CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME 
 OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT 
 FUND GIVEN IN 1891 BY 
 
 HENRY WILLIAMS SAGE 
 
The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/cletails/cu31924026121362 
 
THE ELIZABETHAN PLAYHOUSE 
 AND OTHER STUDIES 
 
Seven Hundred and Sixty Copies printed ; 
 type distributed. ■ No. Jj^ ^ ^ 
 
I'ERFORMANCE OF THE UBERATWNE Dl TIRRENO IN THE DUCAL I'M ACl' r^' o 
 AT FLORENCE IN 1616-AFTER CALLOT'S ETCHING (&, /,. 10+.) 
 
THE ELIZABETHAN PLAYHOUSE 
 AND OTHER STUDIES 
 
 BY 
 
 W. J. LAWRENCE 
 ILLUSTRATED 
 
 «» 
 9 
 
 PHILADELPHIA STRATFORD-UPON-AVON 
 
 J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY SHAKESPEARE HEAD PRESS 
 
 MCMXII 
 
PA/ 
 
 Printed by A. H. Bullen, at The Shakespeare Head Press, 
 
 Stratford-upon-Avon . 
 
To 
 WILLIAM ARCHER 
 
PREFACE 
 
 In connection with the existing, actively pursued inquiry 
 into the physical conditions and stage conventionalisms 
 of the Elizabethan Playhouse, I lay claim with par- 
 donable pride to the mild honours of a pioneer. Ten 
 years ago, when I first began to publish the result of my 
 prolonged investigations on the subject, there were no 
 scientific workers in the field. At home and abroad, in 
 Germany, in America, there are many now. To those 
 who desire to see how notable has been the progress made 
 in this department of research during the past decade I 
 commend Professor Reynolds' critical retrospect, "What 
 we know of the Elizabethan Stage ", as published last year 
 in Modem Philology at Chicago. To myself the seriousness 
 of this advance has been vividly brought home by the 
 circumstance that, on examination, the first fruits of my 
 labours in this field have proved too axiomatic to bear the 
 test of reproduction. I refer here more particularly to a 
 paper on " Some Characteristics of the Elizabethan-Stuart 
 Stage," contributed in 1 903 to Englische Studien, which at 
 least justified itself in inspiringand directing other workers. 
 Vainglorious as this may sound, it is simply an echo of 
 what has been publicly acknowledged. 
 
 In bringing the following papers together for republica- 
 tion in collected form, I have been ruled in my selection 
 by desire to illustrate, not only the rise and progress of 
 the Platform Stage, but in what degree the characteristics 
 
vlii Preface 
 
 of that stage coalesced with and otherwise influenced the 
 early Picture Stage. It will be found,, I think, that these 
 studies embody full details of the evolution of the English 
 theatre in its primary and secondary stages, or, in other 
 words, from its inception in the inn-yards until the close 
 of the seventeenth century. In them some attempt has 
 been made to indicate what features were indigenous and 
 what derivative, a task undertaken with the view of 
 combating the popularly accepted idea that all the salient 
 characteristics of the Restoration playhouse were imported 
 wholesale from France. There can be little doubt that 
 during the first two centuries of its history the English 
 theatre, as an institution, was highly individualised. 
 
 For courteously sanctioning the reprinting of these 
 papers, I have to thank the editors of the various periodi- 
 cals in which, with one exception, they all originally 
 appeared. The first, third and fourth are taken from the 
 Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shakespeare-Gesellschaft (i 908-1 1), 
 the second from Englische Studien (1908), the fifth — with 
 the accompanying illustrations — from The English Illus- 
 trated Magazine (1903), the sixth from The Gentleman'' s 
 Magazine (1902), and the seventh, eighth, ninth and 
 tenth from Anglia (1903-9). All have been carefully 
 revised, some amplified, and one^ — the paper on " Music 
 and Song in the Elizabethan Theatre " — entirely rewrit- 
 ten. In view of the publication of Sir Ernest Clarke's 
 article, on "The Tempest zs an opera" in The Athenaeum 
 of August 25, 1906, — a contribution which immediately 
 earned for its writer in some ill-informed quarters the 
 honours of a discoverer, and whose raison d'itre 1 then 
 
Preface ix 
 
 vigorously challenged — it is necessary to state that my 
 paper on the same subject, now republished, originally 
 appeared in Anglia in 1904 (Vol. xxvii, pp. 205 sqq.), 
 and that the only material strengthening of the argument 
 has been derived from my supplementary contribution on 
 the point, published in Notes and Queries later in the same 
 year (loth S., ii. 329). Irrespective of the plates which 
 accompany the paper on "The Mounting of the Carolan 
 Masques", all the illustrations have been newly added. 
 They have been chosen as much for their rarity as their 
 appositeness. One other new feature of the book remains 
 to be commented upon, the final paper, written after the 
 first sheets had been printed off, by way of supplement 
 to the opening study. This addition was rendered impera- 
 tive by the appearance of Monsieur FeuiUerat's article in 
 The Daily Chronicle^ revealing preliminary proof of the 
 existence of an earlier playhouse in the Blackfriars. 
 
 My thanks are finally due to my publisher, Mr. A. H. 
 Bullen, for placing at my disposal in the reading of the 
 proofs his wide knowledge of Elizabethan life and litera- 
 ture. It may be that 1 have not been apt pupil enough so to 
 profit by his advice as to be able to disarm Criticism; 
 but I feel assured that he has, at least, taught me how 
 
 to blunt its weapons. 
 
 W. J. Lawrence. 
 
 Dublin, March, 1912. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Preface ...... vii 
 
 I* The Evolution and Influence of the 
 
 Elizabethan Playhouse ... i 
 
 II' The Situation of the Lords' Room . 27 
 
 III" Title and Locality Boards on the Pre- 
 
 Resto ration Stage . . . . 41 
 
 IV 'Music and Song in the Elizabethan 
 
 Theatre ...... 73 
 
 V The Mounting of the Carolan Masques 97 
 
 « <^ yi The Story OF A Peculiar Stage Curtain 109 
 
 VII Early French Players in England . 123 
 
 VIII Proscenium Doors : an Elizabethan 
 
 Heritage . . . . . • ^57 
 
 IX Did Thomas Shadwell write an Opera 
 
 ON "The Tempest".'' . . • 191 
 
 X Who WROTE the Famous "Macbeth" 
 
 Music? 207 
 
 XI New Facts about the Blackfriars : 
 
 Monsieur Feuillerat's Discoveries . 225 
 
 Bibliography - . . • • • 2,4.5 
 
 Index ...•••• 257 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 FACING PAGE 
 
 Performance of the Liberatione di Tirreno in the 
 Ducal Palace at Florence in 1616 — after 
 Callot's etching (^See p. 104.) . . Frontispiece 
 
 Auditorium of the Pergolese Theatre, Florence, as 
 
 seen from the stage (1657) ... 9 
 
 Frontispiece to ne Wits^ or Sport upon Sporty 1663. 
 (Usually misdescribed as The Red Bull 
 Theatre) 18 
 
 Inigo Jones's design for the proscenium front and 
 
 main scene of the pastoral oi Florimene . 48 
 
 Inigo Jones's design for the proscenium of Shirley's 
 
 masque The Triumph of Peace (1634) . . loi 
 
 Inigo Jones's design for Triumphal Chariots . 103 
 
 Inigo Jones's design for the proscenium of 
 
 D'Avenant's masque The Temple of Love (1635) ^°5 
 
 Uninscribed sketch by Inigo Jones for a masque- 
 scene ....... 106 
 
 Drury Lane Theatre, 1697 : Joe Haines, mounted 
 
 on an ass, speaking an epilogue . . . 169 
 
 Frontispiece to Harlequin Horace, 3rd edition (1735) 177 
 
 De Burson's new stage front of the Theatre Royal, 
 
 Covent Garden (1821) . . . . 184 
 
 The last of the proscenium doors : Adelphi The- 
 atre, Liverpool (183 2-1 905) . . . 189 
 
 French multiple-scene for Durval's tragi-comedy 
 
 Agarite ....... 241 
 
The Evolution and Influence of the 
 Elizabethan Playhouse 
 
The Evolution and Influence of the 
 Elizabethan Playhouse 
 
 Within the span of Shakespeare's birth and death there 
 took place a vital melioration of the conditions of English 
 acting and playgoing, together with some slight improve- 
 ment in the status of the player. It is true that, subject 
 to certain reservations, the stage still remained, as it had 
 been constituted by Act of Parliament, a banned vocation. 
 But, if viewed with no favourable eye by the middle 
 classes, the player had already won the countenance of the 
 court, and taken thereby a stride towards his enfranchise- 
 ment. 
 
 In 1576, or nine years before William Shakespeare 
 arrived in London, an epoch-marking event in stage annals 
 had taken place. This was the erection in Moore-fields, 
 outside the city boundaries, of the Theater, a structure 
 without prototype, ranking not only as the first permanent 
 English playhouse but as the first organised public theatre 
 in modern Europe. It is matter of curiosity, as well as 
 importance, that an event which deflected the trend of 
 Elizabethan dramaturgy and led to the immediate system- 
 ization of the player's irregular calling should have been 
 brought about purely by force of outward circumstance. 
 No evidence exists to show that up to the period when 
 James Burbage solved a difficult problem by building the 
 Theater under protection of a royal patent, either players 
 or playgoers were otherwise than content with tKe primi- 
 tive histrionic conditions obtaining in the several inn-yards. 
 For years it had been customary to give performances twice 
 or three times a week on removable stages — possibly the 
 "boards and barrel-heads" referred to in The Poetaster as( 
 the later resource of "strutters" — in the yards of well- 
 known hostells like the Cross Keys in Grace-church Street, 
 
2 The Evolution and Influence of 
 
 the Bull in Bishopsgate Street, and the Bell Savage on 
 Ludgate Hill. In divers ways these ill-regulated assem- 
 blies had given dire ofFence to the Puritans who constituted 
 the Common Council. In recurrent periods of plague they 
 were always viewed as a menace to the public health, and 
 every outbreak was marked by prohibition of acting. 
 Despite all protests, the players persisted in desecrating 
 the Lord's Day by their performances. Apprentices had 
 been distracted from their work by the allurements of 
 Melpomene and Thalia ; there had been " sundry slaugh- 
 ters and maimings of the Queen's subjects" by falling 
 scaffolds and ill-handled stage ordnance ; and, worst of 
 all, young maids and good citizens' daughters had been 
 inveigled into "privie and unmete contracts " in the rooms 
 overlooking the yards. J In December, 1 574, the Common 
 Council had issued an\ order imposing municipal censor- 
 ship of the drama, and it was only a question of time as 
 to when the players would be expelled from the city.^ 
 Forewarned, however, was forearmed, and, when it came, 
 the blow fell on well protected shoulders. 
 
 When a decision was arrived at to migrate northwards 
 to the Liberty of Halliwell, in Shoreditch, with the view 
 of nullifying the gravity of the situation, Burbage and his 
 associates were forced to evolve a suitable playhouse out 
 of their varied experiences, both in public and in private, 
 in town and country. For the reason that the old bull- and 
 bear-baiting amphitheatres on the Bankside potently indi- 
 cated how the greatest number of spectators could be 
 accommodated in the least possible space, the Theater was 
 built, like them, of wood and circular or octagonal in shape. 
 Doubtless its near neighbour of a year or so later, the 
 Curtain, was constructed on similar lines. * 
 
 ' Collier's Hist. Eng. Dram. Poetry (1831), i. p. 214 note. 
 
 ' The expulsion probably came circa 1582, but the order is und^ed. Cf. Mr. E. K. 
 Chambers's review of Ordish's Early London Theatres in The Academy for August 24, 1 895, 
 
 ' The Theater and the Curtain were two of the four "amphitheatra" referred to 
 by Johannes de Witt, It is plain to be seen that no square-shaped playhouse existed 
 in 1593, else of a surety Nash would not have written then in The Unfortunate Travel- 
 ler : "I sawe a banketting house belonging to a merchant that was the meruaile of the 
 
The Elizabethan Playhouse 3 
 
 Burbage's house was so elaborately decorated that John 
 Stockwood, in a sermon delivered at Paul's Cross on 
 August 24, 1 578, could refer to it as " the gorgeous playing 
 place erected in the fields." "The painted stage" or "painted 
 theatres" is the phrase applied to the two Shoreditch houses 
 at different periods by Gabriel Harvey^ in his letters, and 
 Spenser in his Tears of the Muses ( 1 59 1). One recalls in this 
 connexion what Johannes de Witt wrote a few years later 
 concerning the Swan, whose columns were "painted in 
 such excellent imitation of marble that it might deceive 
 even the most cunning," 
 
 In keeping with his quality as pariah, the Elizabethan 
 player entertained no very lofty opinion of his calling, 
 made no particular effort to keep the temple of the Muses 
 undesecrated. The fact that neither the Theater nor the 
 Curtain was intended solely for dramatic purposes postu- 
 lated to some extent their internal arrangement. We 
 know from Stow^ that both were built "for the shewe of, 
 Activities, comedies, tragedies and histories for recreation." 
 What the the word "activities" here implies can be gathered 
 from a characteristic passage in Gosson's Plays confuted in 
 Five Actions (1582), wherein it is maintained that the 
 devU entices the eye in the play-house by sending in. 
 "garish apparell, masques, vaulting, tumbling, dauncing 
 of gigges, galiardes, moriscoes, hobby horses, shewing of 
 judgeling castes — nothing forgot that might serve to set 
 out the matter withpompe, or ravish the beholders with 
 variety of pleasure ". Other side shows, such as fencing 
 matches, were also held in the Shoreditch playhouses. 
 The public uses to which they were put were practically 
 without limit. Following on the heels of his visit to 
 London in 1596, Ludwig, Prince of Anhalt, wrote a poem 
 commemorative of his travels, in which he pointed out that 
 
 world ... It was builte round of green marble like a Theater without ;" &c. See the 
 prologue to Old Formnams (1599) for indication of the circular disposition of the audito- 
 rium of the Rose. 
 
 1 Tie Letter Book of Gabriel Harvey, 1573-8° (Camden Society 1884), p. 67. 
 
 ^ Of. T. Fairman Ordish, Early London Theatres, p. +5, et »eq. 
 
4 I'he Evolution and Influence of 
 
 the English capital boasted four theatres^, which were 
 utilised, not only for dramatic purposes, but for the bait- 
 ing of bulls and bears and for cockfights. Most of these 
 cruel and debasing exhibitions demanded a clear arena: 
 hence probably the main reason why the inn-yard principle 
 of the removable stage was adopted at the Theater and the 
 Curtain. As a matter of fact little deviation took place at 
 either house from the stage conventionalities and play- 
 going habitudes of the inn-yard era. So insensible was the 
 transition that the space occupied by the groundlings (who 
 remained standing at all save the private theatres for long 
 after Shakespeare's day) inherited the old designation of 
 "yard."^ That the later term "pit" was a contraction of 
 "cock-pit", in part confirming the statement of Ludwig, 
 Prince of Anhalt, is clearly indicated in Leonard Digges' 
 lines on Shakespeare' s Poems ( 1 640) : 
 
 Let but Beatrice 
 And Benedicke be seen, loe in a trice 
 The cock-pit, galleries, boxes, are all full. 
 To hear Malvoglio that crosse-garter'd gull. 
 
 As in the inn-yards, acting in the Shoreditch theatres 
 took place in the afternoon by natural light. Beyond the 
 covering in of the circumambient galleries, the two houses 
 remained unroofed. Exposure to the elements having 
 been thitherto the normal experience of the groundling, 
 the perpetuation of his discomfort was accepted with 
 equanimity. A quarter of a century later, however, the 
 public theatres were to be placed at some disadvantage by 
 the cosiness of the covered-in private houses. One recalls . 
 how Webster, in his "Address to the Reader", prefixed to 
 The White Devil, accounts for the ill-success of his play 
 (as probably produced at the Curtain in the harsh winter 
 of 1607-8), by averring it was "acted in so dull a time of 
 
 • The other two probably being the Rose and Newington Butts, both on the 
 south side. Of. W. B. Rye, England as seen by Foreigners, p. 133. 
 
 2 So, too, the signboard by which the playhouse was known, the system of prelim- 
 inary payment at the door and secondary "gathering" in the galleries, and the three 
 trumpet-blasts shortly before the performance were all relics of the inn-yard period. 
 
The Elizabethan Playhouse 5 
 
 winter and presented in so open and black a theatre", that 
 it failed to attract a fitting audience. 
 
 Following the old inn-yard system, the stage in our 
 earliest theatres was a simple, rush-strewn platform, jutting 
 out prominently into the yard. It had neither a proscen- 
 ium arch nor a front curtain, both of which were essential 
 characteristics of the picture stage and were not to be 
 permanently adopted in England until the period of the 
 systematic employment of scenery, a year or two after 
 the Restoration. Under such conditions Drama could not 
 be wholly, or even largely, an art of emotional illusion. 
 It was simply a more or less discursive narrative put into 
 action. The story was told rather than realised. With the 
 stage surrounded by spectators and the player embarrass- 
 ingly close to his public, acting, to be effectiye, had to be 
 rhetorical and vigorous. With the bulk of the audience 
 noisy and turbulent attention had to be gained by resolute- 
 ness of attack and a certain measure of direct appeal. 
 
 We come now to the point of departure between the 
 physical conditions of the inn-yard stage and the stage of 
 the first public theatres ; or, in other words, to a considera- 
 tion of the various improvements suggested by the short- 
 comings and inconveniences of the earlier system. The 
 paramount need of a readily accessible dressing room, with 
 wardrobe and store for properties, led at once to the crea- 
 tion of the "tiring-house". So far, however, from being 
 an isolated or hidden structure, this was adroitly conjoined 
 to the stage and made to subserve the purposes of the play. 
 Its composite fa9ade formed a permanent background to 
 the action, and the whole afforded a crude resemblance 
 to the Skene of the Attic Theatre of the fifth century. 
 Authentic details of the prime characteristics of the Shore- 
 ditch theatres are almost wholly lacking, but these can be 
 soundly, if laboriously, deduced by collating the stage 
 directions in the plays written for the twojiouses and 
 examining the evidence thus obtained by the light of the 
 information derivable from interior views of subsequent 
 theatres. To some extent the aspect of the tiring-house 
 
6 The Evolution and Influence of 
 
 recalled the background of the older stages in the inn- 
 yards, but it would appear that at least one important hint 
 had been taken from the screen of the banquetting halls in 
 the palaces, universities and inns of court, halls in which 
 the players had occasionally given performances. From 
 this source came the principle of the two frontal doors, 
 forming the normal (but not complete) method of entrance 
 and exit. 
 
 The deft combination of platform and tiring-house was 
 of extremely grateful utility. It permitted of the division 
 of the circuit of action into three distinct parts. The value 
 of this arrangement lay in the fact that, on a stage devoid of 
 scenery, it yielded the necessary illusion of a sudden change 
 of place. First there was the outer platform, or stage 
 proper. To this was appended an inner stage formed by 
 a central passage, or opening, between the two frontal 
 doors of the tiring-house, and hidden from view, when not 
 in use, by arras curtains suspended by rings to an iron rod 
 and working laterally. These curtains were commonly 
 known as "traverses". At the back of this recess was the 
 third door of entrance, that "mid-door" of whose employ- 
 ment we read occasionally in old stage directions.^ This 
 inner area came to be known in theatrical parlance as " the 
 study "^, probably from the nature of the scene for which 
 it was most commonly employed. But it was utilised for 
 a variety of other interiors, such as caves, arbours, count- 
 ing-houses, prisons, shops, tombs, tents and (occasionally) 
 bed-chambers. Its employment was, to some extent, 
 restricted by the remoteness and obscurity of its position, 
 an inconvenience which almost invariably demanded the 
 
 • Cf. G. F. Reynolds, Some Principles of Elizabethan Staging in Modern Philology, 
 ii. 587, note 3. The remoter position of the third door is clearly indicated in the 
 following stage direction from The Second Maiden's Tragedy (161 1), iv. 3: — "Enter 
 the Tirant agen at a farder dore, which opened, bringes hym to the Toombe wher 
 the Lady lies buried ; the Toombe here discouered ritchly set forthe." Here what 
 took place was this. The Tyrant made his exit by one of the frontal doors and the 
 traverses were drawn open, revealing the tomb on the inner stage. Then the Tyrant 
 re-entered by the mid-door at the extreme back. 
 
 ' For examples of the phrase see Titus Andronicus,y. 2; Hamlet, Q. 1. Sc. vi. 105-8; 
 The Woman Hater, v. i; Life and death of Lord Crom-uiell, iii. i. (where the scene is an 
 hostel). 
 
'The Elizabethan Playhouse 7 
 
 bringing in of lights at the commencement of all inner 
 scenes.^ Most of the emblematic set-pieces used as aids to 
 the imagination were placed here. One cannot speak of 
 a fixed rule, but they were generally put into position and 
 removed under cover of the traverses. Apart from these 
 traverses (or curtains designed for theatrical use), the stage 
 was also adorned with tapestry hangings or painted cloths. 
 A sufficiency of evidence exists to show that these were 
 changed for draperies of black whenTragedy was performed, 
 but the prevalent idea that the stage was hung with blue 
 for comedies, due to a curious surmise of Malone's, has no 
 foundation in fact.^ 
 
 The third division of the circuit of dramatic action was 
 known as "the- upper stage", or what is tersely indicated 
 in the old stage directions as "above". It took the form 
 of a central room on the first story of the tiring-house, 
 immediately over the inner stage, and was fronted by a bal- 
 cony, behind which hung another set of traverses. The 
 upper stage answered indifferently for city walls, Antony's 
 rostrum, or the lookout of a vessel. Many, but not all, 
 upper chamber scenes were acted within this area. Some 
 effects of the kind were more illusively procured by means 
 of practicable windows over the two frontal entering doors.* 
 At many of the theatres, when not in dramatic use, the 
 upper stage was occupied by the musicians and boy-singers. 
 It is matter of certitude that at all houses alike their nor- 
 mal position was on an elevation at the back. 
 
 Taking a hint from the habitudes of old inn-yard audi- 
 ences, Burbage and the other builders of the first public 
 theatres saw fit to make the tiring-house a source of revenue 
 by devoting portions of it to the service of the exclusive 
 
 '* Cf. The Two Italian Gentlemen, ii. 2 ; Satiromastix, i. 2 ; The Martyr'd Souldier, 
 iii. 2 i 'Tis Fitly she's a Whore, iii. 6. 
 
