumably transferred to them from the Admiral’s men, for Dekker had £2 10_s._ in respect of new additions to it in August and September. Heywood also had £1 in September for additions to a play called _Cutting Dick_, as to the origin of which nothing is known; and properties were bought in October for _Byron_[648] and for _Absalom_. Possibly the latter is identical with _The Three Brothers_. Worcester’s men did not perform at Court in 1602–3, but they must have expected a summons, as on 1 January they bought head-tires of one Mrs. Calle ‘for the corte’. Amongst their tradesmen were also Goodman Freshwater, who supplied ‘a canvas sewt and skenes’, apparently for a stage dog, and John Willett, mercer, on whose arrest John Duke found himself in the Clink at the end of the season. Their expenditure was at a fairly high rate, amounting to a total of £234 11_s._ 6_d._ for the seven months. Unlike the Admiral’s men, they spent more on apparel and properties than on play-books. Some of their purchases were costly enough, ‘a grogren clocke, ij veluet gerkens, ij dubletes and ij hed tyres’ from Edward Alleyn for £20, ‘a manes gowne of branshed velluet & a dublett’ from Christopher Beeston for £6, and ‘iiij clothe clockes layd with coper lace’ from Robert Shaw, formerly of the Admiral’s, for £16. On this last transaction they had to allow Henslowe £1 as interest on his money. A ‘flage of sylke’, no doubt for the theatre roof, cost them £1 6_s._ 8_d._[649] In summing his account, Henslowe made various errors, whereby he robbed himself of £1 1_s._ 3_d._, and presented a claim to the company for £140 1_s._ It may be inferred that they had already repaid him £93 12_s._ 3_d._, but of this there is no record in the diary. He prepared an acknowledgement to be signed by all the members of the company, but the only signature actually attached is Blackwode’s.

On 9 May 1603 Henslowe notes ‘Begininge to playe agayne by the Kynges licence & layd out sense for my lord of Worsters men as folowethe’; but the only entry is one of £2 paid in earnest to Chettle and Day for a play of _Shore’s Wife_. If playing was actually resumed, it was not long before the plague drove the companies out of London again, and there is nothing more of Worcester’s men in the diary. Two visits from them are recorded at Leicester in the course of 1603, and two at Coventry and one at Barnstaple, whence they departed without playing, during 1602–3. Early in the new reign the company was taken into the patronage of Queen Anne.[650] This change was probably effected by Christmas, and certainly by 19 February 1604, when John Duke obtained a warrant on account of plays performed before Prince Henry by ‘the Queenes Majesties players’ on the previous 2 and 13 January. The Queen’s men are named in the Privy Council letter permitting the resumption of playing on 9 April 1604, which indicates their house as the Curtain. A list of players is found amongst other ‘officers to the Queene’ receiving four and a half yards of red cloth apiece for the coronation procession of 15 March 1604.[651] The names given are ‘Christopher Beeston, Robert Lee, John Duke, Robert Palante, Richard Purkins, Thomas Haward, James Houlte, Thomas Swetherton, Thomas Grene, and Robert Beeston’. Evidently several leading members had left the company. Kempe was probably dead.[652] Thare and Blackwood were on tour in Germany; Lowin seems to have joined the King’s men. Of Cattanes and Underell no more is known. The same ten names are found in a draft patent for a royal licence to the Queen’s men, of which the text follows:[653]