 2 See the induction to A Warning for Faire Women ; also Tragedy's speech 
 preceding the second act. In The Rape of Lucrece (1594), we have the line, "Black 
 Stage for Tragedies, and murthers fell ". For Malone's conjecture, see C. I. Elton, 
 William Shakespeare, his family and friends, p. 462. 
 
 ' Cf. Tivo Angry Women of Ahington, iii. 2 ; The Insatiate Countess, iii. i ; Blurt, 
 Master Constable, iv. 3 ; The Partiall Law, i. 5, and ii. 5 ; Othello, Q. 1622, i. i ; The 
 Taming of the Shrew, V. 
 
8 ne Evolution and Influence of 
 
 playgoer. On the same level with the upper stage were 
 constructed a few latticed boxes for spectators, one of which 
 was distinctively known as "the lords' room". Our first 
 definite trace of this aristocratic rendezvous is at the Rose 
 on the Bankside in 1592, but it doubtless had earlier and 
 other existence. In less than seventeen years, however, Its 
 use had been abandoned by the nobles to a very inferior 
 type of playgoer, a change which was apparently brought 
 about by the growing fashion of sitting on the stage. 
 
 At a period when the players were becoming more and 
 more luxurious in stage attire, the sole theatrical extrava- 
 gance of the Shakespearean era, it was not to be expected 
 that they would continue to brave the elements with the 
 fortitude and equanimity of their fellow sufferers, the 
 stinkards in the yard. The problem was to afford them 
 shelter from the pelting rain without unduly darkening 
 the house, or obstructing the spectators' view from any 
 part. It was solved by erecting over the stage, at an eleva- 
 tion corresponding to the ceiling of the uppermost gallery 
 in the auditorium, a thatched (or possibly, tiled and leaded) 
 half-roof, sloping down' from the tiring-house and known 
 indifferently as "the shadow" or "the heavens". This 
 curious makeshift had the additional advantage of serving 
 as a sounding-board. Proof of the presence of the heavens 
 in Burbage's house is afforded by a quaint metaphorical 
 conceit of Nash's, in his preface to Sidney's Astrophel and 
 Stella (1591) : 
 
 . . . Let not your surfeted sight, new come fro such puppet 
 play, think scorne to turn aside into this Theater of pleasure, for 
 here you shal find a paper stage streud with pearle, an artificial 
 heau'n to ouershadow the faire frame, and christal wals to encounter 
 your curious eyes, whiles the tragicommedy of loue is performed 
 by starlight. 
 
 Surmounting the tiring-house in the early public theatres, 
 at a slight elevation above the roofing of the galleries, 
 was a turret, or hutch, from which the flag, bearing the 
 symbol of the house, was hoisted an hour or so before the 
 
The Elizabethan Playhouse 9 
 
 performance. It was here, at short intervals before the 
 entry of the Prologue, that the three Trumpet blasts were 
 blown. As a matter of fact, the turret, so far from being 
 purely ornamental, was put to a great variety of useful 
 purposes. Through its apertures stage ordnance were let 
 off, a custom that led to the destructive fire at Shakespeare's 
 Globe. Here thunder was simulated by "roU'd bullet" and 
 " tempestuous drum " ; and here was situated the windlass, 
 or other rude machinery whereby the "creaking throne", 
 or the substantial deity-bearing cloud, was lowered.^ 
 
 Something remains to be said of the arrangement of the 
 auditorium in the Elizabethan public theatre, a portion of 
 the house which practically attained completeness at the 
 outset, so few and trivial are the variations that can be 
 traced. To the first English theatre-builders must the 
 credit be given of having originated the modern system 
 of the three galleries, a disposition commented upon by 
 Samuel Kiechel of Ulm as a novelty, when he visited 
 London in 1585.^ Apparently the lowermost and middle 
 galleries were divided into commodious boxes and the 
 uppermost galleries left open. Not all, if any, of the rooms 
 and galleries were provided with seats, although in most 
 parts stools and cushions could be procured by paying 
 extra. Details on this point are, however, somewhat vague. 
 All we know for certain is that the scale of prices dimin- 
 ished in ratio with the height of the gallery. In keeping 
 with this system, "the gentlemen's room", or "twelve- 
 penny room", usually the most expensive part of the 
 house, was situated on the lowermost gallery close to the 
 stage. 
 
 So far as can be determined, no Pre-Restoration play- 
 house had a separate entrance to every particular section 
 of the building. The public theatres were only provided 
 
 1 Cf. Prologue to Eiiery Man in bis Humour ; Cymbeline, v. 4 ; Alphomus, King of 
 Arragon, opening of Act i ; the Silver Age, passim. 
 
 ' Cf. W. B. Rye, England as seen by Foreigners, p. 88. This disposition was un- 
 known in Venice c. 1609. See Coryafs Crudities (Glasgow 1905), ii. p. 386. The earliest 
 known view of a modern Italian auditorium is that of the Pergolese Theatre in Florence, 
 engraved in 1657, and reproduced on opposite page. 
 
lo The Evolution and Influence of 
 
 with two doors, one for general admission to the yard and 
 galleries, and the other (by which the lords and the stool- 
 holders, as well as the actors, entered), leading into the tiring- 
 house. Writing to Sir Ralph Winwood on July 8, 1613, 
 Chamberlain conveys intelligence of the disastrous fire at 
 the Globe on St. Peter's Day, "which fell out by a peal of 
 chambers (that I know not upon what occasion were to b( 
 used in the play), the tampin or stopple of one of them 
 lighting in the thatch that covered the house, burn'd i( 
 down to the ground in less than two hours with a dwel- 
 ling house adjoyning ; and it was a great marvaile and fait 
 grace of God that the people had so little harm, having 
 but two narrow doors to get out." ^ This curious restrictior 
 of the number of entrances was due to the continuance 
 of the inn-yard and bear-baiting system of preliminary 
 payment at the door with subsequent "gathering" inside, 
 "Those who go to Paris Gardens, the Bell Savage, 01 
 Theater", writes Lambard in his Perambulation of Kern 
 (1596), "to behold bear-baiting, interludes, or fence-play, 
 must not account of any pleasant spectacle, unless first 
 they pay one. penny at the gate, another at the entry of the 
 scaffold, and a third for quiet standing ". The perpetuation 
 of this clumsy system,^ which, subject to some modifica- 
 tions, lasted until considerably after the Restoration, was 
 due to the circumstance that in the early public theatres^ 
 the proprietor rarely, if ever, leased the house to the 
 players, preferring to take a portion of the receipts. ' This 
 meant prompt payment and less risk. Hence the reason 
 why the players themselves were remunerated by shares 
 and not by salaries, and were generally expected to find 
 their own costumes and defray the daily charge for " hire- 
 lings ". Methods of dividing the receipts varied according 
 to the period and the playhouse. At the Theater the players 
 received "the profitts arising from the doors", and Burbage 
 
 ' Winwood's Memorials, iii. p. 4.69. Cf. Reliq. Wotton. (1685), p. 425, where the 
 play is said to have been King Henry VIII. 
 
 ' A somewhat similar system is still pursued in Southern Europe. For a modern 
 Spanish analogy, see Henry Lyonnet's Thiatre en Espagne (1897), p. 17. 
 
 ' Cf. W. W. Greg, Henslowe's Diary, ii. p. 128 and p. 134 note; also Karl 
 Mantzius, History of Theatrical Art {i^o\), iii. pp. 82, 109, 146. 
 
The Elizabethan Playhouse 1 1 
 
 the proprietor the money gathered in the galleries. But at 
 the second Globe and the Blackfriars half a century later 
 (when the daily charges defrayed by the sharers had con- 
 siderably increased), the players received "all the commings 
 in at the dores to themselves and halfe the galleries from 
 the house-kepers. " ^ 
 
 Except at the first performances of new plays when the 
 ordinary rates of admission were doubled, prices at the pub- 
 lic theatres during the strictly Shakespearean era ran from 
 a penny to a shilling. An allusion in Nash's Martin's 
 Month's Mind shows that in 1 589 admission to the Theater 
 and the Curtain was a penny. This made the playgoer free 
 of the yard, into which one and all hurried. " In the play- 
 houses in London", wrote Gosson^ in 1582, "it is the 
 fashion of youthes to go first into the yarde, and to carry 
 their eye through every gallery ; then like unto ravens, 
 when they spye the carion, thither they flye, and press as 
 near to the fairest as they can ". Ingress to the other parts 
 could be obtained by external staircases,^ but an extra charge 
 was subsequently enforced, according to the locality, the 
 fee being collected during the performance by "gatherers", 
 who were sometimes pressed into stage service as super- 
 numeraries. Hence the reason why the top gallery is 
 somewhat confusingly referred to in contemporary plays 
 and pamphlets as "the penny gallery", "the two-penny 
 gallery" and "the two-penny room".* The charge for 
 this part would be a penny, but the preliminary payment 
 at the d'oor made the total cost two-pence. 
 
 Nothing is jnore interesting in the social life of the 
 Elizabethan-Stuart era than to note the frequent shiftings 
 of the centre of gravity in the theatrical world, With the 
 erection on the Bankside of the Rose and the Swan in the 
 last decade of the sixteenth century, the tide of fashion set 
 in southward, much to the satisfaction and increase of the 
 
 ' Halliwell-Phillipps, Outlines, 3rd ed. p. 549. 
 
 * Plays Confiited in Five Several mictions. 
 
 ^ Reached from the pit by the steps marked "ingressus" in van Bachell's sketch 
 of the Swan. 
 
 * Collier's Hiit, Eng. Dram. Poetry (1831), iii. pp. 343-4. 
 
1 2 The Evolution and Influence of 
 
 Thames watermen. Although differing materially from 
 each other in point of magnitude, the two new houses pre- 
 sented no serious departure from type. One is not unmindful 
 that the evidence of the well-known Dutch drawing of the 
 Swan runs counter to this assertion, but, on the other hand, 
 potent reasons exist for believing that van Buchell's sketch 
 is not a minutely accurate mirroring of the playhouse it 
 depicts at second hand. ^ It is, indeed, matter for regret 
 that we have no completely satisfying view of the interior of 
 a Pre-Restoration playhouse, nothing that corroborates or 
 amplifies the evidence synthetically derived. The Roxana 
 and Messalina illustrations merely tantalise. Both suffer 
 from the grave defect that even the meagre details presented 
 cannot be authoritatively applied to any particular theatre 
 or kind of theatre. The more illuminative frontispiece to 
 The Wits, or Sport upon Sport {1662) — so long misdescribed 
 as a view of the Red Bull but now recognised as a view of 
 a "private" theatre^ — cannot be taken strictly as evidence 
 for the Elizabethan period, even if one uses that term in 
 its widest sense. It deals with the surreptitious perform- 
 ances of Cox's Drolls during the Commonwealth, or, in 
 other words, after the general dismantling of the theatres 
 under the repressive act of 1648. 
 
 .^ The art and mystery of playgoing, as mordantly revealed 
 "by Dekker in The Guls Hornbooke in 1609, must not be 
 too literally applied to the Bankside houses of a' decennium 
 earlier. In the intervening period the uprise and vogue of 
 the "private" theatres had brought about certain modifi- 
 cations, not only of the conditions of playgoing, but of . 
 dramatic representation. We are prone to look upon all 
 the Southwark theatres as mere summer resorts, forgetful 
 of the fact that performances were given there at all seasons 
 until shortly after the dawn of the new century. At the 
 Rose or the Swan, in and about the year 1595, the per-. 
 
 ' Of. T. F. Ordish, Early London Theatres, pp. 264-70 ; G. F. Reynolds, Mjid, 
 Phil., ii. p. 587 ; Victor E. Albright, The Shakespearian Stage, p. 39 ; The Tribune nei^- 
 paper, of Aug. 1 7, 1 907, Mr. William Archer's feuilleton on The Growth of the Flay- 
 house, 
 
 ' Cf. Victor Albright, op. cit. pp. 40-3. 
 
The Elizabethan Playhouse 13 
 
 formance generally began at two o'clock in the winter and 
 three in the summer, and lasted from two to three hours, 
 according to the season and the duration of light.^ Within 
 this limit a drama in five acts, and a brief jig (otherwise 
 a rhymed musical farce) had usually to be given. Although 
 acting was often a matter of uncertainty and largely 
 depended on the state of the weather, meagre bills convey- 
 ing particulars of the place of performance, the play and 
 the hour were generally posted up in the city a'day or two 
 previously.^ But as excessive rain might occasion an 
 eleventh-hour postponement, the intending playgoer could 
 not be assured positively about the arrangement till he 
 saw the flag hoisted above the theatre. Resort had to be 
 made to the Rose or Swan betimes in order, bodily, to 
 secure a place. For the benefit of those who, throughk 
 coming early, arrived dinnerless, eatables and drinkables] 
 including fruits, nuts, and bottled beer, were vended in' 
 the theatre. No preliminary music to wile away the time 
 was vouchsafed these eager enthusiasts, but powdered 
 tobacco and the latest thing in pamphlets were procurable 
 for a consideration, and the tedium of waiting could be 
 allayed by reading, smoking, and playing cards. Nor must 
 one overlook, in this connexion, Gasson's vivid testimony 
 to the early assembling of women in the galleries and to the 
 eagerness with which hot-blooded youth sought them out. 
 This factor in the economy of Elizabethan playgoing is par- 
 ticularly notable, seeing that in no continental theatre of the 
 sixteenth century, or the first quarter of the seventeenth, 
 was there frank and free interminglement of the sexes, ' 
 
 ' Three hours is the period mi\c!Acim'Vlhetzt.otie' a Heptameron of Ci-vil Discourses 
 (1582), and Dekker's Ra-ven's Almanack (1609). "The space of two hours and a half 
 and somewhat more "' is alluded to in the induction to Bartbohmpw Fair, as played at 
 the Hope in i6i4.^See also the prologue to The Lover's Progress, and the epilogue to 
 The Loyal Subject. 
 
 ^ It was also customary, at the end of every performance, to announce the next 
 play and the day of acting. See the allusion to this practice in the lines headed "The 
 Stationer", by H. Moseley, prefixed to the First Folio Beaumont and Fletcher (1647). 
 It is curiously illustrative of the intense conservatism of the player-folk that this 
 custom should have been maintained in the English theatre down to the middle of the 
 last century, 
 
 ' Cf. H. A. Rennart, Life of Lope de Vega, chap, vi ; Coryafs Crudities (Glasgow, 
 190;), ii. p. 386 ; Quarterly Review, Vol. cii, p. 416. 
 
14 'The Evolution and Influence of 
 
 There was no provision of programmes, as, for other 
 reasons besides the vagaries of the weather, there was 
 seldom any absolute certainty in the Bankside houses as 
 to what would be performed. During Shrovetide and 
 other holiday periods the players were at the mercy of the 
 " saylers, watermen, shoemakers, butchers, and appreii- 
 tices" then enjoying an unwonted leisure, and had to give 
 them what they demanded, or risk the destruction of the 
 theatre. ^ But to prevent misunderstanding (the playgoer 
 having the right to depart without payment previous to 
 the appearance of the gatherers^), it was usual, at public 
 and private theatres alike, to expose on the stage, with 
 the opening of the doors, a titleboard indicating in text 
 letters what piece was. about to be performed. Notwith- 
 standing this habituation of the Elizabethan audience to 
 inscribed boards, one sees no reason for believing what has 
 been so often averred, viz., that changes of scene were 
 regularly indicated in a similar way. It is tolerably certain, 
 however, that in plays like Pericles, where the action oscil- 
 lates rapidly from country to country, as weU as in plays 
 of the Marlowean order, where the scene occasionally 
 changes while the characters remain on the stage, resort was 
 made to inscribed locality-boards to prevent confusion. 
 
 Whether in the theatres in the Fields or on the Bank- 
 side there was tacit obedience (probably more from force of 
 habit than deliberate bowing to authority) to the City ordi- 
 nance that " no playing be in the dark, so that the auditory 
 may return home before sunset ". This limitation of the 
 traffic of the stage to a period of between two hours and 
 a half and three hours largely conditioned much that was 
 distinctive in Elizabethan dramaturgy, as well as the entire 
 technics of the Elizabethan player. Since time had to be 
 rigidly economised, waits of all kinds were studiously 
 
 ' See the remarkably vivid description of these saturnalia in Gayton's Festivous 
 Notes on the History of the renowned Don Quixote (1654). 
 
 ' This custom, so far as applied to the boxes, long survived the Elizabethan era, 
 and even penetrated into Ireland. It obtained in the Dublin playhouse early in the 
 eighteenth century. 
 
The Elizabethan Playhouse 1 5 
 
 avoided. Speech had to be at once fluent, articulate, and 
 well modulated. Action became well-nigh continuous, and 
 the interplay of character upon character a merry-go-round. 
 Act-divisions were indicated rather than realised,' and gen- 
 erally lasted no longer than it took a dumb show to pass 
 across the stage, or Chorus to deliver a brief speech. 
 
 Although not exactly the first of its order (a select 
 silenced playhouse having been previously established in 
 the Singing School of St. Paul's), the Blackfriars, as built 
 by the Burbages and opened by Henry Evans in 1 597 
 under royal patronage, was the first "private" theatre of 
 importance, and the exemplar of its type. As much a public 
 theatre as any house on the Bankside, it was only private 
 in the sense that privacy was obtained for its better class 
 patrons by charging higher prices of admission, the cheapest 
 seats costing six-pence. But if more was charged, more, as 
 we shall see, was provided. 
 
 For the first six years of its history the Blackfriars was 
 virtually a Court Theatre subsidised by the Queen. The 
 lessees were responsible only for rent and repairs, the 
 heavier charges for maintenance, apparel, and furniture for 
 the Children of the Chapel, who composed the actors and 
 singers, being borne by the royal exchequer. In other 
 respects, the Blackfriars enjoyed a distinction beyond 
 any other playhouse of its era. It was the first London 
 theatre to be honoured by a visit from a reigning monarch. 
 We know for certain that the Queen attended the perform- 
 ance there on Tuesday, December 29, 1601.^ This may 
 not have been her first visit and, doubtless, was not her 
 last. The vogue of the young eyases caused much heart- 
 burning among the adult players, especially as Elizabeth, 
 in furthering the interests of the petted children, sought 
 to suppress, or restrict the other companies. 
 
 ' Of. C. W. Wallace, The Children of the Chapel at Blackfriars, p. 95. Several of 
 my details concerning the Blackfriars have been derived from this valuable work, but 
 occasionally I have been compelled to exercise an independency of judgment where the 
 results of extended personal study and research run counter to Prof. Wallace's deduc- 
 tions. 
 
1 6 The Evolution and Influence of 
 
 Byreason of the persistence of manyof its characteristics, 
 the private theatre formed the connecting link between the 
 platform stage of Shakespeare's day and the picture stage 
 of Dryden's. Others of the type may be briefly referred 
 to. Paul's, reconstituted shortly after the opening of the 
 Blackfriars, had an audience of almost equal distinction, 
 and might have enjoyed a similar vogue, had not its reper- 
 tory consisted for the most part of "musty fopperies of 
 antiquity". Five or six years later, synchronising with 
 the dawn of James the First's reign, the Children of the 
 King's Revels had their private house in Whitefriars, to be 
 known later (after its re-edification for the adult players), 
 as Salisbury Court. About 1 6 1 5 the Cockpit in Drury 
 Lane was transformed into a private theatre and called the 
 Phoenix, from its sign. As often as not, however, it was 
 referred to by its earlier designation. Largely owing to 
 the disrepute of its surroundings, the Phoenix never gained 
 distinction of audience, and the quality of its performances 
 was little superior to that of the average public theatre. 
 
 With the building of the Blackfriars came in many vital 
 improvements. So rapid an advance in a single essay was 
 remarkable, for it must be remembered that the divergency 
 of the private from the public theatre was considerably 
 greater than the divergency of the public theatre from the 
 inn-yard. To begin with, the era of the roofed theatre, 
 with acting by artificial light, had now dawned. Again, the 
 Blackfriars was the first of the rectangular, as opposed to 
 the circular, or octagonal, houses. It was likewise the first 
 to possess a rectilinear auditorium. ^ Of this the shape and 
 
 ' I am basing here on Prof. Wallace's plausible argument (op. cit. chap, i.), which 
 neither admits of proof nor disproof. But if the Blackfriars* auditorium began square- 
 shaped it ended round. In Middleton's The Mayor of'Quinborough (1661), as certainly 
 acted there before the Civil War, Raynulph, as Prologue says : 
 
 "What Raynulph, monk of Chester can, 
 
 Raise from his Polychronicon 
 
 That raiseth him, as works do men, 
 
 To see long-parted light agen. 
 
 That best may please this round fair ring, 
 
 With sparkling diamonds circled in, 
 
 I shall produce." 
 
The Elizabethan Playhouse 17 
 
 general disposition were almost wholly conditioned by 
 pre-existent circumstances. The Blackfrlars was a second 
 floor theatre, constructed in an old monastic haU some 
 66 feet long by 46 feet broad. Incapable of providing 
 accommodation for more than six hundred people, it was 
 smaller than any existing playhouse, not even excepting 
 Henslowe's "little Rose". But within its narrow confines 
 several innovations of practical issue were at once effected. 
 From being the worst, the pit now became the best part- 
 of the house. No longer at the mercy of the elements, it 
 was furnished with benches in gradually ascending rows.^ 
 The house had also the regulation three galleries, not, 
 however, as in the existing public theatres, ovoid in form, 
 but running along three sides of a rectangle. It has been 
 asserted that the Blackfriars was the model for at least two 
 of the later private houses^, but it is gravely to be doubted 
 whether the rectangular auditorium was ever repeated in 
 any house of this order. When Antonio's Revenge was 
 produced at Paul's c. November, 1599, the prologue 
 maintained that "a sullen tragic scene" was adapted to 
 the melancholy of the season : — 
 
 Therefore, we proclaim. 
 If any spirit breathes within this round 
 Uncapable of weighty passion 
 
 let such 
 
 Hurry amain from our black-visaged shows. 
 
 The "sparkling diamonds", I take it, were the ladies' eyes — which oftener sparkled 
 in the private than the public theatres. Or the reference might be to the abounding 
 lights of "the torchy Friars." 
 
 ' The benches of the Blackfriars are distinctly referred to by Thomas Carew in 
 his lines to D'Avenant on The Just Italian, and the benches of Salisbury Court in the 
 epilogue to The Scholars. Undoubtedly it was from the earlier private houses that the 
 Restoration theatres of the picture stage order derived the principle of the amphithe- 
 atrical pit, with the benches systematically covered with green cloth, an arrangement that 
 held good up to the eighteenth century. Abundant evidence of its existence is to hand, 
 owing to the fact that the contemporary continental pit was invariably a standing one, 
 and that several French travellers have testified to the superiority of the English system. 
 Among these are Balthasar de Monconys (1663), Brunet (1676) and Misson (1698). 
 
 ' C. W. Wallace, op. cit. p. 18 note 3 and elsewhere. 
 
1 8 The Evolution and Influence of 
 
 The reference here not only indicates the circular disposi- 
 tion of the auditorium, but disproves Professor Wallace's 
 assertion that the Paul's theatre had no galleries. "This 
 round "^ could not refer to the Singing School in which 
 the playhouse was constructed ; for that, most assuredly, 
 was rectangular. Moreover, one treads on firm ground in 
 inferring that the Phoenix had curved galleries, seeing 
 that it was constructed in a cockpit, and that Shakespeare 
 in King Henry ^makes the Chorus speak of the Globe (or 
 was it the Curtain?) as "this cockpit" and "wooden O." 
 
 So much for the Blackfrlars auditorium. On turning 
 our attention stagewards what first strikes us is the notable 
 advance towards the slow-coming isolation of the player and 
 his domains. This, however, was matter of accident, not of 
 artistic intention. It was due to the comparative smallness 
 of the hall. So far from projecting as of old into the middle 
 of the pit, and being surrounded on three sides, by the 
 groundlings, the stage shrank proportionately in depth and 
 increasediiiJjreadth. It was made to extend right across the 
 haU, a disposition that led to the devotion of some little 
 space at either end to the service of privileged spectators.^ 
 Moreover, as the house was designed for strictly theatrical 
 purposes, the stage was made permanent, boarded In below 
 and embellished along the front with a carved balustrade. 
 Much Inconvenience must have been experienced by the 
 players on the old removable, unpallsaded stages (of the 
 type represented In the well-known Swan sketch), more 
 _particularly in connexion with the working of traps, always 
 a vital factor In Elizabethan performances. Few theatres 
 but must have had several of these traps ; many plays 
 demanded the simultaneous employment of three or 
 
 ' One is always safe in taking these references literally, provided one is certain of 
 the place of performance. Thus, in the prologue to The IVbore of Babylon^ as written 
 for delivery at the Fortune, we have " the charmes of silence through tbU sjuare be 
 throwne." 
 
 ' If this new system of stage-building was followed at all the later private theatres, 
 as Prof. Wallace infers, then we have no authentic view of the interior of any house 
 of the order. The Roxana and Messalina prints both show projecting stages ; and the 
 frontispiece to The fVits^ despite presenting signs and tokens of the private theatre in 
 the mat ficial lighting, indicates the groundlings on two sides. 
 
FRONTISPIECE TO THE M'lTS, OR SPORT UPON SPORT {,66-,'). 
 (Usually misdescribcd as the Red Bull Theatre.) 
 
 [To face f. I 8. 
 
The Elizabethan Playhouse i o 
 
 four.^ The Induction to The Poetaster shows that the Black- 
 friars stage had a central trap, and the masque in The Maid's 
 Tragedy indicates the use of others. Hence one reason 
 why the stool-holders could not have sat about promis- 
 cuously, and must have been assigned a circumscribed 
 position. It is noteworthy also that with the introduction 
 of the permanent stage came speaking in the cellarage : 
 instance, the ghost in Hamlet.^ 
 
 Beyond the fact that there was considerable elaboration 
 of spectacular effect', stage routine at the Blackfriars ruled 
 much as in the public houses. But some modification of 
 the old physical conditions was clearly brought about by 
 the complete roofing and the consequent resort to wax and 
 tallow for lighting purposes. We know that the turret 
 and its flag disappeared; and we can assume that "the 
 shadow " was dispensed with. No other material alteration 
 in stage regions took place, save a vital change in the 
 position of the two main entering doors. On the old 
 removable stages no permanent projections beyond the 
 straight front of the tiring-house were practicable. Accord- 
 ingly the two doors with their surmounting windows had 
 to be flush with the fa9ade. This arrangement was more 
 calculated to satisfy the vision of the main body of specta- 
 tors than suit every possible variety of dramatic situation. 
 Detours had to be made where passages across the stage 
 were demanded. Scenes where the action took place at 
 opposite upper windows in a street were impossible to 
 visualize. Hence situations such as that in The Devil is 
 an AsSy ii. 2, had to be eschewed. But on the permanent 
 stage of the Blackfriars these difficulties and restrictions 
 
 • Of. The Wbore of Babylon (Fortune Theatre), the dumb show of Falsehood 
 (ed. Pearson, ii. 243) \ If It Be Not a Good Play, the Divill is in it (Red Bull), epilogue of 
 Hell; and Messalina, v. 3. 
 
 ' Cf. Antonio's Revenge (1600 at Paul's), v. 2. In all public theatres preceding 
 the Blackfriars, as well as in the Blackfriars itself, the cellarage could hardly have ex- 
 ceeded live feet in depth. The stage was on a level with the line of vision, and there 
 could have been no excavation in houses where the scaffold was occasionally removed 
 for the holding of other entertainments. This also applies to the Blackfriars but for a 
 different reason — the peculiar location of the theatre, 
 
 ' Note the practicable working fouiitain in Cynthia's Revels, a characteristic 
 feature of the Court mounting of the period. 
 
20 The Evolution and Influence of 
 
 were obviated by placing the two main entering doors and 
 their overhanging balconies in an oblique position at either 
 end of the tiring-house. ' A host of later stage directions 
 testify to the gratefulness of this arrangement. For example, 
 in The Malcontent, v. 2, we have "Enter from opposite 
 sides Malevole and Maquerelle singing."^ The older 
 directions of this sort read " enter from the one door . . . 
 the other door." So much more satisfactory in its results 
 was this new oblique disposition that it was adopted in all 
 subsequent public and private theatres, with the possible 
 exception of the Hope. Not only this, but it afforded the 
 prototype of the proscenium doors and balconies of the 
 Restoration picture-stage, a conventionality that maintained 
 its sway in the English theatre to a period almost within 
 living memory. 
 
 The Blackfriars custom of sitting on the stage, so agree- 
 able to those who carried a year's revenue on their backs, 
 and desired to "publish a handsome man and a new suit," 
 quickly spread to the public theatres, despite the grum- 
 bling of the players, the girdings of Jonson, and the 
 vigorous protests of the groundlings. Not, indeed, until 
 near the middle of the eighteenth century was the stool- 
 holder to be wholly banished from the scene.' In Pre- 
 Restoration days the presence of these intruders militated 
 against the procuring of sustained scenic illusion by means 
 of material accessories, with the result that properties 
 remained in their primitive stage of symbolism. It was 
 jonly in the imitation of natural phenomena that realism 
 
 ' Cf. Shakespeare-Jahrbuch, xliv. pp. 165-6, Mr. William Archer's reprinted article 
 on The Fortune Theatre ; Albright, op. cit. pp. 47-9. The Dutch sketch of the Swan 
 illustrates the older method. Had this obtained at the Blackfriars, Perigot's opening 
 speech in the fifth act of The Faithful Shepherdess -would have seemed absurd. Immedi- 
 ately on his entry he espies Clorin seated in her cabin (i. e. on the inner stage) and says : — 
 
 " Yon is her Cabin, thus far off I'll stand 
 And call her forth ; for my unhallowed hand 
 I dare not bring so near yon sacred place." 
 
 ' See also Nice Valour, iii. 3 ; Four Plays in One, Sc. 4 (The Triumph of Love), 
 dumb show; The Little French Latayer,iii, i ; The Chances, v. 3 ; ff^ife for a Month, it. i. 
 
 ' Dekker discourses upon this incubus with delicious irony in The Guls Hornbooke. 
 For a vivid picture of a typical Blackfriars audience at a somewhat later period, see 
 H. Fitzjeffrey, Notes from Blackfryers (1620). 
 
The Elizabethan Playhouse 2 r 
 
 was aimed at. Thunder, lightning, rain, mists ^, blazing 
 stars, the singing of birds, all were illusively simulated. 
 
 At "the torchy Friars" good music was a predominant 
 characteristic. The gross afterpieces, known as "jigs", 
 which had so long delighted the rough frequenters of the 
 public theatres were abandoned in favour of intercalated 
 song and dance. The high reputation for its music gained 
 by the Blackfriars early in its first, or subsidised, period was 
 never afterwards lost or rivalled. In the beginning this dis- 
 tinction was largely attained by the quality of the prelude 
 with which it regaled its patrons for a whole hour before 
 the play.* The strange thing was that, notwithstanding 
 all these extraneous musical features, the earliest comer 
 was not detained at the Blackfriars any longer than three 
 hours, or about the limit of a public theatre performance.^ 
 This dispatch is all the more curious seeing that the 
 necessity for undue rapidity of action had been precluded 
 by the employment of artificial light. But it may be that 
 strict economy ruled, wax arnd tallow being expensive. 
 It is noteworthy that the two innovative theatres of the 
 ' Elizabethan era, each typical of its class, were built by 
 James Burbage. But Burbage's death apparently took 
 place before the Blackfriars was finished, and the work 
 was probably completed under the superintendence of his 
 son Richard. There is here an important continuity, for 
 the younger Burbage constructed in 1598, largely out of 
 the material of the demolished Theater, the never-to- 
 be-forgotten Globe on the^Bankside. AU the theatrical 
 
 ' Mists (as in Arden of Fa-versham, iv. 2 and 3) were effected by smoke arising 
 from a trap. For mimic rainstorms, see If It Be Not a Good Flay, the D'mell is in I 
 (ed. Pearson, iii. p. 326) ; and The Brazen Age, Acti, dumb show. It is impossible to 
 divine how this effect was managed. 
 
 ' See the important extract from the Diary of Philipp Julius, Duke of Stetten- 
 Pomerania (i 6o2),given by C. W. Wallace, op. cit. chap. ix. Beyond doubt the Black- 
 friars custom formed the prototype of the " First, Second, and Third Music " of the 
 Restoration period. Hence the tenor of the Duke's remarks is curiously iterated by 
 later visitors, such as SorbiJres (1664) and Magolotti (1669). In the belated Travels 
 of the latter we read, " before the comedy begins, that the audience may not be tired 
 with waiting, the most delightful symphonies are played ; on which account many 
 persons come early to enjoy this agreeable amusement." 
 
 ' The actual traffic of the stage rarely exceeded a period of two hours. See 
 prologue to The Ttoo Noble Kinsmen and to Love's Pilgrimage. 
 
22 The Evolution and Influence of 
 
 improvements of the age were therefore due to the enter- 
 prise of the one family, father and son. It must not be 
 overlooked that the Globe was in the direct line of pro- 
 gress. Although its auditorium had all the normal charac- 
 teristics of the older public theatres, some melioration took 
 place in the arrangement of the stage, based on the im- 
 provements at the Blackfriars. 
 
 We have no authentic view of Shakespeare's famous 
 theatre on the Bankside, but we know at least that it was 
 circular in outline.' Whether or not it was the " wooden 
 O " referred to by the Chorus in King Henry V^ it was 
 certainly the house spoken of in the prologue to The Merry 
 Devill of Edmonton in 1608 : 
 
 We ring this round with our invoking spelles.^ 
 
 Surrounded by dykes and reached by light bridges, the 
 Globe stood on a sort of islet. Its situation is vividly 
 pictured in Ben Jonson's Execration upon Vulcan. Over its 
 galleries was a thatched roofing, an arrangement that 
 eventually occasioned its destruction by fire. Unlike most 
 of the other Bankside houses, its record remained unsullied 
 by bull- and bear-baiting. Since it was strictly a playhouse, 
 we may take it that, after the manner of the Blackfriars, it 
 had a permanent, palisaded stage, projecting, however (as 
 in the earlier public houses), into the yard. That the Globe 
 stage was surrounded on its three sidesby a low balustrade' 
 possibly with a view of resisting the encroachments of the 
 groundlings, can be gleaned from Middleton's allusion in 
 the poetical introduction to TbeBlackeBooke(i6o/\.). Lucifer, 
 on ascending to speak the prologue to his own play, says : 
 
 ^ Halliwell-Phillipps, in his Outlines^ identifies an uninscribed, turretless playhouse 
 in Hondius* view of North and South London in Speed's Theatre of the Empire of Great 
 Britaine (1610), as the Globe. But Fleay {Chron. Hist. E»g.Stage,f. 146) traverses this 
 ascription in pointing out that the so-called Globe is more likely the Rose. No reliance 
 can be placed on the evidence of the old maps. They were based for the most part on 
 surveys made many years previously ; and in them the Bankside theatres are seldom 
 correctly located. Cf. William Martin's Tbe Site 0/ the Globe Playhouse of Shakespeare 
 (19 10) as reprinted from Surrey Archaological Collections, Vol. xxiii. 
 
 * Cf. the lines "On Sejanus," by «Ev. B." :— 
 
 "When in the Globe's fair ring, our world's best stage," etc. 
 
 ' Doubtless similar to the stage rails indicated on the engraved title pages of 
 Roxana and Messalina. 
 
The Elizabethan Playhouse 23 
 
 And now that I have vaulted up so high, 
 Above the stage rails of this earthen Globe, 
 I must turn actor and join companies. 
 
 There seems to be no valid reason for doubting that one 
 invariable concomitant of the permanent (as opposed to the 
 removable) stage was the oblique entering doors. Some 
 slight evidence exists to show that the Globe had these. 
 In The Merry Devill of Edmontotty v. 2, as performed there, 
 the scene represents two opposite inns whose signs have 
 been mischievously stolen or transposed. Note that the 
 host of the George refers to his rival as "mine overthwart 
 neighbour." The situation demands two opposite doors, 
 with or without overhanging signs, and could not be 
 realised hj two doors ranged along a straight line in the 
 front of the tiring-house. 
 
 Shortly after the opening of the Globe, two other public 
 theatres were built on the north side of the river, the Red 
 Bull in St. John Street, Clerkenwell, and the Fortune in 
 Golden Lane, Cripplegate. ' Both appealed to much the 
 same type of playgoer, a rough and ready type, delighting 
 in robustious melodrama and exuberant declamation. "I 
 have heard," writes Gayton in 1654,* "that the Poets of 
 the Fortune and Red BuU had always a mouth-measure 
 for their actors (who were terrible tear-throats) and made 
 their lines proportionable to their compasses, which were 
 sesquipedales — a foot and a half." 
 
 Built in 1599, after the general disposition (but not the 
 form) of the Globe, the Fortune was a square-shaped 
 theatre with a rectangular auditorium. It enjoys the 
 distinction of being the only Pre-Restoration playhouse 
 
 ' No anthentic view of either has come down to us. Albright (op. cit. p. 45) 
 plausibly identifies the Messalina illustration as a view of the Red Bull, an ascription 
 which, at first sight, seems borne out by what Baker (Biog. Dramatica, 1782, i. 266) 
 says of Thomas Jordan, viz., that he was "z performer belonging to the company at 
 the Red Bull, and acted the part of Lepida in the tragedy of Messalina." But difficulties 
 crop up on further examination. The King's Revels men shifted about from theatre 
 to theatre, and we have no record of the house where Richards* tragedy was first pro- 
 duced. And even if we had, we have no evidence to show that the view on the 
 engraved title-page represents the stage of that particular theatre. 
 
 ' op. cit. 
 
24 The Evolution and Influence of 
 
 which can be scientifically reconstructed. Basing on its 
 extant building contract, and supplementing the incom- 
 plete details by knowledge derived from other sources, Mr. 
 Walter H. Godfrey, the well-known London architect, has 
 drawn up a series of elaborate plans which visualize satis- 
 factorily the main characteristics of the first Fortune.' 
 The only seriously debatable point in connexion with this 
 sound reconstruction is the position of the staircases, which, 
 on due reflection, would appear to have been external.'' 
 
 It only remains to add that within the strictly Shake- 
 spearean era a complete cycle of theatre-building took 
 place. The last public playhouse erected in the poet's 
 lifetime — the malodorous Hope on the Bankside — was a 
 reversion to type. Modelled largely on the Swan, the 
 Hope was provided with a removable stage, so that it might 
 maintain the unsavoury traditions of the old Bear Garden 
 which it had superseded. 
 
 In reviewing the story of the English drama and its 
 habitat in the seventeenth century, it is impossible to draw 
 any sharp line of demarcation. The outbreak of the Civil 
 War simply indicates (in military phrase) a marking of 
 time, not a dismissal. When activities were renewed it 
 was on the old basis. The first theatres of the Restoration 
 period were strictly of the Elizabethan order. Even when 
 these were superseded one cannot say that the platform 
 stage passed away and left no trace. Some of its physical 
 characteristics and not a few of its conventionalities became 
 the inheritance of the picture stage. So, too, many of the play- 
 going customs of Shakespeare's day lasted until Congreve's. 
 The great Elizabethan impetus cannot be said to have wholly 
 spent itself until the middle of the nineteenth century. 
 
 ' For the designs, contract, and excursus, see Mr. Godfrey's article, " An 
 Elizabethan Theatre " in The Architectural Reiriew for April, 1908. Cf. Shakesfeare- 
 Jahrbuch, 1908, pp. 159-66, The Fortune Theatre. For an independent reconstruction 
 of the Cripplegate house, by A. Forestier, see The Illustrated London News of August 12, 
 1 9 1 1 . This, while in some respects an improvement on Mr. Godfrey's designs, is marred 
 by one or two unwarrantable features, such as the curtain dividing the upper stage from 
 front to back, and the partition at the front of the yard. 
 
 ' See my review of Mr. Godfrey's plans in the article on " The Old Fortune*" in 
 The Tribune newspaper of October 23, 1907. 
 
Tj&f Elizabethan Playhouse 25 
 
 Chronological List of Elizabethan, and quasi- 
 Elizabethan, Playhouses (1576 — 1663). 
 
 The Theater. 
 Unroofed theatre; situated in Moore-fields, Shoreditch; built by 
 James Burbage, 1576; pulled down, 1598; authentic views, none.* 
 The Curtain. 
 Unroofed theatre; situated in Moore-fields, Shoreditch ; built 
 in 1576; pulled down c. 163O; last referred to in 1627; authentic 
 views, none. 
 
 Paul's. 
 
 First roofed theatre ; situated in the Choir Singing School, near 
 the Convocation House (St. Paul's) ; built c. 1581 ; suppressed, 
 1590-6 ; last trace of, c. 1608 ; burnt down in Great Fire, 1666 ; 
 authentic Views, none. 
 
 Newington Butts. 
 Unroofed theatre ; situated in Lambeth ; built c. 1586; pulled 
 down c. 1603 ; authentic views, none. 
 
 The Rose. 
 
 Small, unroofed theatre ; situated on the Bankside in South wark; 
 
 built between 1587 and 1592 ; first referred to in 1592, last in 
 
 1603; authentic views: (Exterior) Norden's Map, 1593; Ryther's 
 
 Map, 1604. 
 
 The Swan. 
 
 Unroofed theatre ; situated in Paris Garden, Southwark ; built 
 
 1595 by Francis Langley ; pulled down c. 1635 ; authentic views: 
 
 (Interior) Van Buchell's sketch, after de Witt, 1596; (Exterior) 
 
 Visscher's Map, 1616 ; Manor Map, 1627. 
 
 Blackfriars. 
 
 Small, roofed, second-floor theatre ; situation, Blackfriars ; built 
 1596, pulled down August 6, 1655 ; authentic views, none. 
 The First Globe. 
 
 Unroofed theatre ; situated on the Bankside ; built 1 598 ; burnt 
 down June 29, 1 6 1 3 ; authentic views, none. 
 
 1 Cf. G. P. Baker, The Development of Shakespeare as a Dramatist, pp.36, 125, 135. 
 Prof. Baker here reproduces the rude depictions of two buildings from Ryther's Map of 
 1604, which he identifies as the Theater and the Fortune, forgetful of the fact that the 
 two houses were never standing at the one time. Perhaps, on second thought, he would 
 be inclined to say that they represented the Curtain and the Fortune— a plausible 
 ascription. But even here there are difficulties. The supposed view of the Fortune is 
 more like a church than a theatre. It has a steeple surmounted by a flag. The flag does 
 not ilecessarily prove tJhe theatre. In Hondius' view of London in_l6lo (reproduced as 
 a frontispiece by Prof. Baker), two city churches are shown with a similar adornment. 
 
2 6 Evolution and Influence of the Elizabethan Playhouse 
 
 The First Fortune. 
 Unroofed square theatre ; situated in Golden Lane (afterwards 
 Red Cross Street), Cripplegate; built 1600; burnt down December 
 9, 1621 ; authentic views, none. 
 
 Red Bull. 
 Unroofed theatre; situated in St. John Street, Clerkenwell; 
 built c. 1600 ; enlarged in 1632; last used as playhouse 1663 
 (see Pf/iyj' Diary, April 25, 1664); authentic views, none. 
 
 Whitefriars. 
 Small roofed theatre ; situated near Salisbury Court, Fleet Street; 
 built c. 1603; last referred to, 1621 ; authentic views, none. 
 
 The Hope. 
 Unroofed theatre and Bear-baiting arena; situated on the Bank- 
 side; built 1614; pulled down 1656; authentic views: (Exterior), 
 Visscher's Map, 161 6; " Cittie of London" Map, 1646; 
 " Londonopolis " Map, 1657. 
 
 The Second Globe. 
 Unroofed theatre (on site of, but much superior to, the first 
 house); built 1 614; pulled down 1644; exterior view of, Visscher, 
 1616. 
 
 The Cockpit, or Phcenix. 
 Small roofed theatre; constructed in the Cockpit in Drury Lane 
 c. 1617 ; dismantled 1649 '■> ^^^ ^^^^ 1664. 
 The Second Fortune. 
 Unroofed, brick theatre; erected on site of older house c. 1623; 
 dismantled in 1649, ^"'^ never afterwards used as a playhouse; 
 serving as a secret conventicle in November, 1682; later used as 
 a brewery. For exterior view in final stage, see Wilkinson's 
 Londina Illustrata. 
 
 Salisbury Court. 
 Roofed theatre ; situated in Salisbury Court, Fleet Street ; built 
 1629; dismantled 1649; last used i66i ; destroyed by Great 
 Fire, 1666 ; authentic views, none. 
 
 Vere Street. 
 Oblong roofed theatre ; situated in Vere Street, Clare Market; 
 built in a tennis-court ; last constructed house of the Elizabethan 
 order ; opened by Killigrew and the King's Company, November, 
 1660 ; closed April, 1663; for view of ruins of, see C. W. 
 Heckethorn, Lincoln's Inn and the Localities Adjacent, p. 138. 
 