Iames, by the grace of God kynge of England, Scotland, Fraunce
and Irelande, defender of the faith &c: To all Iustices _of
peace_, Maiors, Sherryfes, vicechancellours _of any our
vniversities_, _Bailiffes_ [Constables], headboroughes, [and
other our officers] _Constables_, _and to all other our
Officers_, _mynisters_ and lov[e]inge subiectes _to whome it
may appertaine_ Greeting. Knowe yee that wee of our speciall
grace, certaine knowledge, and mere motion haue lycensed and
awthorised, and by these presentes doe lycence and awthorise
Thomas Greene, Christopher Beeston, Thomas Hawood, Richard
Pyrkins, Robert Pallant, Iohn Duke, Thomas Swynerton, I[e]ames
Ho[u]lt, Robert Beeston, & Robert Lee, servauntes vnto our
deare_st_ [and welbeloved] wyfe _the_ Queene Anna, with the
rest of there Associates, freely to vse and exercise the
art and faculty of playinge Comedies, Tragedies, Histories,
Enterludes, Morralls, Pastoralls, Stage plaies, and such other
lyke as they haue already studied, or hereafter shall vse or
stud[d]y, as well for the recreacion of our lovinge subiectes
as for our solace and pleasure, when wee shall thinke good to
see them, during our pleasure; And the said Comedies, Tragedies,
Histories, Enterludes, Morralls, Pastoralls, Stage plaies, and
such like, to shew and exercise publikly, when the infeccion
of the plague shall decrease to the nomber of thirty weekly
within _our Citie_ of London and the liberties _therof_, aswell
within there now vsuall Howsen, called the Curtayne, and the
Bores head, within our County of Middlesex, [or] _as in_ any
other play howse not vsed by others, by the said _Thomas_ Greene
elected, or by him hereafter to be builte, and also within any
Towne Halls, or Mouthalls, or other convenyent places, within
the liberties and freedomes of any Cittie, vniversitie, Towne,
or Boroughe whatsoeuer, within our said Realmes and domynyons:
Willing and Commaundinge yowe and euerie of yowe, as you tender
our pleasure, not only to permytt and suffer them [herein] _to
vse and exercise the said art of playinge_ without any your
Lettes hinderaunces or molestacions, duringe our said pleasure,
but also to be aydinge and assistinge vnto them, yf any wronge
be to them offered, and to allow them such [former] curtesies,
as hath _heretofore_ bene given vnto any men of theire qualitie:
[And also what further favour, any of our subiectes shall shew
to theise our deare and loveinge wyfes servauntes, for our sake,
wee shall take kyndly at your handes. Yeouen at[ extra spaces
]the[ extra spaces ]daye of In the[ extra spaces ]yere of our
Raygne of England: &c:]

_Gyuen &c._

[Endorsed] The Quenes Plaiers.

This draft is undated. But it was prepared during a plague, and located the Queen’s men at the Boar’s Head; and as they may reasonably be supposed to have exchanged the Boar’s Head for the Red Bull (q.v.) before the plague of 1606 began, it may be conjecturally assigned to that of 1603–4. Probably it never passed the Great Seal, for if it had there would have been no necessity, so far as one can judge, for a later patent of 15 April 1609, which is on the rolls, and which closely follows the earlier draft in its terms, except that it omits the reference to the plague, names the Red Bull instead of the Boar’s Head as one of the company’s regular houses, and adds a saving clause for the rights of the Master of the Revels. Here is the text:[654]

[Sidenote: De concessione licentie Thome Greene et aliis.]