The Situation of the Lords' Room 
 
The Situation of the Lords' Room 
 
 Writing in his Gub Hornbooke (i 609) on " How a Gallant 
 should behave himself in a Playhouse," Dekker addresses 
 his pretended fledgeling in a vein of masterly irony and 
 contrives to pillory some of the foibles of the time, 
 "Sithence then" he says, "the place is so free in entertain- 
 ment, allowing a stoole as well to the Farmers sonne as to 
 your Templer : that your Stinkard has the selfe-same 
 libertie to be there in his Tobacco-Fumes, which your 
 sweet Courtier hath : and that your Car-man and Tinker 
 claime as strong a voice in their suffrage, and sit to give 
 judgment on the plaies life and death, as well as the 
 prowdest Momus among the tribe of Critick : it is fit that 
 hee, whom the most tailors bils do make roome for, when 
 he comes, should not be basely (like a vyoU) casd up in a 
 corner. 
 
 "Whether therefore the gatherers of the publique or 
 private Playhouse stand to receive the afternoones rent, 
 let our Gallant (having paid it) presently advance himselfe 
 up to the Throne^ of the Stage. I meane not into the 
 Lords roome (which is now but the Stages Suburbs) : No, 
 those boxes, by the iniquity of custome, conspiracy of 
 waiting women and Gentlemen-Ushers, that there sweat 
 together, and the covetousnes of Sharers, are contemptibly 
 thrust into the reare, and much new Satten is there dambd, 
 by being smothred to death in darknesse. But on the very 
 Rushes where the Comedy is to daunce, yea, and under 
 
 ' Prof. Schelling, who is much too apt to take Dekker's figurative phrasing literally, 
 stumbles badly over this passage. See Elizabethan Drama i. 175. He thinks the 
 reference vras to the actual property throne vrhich he deems accordingly almost a 
 permanent feature of the stage. Dekker's meaning is made apparent by the Second 
 Child's instruction to the green playgoer in the Induction to Cynthia's Revels ; " O lord 
 sir ! will you betray your ignorance so much ? Why throne yourself in state, as other 
 gentlemen use, sir?" Or, in other words, hire a stool and take a conspicuous position 
 on the stage. 
 
30 The Situation of the Lords' Room 
 
 the state of Cambises himselfe must our fethered Estridge, 
 like a piece of Ordnance, be planted valiantly (because 
 impudently) beating downe the mewes and hisses of the 
 opposed rascality." 
 
 Than this, no old passage dealing with the Elizabethan- 
 Stuart stage has been more sadly misinterpreted. It is only 
 within the last decennium that a scientific examination of 
 early physical conditions has been entered upon, and no 
 investigator has as yet attained sufficient knowledge to 
 tear out the heart of Dekker 's fascinating mystery. Towards 
 that consummation the following excursus may ultimately 
 prove helpful. 
 
 Our first business is to note that Dekker's reflections 
 are not limited in their application. They deal, on his own 
 showing, with both the public and the private theatre, and 
 one cannot but assume that all the customs referred to in 
 the chapter were common to both. ' 
 
 The gull is instructed to seat himself on the stage at the 
 psychological moment, or, in other words, when "the 
 quaking prologue" is about to enter. He has come in by 
 the tiring-house door, having duly paid the preliminary 
 price of admission ; more remains to be disbursed for a 
 stool. The same doorway leads to the Lords' room, a resort 
 to be avoided, as it has lost its high repute. He is not 
 told why Rank and Fashion had abandoned these boxes to 
 waiting women and gentlemen-ushers. It may be that 
 they wearied of trying to execute the impossible feat of 
 seeing the action that occasionally took place on the inner 
 stage beneath them, and, in sheer desperation, increased 
 the numbers of that growing body who sat on the stage 
 itself. This would have necessitated some enlargement of 
 the scaffold, more in breadth, probably, than in depth, but 
 still with some deepening. The actual position of the 
 tiring-house would not be — could not be — altered; and 
 yet, if we assume that acting went on well to the front of 
 
 ' Prof. Wallace disputes this (op. cit. chap. xi. passim), but his contentions have 
 been efFectively disposed of by Mr. C. R. Baskervill in his paper on "The Custom of 
 Sitting on the Elizabethan Stage" in Modern Philology (Chicago), viii. No. 4, April, 191 1. 
 
The Situation of the Lords' Room 31 
 
 the stage, the boxes at the back would be so much the more 
 remote from the main action. Dark and ill-placed, they 
 should no longer have been let to spectators, but the 
 cupidity of the players induced them to turn the deserted 
 rooms into a licentious rendezvous for the lower middle 
 classes. 
 
 By those not profoundly versed in Dekker's pamphleteer- 
 ing style, it might possibly be argued that the description 
 of the Lords' room as "now but the Stages Suburbs" 
 implies that the position of the boxes for the nobility had 
 recently been altered. That this was not so, seems demon- 
 strated by the fact that no topical allusion to the Lords' 
 room can be traced later than The Guls Hornbooke. What 
 one really requires to grasp is that Dekker uses the word 
 " suburbs " in a sinister metaphorical sense, hard to arrive 
 at now but readily comprehended by his contemporaries. 
 In Lanthom and Candle-Light (1608), he had already 
 devoted a whole chapter to a gruesome description of the 
 iniquities of London's suburbs. " Would the Divell hire 
 a vUlaine to spil bloud .''" asks he. "There he shall finde 
 him. One to blaspheme ; there he hath choice. A Pandar 
 that would court a matron at her praiers ? hes there. A 
 cheator that would turne his owne father a begging ; He's 
 there too: A harlot that would murder her new-borne 
 Infant } Shee lies in there." That Dekker meant to imply 
 by "suburbs of the stage "a disreputable and undesirable 
 locality is shown by a quaint passage in the first chapter of 
 The Guls Hornbooke^ wherein we learn of "Potato-pies, 
 and Custards" that "stood like the sinful suburbs of 
 Cookery, and had not a wall (so much as a handful! hie) 
 built rownd about them."^ 
 
 As much of this interpretation appears a mere begging 
 of the question, I hasten to advance some proof that the 
 boxes for the nobility were originally situated aloft in the 
 
 ' Of. Nashe's Cbristt Tear a over lervsalem (1593)," London, what are thy Suburbs but 
 licensed Stewes? Can it be so many brothel-houses of salary sensuality and sixe-penny 
 whoredome (the next doore to the Magistrates) should be set up and maintained," etc., 
 etc. See also Dekker's Jeits to Make Tou Merrie, No. 59. 
 
32 The Situation of the Lords' Room 
 
 tiring-house, and that before 1609 the position had been 
 abandoned. 
 
 Of the four known views of interiors of early non-scenic 
 theatres, three show incontestably that spectators sat in 
 elevated boxes at the back of the stage.^ The existence of 
 this custom at the public houses is indicated in the well- 
 known sketch of the Swan, and at the private by the 
 erroneously ascribed frontispiece to Kirkman's Drolls, 
 which, popular acceptance to the contrary notwithstanding, 
 does not represent the Red BuU.^ Professor Baker, as 
 behoves a thick-and-thin supporter of Dr.Cecil Brodmeier's 
 individual exposition of the alternation theory, scouts the 
 possibility of spectators sitting at the back of the stage, and 
 opines that De Witt's sketch is largely responsible for the 
 persistence of the idea. He tries to explain away the evidence 
 it presents, forgetful of the fact that corroboration of its 
 details in this respect is ample.^ " It is by no means clear," 
 he writes, "that the persons seen in this gallery in the 
 print are not actors watching the scene on the front stage, so 
 that any argument from it starts from an exceedingly weak 
 premise. Secondly, the great majority of the Elizabethan 
 plays call for use of the upper stage. How convenient and 
 how probable, to turn the occupiers of the upper stage 
 seats out when the exigencies of the play demanded! Above 
 all, why should rational theatre-goers wish to gaze on the 
 backs of the actors and to sit in the one part of the house 
 where hearingwould be most difficult." The prime mistake 
 here is in supposing that the whole of the second floor in 
 the tiring-house was given over to the upper stage. A 
 sufficiency of pictorial and textual evidence exists to show 
 that only a central portion of the floor was so allotted ; the 
 
 1 Unfortunately the tiny view on the title-page of Messalina has been lopped of its 
 C air proportions through the exigencies of engraving, 
 
 * The print, with its details of artificial lighting, plainly indicates a private theatre, 
 and the Red Bull was never otherwise than a public one. The ascription was unknown 
 to Malone and is utterly unwarranted. It dates apparently from 1 809, when the plate 
 was reproduced separately in London with a long inscription associating it with the 
 Red Bull. 
 
 ' See his De-velopment of Shakespeare as a Dramatist, p. 75. 
 
The Situation of the Lords' Room 33 
 
 remainder was divided up into boxes for the musicians 
 and for spectators. Even if some of the boxes were occasion- 
 ally pressed into the service of the scene to represent 
 windows, — a not improbable supposition — I see no reason 
 why the spectators should not have been disturbed. Those 
 who went there took all risks. Spectators of a similar order 
 had to undergo a like discomfiture at a much later period. 
 In the London theatres of the eighteenth century there 
 were stage boxes over the two proscenium doors, and in 
 these spectators frequently sat. It is to this arrangement 
 Tate Wilkinson refers when he says in his Memoirs "when- 
 ever a Don Choleric in The Fop's Fortune, or Sir Amorous 
 Vainwit in A Woman's a Riddle, or Charles in The Busy 
 Body, tried to find out secrets, or plot an escape from a 
 balcony, they always bowed and thrust themselves into 
 the boxes over the stage, amidst the company, who were 
 greatly disturbed, and obliged to give up their seats." 
 Prof. Baker's query as to why rational people should desire 
 to occupy such a generally undesirable position as that of 
 the back boxes can be satisfactorily answered. The nobility 
 went there in the beginning because they could enter by 
 the tiring-house door, and be completely isolated from the 
 mob. When the inconvenience of the locality from the 
 mere playgoer's point of view became unbearable, the 
 Lords' room was abandoned to the desecrations of those 
 who made of it a mart for illicit love and bought kisses. 
 
 The earliest known reference to the Lords' room occurs 
 in Henslowe's Diary, in a list of payments made for the 
 building or repairing of the Rose circa 1592 : 
 
 pd. forsellyngeof the Romeouer the tyerhowsse, ... x s. 
 pd. for sellinges my lords Rome. . . . xiiij s.^ 
 
 It may be that the association of the two entries does 
 not warrant us in assuming the propinquity of the two 
 rooms ; but if we take it that the room over the tiring- 
 house is represented by the garret in the Swan sketch out 
 
 ' Ed. Greg (1904), p. 10. Collier makes sad hash of these details. Of. Hist. Eng. 
 Dram. Poetry (1831), iii. 317. 
 
34 I'he Situation of the Lords' Room 
 
 of which the trumpeter is emerging, the Lords' room at the 
 Rose might well have been on the lower story. That it 
 was sub-divided is apparently indicated by Henslowe's 
 use of the word "sellinges," and the relative payments 
 show that it occupied a somewhat larger area than the 
 top room. 
 
 Two important textual allusions bring into sharper 
 perspective the evidence presented in the three interior 
 views, and go far towards clinching my main argument. 
 Every Man Out of his Humour was acted at the Globe in 
 1599. In Act ii. sc. i., Carlo Buffone comments upon 
 Fastidious Brisk's boasting of his intimacy with certain 
 courtiers thus : "There's ne'er a one of these but might 
 lie a week on the rack, ere they could bring forth his name; 
 and yet he pours them out as familiarly as if he had seen 
 them stand by the fire in the presence, or ta'en tobacco 
 with them over the stage, in the lords' room." ^ This is 
 definite enough. " Over the stage " can only be interpreted 
 to mean above in the tiring-house. None of the rooms in 
 the auditorium proper could be said to be over the stage. 
 In the Swan sketch, as well as in the so-called Red Bull 
 frontispiece, a clear space (for the use of spectators in the 
 yard or pit) is shown between the sides of the platform and 
 the lowermost gallery. At the Fortune theatre, as one can 
 readily deduce from the building contract,^ this space 
 formed a gap of some six feet on each side. On the Messalina 
 and Roxana engraved title-pages (wherein the type of 
 theatre represented cannot be satisfactorily determined) we 
 have indications in the narrowing stage of a similar arrange- 
 ment. From these facts may be safely predicated the 
 existence of a definite rule for the public theatres. The 
 chances are, however, that in the private houses, with their 
 comfortably seated pits, a different system obtained. On 
 
 • Compare Webster's induction to The Malcontent (Globe, 1604) : 
 
 John Loivin : Good sir, will you leave the stage ? I'll help you to a private 
 
 room. 
 Sly ; Come Cuz, lets take some tobacco . . . 
 
 2 Given in extenso, from Mnlone's Shakespeare, in HalliwcU-Phillipps' Outline!, 
 3rd cd., pp. 524. If. 
 
^he Situation of the Lords' Room 35 
 
 Prof. Wallace's showing the stage in Burbage's Blackfriars 
 extended right across the entire width of the haU.^ Even 
 conceding this, it is doubtful if the Lords' rooms during the 
 first lustrum of this house's history were situated otherwhere 
 than in the tiring-house. One longs to speak decisively 
 on this point so that one might the more readily visualize 
 that amiable habitude of Ben Jonson's at the Friars, 
 caustically alluded to in Satiromastix, or the Untrussing of the 
 Humorous Poet (1602), in that curious passage beginning, 
 "Besides you must forswear to venture on the stage 
 when your play is ended, and to exchange courtesies and 
 compliments with the gallants in the Lords' rooms, to make 
 aU the house rise up in arms and to cry 'that's Horace, 
 that's he! that's he!'" &c. 
 
 Before the period of its degradation the Lords' room was 
 more remarkable for the conspicuousness and distinction 
 bestowed upon its occupants than for its play-seeing con- 
 veniency. That a certain type of ruffler haunted the place 
 is seen in an undated epigram on "Spongus the gallant" 
 preserved in The Dr. Farmer Chetham MS. Commonplace 
 BooP : 
 
 He playes at Primero' over the stage, 
 
 fighte for the wall, and keepes a lac'te Cloke page ; 
 
 Ryde through the streetes in glisteringe braverie 
 
 and swallowes not the least indignitie. 
 
 To occupy a seat in the Lords* room was accordingly to 
 place oneself where all eyes would naturally be attracted. 
 The action had no other background than the tiring-house. 
 That was the sense in which such a seat was "the best and 
 most conspicuous place" according to the allusion of Sir 
 John Davies in his Epigrams^ : 
 
 Rufus the Courtier, at the theatre, 
 
 Leauing the best and most conspicuous place, 
 
 ' op. cit. pp. 215, et. aeq. 
 
 » Ed. Grosart (1873), pt. i. p. 104. . , ■ „ . «-c ff 11, •■ 
 
 3 A fashionable game at cards. "I left him at primero with the Duke of Suffolk. 
 
 King Henry VIII, i. 2. 
 
 ■* Published at Middelburgh circa 1598. 
 
36 The Situation of the Lords' Room 
 
 Doth either to the stage himselfe transfer, 
 
 Or through a grate^ doth show his doubtful face. 
 
 For that the clamorous frie of Innes of court, 
 Filles up the priuate roomes of greater prise ; 
 And such a place where all may haue resort. 
 He in his singularitie doth despise. 
 
 Yet doth not his particular humour shunne 
 The common stews and brothels of the towne, 
 Though all the world in troupes do thither runne, 
 Clean and vnclean, the gentle and the clowne : 
 
 Then why should Rufus in his pride abhorre 
 A common seate, that loues a common whore. 
 
 As for the waiting-women and gentlemen-ushers who 
 resorted to the Lords' room after it had fallen from its high 
 estate, and who, according to Dekker, sweltered there in 
 ignoble obscurity, some allusion to this well-marked and 
 undiscriminating type of playgoer is evidently intended in 
 Ben Jonson's lines to Fletcher on The Faithful Shepherdess: 
 
 The wise and many-headed bench that sits 
 Upon the life and death of plays and wits, 
 Compos'd of gamester, captain, knight, knight's man. 
 Lady or pusil, that wears maske or fan. 
 Velvet or taffata cap^ ranked in the dark 
 With the shops foreman^ or some suche brave sparke, 
 (That may judge for his sixpence) had before 
 They saw it half, damn'd thy whole play. 
 
 One wonders whether it would be safe from this to draw 
 the inference that the Lords' rooms, at the period of their 
 decline and fall, were known as "sixpenny rooms ". In the 
 induction to The Magnetick Lady (1632), Jonson makes 
 allusion to "the faeces or grounds of your people, that sit 
 in the oblique caves and wedges of your house, your six- . 
 penny mechanicks." In The Actors' Remonstrance, a satirical 
 
 • Grated stage boxes were sometimes pressed into the service of the scene. Cf. 
 The Two Noble Kinsmen, ii. I, the Daughter's penultimate speech. Also i King Henry 
 VI, i. 4., where Salisbury on the upper stage talks of looking "through the Grate." In 
 The Picture, iv. 2, Ubaldo, in liis shirt, peeps out of a grated window in the upper part 
 of the tiring-house. 
 
The Situation of the Lords' Room 2,1 
 
 tract published in 1 643 after the silencing of the theatres, 
 promise is made on behalf of the players that in future 
 they will cease to admit into their " sixpenny rooms those 
 unwholesome enticing harlots that sit there merely to be 
 taken up by apprentices or lawyers' clerks." If it was to 
 the harpy and her prey that the old Lords' room was given 
 over, one can readily divine why they were content to sit 
 there in semi-darkness, seeing little of the action, unseen 
 of the audience. 
 
 The question naturally suggests itself, to what part of 
 the house did the gallants resort after they had forsaken 
 the Lords' room .'' Many doubtless sat upon the stage, but 
 this position, from its aptness to evoke "the mewes and 
 hisses of the opposed rascality," could not have been grate- 
 ful to all. Dekker in the Proamium of his Guh Hornbooke 
 reveals to us the position sometimes occupied by the gallant 
 who had matriculated in "the new-found CoUedge of 
 Criticks." Addressing shallow censurers of this kidney, he 
 writes, "I conjure you (as you come of the right goose-caps) 
 staine not your hose ; but when at a new play you take up 
 the twelve-penny rome next the stage ; (because the Lords , 
 and you may seeme to be haile fellow wel-met) there draw 
 forth this booke, read alowd, laugh alowd, and play the 
 AntickeSj that aU the garlike mouthd stinkards^ may cry 
 out. Away with the fool." 
 
 As the witling could not give the impression of being 
 hail fellow well met with the nobility without sitting in 
 their midst, it follows that the twelvepenny room must 
 have been the part of the house generally resorted to 
 by the higher orders after they had forsaken the Lords' 
 room. 
 
 Apart from the distinction of tariff between the public 
 and the private theatres, there was apparently no uniform 
 charge for admission to any particular part in all the houses 
 
 ' A phrase commonly applied to the groundlings. One can here cite Dekker in 
 elucidation of himself. Scoffing at the vanity of the players in his section on Winter 
 in Ra-aen's Almanack, he writes : "Ye shall be glad to play three hours for two-pence 
 to the basest stinkards in London, whose breath is stronger than garlick, and able to 
 poison all the twelvepenny rooms." 
 
38 The Situation of the Lords' Room 
 
 of any one category at any specific period. ^ But generally 
 speaking, a shilling (or, in other words, about six or seven 
 shillings of the present currency) was the highest charge 
 demanded. In this connexion Collier quotes from Sir T. 
 Overbury's Characters {\ 6 1^\ "If he have but twelvepence 
 in his purse he will give it for the best room in the play- 
 house." This he takes to be decisive. If then this twelve- 
 penny room " next the stage " was the most expensive part 
 of the house, there is every reason to believe — not only 
 from Dekker's allusion but from other circumstances — 
 that it was situated in the lowermost gallery. In the 
 English theatre the rule has invariably held good (beginning 
 with the first tier of boxes, not with the basement), the 
 higher you go, the less you pay. 
 
 It must be said with emphasis that this twelvepenny 
 room was no new device fashioned as a substitute for the 
 old Lords' room. Identity of position shows that the 
 twelvepenny room was only another name for the gentle- 
 men's boxes, which were undoubtedly co-existent with the 
 tiring-house room during the period it was frequented by 
 the nobility. From the outset of its career the Globe had 
 these gentlemen's rooms, for the Fortune was built after 
 the manner of the Globe, and in the Fortune contract 
 we read of "fower convenient divisions for gentlemen's 
 roomes" in one of the galleries, the particular locality, 
 however, remaining unspecified. But the information 
 lacking can be obtained by a careful study of the Hope 
 contract of 1 6 1 3. In even greater degree than the Fortune 
 was based on the Globe was the Hope constructed on the 
 lines of the Swan. One finds it stipulated in the Hope 
 contract that Gilbert Katherens should "also make two 
 boxes in the lower most storie fitt and decent for gentlemen 
 to sitt in ; and shall also make the partitions betweene the 
 roomes as they are at the saide playhouse called the Swan." 
 
 ' Cf. Collier, Hist. Eng. Dram.Poetry (1831), iii. 341. The inflated prices at the 
 Hope in 1614, enumerated in the induction to Bartholomew Fair, are accounted for by 
 the fact that the Globe had just been burnt down. This meant less opposition and 
 more demand for places. 
 
The Situation of the Lords' Room 39 
 
 We turn now to the valuable sketch of the interior of 
 the Swan, and we find that van Buchell, acting on the 
 instructions of his friend Johannes de Witt, has inscribed 
 across the very portion of the lowermost story indicated 
 by Dekker ("the twelvepenny room next the stage") the 
 wXivd. orchestra.^ This is conclusive. Neither in its original 
 nor its latterday sense was the term here applied, but in 
 a sense peculiar to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. 
 Cotgrave in his Dictionary, published in 161 1, defines 
 orchestre as "the senators' or noblemen's places in a theatre, 
 between the stage and the common seats." In Serlio's 
 design for a stage and auditorium,^ a genuine orchestra, 
 in the classic sense, intervenes between the two, and the 
 seats nearest the bare space are indicated as those occupied 
 by the noblest spectators. As this was the normal arrange- 
 ment on the continent throughout the sixteenth century, 
 and as the orchestra itself was no longer made use of, the 
 term came to be applied by natural transition to the seats 
 occupied by the highest classes. Instances of the use of 
 the word orchestra in this sense could be multiplied. Perhaps 
 the most striking example is to be found in the Orbis 
 Sensualium Pictus of Jan Amos Komensky, particularly in 
 that edition of the book published in London in 1659, 
 with the High Dutch portions translated into English by 
 Charles Hoole. The Latin description of Plate Number 
 cxxxii, entitled Ludus Scenicus, runs as follows. — "In 
 Theatro (quod vestitur Tapetibus, et tegitur Sipariis) 
 Comoediae vel Tragaediae aguntur, quibus repraesentantur 
 memorabiles ; ut hie, Historia de Filio prodigo, et Patre, 
 ipsius, a quo recipitur, domum redux. Actores (Histriones) 
 agunt personati ; Morio dat Jocos. Spectatorum primarii, 
 sedent in Orchestra, plebs stat in Cavea, et plaudit, si 
 quid arridet." Hoole's translation of this reads, " In a Play- 
 house (which is trimmed with hangings, and covered with 
 
 1 Several writers have viewed the phrase with a purely modern Intelligence and 
 given it a false interpretation. Cf. Dr. Richard Wegener, Die bubnen einrichtungen des 
 Shakespearescben Theaters, p. 151 ; also Karl Blind's review of Gaedertz in The Academy, 
 No. 840, p. 391. 
 