Iames by the grace of God &c. To all Iustices, Mayors,
Sheriffes, Baylieffes, Constables, head-borrowes and other our
Officers and lovinge Subiectes Greetinge. Knowe yee that wee of
our especiall grace certayne knowledge and meere mocion have
lycenced and aucthorised and by these presentes doe lycence and
aucthorize Thomas Greene, Christofer Beeston, Thomas Haywood,
Richard Pirkyns, Richard Pallant, Thomas Swinnerton, Iohn Duke,
Robert Lee, Iames Haulte, and Roberte Beeston, Servantes to
our moste deerely beloved wiefe Queene Anne, and the reste of
theire Associates, to vse and exercise the arte and faculty of
playinge Comedies, Tragedies, historyes, Enterludes, Moralles,
Pastoralles, Stageplayes and suche other like, as they have
already studied or heareafter shall vse or studye, aswell
for the recreacion of our loving Subiectes as for our solace
and pleasure when wee shall thinke good to see them, during
our pleasure. And the said Comedies, Tragedies, histories,
Enterludes, Moralles, Pastoralles, Stageplayes and suche like
to shewe and exercise publiquely and openly to theire beste
commoditye, aswell within theire nowe vsuall houses called the
Redd Bull in Clarkenwell and the Curtayne in Hallowell, as
alsoe within anye Towne halles, Mouthalles and other convenient
places within the libertye and freedome of any other Citty,
vniuersitye, Towne or Boroughe whatsoever within our Realmes and
Domynions. Willing and Commaundinge you and every of you, as you
tender our pleasure, not only to permitt and suffer them herein
without any your lettes hinderances or molestacions during our
said pleasure, but alsoe to be aydinge [and] assistinge vnto
them, yf anye wronge be to them offered, and to allowe them
suche former curtesies as hath byn given to men of theire place
and qualitye, and alsoe what favoure you shall shewe to them
for our sake wee shall take kyndly at your handes. Prouided
alwaies and our will and pleasure is that all aucthoritye,
power, priuiledges, and profyttes whatsoeuer belonginge and
properly appertayninge to Master of Revelles in respecte of his
Office and everye Cause, Article or graunte contayned within
the lettres Patentes or Commission, which have byn heretofore
graunted or directed by the late Queene Elizabeth our deere
Sister or by our selues to our welbeloued Servant Edmond Tylney
Master of the Office of our said Revelles or to Sir George Bucke
knighte or to eyther of them in possession or revercion, shalbe
remayne and abyde entyer and full in effecte, force, estate and
vertue as ample sorte as if this our Commission had never byn
made. In witnes wherof &c. Witnes our selfe at Westminster the
fifteenth daye of Aprill.
per breve de priuato sigillo &c.

It will be observed that the documents quoted disclose no change in the composition of the Queen’s official servants between 1604 and 1609. But the question of _personnel_ is not really quite so simple as this, since the members of a company under a trade agreement were not always the same as those named in the authority under which it performed. Before discussing this complication, it will be simplest first to set out separately the notices of the Queen’s men, which have been preserved in London and in provincial records respectively.

Queen’s men played at Court on 30 December 1605, in Heywood’s _How to Learn of a Woman to Woo_, which is not extant. They played also on 27 December 1606. For both years their payee was, as in 1604, John Duke. During 1607 Dekker and Webster’s _Sir Thomas Wyatt_ and Day, Wilkins, and Rowley’s _Travels of Three English Brothers_ were printed with their name on the title-pages. The latter play, according to the entry of 29 June 1607 in the Stationers’ Register, was acted at the Curtain. But it is shown by a passage in _The Knight of the Burning Pestle_ to have been also on the stage of the Red Bull. In this house Thomas Swinnerton, one of the men named in the patents, acquired an interest between 24 March 1605 and 23 March 1606, and all the evidence is in favour of a continuous sojourn of Queen’s men there until 1617. The first quarto of Heywood’s _A Woman Killed with Kindness_, also printed in 1607, does not bear their name, but it is on that of the ‘third edition’ of 1617. They are not named as playing at Court during the winter of 1607–8, but in the course of 1608 Heywood’s _Rape of Lucrece_ was printed, as played by them at the Red Bull. They gave five plays at Court in the winter of 1608–9, one on 27 December 1609, three on 10 and one on 27 December 1610. Heywood’s _Golden Age_ was printed, as played by them at the Red Bull, in 1611. The Court records of 1611–12 are a little confused.[655] But they appear to have played Cooke’s _City Gallant_ on 27 December, his _Tu Quoque_, which is in fact the same play, on 2 February, to have joined with the King’s men in performances of Heywood’s _Silver Age_ and _Rape of Lucrece_ on 12 and 13 January, and to have played unnamed pieces on 21 and 23 January. From 1609 to 1612 their payee was Thomas Greene. Webster’s _White Devil_ and Dekker’s _If It be not Good, the Devil is in It_, were printed as theirs in 1612, the former with a laudation of the acting of ‘my freind Maister Perkins’, the latter as played at the Red Bull. They did not play at Court during the winter of 1612–13, but did on 24 December 1613 and 5 January 1614. _Tu Quoque_ was printed as theirs in 1614. In the winter of 1614–15 they gave three plays at Court. Heywood’s _Four Prentices of London_ was printed in 1615 as played by them at the Red Bull, and their name is also on _The Honest Lawyer_, registered on 14 August 1615 and printed in 1616. They gave four plays at Court during the winter of 1615–16. For all their Court plays from 1613–16 Robert Lee was payee, but Ellis Worth replaces him for a Somerset House performance before Queen Anne on 17 December 1615. When they were called with other companies before the Privy Council on 29 March 1615 to answer for playing in Lent, they were represented by Lee and Christopher Beeston. The records of the Middlesex justices contain a note of 4 October 1616 that Beeston and the rest of the players at the Red Bull were in arrears to the extent of £5 on an annual rate of £2 agreed to by them for the repair of the highways.