 2 Serlio, Architettura (Paris, 15+5. Book II, dealing with Perspective.J 
 
40 The Situation of the Lords' Room 
 
 curtains) Comedies and Tragedies are acted, wherein 
 memorable things are represented ; as here, the History 
 of the Prodigal Son, and his Father, by whom he is enter- 
 tained, being returned home. The Players act being in 
 disguise ; the Fool maketh jests. The chief of the Spec- 
 tators sit in the Gallery, the Common Sort stand on the 
 Ground, and clap their hands, if anything please them." 
 Hoole, in rendering the passage, strives as far as possible 
 to make it applicable to the English theatre. There is 
 a touch of insular realism in his "trimmed with hangings, 
 and covered with curtains." But his translation is chiefly 
 noteworthy for the fact that " spectatorum primarii sedent 
 in Orchestra" is rendered by "the chief of the spectators 
 sit in the Gallery." This was probably as near as he could 
 get to the exact truth at a time when the London theatres 
 had long been silenced by the Puritans. 
 
 If the foregoing conclusions win any degree of acceptance 
 from scholars, it seems to me the result must be disastrous 
 to the alternation theory. In the latest stages of its develop- 
 ment, that theory (as expounded by Brodmeier) calls for 
 a central enclosure formed of curtains hanging from the 
 front and sides of "the Heavens." To those who have 
 full knowledge of the physical conditions of the Elizabethan 
 stage such an arrangement is inconceivable. In creating 
 it to bolster up their cause, the alternationists failed to 
 take into consideration the presence of spectators at the 
 back. Are we asked in all seriousness to believe that from 
 first to last the occupants of the tiring-house rooms would 
 have been content with seeing barely a moiety of the action .'' 
 Possibly at a pinch we might stretch our imaginations so 
 far as to concede that the players had the audacity to 
 ignore the claims of the philanderers who infested these 
 boxes in 1608 and thereabouts. But what of the years that 
 preceded .'' Would the Elizabethan nobles whose patronage 
 of the Lords' room gave it its title have suffered such 
 indignity .'' 
 
Title and Locality Boards on the Pre- 
 Restoration Stage 
 
Title and Locality Boards on the Pre- 
 Restoration Stage 
 
 Side by side with the strenuous efforts that are now being 
 made to arrive at the prime physical characteristics of the 
 Elizabethan stage it is desirable that some one should 
 undertake the task of thoroughly investigating the origin 
 and influence of certain stage conventions which were 
 either born of those physical conditions or contributed to 
 their establishment. Moreover, the time is ripe for rigid 
 scientific discussion of one or two principles whose existence 
 has long been suspected but never definitely established. 
 Of this order is the vexata qucestio of inscribed scene-boards, 
 a matter on which there has been much dogmatism and very 
 little argument. Among scientific investigators Professor 
 Reynolds stands alone in point of making serious attempt 
 to pluck out the heart of the mystery. ^ My purpose now is 
 to consider the question in its broadest aspect, throwing out 
 a wide drag-net with the hope of bringing to the surface 
 all the available data relative to the employment of inscribed 
 boards and inscriptions generally on the early stage. The 
 subject permits of easy division into two sections, the one 
 dealing with title-boards and the other with scene-boards, 
 and it will be most convenient to discuss the former first. 
 So far as the general employment and persistent usage 
 of title-boards on the Tudor and early Stuart stage are 
 concerned, all is plain sailing. The only difficulty is to 
 determine whether the custom was of purely native origin 
 or derived from foreign initiative. Later on, in connexion 
 with the masque-titles I shall discuss the point more fully, 
 but at present I must content myself with saying that 
 a prolonged study of early European theatrical conditions 
 
 • See his Some PrincifUs of Elizabethan Staging (Chicago 1905), i. pp. zo et seq. 
 (= Modern Philology, Vol. ii. 581-614), to which I beg to express my obligations. 
 
44 Title and Locality Boards 
 
 has imbued me with the impression that the prototype of 
 the English title-board must be sought for in Italy, that 
 great fount of scenic inspiration. If this theory be sound, 
 the principle must have been introduced into the court 
 entertainments of Henry VIII. by one or other of the 
 Italian painters, or artificers, that we know to have been 
 employed there. ' The traffic of the players with the court 
 would lead to the transference of so grateful an expedient 
 to the popular stage. 
 
 Whether of native or foreign origin, the convention of 
 the title-board can be traced back in private performances 
 to 1528. Writing early in that year of a representation of 
 Phormio, given by the Children of Paul's before Cardinal 
 Wolsey, the Venetian ambassador says " the hall in which 
 they dined, where the comedy was performed, had a large 
 garland of box in front, in the centre of which was inscribed 
 in gilt letters Terentii Phormio."^ 
 
 Assuming for argument's sake the correctness of my 
 theory, it is vital to approximate the period when the title- 
 board first began to be utilised on the popular stage. We 
 shall see later that it was not an uncommon practice for 
 the Prologue in the closing years of Elizabeth's reign to 
 make allusion to, or imply the presence of, the title-board; 
 and in view of this habit it will not be unprofitable to seek 
 in the prologues and inductions to the moralities and inter- 
 ludes of some thirty or forty years earlier for similar 
 allusions and implications. In Ralph Roister Doister, c. 1 551, 
 the only reference to the title occurs in the last stanza of 
 the Prologue : 
 
 Our Comedy or Interlude, which we intend to play 
 
 Is named Royster Doyster, indeed, 
 
 Which against the vainglorious doth inveigh, 
 
 Whose humour the roysting sort continually doth feed. 
 
 ■ Of. Collier, Annals (1831), i. 100. Italian influence is clearly appareijt on the 
 scenic adornment of the court entertainments of Henry VIII. The trees and foliage 
 fashioned out of silk in the great spectacle of November 10, 1528, chronicled by Hall 
 (Collier, i. 1 1 1-2), followed the device of Girolamo Genga of Urbino. See Walker, 
 Historical and Critical Essay on the Revival of the Drama in Italy, 1805, p. 202. 
 
 3 Venetian State Papers, January 8, 1528, as cited by Reynolds. 
 
On the Pre-Restoration Stage 45 
 
 Here the word " indeed" seems to suggest a simultaneous 
 pointing to the title-board by the speaker ; the only alterna- 
 tive is that the word was weakly demanded by the exigencies 
 of the rhyme. * In Edwards's court play of Damon and 
 Pythias (1564) the introductory address not only particu- 
 larises the title of the piece but the scene of action, a 
 circumstance that might be taken to imply the absence of 
 boards of aU kinds, were it not fairly well assured that title- 
 boards (at least) were in use at court at this period. But 
 if we restrict our examination to the moralities and inter- 
 ludes of the popular stage in the pre-theatrical era — or in 
 other words before the establishment of the regular play- 
 houses — it win be found that, generally speaking, the 
 prologues avoid all reference to title or locality. This 
 omission points at least to the employment of title-boards. 
 Coming down to a slightly later period, one finds in the 
 prologue to The Conflict of Conscience (c. 1 5 8 1 ) an allusion 
 which seems to point to the presence on the stage, or sudden 
 exposure by the speaker, of a title-board : 
 
 And for because we see by proofe that men do soone forget 
 Those thinges for which to call them by no name at all they 
 
 knowe, 
 Our author, for to helpe short wittes, did thinke it very meete 
 Some name for this his Comedy in preface for to showe. 
 Clear evidence is afforded us in the Revels Accounts of 
 the employment of title-boards at court in the meridian of 
 Elizabeth's reign. In the Account Book for 1579-80 
 a payment is recorded "for the Garnyshinge of xiiij titles" 
 in gold and silver.^ During that period eight plays were 
 performed at court and a ninth prepared. It is difficult to 
 divine the possible utility of the other five titles, unless, 
 as seems probable, they served for scene-indications. No 
 such problem presents itself in connexion with the item of 
 fifteen shillings noted in the Accounts for 1580-81, as 
 
 ' Cf. the prol. to the Enterlude oi RespuUica (1533) ! 
 
 "But no we of thargumente to towch a worde or twayne : 
 The Name of our playe ys Respublica, certaine." 
 The title is mentioned here that it may be fully expounded. 
 
 « Cunningham, iJ«W*^c««»is (1842), p. 162. {Reveh,ei. Feuillerat 1908,?. 328.) 
 
46 'Title and Locality Boards 
 
 paid to William Lyzard for the "painting of ix. titles with 
 cop«rtment«."^ These were apparently for actual titles 
 only. Reckoning the two challenges at Tilt, there were 
 exactly nine entertainments at court in the period comprised 
 by the Account Book. 
 
 So little analogy exists between the elaborate and gradu- 
 ally expanding scheme of mounting in the Stuart masques 
 and the vague and indeterminate background of the contem- 
 porary drama as presented in the ordinary playhouse, one 
 takes leave to think that the persistence of the inscribed 
 title on the proscenia of Ben Jonson's graceful fantasies 
 was rather the perpetuation of an old court convention 
 than a practice suggested by the customs of the theatre. 
 Although he was not without creative faculty as a scenic 
 artificer, Inigo Jones mainly derived his inspiration from 
 direct observation in Italy, and it was in tracing back some 
 of his fundamental principles to their source I arrived at 
 the conclusion that the convention of the inscribed title 
 originally came from that country.^ 
 
 If we look for a moment at the rise and progress of the 
 ephemeral emblematic proscenium — those frontispieces, as 
 they were called in England, which were constructed for 
 a special court, or academic performance — we shall see that 
 the conditions which obtained in Italy in the latter half of 
 the sixteenth century were almost exactly paralleled in the 
 later Stuart Masques. Thus when the comedy oiUHortemio 
 was presented by the Accademia degl' Intronati at Siena 
 in 1560 before Cosmo I., the arms of the ducal guest were 
 placed in the centre of the proscenium arch, and at a distance 
 below the insignia of the quaintly named academy. Between 
 the two came the inscription, "Generosolntronato. | Thus- 
 corum Principi. | Intronatorum Hilaritas." Below on 
 niches on either side were statues of Poetry and Comedy, 
 each with its respective motto of "miscet utile dulci" and 
 "vitae speculum."' The period was one of fertile scenic 
 
 • op. cit. p. 169. (Feuillerat, p. 338.) 
 
 2 It was followed in France, c. 1637. Cf. Lacroix, Le 170 Siicle, Lettres, Sciences 
 et Arts, pp. Z19 and 279-80, woodcuts. 
 
 ' Walker, Historical and Critical Essay on tbeRe-vival of the Drama in Italy, p. 239 note. 
 
0« the Pre-Restoration Stage 47 
 
 resource and spirited experimentation, when state rivalled 
 state in matters of artistry, and central authority was wholly 
 lacking. For aught we know to the contrary, it may be 
 that at an earlier period other academies or some of the 
 great courts had placed the title of the play at the head of 
 the proscenium instead of these purposeless inscriptions. ^ 
 Relatively to the number of known productions the details 
 that have come down to us of the characteristics of specific 
 proscenia are proportionately few. But so far as extant 
 evidence permits one to judge, a single broad decorative 
 scheme obtained throughout Italy; the system pursued 
 at Siena in 1 560 held good for the frontispiece oi Ermiona 
 at Padua in 1632. 
 
 How closely the ornate proscenia of the Stuart masques 
 approximated to the earlier Italian method can be seen by 
 examining the details in the Tetbys" Festival of Samuel 
 Daniel (1610) : 
 
 First, on eyther side stood a great statue of twelve foot high, 
 representing Neptune and Nereus, Neptune holding a Trident, with 
 an Anchor made to it, and this Mot, His artibus : that is Regendo 
 et retinendo, alluding to this verse of Virgill, He tihi erunt artis, 
 &c. Nereus holding out a golden fish on a net, with this word 
 Industria: the reason whereof is deliuered after, in the speech uttered 
 by Triton. These Sea-Gods stood on pedestals, and were al of 
 gold. Behinde them were two pillasters, on which hung compart- 
 ments, with other deuises; and these bore up a rich Freeze, wherein 
 were figures of tenne foot long, of flouds and Nymphes, with a 
 number of naked children, dallying with a draperie, which they 
 seemed to hold up, that the Scene might be seene, and the ends 
 thereof fell downe in foldes by the pillasters. In the midst was a 
 
 ' Some meagre evidence can be adduced to show the existence of a later convention 
 of the sort among the Italians. In Le Tbi&tre Italien de Gberardij a collection of plays 
 presented \sy the Italian comedians in Paris towards the close of the seventeenth century, 
 one finds a series of highly realistic engravings of scenes in which the play-title is 
 frequently shown on an escutcheon in the centre of the festooned top drapery. (For 
 some characteristic reproductions see N. M. Bemardin, La Comedie ItaHenne en France, 
 i90Z,pp. 27, 32 and 35.) It might be claimed, of course, that this was a fanciful device 
 of the engraver simply to afford a ready means of identifying the plates, as they are not 
 otherwise inscribed. But the intense realism and glaring theatricality of the views rebut 
 this. Although the frontispiece to Arlequin Froth depicts a seascape, it is to be remarked 
 that besides the inscribed title and top drapery, the design actually shows the four stage 
 chandeliers. A photograph of the scene could not have been more literal. 
 
48 Title and Locality Boards 
 
 compartment with this inscription, Tethyos Epinicia, Tethys feasts 
 of triumph. This was supported with two winged boyes, and all 
 the work was done with that force and boldnesse on the gold and 
 silver, as the figures seemed round and not painted. 
 
 Here the only divergence from the Italian method, as 
 known to us, was in the use of an inscribed title. Occasion- 
 ally one comes across stricter parallels, as in the case of 
 Lovers Made Men (otherwise known as The Masque of Lethe) 
 in 1 6 1 7, and in Shirley's masque of The Triumph of Peace in 
 1634. Neither of these had an exposed title, an omission 
 contrary to the usual practice in the generality of court 
 masques and pastorals for which Inigo Jones provided the 
 mounting. Among productions of the sort whose books 
 clearly indicate the use of proscenium titles are Florimene 
 (1629), Chloridia ( 1 63 1 ), Tempe Restord ( 1 63 1 ), The Temple 
 of Love (1635), Corona Minerva (1636), Luminalia (1637) 
 and Salmacida Spolia (1640).^ 
 
 Apart from the regular usage of the ordinary theatres, 
 a point on which I shall have something to say presently, 
 there were other performances of a special or private order 
 where the convention of the title-board was maintained. 
 One of the earliest instances where a special proscenium 
 was constructed in an English playhouse for a particular 
 production was that of Microcosmus at Salisbury Court in 
 1637. We find from the book of Nabbes' masque that 
 the frontispiece was "of a workmanship proper to the fancy 
 of the rest, adorn'd with brasse figures of Angles and Divels, 
 with Several inscriptions, the Title in a Escocheon supported 
 by an Angell and a Divell." Again, in Candia Restaurata, 
 a spectacle presented at Apethorpe before, the Earl and 
 Countess of Westmoreland on February 12, 1640- 1, one 
 of the features of the frontispiece was "a scroule" on which 
 was "written in greate CANDY RESTORED.'"' 
 
 It is noteworthy that in experimenting with his primi- 
 tive English operas in the ticklish times of the Common- 
 
 ' In Shirley's comedy The Bird in a Cage, in the scene of the intercalated masque 
 of Jupiter and Danae, Donella says, " Now whet your inventions and about it, imagine 
 our scene exprest, and the new Prison, the title advancM in forme." 
 
 ^ British Museum, Add. MS. 34,221. 
 

 
 JSt^asa^r^l ^_^-_, 
 
On the Pre-Restoration Stage 49 
 
 wealth, D'Avenant arrived at the neat expedient of making 
 the one central inscription answer at once for the convey- 
 ance of both title and locality. In The Siege of Rhodes at 
 Rutland House in 1656, and again at the Cockpit play- 
 house in Drury Lane in 1659, t^e single word "Rhodes" 
 was shown on a tablet over the proscenium. So too in The 
 Cruelty of the Spaniards in Peru at the Cockpit in 1658, the 
 inscription employed was merely "Peru." D'Avenant 's 
 statement concerning the special frontispiece provided for 
 this shows that his aim was to carry forward the masque- 
 convention, it being "designed by way of preparation to 
 give some notice of that argument which is pursu'd in 
 the scene." 
 
 Possibly it might have been better to discuss some of 
 the foregoing details in strict chronological relationship 
 with the data concerning the observance of the title-con- 
 vention in the ordinary playhouses. In striving, however, 
 to indicate the possible origin of that convention I have 
 deemed it politic to keep the records of the court and of 
 the playhouse apart. Moreover, to mingle details of the 
 proscenium-title of the private, or special, performances 
 with a consideration of the title-convention as pursued in 
 the regular theatres (where no proscenia were ordinarily 
 employed, and none at all known before c. 1637) would 
 have been to confuse the issue. 
 
 One has no evidence to show whether or not the players 
 had adopted the principle of the title-board in the inn- 
 yard stage of their history, but the chances are — so requi- 
 site and complementary was the expedient — that the usage 
 was common before the building of The Theater and the 
 Curtain. At a period when programmes were not pro- 
 vided \ it was vital that the casud playgoer should have 
 some ready means of discovering the name of the play 
 about to be presented. Bills containing little more than 
 
 ' Malone's statement that programmes or playbills with casts of characters were 
 not made nse of in England until iLe beginning of the eighteenth century has been 
 challenged, but not disproved. The specious Drury Lane bill of 1663 reproduced by 
 Collier {Annals, iii. 384) has been proved a forgery. See The Cmnoiueur, Vol. xviii. 
 1907, No. bdi. pp. zzz-3, art. on "Old Playbills." 
 
 £ 
 
^o Title and Locality Boards 
 
 this information were certainly posted about the city, but 
 many came to the Bankside houses, attracted by the raising 
 of the flag, or blowing of the preliminary trumpet-blasts, 
 who had not cast eyes on these announcements. Moreover, 
 the daybill offered no particular guarantee of the perform- 
 ance specified, and the non-provision of programmes facili- 
 tated a change of piece at the eleventh hour, frequently at 
 the caprice of the assembled groundlings.^ Consequently 
 a title-board was necessary to acquaint the early-comer with 
 what he was going to see. He was not asked to buy a pig 
 in a poke ; if he knew the play already and disliked it he 
 could have his money back. This usage was common to 
 all theatres alike, the principle of the title-board being as 
 well recognised in private houses of the Blackfriars order 
 as in the more popular houses on the Bankside. 
 
 Early employment of the title-board in the theatres of 
 Shoreditch is, I think, indicated by the allusion in The 
 Spanish Tragedy (c. 1587), where Hieronimo, when about 
 to present the bye-play of Solyman and Perseda, says 
 "Hang out the title ; our scene is Rhodes." Later evi- 
 dence for the theatrical, as contrasted with the court, 
 usage is of a more direct and better defined order. In 
 the later Elizabethan period one infers that the title-board 
 was in situ from the very opening of the doors. Other- 
 wise many of the allusions in the contemporary prologues 
 are incomprehensible. The tone of most of these proems 
 connotes early exposure of the board. Thus in The History 
 of Sir John Oldcastle ( 1 600), the Prologue says, " the doubt- 
 ful title. Gentlemen, prefixt upon the argument, we have 
 in hand may breed suspense," etc., etc. ; and in the induc- 
 tion to Cynthia's Revels (^1600, at the Blackfriars), the Third 
 Child says, " first the title of this play is Cynthia's Revels, 
 as any man that hath hope to be saved by his book can 
 witness." In The Poetaster (1601), Envy as Prologue 
 
 ' Cf. Gayton, Festivous Notes on Don Quixote (1654), as cited by R. J. Broadbent in 
 Stage Whispers, p. 82. We learn here of the arbitrary and ferocious conduct of Bankside 
 audiences at Shrovetide and other holiday periods, when the players were often com- 
 pelled, "notwithstanding their bills to the contrary, to act what the major part of 
 the company had a mind to," When they proved refractory the house was pulled down 
 over their heads. The whole passage is very remarlcable. 
 
On the Pre-Resf oration Stage 5 1 
 
 reads the board, but afFects to see only the sub-title of The 
 Arraignment. In fVily Beguiled ^160^) an ingenious surprise 
 is sprung upon the spectator at the outset. The Prologue 
 and the Player enter simultaneously, and the former asks 
 the latter " How now my honest Roague, what Play shall 
 we have here to-night ? " ^ He gets as reply, " Sir, you may 
 look upon the Title." He glances at the board, and, more 
 in the role of spectator than of Prologue, says, with some 
 petulance, "What Spectrum once again ?" Then a Juggler 
 arrives upon the scene to stop all argument. "Marry, 
 sir," he says, "I will show you a trick of cleanly convey- 
 ance . . . Come aloft,^ Jack, for thy master's advantage. 
 He's gone, I warrant ye." And then, according to the 
 direction, " Spectrum is conveyed away, and Wily Beguiled 
 stands in the place of it." 
 
 A difficulty arises in connexion with this curious induc- 
 tion which recalls a similar situation at the beginning of 
 The Knight of the Burning Pestle, as performed at the 
 Whitefriars in 161 1. The Citizen says to the Prologue, 
 "and now you call your play The London Merchant. Down 
 with your title, boy ! down with your title ! " The diffi- 
 culty in both cases is to determine what play was an- 
 nounced on the biUs, assuming that playgoers placed 
 serious credence in these placards. In this matter one finds 
 oneself impaled on the horns of a dilemma. On the one 
 hand, to have announced Wily Beguiled or The Knight of 
 the Burning Pestle on the biUs would have been to defeat 
 the purpose of the playwright, and on the other, to baulk 
 an audience really assembled to see Spectrum or The London 
 Merchant might have created a riot. At best the trick was 
 far from calculated to produce good humour, and it is 
 noteworthy that The Knight of the Burning Pestle narrowly 
 escaped damnation at the hands of its first audience. 
 There is some reason to believe that at the period roughly 
 
 ' Like Macbeth's "Amen" this "to-night" sticks in the throat. It seems to 
 imply a court (or at least' not an ordinary) performance. On the other hand, the refer- 
 ence to the auditorium in the epilogue (as cited in Collier's Annals, iii. 441) as "this 
 circled round " shows the place of performance to have been a theatre. 
 