Provincial visits of Queen’s men are recorded in November 1605 at Dover; in 1605 at Leicester; in 1605–6 at Bath, Coventry, Saffron Walden, and Weymouth; on 25 July 1606 at Ipswich; on 4 September 1606 at Ludlow; in 1606 at York; in 1606–7 at Bath (twice), Coventry, Exeter, and Ipswich; on 14 August 1607 at Oxford; on 12 September 1607 at Belvoir (Earl of Rutland’s);[656] in 1607 at Barnstaple, Leicester, and Reading; in 1607–8 at Coventry, Oxford, Reading, and Shrewsbury; on 6 June and 26 September 1608 at Leicester;[657] in 1608–9 at Coventry,[658] Marlborough, and Shrewsbury; between 8 July and 9 August 1609 at Dover; on 15 October 1609 at Norwich; in 1609 at Canterbury; in 1609–10 at Shrewsbury and Stafford; about 23 March 1610 at Maidstone; on 2 November 1610 at Ipswich; on 31 December 1610 at Leicester; in 1610–11 at Shrewsbury and Southampton; on 27 February 1611 (for a week) at Norwich; between 11 April and 9 May and between 29 August and 29 September 1612 at Dover; on 14 June and 26 October 1612 at Leicester; in 1611–12 at Saffron Walden; in 1612–13 at Barnstaple, Coventry (perhaps twice), and Ipswich; on 18 February 1613 at Marlborough; on 16 March 1613 at Leicester; between 13 April and 15 May 1613 at Dover; on 2 November 1613 at Marlborough; on 22 December 1613 at Leicester; in 1613–14 at Saffron Walden, Marlborough, Oxford, and Shrewsbury; on 27 April 1614 (for three days) at Norwich;[659] between 3 and 29 September 1614 at Dover; in 1614–15 at Barnstaple and Doncaster (perhaps twice); on 15 April 1615 at Coventry; in April or May 1615 at Leicester; on 6 May 1615 at Norwich;[660] on 16 October 1615 and again later in 1615 and on 22 February 1616 at Leicester;[661] on 7 November 1615 at Marlborough; in 1615–16 at Barnstaple, Dunwich (thrice), Southampton, and Weymouth; in January 1616 at Nottingham; between 20 January and 17 February 1616 and between 11 May and 8 June at Dover; on 17 February 1616 at Coventry; on 22 February 1616 at Leicester; between 1 and 6 April (four days) and on 29 May 1616 at Norwich;[662] on 26 October 1616 at Marlborough; and on 6 February 1617 and again later in 1617 at Leicester.[663]

There were thus tours in each year, which sometimes extended over periods during which the London theatres must have been open. The Leicester notices of 1608, 1615, and 1617 suggest that more than one company was at work, and the explanation certainly is that some of the players named in the patent, instead of joining the London organization, had recourse to making up companies of their own for provincial purposes. Of this there is further evidence. The Southampton archives contain a copy of the following warrant from Queen Anne herself, dated on 7 March 1606:[664]