 ^ For "come aloft," see Percy Society publications, VoL v. pp. 45 and 84 note. 
 
5 2 Tttk and Locality Boards 
 
 indicated by the two plays, the titles of new pieces were 
 not given on the bills in the announcements of first per- 
 formances. There was always great resort to a virgin play, 
 as betokened by the advance of prices, and it may be that 
 it sufficed to announce the production of a new piece by 
 a specific author without naming the title. That some 
 omission of the sort took place on first performances 
 seems apparent from the phrasing of the opening lines of 
 the prologue to The Devil is an Ass. This would explain 
 away the difficulty in connexion with the premieres of fVily 
 Beguiled and The Knight of the Burning Pestle, but we still 
 remain mystified as to the subsequent occasions on which 
 the two inductions would be performed. I dwell here 
 upon the riddle, without pretending to solve it, because 
 it seems to show that in the absence of programmes there 
 was a tacitly understood laxity of arrangement whereby 
 the performance could be changed at the eleventh hour. 
 This indetermination would make the use of the title- 
 board all the more imperative. 
 
 Possibly there was less liability to sudden changes of 
 performance at the better class "private" theatres, where 
 the players were not at the mercy of a rough and ready 
 audience. As time went on, patrons of houses like the 
 Blackfriars would place more and more dependence on 
 the authenticity of the bills, and there would be less need 
 for early exposure of the title-board. Indications occur in 
 the later Stuart period showing that, so far from being 
 hung up with the assembling of the audience, the board 
 was not seen until borne in by the prologue-speaker. 
 Collier has already drawn attention to the fact that, in a 
 late revival of The City Wit of Brome, Sarpego, in allud- 
 ing to the circumstance that the play had been written 
 before Ben Jonson's death, says : 
 
 Some in this round may have both seen 't and heard. 
 Ere I, that bear its title, wore a beard.^ 
 
 ' AnnaU, iii. 376. Note the direction at the beginning of the masque in Byron's 
 Tragedh, as at the Blackfriars c. 1 607 : " Mus. and a Song, above, and Cupid enters 
 with a Table written, hung about his neck, after him two Torche-bearers." This table 
 was probably a title-board. 
 
On the Pre-Restoration Stage 53 
 
 When, with the opening of the first Dublin theatre in 
 1634, the title-board convention was carried to Ireland, the 
 system pursued there was the personal bringing-in of the 
 board by the speaker of the introductory address. This is 
 indicated in the prologue * to James Shirley's new comedy 
 of Rosania ; or Love's Victory as delivered there c. 1 63 8 : 
 
 Rosania ? methinks I hear one say 
 What's that ? 'Tis a strange title to a play. 
 One asks his friend who late from travel came. 
 What tis ? supposing it some country's name : 
 Who rather than acknowledge ignorance, 
 Perhaps says, 'tis some pretty town in France 
 Or Italy, and wittily discloses, 
 'Twas called Rosania, for the store of roses. 
 A witty comment :^-others that have seen 
 And fashionably observ'd the English scene, 
 Say (but with less hope to be understood) 
 Such titles unto plays are now the mood, 
 Aglaura, Claricilla, — names that may 
 (Being ladies) grace and bring guests to the play. 
 To save this charge of wit, that you might know 
 Something i' the title, which you need not owe 
 To another's understanding, you may see. 
 In honest English there. Love's Victory. 
 
 Here the speaker doubtless reversed the title-board, 
 which he had been holding aU the time, and showed the 
 sub-title on the other side. There would have been no point 
 in the lines if both title and sub-title were already exposed 
 to view on a board hanging up against the tiring-house. 
 
 One other possible allusion to the bringing on of the 
 board in this way occurs in the secondary prologue to The 
 Poor Man's Comfort, as spoken at the Red Bull on May 28, 
 1 66 1, and printed some years later in Thomas Jordan's 
 undated book of verse, A Nursery of Novelties in Variety of 
 Poetry!' In this case the speaker entered " reading the title " 
 and began by saying : 
 
 The Poor Man's Comfort, this title some will say 
 Is fitter for a Pray'r book than a Play. 
 
 > Shirley's Po««i (London, 1646), p. 148. The play is believed to be identical with 
 The Doubtful Heir, as afterwards acted at the Blackfriars, and printed m quarto m 1652. 
 
54 7«//^ and Locality Boards 
 
 The evidence here is doubtful as we have no clue to 
 the position of the board, whether in the speaker's hand 
 or already hanging on the fa9ade of the tiring-house. But 
 the allusion is otherwise of value, as it shows the continu- 
 ance of the old title-board convention up to the very dawn 
 of the Restoration picture stage. ^ 
 
 This marked persistence of one specific order of inscrip- 
 tions points to the congruity of others, and, in the continued 
 absence of programmes, makes out 2iprma facie case for the 
 use of scene boards. It is difficult to see why the Elizabethan 
 stage manager should not have resorted to these ready 
 expedients for dissipating the recurring vagueness of the 
 place of action, considering that both he and the dramatist 
 were prone to rely upon inscriptions to get them out of 
 much lesser difficulties. In Fulwell's Like Will to Like 
 (c, 1568), as the text clearly shows, Lucifer came on at the 
 beginning with his name "written on his back and in his 
 breast." ^ No greater mistake could be made than to rate 
 this a mere puerility peculiar to the primitive stage. Seventy 
 years later the device is still to be found persisting. In A 
 Tricke to Cheat the Divell (Act iv, as at the Cockpit in 1 639), 
 several dancers come on singly, each with his vocation or 
 attributes inscribed on his breast thus, " I am a Scrivener," 
 " I am a Prodigall," etc., etc. Inscribed bannerets were also 
 ; utilised in processions, notably in The Triumph of Love and 
 j The Triumph of Death in Beaumont and Fletcher's Four 
 \ Plays in One, a composite piece assigned by Fleay to the 
 Revels boys in 1608. We see therefore there was no lack 
 of insular precedent of a cognate order for the establish- 
 ment of a scene-board convention. If we take a wider pur- 
 view we shall find the actual prototype of the system in the 
 French mysteries of the fifteenth century.' 
 
 ' For other allusions to title-boards see the lists of properties in The Cuck-Queana 
 and the Cuckolds Erranb and The Faery Pastorall of William Percy, (c. 1600 at Paul's); 
 the prologues to Belie-ve as Tou Listani Fancies Chaste and Noble (1632 at Cockpit); and 
 the Induction to The Magnetic Lady (Blackfriars, 1632). 
 
 ^ Cf. Feuillerat, Revels Documents, p. 20. The Greek "Woorthyes" in a Court 
 Masque of c. 1560 had their names inscribed on their backs and breasts. In OldFortu- 
 natus (1599), i. 3, Vice and Virtue bear Latin mottoes on their garments. 
 
 ' Cf. Emilc Morice, Histoire de la Mise en Scene depuis les Mysteresjusqu'h Cid (1836), 
 p. 82. 
 
On the Pre-Restoration Stage 55 
 
 To the symbolical multiple scene of the early sacred 
 drama was due the principle of the scene-boards. In no 
 other way could the arbitrary bringing together of widely 
 separated localities be rendered comprehensible. At the 
 representation of The Mystery of the Incarnation given at 
 Rouen in 1485, no fewer than twenty-two mansions symbol- 
 ising various edifices and localities were ranged side by 
 side along the back of a shallow stage some 66 metres long, 
 each mansion with its distinguishing inscription.^ A similar 
 system obtained in The Mystery of the Passion as given at 
 Valenciennes in 1547.^ The usage in France is clearly 
 demonstrated in a prologue to an old play cited by 
 Jusserand,' wherein the spectators are acquainted con- 
 cerning the various places of action — 
 
 vous les povez cognoistre 
 Par I'escritel que dessus voyez estre. 
 
 No greater service to the cause of English theatrical 
 history has been done than Chambers' explosion of the 
 time-honoured fallacy that the primitive English miracle 
 play was of the processional order.^ A vital link in the chain 
 of dramaturgic evolution was lacking until he made clear 
 the fact that originally the method of staging was that of 
 the unified composite scene. Here at last the student of 
 English mounting has a terminus a quo. Personally, how- 
 ever, I fail at the outset to find any positive evidence of the 
 use of locality-boards (or inscriptions) in the primitive 
 English miracle play, but feel thoroughly assured of their 
 employment. The custom can surely be deduced from 
 continental habitude ; analogy, if legitimate at all, is per- 
 missible here. Moreover we have distinct traces or the 
 locality-boards in the multiple setting of the early Eliza- 
 
 ' Private information from Prof. Eug4ne Rigal of Montpellier, to whom I make 
 my acknowledgments. The Mystery was published in 1886, with an introduction by 
 M. Pierre de Verdier, but this I have not seen. 
 
 ' Jusserand, Sbakapeare in France, p. 65. The best reproductions of the miniatures 
 in the old MS. are those of Victor Fournel, Le Vieux Paris (Tours, 1 887, p. 21 et seq.), 
 where the multiple scene is not only given as a whole, but also in sections, so as to 
 demonstrate the employment of the mansiom. 
 
 ' FurniiJal Memorial, p. 186. 
 
 * E. K. Chambers, The Medix-val Stage, ii. 134 and 421. 
 
^6 ^itle and Locality Boards 
 
 bethan secular drama, both at court and elsewhere; and it 
 is difficult to conceive (viewing its early usage in France) 
 that the principle was due simply to accretion. 
 
 As to the period when our nascent secular dramaturgy 
 first began to base upon the tenets of the simultaneous 
 scene, it may be roughly indicated by the first quarter of 
 the sixteenth century. So early as 1535, when The Satyre 
 of the Three Estaitis was performed at Cupar, the multiple 
 setting had begun to be employed on the profane stage in 
 Scotland. On this occasion, as on its revival at Edinburgh 
 in 1 540, Sir David Lyndsay's play was given in the open. 
 One proof of the composite nature of the stationary scene 
 is that the players when not in action sat in the various 
 mansions or localities to which they belonged, never leaving 
 the sight of the audience.^ 
 
 With the transference of the multiple setting to the 
 indoor court play came certain vital modifications of its 
 principles. Questions of space demanded a reduction in the 
 number of mansions employed and a more compact system 
 of grouping. The maximum was now fixed at five, and the 
 mansions were generally arranged in sets of three or five, 
 according to the scenic exigencies. No longer ranged side by 
 side along the back line of a parallelogram, they were placed 
 symmetrically along the two sides of an equilateral triangle, 
 the apex of which marked the position of the third or fifth 
 w«««o«, placed parallel to the front of the stage and closing 
 in the vista. This arrangement was a distinct advance as it 
 admitted of the whole being constructed and painted in per- 
 spective, a device whereby a sort of pictorial homogeneity 
 was given to the heterogeneous constituents.^ In the 
 "Articles and ordynaunces concernyng the office of the 
 
 ^ The same principle was followed in France at the same period, making the 
 parallelism complete. Cf.Jul. Caes. Scaligeri Poeriwj Liirj Sef fem. (i56i),lib. i. chap. zi. 
 Also the comment of Eugine Rigal, Le Thiitre Franfais a-vant la Pdriode classique, p. 241 . 
 This parallelism is probably accounted for by the fact that Lyndsay derived his play from 
 a French source. Of. Sir Sidney Lee's The French Renaissance in England, p. 372 note 3. 
 
 ' In France the transition from the mediaeval mystery stage to the modern secular 
 stage proceeded along the same lines. Cf. Rigal, op. cit. chap. vi. passim. It should be 
 noted that the entries in the English Revels Accounts dealing with the provision of scenic 
 appurtenances for specific court plays afford little clue to the actual staging. These 
 items merely represented new material. Many mansions and other properties in stock 
 were used again and again. 
 
On the Pre-Res (oration Stage 57 
 
 Revelles," quoted by Feuillerat from a document of the 
 period of 1572, it is laid down that 
 
 The cheife busynes of the office resteth specially e inthreepoyntes. 
 In makinge of garmentes In makinge of hedpeces and in payntingc. 
 
 The connynge of the office resteth in skill of devise, in under- 
 standinge of historyes, in iudgement of comedies, tragedyes and 
 shewes, in sight of perspective and architecture some smack of 
 geometrye and other thinges.^ 
 
 Among the changes brought about by the new system 
 was the creation of the coulisses. Instead of remaining from 
 first to last in fuU sight of the audience, the characters now 
 came on and went off, according to the requirements. Some 
 degree of scenic illusion had begun to exist.^ 
 
 That the scenery at Elizabeth's court in the early part of 
 her reign consisted of these mansions, or practicable construc- 
 tions, and not of one surface paintings, is clearly indicated 
 by the details in the Revels Accounts. In a royal warrant 
 issued on June 11, 1568, for payment of ;^634 odd, to 
 Sir Thomas Benger, for materials purchased and work done 
 in connexion with seven plays and six masques, the plays in 
 question are specified and their scenic appurtenances de- 
 tailed: 
 
 Imprimis, for seven playes ; the first namede, as playne as canne 
 be; the seconde, the paynfull pillgrimage ; the thirde, Jacke and Jyll; 
 the forthe, Sixe Fooles ; the fivethe callede, witte an will ; the 
 sixte callede Prodigallitie ; the sevoenthe oi Orestes; and a Tragedie 
 of the kinge of Scottes: to y" whiche belonged diuers how^ses for 
 the settinge forthe of the same, as Stratoes howse, Dobbyns howse, 
 Orestioes howse, Rome^ the Pallace of prosper itie, Scotlande, and a gret 
 Castell one thothere side.* 
 
 ' Feuillerat, Documents relating to the Office of the Revels in the time of Queen Eliza- 
 beth (Louvain 1908), pp. 10 ff. 
 
 ' Exits and entrances are indicated in John Heywood's Play of the ff ether printed 
 in 1533. 
 
 ' Comp. " the sittie of Rome " in the inventory taken by Henslowe " of all the pro- 
 perties for my Lord Admeralles men, the 10 of Marche 1598". This portion of the 
 Diary, originally transcribed by Malone, is now missing from the MS., and the details 
 are therefore lacking in Greg's excellent recension. Beyond the lists of properties given 
 in Percy's plays for the Paul's boys this is the only definite clue presented to the employ- 
 ment of a symbolic scenic piece in the theatres of the period. 
 
 * Harl. MS. 146. f. 1 5 {Revels Accountt, ed. Feuillerat p. 1 1 9). Schelling misquotes 
 this passage from some second hand source. See his Elizabethan Drama, i. 1 14. 
 
58 Title and Locality Boards 
 
 It is doubtful whether in action all these constructions 
 and scenic symbols would have required elucidation. The 
 purpose of many of the houses would be clearly indicated 
 by the business of the scene. But pictorial generalities 
 typifying Scotland or Rome would certainly have demanded 
 inscriptions.^ Hence Sir Philip Sidney's allusion (c. 1583) 
 to "Thebes written in great letters on an old doore." It is 
 satisfactory to find this noble and gallant author making re- 
 ference to the employment of locality inscriptions. Another 
 passage in his Apologie for Poetry^ if taken without the con- 
 text, would give the impression that scene-boards were not 
 then employed. 
 
 But if it be so in Gorboduc, how much more in all the rest ? 
 where you shall have Asia of the one side, and Africa of the other, 
 and so many underkingdoms, that the player, when he comes in, 
 must ever begin by telling where he is, or else the tale will not be 
 conceived. 
 
 The difficulty here is to know whether Sidney is taking 
 all contemporary stage representations into his purview, or 
 whether his reflections have restricted application. The 
 passage has often been cited as proof of the non-employ- 
 ment of scenery in Elizabethan times, but if it has any 
 application to the court, or academic, play, the allusion must 
 be to the difficulty of gaining an immediate sense of locality 
 in viewing a performance where there was a considerable 
 commingling of scenic symbols. Itwas only when the player 
 emerged from a certain inscribed mansion or departed 
 through a certain inscribed door that his whereabouts were 
 fully apparent to the audience. We are speaking now in 
 relation to all private or semi-private performances, and not 
 of the public theatres, whose usages remain to be con- 
 sidered. 
 
 It is to be remarked that in Jocasta^ as acted at Gray's Inn 
 in 1566, where the Unity of Place was preserved, the 
 players had to be careful as to their exits and entrances, 
 
 ' A few of the stage directions in early plays with multiple setting seem to imply 
 the use of elucidatory inscriptions. Thus in Common Conditions (c. 1 570) we have "Here 
 entreth Galiarbus out of Phrigia", and again " Here enter Lamphedon out of Phrigia." 
 
On the Pre-Restoration Stage 50 
 
 now departing through " the gate called Electrae," and now 
 through " the gate called Homoloydes." It is clear that the 
 significance of these gates could not have been rendered to 
 the spectators unless each were inscribed. We shall find 
 later on that occasionally, at least, on the public stage a 
 special significance was given to specific entrance doors, and 
 that the actor had to exercise caution in coming in and 
 going oflF. 
 
 One has only to make minute examination of the con- 
 structive system of Lyly^ to become convinced that the 
 multiple setting held sway at court for more than a score 
 of years after the erection of The Theater and the Curtain. 
 That it exercised some influence not only on the popular 
 staging but on the dramaturgy of Shakespeare's immediate 
 predecessors admits of no dispute. The difficulty is to know 
 how long and at what theatres there was strict visualization 
 of the multiple principle. One says strict visualization ad- 
 visedly, for one has reason to believe — as evidenced by a 
 curious direction of Percy's shortly to be discussed — that the 
 spirit of the principle was more often followed than the 
 letter. Beyond the fact that the Paul's boys made use of 
 a modified multiple setting c. 1600 on the stage in their 
 singing-school, it cannot be traced that other playhouses, 
 public or private, made regular employment of these cum- 
 brous scenic symbols. But side by side with this lack of direct 
 evidence we have the fact, so difficult to account for, that 
 the technique of the pre-Shakespearean theatre-dramatist 
 was somewhat slavishly based on conventions born of the 
 multiple principle. Analyse Marlowe, and you will be con- 
 vinced of this. At least two of the distinguishing charac- 
 teristics of the Elizabethan drama had their origin in the 
 simultaneous setting, the curious system of changing the 
 scene of action while the characters remained, and the system 
 no less curious of completing journeys in full sight of the 
 audience, instead of describing them or imagining them. 
 
 ' The student must be warned to avoid the glosses of Mr. R. Warwick Bond, who 
 has devoted much misplaced ingenuity to the harmful interpreUtion of hyXfs text by the 
 usages of the ordinary Elizabethan theatres. 
 
6o Title and Locality Boards 
 
 On the whole, there seems some reason to believe that 
 the players, either during the inn-yard phase of their history 
 or shortly after the building of The Theater and the Curtain, 
 made serious attempt to adopt the simultaneous setting in 
 its literality, but finding the conjunctive properties incon- 
 venient, began piecemeal to substitute inscribed locality 
 boards for the cumbersome scenic symbols. In this way the 
 stage would be gradually cleared of its obstructions without 
 much change being effected in the conventions belonging 
 to the original method. That there was a possibility of some 
 such transition in the Marlowean period is shown by the 
 option permitted to the Children of Paul's by William 
 Percy in connexion with the acting of The Faery Pastorall 
 or Forrest of Elves c. 1600. Under "Properties," Percy gives 
 what is virtually a scene-plot for the play, and dearly 
 demonstrates in so doing that the whole was to be arranged 
 in the simultaneous method : 
 
 Highest aloft and on the top of the Musick Tree, the Title 
 The Faery Pastorall, Beneath him pind on Post of the Tree the 
 Scene Eluida Forrest. Lowestofall over the Canopie NA TT A ITBO- 
 AAION or Faery Chappell. A Kiln of Brick. A Fowen Cott. A 
 Hollow Oake with vice of wood to shutt to. A lowe well with 
 Roape and pullye. A Fourme of Turves. A Greene Bank being 
 Pillowe to the Hed but. Lastly a hole to creepe in and out. 
 
 Now if it so be that the Properties of any of These, that be 
 outward, will not serve the turne by reason of concurse of the 
 People on the Stage, Then you may omitt the sayd Properties which 
 be outward and supplye their Places with their Nuncupations onely 
 in Text Letters. 
 
 Here it is to be noted we have a visualized composite 
 scene, with both title and locality boards. The play has 
 "A Prologue for the Court," indicating that it had also been 
 performed before the Queen, but the second paragraph of 
 the foregoing quotation alludes solely to the crowding of 
 spectators on the stage of the singing school. This particular 
 scene-plot is therefore of supreme importance as historical 
 evidence, not only because it indicates the employment of 
 locality boards in the performances at court, but for the 
 
On the Pre-Restoralion Stage 6i 
 
 reason that it points to the existence of conflicting customs 
 in the theatre and the consequent unpopularity there of the 
 multiple system of staging. 
 
 Are we safe in making any deductions applicable to the 
 other private theatres from the routine of the Paul's boys ? 
 I fear not. Everything tends to show that the stage of the 
 singing school was a place apart.^ Habituated to perform at 
 court, the boys were familiarised with the usages of the 
 multiple scene. On their own stage they were probably 
 allowed the use of the court properties stored in the Revels 
 Office, a concession that would cancel the question of ex- 
 pense. We know already that they appealed to a superior 
 type of playgoer ^ ; but if we were ignorant on that point we 
 should be compelled to guess at the truth from the fact that 
 Percy dared to put one of his inscriptions in Greek. Pedantry 
 of this order would have been resented by a Bankside 
 audience. Might it not have been to Percy's plays that 
 Brabant senior referred in the conversation in Jack Drum's 
 Entertainment dealing with the characteristics of the Paul's 
 stage ? 
 
 Aye ; and they had good plays, but they produce 
 
 Such musty fopperies of antiquity, 
 
 And do not suit the humorous age's back 
 
 With clothes in fashion. 
 
 Once we depart frbm the atmosphere of Paul's, our quest 
 for satisfying evidence of the employment of locality boards 
 in the Elizabethan theatres becomes unprofitable. Now and 
 again faint clues crop up, but they hardly permit of sound 
 inferences, viewing the existence of rebutting details. It 
 may be that no fixed rule obtained in all the houses of any 
 one order at any particular period ; the fact remains that 
 never was there evidence so contradictory. 
 
 In many cases the necessity for inscriptions was obviated 
 by the more illusive employment of sign-boards and trade 
 symbols. Examples are to be found in The Famous Contention 
 
 ' Prof. Feuillerat's recent discovery of an earlier children's theatre in the Black- 
 friars demands some qualification of this statement. See mj^ closing paper. 
 " Cf. Collier, i. 281 and iii. 377 note. 
 
62 'Title and Locality Boards 
 
 of the Houses of York and Lancaster, and in the parallel 
 episode in 2 Henry VI, v. 2. So, too, in i Edward IV, 
 iv. 3, Shore's shop is indicated by the sign of the Pelican. 
 In The Knight of the Burning Pestle, iii. 4, the pole and 
 basin hanging before the Barber's shop are ingeniously 
 pressed into service during the traffic of the scene. These 
 two properties were utilised in the spirit of the multiple 
 setting. They must have been in position from the very 
 beginning of the act, and their continued presence was not 
 without its incongruity. 
 
 Again, opposite the slender amount of positive evidence 
 indicating the employment of locality boards can be placed 
 an equally slender amount of negative evidence arguing 
 against their use. Probably the most significant item on 
 this latter score is that afforded by Every Man Out of his 
 Humour, which we know to have been acted in 1599 at the 
 Globe. Having arranged that certain extrinsic characters 
 should be on the stage as Chorus throughout the play (one 
 of them a supposititious friend of the author and familiar 
 with the text), Jonson took advantage of the presence of 
 this friend, Cordatus, to keep indicating the imminent 
 changes of scene.^ Surely this would have been an utterly 
 superflous proceeding if locality boards were regularly pro- 
 vided. Does it not look like as if Jonson, for once, sought 
 to remedy the persistent vagueness of the scene .'' If we 
 concede this, the evidence can only be taken at best to apply 
 to the Globe theatre at the dawn of its history. Concerning 
 the usage at the Blackfriars, Jonson gives altogether different 
 testimony. At that house in 1601 was produced The Poet- 
 aster, or the Arraignment. In the induction one finds Envy 
 coming up a trap to deliver an atrabilious monologue in 
 which there was much covert girding at the plush-covered 
 gallants of the day. First she catches sight of the title-board 
 and gloats over the sub-title, having come to blast the 
 enjoyment of all present. But her joy turns to dismay when 
 
 ' For the textual indications of the various changes of scene see the close of the 
 first act, of Act ii. sc. ii, of Act in. sc. ii, and Act iv. sc. iv. Note especially the inge- 
 nious indication at the beginning of Act v. sc. vii. 
 
On the Pre-Restoration Stage 63 
 
 she finds that the author, instead of laying the scene at 
 home, has placed it in Rome. That knowledge is evidently- 
 gained by the sight of another inscription on one or more 
 boards : 
 
 Mark how I will begin : the scene is, ha ! 
 
 Rome ? Rome ? and Rome ? Crack eye-strings and your balls 
 
 Drop into earth. > 
 
 This passage admits of two interpretations, either that 
 Envy reads off the one inscription from three locality boards, 
 or that she merely sees one board and, in her ruminative 
 agony, indulges in forceful iteration. In taking the former 
 view, Reynolds assumes that the superscriptions were placed 
 over three entrance ways.^ But 1 cannot agree with this 
 reading. Even if we admit for argument's sake the existence 
 of a convention at the Blackfriars whereby three concurrent 
 scene boards were used in plays presenting a series of widely 
 separated localities, its employment cannot be conceded in 
 a unified play like The Poetaster. However tradition-ridden 
 the players might have been they were not likely to go to 
 superfluous trouble. The idea of using three boards to 
 convey the same intimation in a play of unvarying locality 
 recalls the action of the over considerate farmer who cut 
 two holes in his barn door, one for the hen and the other 
 for her chickens. 
 
 But if Reynolds' theory, in its particular application, 
 be not accepted, it cannot in its broader aspect be dis- 
 missed cavalierly. If scene-boards were used at all in the 
 public or private theatres, there were certainly many occa- 
 sions when three simultaneous boards (placed, say, over 
 the two side doors and the central curtained passage-way) 
 would have been a grateful expedient. There are plays 
 which vividly recall Sir Philip Sidney's sarcasm, plays 
 whose technique is based on the old multiple convention, 
 
 ' op. cit. i. 22. Reynolds here says three doors, not three entrance ways, but in 
 most theatres there were only two conventionally recognised doors giving on to the stage 
 proper. The third door, of which we find occasional mention, was situated at the back 
 of the inner stage, and would be frequently out of sight owing to the closing of the 
 traverses. 
 
64 'Title and Locality Boards 
 
 where the scene chops and changes about with kaleidoscopic 
 swiftness and variety ; and these for their proper comprehen- 
 sion seem positively to demand constant resort to locality 
 boards. Of this order are The Wounds of Civil War, Pericles, 
 and The Fair Maid of the West. 
 
 In such cases one of two possible methods of scenic clari- 
 fication might have been pressed into service. Single locality 
 boards could have been used and changed with each succes- 
 sive transition, or the dramatist might have been limited 
 to the maximum of three localities in any one act, all of 
 which could have been indicated by superscriptions over 
 the various entrance-ways. The second arrangement would 
 on all counts have proved the more satisfactory as it per- 
 mitted of better visualization of the action, and precluded 
 the necessity of changing the boards during an entire act. 
 To see whether the dramatist was really limited in the 
 manner indicated one would require to analyse a consider- 
 able number of plays of the chronicle or narrative order. 
 This I have not done. But it may be remarked that we 
 have in Pericles some slight basis in support of the theory. 
 Although six widely separated localities are utilised in this 
 play the action is confined to a maximum of three in any 
 one act. ^ 
 
 Only one difficulty presents itself in connexion with the 
 triple-board theory. Where certain doors represented certain 
 localities there could have been no laxity of exit and entrance. 
 A character who accidentally departed for Rome when he 
 ought to have gone to, say, Jerusalem, would have played 
 the mischief with the plot. Everything would have had to 
 be carefully rehearsed and nothing left to chance. 
 
 Besides proof by the law of averages of the limitation 
 to three localities per act, to establish this theory one would 
 require to show that the Elizabethan entrance-ways were 
 given on occasion a localised significance akin to the old 
 Greek convention. This should not be at all an impossible 
 task viewing the evidence that lies ready to hand. Jonson 
 
 ' On the other hand in the third act of Antony and Cleopatra we have thirteen 
 ** scenes" dealing with at least six different localities. 
 
On the Pre-Restoration Stage 65 
 
 we know did not write narrative plays with an ever-changing 
 scene, and Reynolds appositely cites Jasper Mayne's en- 
 comium of rare old Ben, setting forth that in his works 
 "The stage was still a stage, two entrances Were not two 
 parts o' the world, disjoin'd by seas."^ We have already 
 seen in connexion with Jocasta that as early as 1566 the 
 academic stage had given a specialized significance to the 
 entrance-ways. Forty years later we have evidence that 
 something of the sort had recently been done on the public 
 stage. Discussing "How a Gallant should behave in Powles 
 Walk," Dekker, in the fourth chapter of his Guls Horn- 
 booke (1609), gives the following curiously phrased in- 
 struction : 
 
 Your Mediterranean He, is then the onely gallery, wherein the 
 pictures of all your true fashionate and complementall Guls are, 
 and ought to be hung up : into that gallery carry your neat body, 
 but take heede you picke out such an hour, when the maine Shoale 
 of Ilanders are swimming up and downe. And first observe your 
 doores of entrance, and your Exit, not much unlike the plaiers at 
 the Theatres, keeping your Decorums, even in phantasticality. As 
 for example : if you prove to be a Northerne Gentleman, I would 
 wish you to passe through the North doore, more often (especially) 
 then any of the other : and so, according to your countries, take 
 note of your entrance. 
 
 View this passage in association with Jasper Mayne's 
 later allusion, and the meaning becomes clear. Little, how- 
 ever, but disappointment ensues when one comes to search 
 for stage directions corroborating this specialized employ- 
 ment of the doors. Only two plays yield us evidence of 
 the existence of any such convention ; and it would be 
 perilous on the strength of these to infer its diffused or 
 continuous employment. One of the two. The Cuck-Queanes 
 and the Cuckolds Errants, or the Bearing Downe of the Inne 
 (c. 1600), I shall now have occasion to discuss in detail. 
 In, the case of the other, Nabbes' comedy of Covent Garden 
 (c. 1 633), one has reason to suspect the employment of an 
 
 • Jomonui Virbiui, 1638. Reynolds, i, 22. 
 
66 Title and Locality Boards 
 
 elaborately constructed and illusively painted homogeneous 
 stationary scene. 
 
 Reynolds' triple-board theory gains some measure of sup- 
 port from the remarkable construction oiThe Cuck-Queanes 
 and the Cuckolds Errants. Percy's directions certainly imply 
 the existence of some such conventionalism, and the play 
 is sound evidence for the routine pursued at the Paul's 
 playhouse. Symbolic simultaneous representation of three 
 several places is clearly indicated in the scene-plot, headed 
 "Properties," prefixed to the piece. 
 
 Harwich, in Midd of the stage Colchester with Image of Tarlton, 
 Signe and Ghirlond under him also. The Raungers Lodge, Maldon, a 
 Ladder of Roapes trussed vp neare Harwich. Highest and aloft the 
 Title The Cuck-Queanes and Cuckolds Errants. A Long Fourme. 
 
 Here we are to suppose that Harwich and Maldon were 
 represented by the. two side entering doors. Although no 
 mention is madeof the employment of locality-boards, their 
 presence may be inferred from the phrasing of the textual 
 stage directions. Colchester, we note, is in the middle of 
 the stage, and Tarleton's Ghost in entering from there to 
 speak the prologue is instructed to play awhile "lowe on 
 his Tabour . . . standing at entrance of doore and right 
 under the beame." We are justified by this in surmising 
 that the superscription of Colchester together with the 
 image and sign-board were placed over the middle door 
 at the back of the inner stage. ^ The only possible alterna- 
 tive would deny to the Paul's stage a central traverse and 
 inner section, and substitute for the traverse a middle door. 
 This I cannot accept. 
 
 Let us look now for a moment at some of Percy's stage 
 directions to see the working of his treble method : 
 
 Act i. sc. I. Douccbella, Floradin and Rofe Joice enter. Mar- 
 ginal note, "They enter'd from Maldon." Sc. 2. Nim and Shift 
 
 ' Cf. Mr. Walter H. Godfrey's conjectural plan of the Fortune in Shakespeare 
 Jahrbuch (1908), p. 160. For some evidence in support of Messrs. Archer and Godfrey's 
 oblique side-door theory, see my extracts from Percy's textual stage directions, notably 
 those from Act i. sc. ii. and Act in. sc. i. But one must be careful not to confuse the 
 characteristics of the public and the private theatres. 
 
On the Pre-Restoration Stage 67 
 
 enter. Marginal note, "they mett from Maldon and from Har- 
 wich." Sc. 4. Four characters come on. A textual stage direction 
 says "they enterd from Harwich all." 
 
 Act iii. sc. I. Two characters come on. Marginal note, "They 
 mett, Denham from Maldon, Lacy from Harwich." At the end 
 of the scene is the instruction " they crossd Denham to Harwich, 
 Lacy to Maldon." 
 
 Act iv. scene i. " The Direction. Aruania, Doucebella, in their 
 riding attyres . . . Doucebella from Maldon, Aruania from 
 Harwich. They spake aloofe." 
 
 Whatever may have been the common practice at the 
 private theatres towards the close of Elizabeth's reign, 
 there is some reason to believe that at houses of this order 
 a quarter of a century or so later, locality-boards were not 
 hung up at the beginning of the performance. In The 
 Broken Heart, as played at the Blackfriars in 1 633, the pro- 
 logue began by saying 
 
 Our scene is Sparta. He whose best of art 
 
 Hath drawn this piece calls it The Broken Heart. 
 
 One would be inclined to think here that the haste in 
 
 pointing out the scene of action was occasioned by the 
 
 absence of a locality-board. But the same argument might 
 
 be advanced to prove the non-employment of a title-board, 
 
 and the example therefore is far from conclusive. I should 
 
 not have been disposed to refer to it, had it not been for 
 
 my discovery of more definite evidence. In The Cardinal, 
 
 as acted before 1 641, the opening lines of the prologue run : 
 
 The Cardinal ! 'Cause we express no scene 
 
 We do believe most of you gentlemen. 
 
 Are at this hour in France, and busy there — 
 
 As much as to say, "Gentlemen, owing to the vagueness 
 
 of the inscription of our title-board, the chances are your 
 
 minds have been dwelling on Richelieu." The whole pomt 
 
 here would have been lost if the locality-board were already 
 
 in position. 
 
 We come now to consider the question of the employ- 
 ment of scene-boards from a textual standpoint, particularly 
 in relation to those unlocated scenes which puzzle the 
 
68 Title and Locality Boards 
 
 modern editor, and, by a parity of reasoning, must have 
 befogged the mind of the average Elizabethan playgoer, 
 if unelucidated by inscriptions. Now and again, Shake- 
 speare presents difficulties of this order. In discussing one 
 of these it is vital to recall that in the absence of programmes 
 the identity of a fresh character had to be arrived at by the 
 traffic of the scene. In AWs Well That Ends Well, iii. i, 
 the Duke of Florence enters with two Frenchmen and 
 a troop of soldiers, but the text affisrds no clue either to 
 the place of action or the identity of the Duke. Another 
 equally unlocated scene occurs at the beginning of the fifth 
 act.^ In both cases scene-boards are positively demanded, 
 and only one serious objection can be proffered to their use. 
 If placards were hung up throughout the action it hardly 
 seems likely that the dramatist left the stage manager labori- 
 ously to deduce the various localities from the text. The 
 simplest way would have been for the author to write in 
 the scenic indications during the process of composition, 
 but judging by the absence of such indications from the 
 printed copies that course was apparently not pursued.^ 
 Many plays are known from internal evidence to have been 
 printed from prompt copies, and 1 have heard it advanced 
 in private discussion of this matter that scene-boards could 
 not have been used without some reference being made to 
 them in the marginalia of these working copies. The 
 speaker looked upon this argument as decisive, but I am 
 far from thinking It so. Why should it have been the 
 prompter's business to superintend the shifting of the 
 boards .'' His known duties were quite onerous enough 
 without this added responsibility. Had he not to watch 
 the book, to be ever ready to give the word, to call the 
 actors, summon the Incidental and Inter-act music, see 
 to the bringing in of properties, the opening of traps, the 
 flashing of the lightning and the rolling of the thunder .'' ' 
 
 ' Cf. 2 Henry VI, iv. 9. 
 
 2 Now and again we come across a stray indication, not only localising the action 
 but hinting at the employment of scene boards. Note Reynolds' apt citation from 
 A Warning for Fair Women (1599), "Enter Two Carpenters under Newgate." 
 
 ' Cf. the marginal instructions in Believe as Tou List, The Custom of the Country, 
 The City Madam and other plays printed from prompt copies. 
 
On the Pre-Res (oration Stage 69 
 
 Opposite this it might be argued that the normal position 
 of the prompter was on the stage beside the characters — 
 an arrangement no more incongruous than the presence 
 of the stool-holders — and that most of his instructions 
 were given by deputy. The same call-boy who carried 
 messages into the tiring-house could see personally to the 
 changing of the boards. All this sounds feasible until we 
 come to consider the probable position of the boards, 
 viewed by the light of the information yielded by Percy's 
 plays. To be readily seen from all parts of the house the 
 boards would have to have been placed centrally at the 
 back, and at some considerable elevation. This could not 
 have been done from below with the necessary neatness and 
 dispatch, but, supposing the boards to have been hung out 
 on the balustrade fronting the upper stage, could easily 
 have been done from above. One must remember there 
 were other officials in the theatre besides the prompter upon 
 whom the duty might have devolved, say the stage-keeper 
 or the tireman.* If it be asked how the person so appointed 
 would have known when to make the necessary changes, 
 I should reply that it would not be a difficult matter for the 
 theatre copyist, when transcribing the actors' parts, to make 
 out a scene-plot with speech or music cues. When in doubt, 
 he had the author to appeal to. 
 
 We have seen that there is a reasonable a priori argument 
 in favour of locality-boards in the Elizabethan playhouse. 
 The point also admits of discussion a posteriori, but the 
 evidence deducible by this method is not very decisive, 
 seeing that one has difficulties in determining what par- 
 ticular conventionalism was perpetuated, whether of the 
 playhouse or the court, or a fusion of both. It must suffice, 
 now to demonstrate that in the later Stuart masques, as well as 1 
 in a few privately performed plays of the same period, we | 
 have clear proof of resort to locality-inscriptions, and that too 
 in scenes which were illusively represented. In Chapman's 
 
 ' For the stage-keeper see the induction to Bartholomew Fair and the prologue to 
 The Example. According to the prologue to Hannibal and Scipio, he, or they (for at some 
 theatres there were several), generally wore a sort of uniform. For some of the duties 
 of the tiremen see the inductions to The Malcontent and The Staple of New. 
 
70 'Title and Locality Boards 
 
 \Masque of the Middle Temple and Lincoln's Inn (1613), 
 the scene showed a Silver Temple standing on an eminence 
 land bearing inscription in golden letters, "Honoris Fanum." 
 ' In Tatham's pastoral, Love Crowns the End, as acted by- 
 scholars at Bingham in Nottinghamshire in 1632, we have 
 the direction at the close of the scenically mounted pro- 
 logue, " Exit. A place discover'd all green mirtles, adorn'd 
 with Roses, a Title written over 't thus : LOVERS' VAL- 
 LEY." In the unnamed, anonymous masque presented 
 by Prince Charles at Richmond on September 12, 1636, 
 and subsequently printed at Oxford, the second scene, 
 " a well-ordred Campe," bore the mscv'vp^'^onExpeditio Brito- 
 martis "in a Compartement." 
 
 My own impression is that in these cases it was the 
 old court conventionalism that was perpetuated. To admit 
 as much is to suggest on the strength of the meagre evi- 
 dence to hand that the same specific conventionalism 
 imposed itself on the early scenic conditions of the new 
 Restoration theatres. At Lincoln's Inn Fields in 1663, 
 as well as at court, was performed a comedy called The 
 Slighted Maid, a hodge-podge of pastoral, masque, and opera, 
 evidently modelled on the hybrid court productions of 
 Louis XIV. In the middle of Act iii we find the direction 
 "the Scene is discovered, over which in capital Letters 
 is writ CAMPI ELTSIL" Again, the closing scene of 
 the last act is thus particularised in the printed copy : " The 
 Scene, Vulcan's Court, over it is writ. Fore del Volcane." 
 Here the Italian inscription seems to point to a foreign 
 source for the particular scenic effect, a not improbable sup- 
 position seeing that in the absence of native scene-painters, 
 Italian artists were brought over from Paris shortly after 
 the Restoration. The curious point is that no evidence 
 exists of the employment of locality-inscriptions on the 
 contemporary continental stage, whether public or private. 
 
 To sum up on the question of scene-boards, the really 
 vital question of this inquiry. With a caution entirely 
 uncharacteristic, I must content myself with the possi- 
 bilities suggested on the way, and resolutely refuse to 
 
On the Pre-Restoration Stage 71 
 
 hazard the formulation of any general principles. Clearly 
 the available data are insufficient to pontify upon ; nor can 
 I foresee the likelihood of new evidence of moment being 
 unearthed. No single pass-key can ever be found to unlock 
 all the doors of the mystery, and for this reason the whole 
 truth is never likely to be known. We have definite evi- 
 dence for the employment of locality-boards at one play- 
 house at a specific period — Paul's c. 1600 — and we have 
 reason to suspect their employment at other houses at 
 varying periods. Of the modus operandi^ save in the one 
 particular instance mentioned, we cannot be certain. Proof 
 of the existence of a certain custom at a private theatre 
 cannot be taken as proof of its existence at a contemporary 
 public theatre. The Globe and the Blackfriars, although 
 maintained so long by the one body of players, failed to 
 follow exactly the same routine. Marston, in a note to the 
 epilogue of his Sophonisba^ begs the reader not to blame 
 him "for the fashion of the Entrances and Musique of 
 this tragedy, for know it is printed only as it was presented 
 by youths, and after the fashion of the private theatre." 
 Broadly speaking then, there were two fashions, that of the 
 public theatre, apparently based upon the conventionalisms 
 of the inn-yard, and that of the private theatre, where 
 closer and closer approximation seems to have been made 
 as time went on to the methods of the court. We cannot 
 find that the public theatres of the pre-Restoration era 
 ever proceeded beyond the scrappy symbolic mounting of 
 the miracle plays ; but in the private theatres as early as 
 c. 1634 some tentative use had been made of successive 
 scenery of the primitive latter-day order. Not only is there 
 a line of demarcation between the two, but one must re- 
 member that during the first forty years of the seventeenth 
 century both types were in irregular process of evolution, 
 the public theatre, however, arriving the more rapidly at its 
 maturity. Once the investigator has grasped these facts he 
 will have become convinced of the futility of generalisation. 
 
Music and Song in the Elizabethan Theatre 
 
Music and Song in the Elizabethan Theatre 
 
 In the latter half of the eighteenth century, when curiosity 
 began to be aroused as to the prime characteristics of the 
 Elizabethan stage, someone, who permitted himself to be 
 deceived by the fallacious evidence of the quartos, put on 
 foot an untenable theory of wholesale continuous perform- 
 ance in Shakespeare's day. Malone^ doubtless thought 
 he had given this its quietus, but more than a century 
 after it had been decently interred its bones have been 
 resurrected by the alternationists ^ with the vain hope 
 of bolstering up their equally untenable theory. The 
 chances are that in claiming too much the alternationists 
 have proved too little. Although continuous performance 
 as a hard and fast principle cannot be maintained, there are 
 some reasons to believe that on occasion certain long plays 
 like Hamlet were given without a break, or with only a 
 single break. In the public theatres exigencies of time 
 would have demanded this. So intimately is the problem 
 associated with the rise and progress of inter-act music that 
 no apology need be made for discussing it at length in a 
 paper devoted to a wide consideration of the fruitful topic 
 of music and song in the Elizabethan Theatre. 
 
 For the existence of inter-act music in our earliest play- 
 houses one readily finds sufficing precedent. Considerably 
 before the English drama had a permanent abiding place 
 the divisions were so indicated. One of the " wise saws " 
 in The School of Abuse might well have been pointed by its 
 author into a modern instance. "Poetrie and pyping", 
 writes Gosson, "haue allwaies bene so vnited togither, 
 that til the time of Melanippides, Pipers were Poets' hyer- 
 lings."PrimitiveEnglish comedy was nothing ifnotmusical. 
 
 ' Sbakeifeare Variorum (ed. Boswell, 1 821), iii. iii. 
 
 ^ For a lucid exposition of the alternation theory, see Mr. William Archer's article 
 on "The Elizabethan Stage" in The Quarterly Review for April, 1908, p. 44.8. et seq. 
 
76 Music and Song in the Elizabethan Theatre 
 
 Ralph Roister Doister vividly illustrates how large a space 
 in Tudor days was occupied by melody and song, when no 
 gentleman could be said to be fully educated who was in- 
 capable of singing his part at sight. ^ In a quaint onomato- 
 poeic way Udall makes Dobinet Doughtie indicate what 
 instruments were in common use among the people in the 
 middle of the sixteenth century : 
 
 With euery woman is he in some loues pang, 
 Then vp to our lute at midnight, twangledome twang, 
 Then twang with our sonets, and twang with our dumps. 
 And heyhough from our heart, as heauie as lead lumpes : 
 Then to our recorder with toodleloodle poope 
 As the howlet out of an yuie bushe should hoope. 
 Anon to our gittern, thrumpledum, thrumpledum, thrum, 
 Thrumpledum, thrumpledum, thrumpledum, thrumpledum, 
 thrum. 
 
 By the very nature of things, the musicians associated 
 with the impermanent, plastic stage could not be assigned 
 any well recognised conjunctive position. Textual indica- 
 tions clearly show that they were brought on the scene as 
 occasion required, to figure as auxiliaries and lend modest 
 illusion to the action.^ In Gammer Gurton' s Needle one finds 
 definite allusion to the custom of playing music between 
 the acts. At the end of the second act Diccon says : 
 
 Into the towne, will I, my frendes to vysit there. 
 
 And hether straight again, to see the end of this gere : 
 
 In the mean time, felowes, pipe upp ; your fiddles, I say, take 
 
 them, 
 And let your freyndes here such mirth as ye can make them. ^ 
 
 ' With the dawn of English tragedy in 1 562 emblematical 
 Idumb shows came to be united, in the graver drama, with 
 the inter-act music. One doubts not that a few hints were 
 
 ' Of. Ernest Walker's History of Music in England, p. 58. 
 
 ' Ralph Roister Doister, iii. 3, at end. In John Redford's Moral Play of Wit and 
 Science (Shakespeare Society, 1S48), viol players come on twice to accompany songs. 
 Some of the music in this piece (by the author) is preserved in the British Museum. 
 See Add. MSS. 15,223, ff. 11-28. 
 
 ' For a quaint German analogue, see Karl Mantzius' History of Theatrical Art 
 (1903), ii. pp. 150-1. 
 
Music and Song in the Elizabethan Theatre 77 
 
 taken in the beginning from the more elaborate intermedii 
 of the Italians. Through this clumsy innovation careful 
 regulation of the music became imperative. That some 
 considerable pains were taken to adapt the strain to the 
 action can be seen from an intelligent study of the direc- 
 tions in Gorhoduc and Tancred and Gismunda.^ Closely as 
 these two plays are allied in point of time, one notes in the 
 latter a significant advance on the principle of the purely 
 symbolical dumb show. The intercalated pantomime was 
 performed to " a sweet noise of stiU pipes," and other 
 appropriate music, by the actual personages of the drama, 
 and led up smoothly without break to the opening of the 
 succeeding act. Here the dumb show was far from "in- 
 explicable," and fully j ustified itself by binding the action. 
 For once, possibly for the first time, there was unbroken 
 continuity. The pity of it was that where in later days the 
 dramatist resorted to the dumb show, either in the intervals 
 or during the main action, to eke out defective construc- 
 tion, he mostly burdened it with cloudy symbolism.^ A few . 
 exceptions are to be noted. While the music is playing 
 between the second and third acts of Marston's What You 
 Will, Rydel creeps in to observe Jacomo and the others 
 dress Francisco. At the end of the second act of The Phoenix 
 (i 607), we have the direction, " Exeunt. Towards the close 
 of the musick the justices three men prepare for a rob- 
 berie." Prefixed to the fifth act oi Parasitaster, or the Fawne 
 is the direction, "Whilst the Act is a-playing, Hercules 
 and Tiberio enter ; Tiberio climbs the tree, and is received 
 above by Dulcimel, Philocalia and a Priest : Hercules stays 
 beneath." This instruction, it may be noted, is evidence for 
 the employment of inter-act music at the Blackfriars about 
 the year 1605. Again, in the interval following the second 
 act oiTbe Changeling, De Flores comes in, and hides behind 
 a door the naked rapier required for the sudden dispatch of 
 his victim in the succeeding act. 
 
 ^ See Aso The Misfortune! of Arthur {T.i%i). . , „ 
 
 > For a comprehensive article on "Dumb Shew in Elizabethan Drama before 
 1620," 8ee EngUicbe Studien, xliv. (191 1), p. 8. 
 
78 Music and Song in the Elizabethan Theatre 
 
 What with the prevalence of dumb shows in the early 
 Tudor drama and the marked taste for music, it seems 
 probable that the first theatres made no immediate depar- 
 ture from precedent. Intervals of time between successive 
 scenes and successive acts would be indicated by the playing 
 of music. Stage directions are not wanting to show this 
 occasional marking of the divisions between scenes by brief 
 instrumental selections, ^ and even in some cases where the 
 direction is lacking the playing of music is absolutely sug- 
 gested by the nature of the construction. How otherwise 
 could the break be conveyed to the audience between the 
 third and fourth scenes of the third act oiThe Jew of Malta, 
 each of which occurs in the same place but with an inter- 
 vening lapse of time .'' 
 
 We have clear evidence that music was employed to 
 adjust the mood of the spectator to the tone of the coming 
 act, and, with equal frequency, to herald the approach of 
 some important personage or accentuate the stress of some 
 simulated emotion. ^ In The Two Italian Gentlemen of 
 Anthony Munday, which dates from about 1584, instruc- 
 tions are given as to the particular kind of music to be 
 played between the acts, " a pleasant galliard," " a solemn 
 dump," etc. Let us not rashly assume, however, that direc- 
 tions of this nature invariably originated with the author 
 of the play. Collier states rather foolishly that " Marston 
 is very particular in his Sophonisba (1606), in pointing out 
 the instruments to be played during the four intervals of 
 the acts : ' the cornets and organ playing loud-full music,' 
 for act i; 'organs, mixed with recorders,' for act ii ; 
 
 ' a. A Looking Glasse for London (1594.), 1. 558, when Remilia says "Shut close 
 these curtalnes straight and shadow me." Then "they draw the Curtaines and musick 
 plaies." A new scene begins with the entrance of the Magi. In Middleton's Tout Five 
 Gallants (Blackfrisrs c. 1605), iv. i, is the direction "the musiclce plaies on a while, 
 then enter Tailbee, his man after, trussing him." Their appearance marks the begin- 
 ning of scene ii. In The Fair Maid of the West, Part i (163 1), Act iv. the duration 
 of the interval between the second and third scenes is indicated by the curt direction, 
 "Hautboys long." The instruction at the end of this act, "act long," shows that the 
 act-intervals varied in length. 
 
 ^ A song is sung whilst Bassanio ruminates over the caskets in The Merchant of 
 Venice (First Folio), iii. 2. In Messalina (1640), Act iii. "solemne musick" is played 
 during Montanus' speech at the banquet. Of. Professor A. C. Bradley's Oxford Lectures 
 on Poetryy p. 369. 
 
Music and Song in the Elizabethan Theatre 79 
 
 'organs, viols and voices' for act iii; and *a base lute 
 and a treble viol' for act iv. In the course of act v he 
 introduces a novel species of harmony, for we are twice 
 told that 'infernal music plays softly. ' " ' Here we have an 
 obvious overlooking of the fact that, in a note to the epi- 
 logue, Marston writes : "After all, let me intreat my Reader 
 not to taxe me for the fashion ofthe Entrances and Musique 
 of this tragedy, for know it is printed only as it was pre- 
 sented by youths, and after the fashion ofthe private stage." 
 In other words. The fVonder of JVomen, or the Tragedy of 
 Sopbonisba had been produced at the Blackfriars by the 
 Children of the Queen's Revels. Taken in conjunction 
 with a curious passage in "Webster's induction to the aug- 
 mented version of The Malcontent (as acted by the King's 
 players at the Globe in 1604) Marston's protest reveals 
 the existence of a serious divergence in certain matters of 
 routine between the public and the private theatres. In 
 Webster's induction, William Sly asks the players how 
 they came by the piece about to be acted, and learns from 
 Condell that they had^oundit. "What are your additions? " 
 queries Sly; and Burbage replies, " Sooth, not greatly need- 
 mil; only as your sallet to your great feast, to entertain a 
 little more time, and to abridge the not receiv'd custom of 
 musicke in our theatre." Whether accurate or not in all its 
 details, Fleay's elucidation of Webster's induction throws 
 some light on the colloquy just cited. "It further appears 
 from the Induction," he writes, "that in 1 604 (no doubt on 
 the reconstruction ofthe Blackfriars boys as the Queen's 
 Revels Children in January), they 'lost' this play, which 
 was appropriated by the King's men in retaliation for the 
 boys having stolen their Jeronymo and acted it c. 1600."^ 
 
 Additions made "to abridge the not receiv'd custom of 
 musicke" at the Globe must obviously have been matter 
 substituted in place of certain internal musical features of 
 the original play. It is vital to emphasise this, superfluous 
 as it sounds, for, with regard to the employment of music, 
 
 ' Hist. Eng. Dram. Poetry (1831), iii. 449. 
 ^ Biog. Cbron. Eng. Drama^ ii. zS, 78. 
 
8o Music and Song in the Elizabethan Theatre 
 
 there was more than one disparity at this particular period 
 between the Blackfriars and the public theatres. It was cus- 
 tomary, for example, at the Blackfriars to indulge those who 
 had assembled early with a long vocal and instrumental 
 prelude, sometimes lasting an hour.' On the other hand, at 
 no public theatre of the Pre-Restoration epoch can trace of 
 any overture be found. References occur to music sounding 
 before the play, but these were to the three trumpet blasts that 
 invariably preceded the performance. Since the Children of 
 the Chapel were primarily singers and musicians and only 
 secondarily actors, it became an easy matter to them to 
 intersperse music, dancing and song in their various plays.^ 
 To follow in that course would have been a difficult matter 
 to the adult players of the Globe : hence Webster's allusion. 
 It must be recalled, moreover, that at this period song and 
 dance in the public theatres were almost wholly confined to 
 the jigs which concluded the performance. In the economy 
 of the private theatre these ribald afterpieces never had any 
 place. It was a question of appealing to a different kind of 
 audience. Whatever the reason for the change, it would 
 seem, however, that the Globe and possibly some of the 
 other public theatres made occasional resort at a slightly 
 later period to the early Blackfriars system of musical, vocal 
 and terpsichorean interspersions. Assuming Antony and 
 Cleopatra to be fairly sound evidence for the famous Bank- 
 side house in 1608, one notes in Act ii. 7 that cheerful 
 tunes were played during the banquet on Pompey's galley 
 and that a dance followed. But the period of the change 
 and the length of its duration cannot be determined. Allied 
 with the fact that the evidence of the old quartos is not 
 
 ' Cf. C. W. Wallace, Ihe Children of the Chapel of Blackfrian, pp. 106-7. The 
 custom fell into desuetude there with the departure of the Child-actors in 1608, but it 
 was doubtless revived by them at the Whitefriars in 1610. It certainly musthavepersisted 
 somewhere, since it was the prototype of " the First, Second and Third Music" of the 
 Restoration Theatre (vide ante p. 21, note 2). Lack of preliminary music at the 
 Blackfriars in 1617 is indicated in the following distich from H. Fitz-JefFrey's Notes 
 from BlackfryerSf issued in that year : 
 
 " Come, lets bethink ourselves, what may be found 
 To deceive time with, till the second sound." 
 ^ For examples of these interspersements, see C. W. Wallace, op. cit, pp. 116-7. 
 
Music and Song in the Elizabethan Theatre 8 1 
 
 conclusive, outer testimony as to musical interspersions in 
 the public theatre is wholly lacking.^ The experience of Paul 
 Hentzner, the Brandenburg jurist, on his visit of Septem- 
 ber, 1598, goes to show that the common theatres of that 
 time were not without their attractions of dance and song but 
 that these were confined to the terminal jigs. "Without the 
 city," he writes, " are some theatres where English actors 
 represent almost every day comedies and tragedies to very 
 numerous audiences ; these are concluded with excellent 
 music, variety of dances and the excessive applause of those 
 that are present." ^ 
 
 Two other important divergencies remain to be noted. 
 In lieu of the unreceived custom of the jig, which gave the 
 public theatre audience an additional half-an-hour's enter- 
 tainment, all the private theatres occupied by child-players 
 favoured their patrons with songs and dances between the 
 acts. This custom must have operated seriously against 
 any internal tendency towards continuous or semi-continu- 
 ous performance. Precisely where it began one cannot say, 
 most probably at the Blackfriars. As evidence for Paul's 
 we have the direction at the end of Act ii of Middleton's 
 A Mad World^My Masters: "A song sung by the Musicians, 
 and after the song, a country dance by the actors in their 
 visards to a new footing." For the Whitefriars in 161 1 the 
 evidence is stiU more conclusive. At the close of Act i of 
 The Knight of the Burning Pestle, the Citizen's Wife expresses 
 her delight at hearing the fiddles tuning up, and cries, " but 
 look, look ! here's a youth dances." More music follows at 
 the end of the second act (where we have an indication of 
 the playing of Dowland's " Lachrymae") ; and at the end of 
 the third the boy again dances. That this inter-act dancing 
 was a common feature of the private theatre performances 
 
 • Cf. Cahttdar State Papers, Venetian, xv (1617-9), p. 67, letter of Horatio 
 Buiino^ from London, to Signer Georgio Contarini, under date December 8, 1617. 
 The experience here described (from the quality of the audience) probably took place at 
 a private theatre. No authority exists for attributing this experience to the Fortune, as 
 in The Quarterly Review, VoL cii. p. 416. This assumption formerly led me seriously 
 astray. CtShiUtapeare Jabrbuch {igoi),f. HZ. 
 
 ' Pauli Hetitznerii Itinerarium Germaniae, Angliae, Italiae, cum indict locorum, rerun, 
 atque •aerborum commemorabilium. Noribergae [idzg), f. 196. 
 
 G 
 
82 Music and Song in the Elizabethan Theatre 
 
 at this period is indicated in Beaumont's lines to Fletcher 
 on the failure of The Faithful Shepherdess c. 1 609 : 
 
 Nor want there those, who, as the Boy doth dance 
 Between the acts, will censure the whole Play ; 
 Some like, if the wax-lights be new that day. 
 
 By way of side issue, it may be pointed out that inter- 
 act songs formed a characteristic feature of the University 
 drama in the first half of the seventeenth century.^ Here 
 they were probably not so much a following of the Private 
 Theatre habitude as a survival of the pseudo-classic Chorus. 
 Of the prevalence of inter-act singing on the London stage 
 in 1633 we have sufficing testimony in Prynne's Histrio- 
 mastix : ^ 
 
 By our owne moderne experience there is nothing more frequent 
 in all our stage-playes then amorous pastoral or obscene lascivious 
 love-songs, most melodiously chanted out upon the stage between 
 each several action ; both to supply that chasme or vacant interim 
 which the tyring-house takes up in changing the actors' robes to 
 fit them for some other part in the ensuing scene, — as likewise to 
 please the itching eares, if not to inflame the outrageous lusts, of 
 lewde spectators. 
 
 The impression conveyed here is that at the time of 
 writing love-songs were sung between the acts at all theatres 
 alike. But can we take the statement without corroboration? 
 Had Prynne sufficient experience in promiscuous playgoing 
 to speak with authority on the public theatres.? It may have 
 been that in his zeal he conveyed more than he had intended. 
 Emphasis must, at any rate, be laid on the fact that at no 
 period of Pre-Restoration stage history have we any other 
 record of inter-act song or dance in the public theatres. 
 
 The final distinguishing custom of the early private 
 theatre began with the child-players and may have been 
 confined to them. This was the valedictory song at the 
 close of the comedy. In Westward Hoe, as acted c. 1607 at 
 Paul's, this was sung off the stage after the actors had 
 
 ' Cf. The Rivall Friends of Peter Hausted, as acted at Cambridge in 1632 ; also 
 Dr. Fisher's Fuimus Troes as at Oxford (410 1633 ; reprinted in Dodsley). 
 ^ p. 262. 
 
Music and Song in the Elizabethan Theatre 83 
 
 departed. But in A Woman is a Weathercock^ as acted at the 
 Whitefriars c. 16 10 by the Children of Her Majesty's 
 Revels, the song is bound to the action by Sir John 
 Worldly's closing speech beginning, " On, parson on ; and, 
 boy, outvoice the music." ^ 
 
 These preludes, interludes, intermezzos and terminal 
 songs, being clearly identified with child-players, cannot be ' 
 taken as customary at all periods of private theatre history. 
 For at least twenty years after its erection the Cockpit, or 
 Phoenix, was monopolised by adult companies. One thing) 
 however, is reasonably assured, viz., that inter-act music ^ 
 prevailed from first to last in all the private theatres, with- ^ 
 out exception.^ Even at Paul's, where pressure of circum- 
 stance confined the children, as we shall see, strictly to " the 
 two hours' traffic of the stage," intermezzos were given, 
 though, doubtless, they had often to be reduced to the 
 narrowest limits. In "a note to the Master of the Children of 
 Powles," appended to his extant MS. play of Necromantes,^ 
 William Percy writes : 
 
 Memorandum, that if any of the fine and formost of these Pas- 
 toralls and comoedyes conteyned in this volume, shall but overeach 
 in length (the children not to begin before foure, after prayers, 
 and the gates of Powles shutting at six) the tyme of supper, that 
 then in tyme and place convenient, you do let passe some of the 
 songs, and make the consort the shorter ; for I suppose these plaies 
 be somewhat too long for that place. Howsoever, on your own 
 experience, and at your best direction be it. 
 
 **Make the consort* the shorter" evidently means cur- 
 tail the inter-act music. It could hardly have referred to 
 a preliminary concert, such as obtained at the Blackfriars, 
 which must have been precluded by the exigencies of time. 
 Even at the Whitefriars, where no such limitations ruled, 
 
 • Cf. the Fool's Jig-song at the close of Tiaelfth Night. 
 
 ' For the Cockpit in 1635, see the prologue to Nabbes' Hannibal and Seipio, For 
 the Blackfriars in its later period, see The City Madam (1632), marginal instruction in 
 Act iv ; also The Fatal Dowry, end of Act ii. 
 
 ^ Collier, op. cit. (1831), iii. 377 note. 
 
 * Cf, the same author's The Cuck-Queana and Cuckolds Errants, direction at the close 
 of every act, " Here they knockt up the consort " (i.e., gave the signal for the inter-act 
 music). 
 
84 Music and Song in the Elizabethan Theatre 
 
 the waits between the acts were, on occasion, of the briefest. 
 In A Woman is a Weathercock the music played in the first 
 interval began before the act had ended, apparently with the 
 penultimate speech. Apart from the stage direction, the 
 music itself is alluded to by the last speaker. A few bars 
 more at the close of the act would have indicated the break 
 without causing any material delay. 
 
 It remains now to consider the possibility of occasional 
 continuous (or quasi-continuous) performance in the public 
 theatres. I say occasional for the reason that the idea of 
 continuous performance as a principle cannot be entertained. 
 It would have involved too serious a mental strain, and 
 called for powers of concentration given to few. Moreover 
 the possibility is precluded by the evidence for inter-act 
 music and other division-markings. In "The Piatt of the 
 Dead Man's Fortune," otherwise a prompter's guide made 
 for the Rose c. 1593, the act-divisions are indicated by 
 marginal "musique" cues placed opposite rows of crosses.' 
 In other platts of the same period made for the same theatre, 
 where music is not indicated, either the Chorus comes on 
 in the interval or a dumb show is presented. Again, take 
 Yarrington's Two Tragedies in One, which Fleay thinks was 
 given at the Fortune c. 1 600, and which we are, at any rate, 
 safe in assuming to be a public-theatre play. At the end of 
 Act iii. Truth, as Chorus, comes on while Merry, with his 
 back turned to the audience, is mutilating Beech's body. 
 Addressing himself directly to the audience he says : 
 
 I see your sorrowes flowe up to the brim, 
 And overflowe your cheeks with brinish teares. 
 But though the sight bring surfeit to the eye, 
 Delight your eares with pleasing harmonie, 
 That ears may counter checke your eyes and say, 
 Why shed teares, this deed is but a playe ? 
 
 Let US next consider what would have been the neces- 
 sity in the public theatre for occasional continuous, or quasi- 
 continuous, performance. Limitation of time combined with 
 
 ' Of. W. W. Greg, The Hendoive Papers, ii. 127, appendix ii. 
 
Music and Song in the Elizabethan Theatre 85 
 
 extreme length of play might now and again have demanded 
 this heroic remedy. Where acting was by natural light 
 and the performance did not begin until two or three 
 o'clock ^ in the afternoon there was no possibility at any 
 time save in the summer of extending beyond the normal 
 limits. If one were assured that these were fully indicated 
 in the "two hours' traffic" or "two short hours" of the pro- 
 logues to Romeo and Juliet and Henry VIII, the possibility 
 of frequent, nay, almost regular, continuous performance 
 would have to be conceded. But there is a preponderance 
 of evidence to show that the maximum period of perform- 
 ance in the public theatre was three hours. Other and later 
 references to the shorter period aU occur in prologues and 
 epilogues spoken at private theatres.^ As early as 1582 
 Whetstone, in his Heptameron of Civil Discourses, wrote of 
 three hours as the complement. Dekker, in his section on 
 Winter, in Raven's Almanack scoffs at the vanity of the 
 players and tells them that "Ye shall be glad to play three 
 hours for two pence to the basest stinkards in London, 
 whose breath is stronger than garlick, and able to poison 
 all the twelve-penny rooms." Ben Jonson in the induction 
 to Bartholomew Fair, as acted in 161 4. at the Hope, refers 
 to the "space of two hours and a half and somewhat more."* 
 Although within these three hours the public theatre players 
 had usually to give a tragedy or comedy and a jig, it seems 
 not unlikely that when a play of excessive length came to 
 be represented, the jig, despite its popularity, was omitted. 
 So far as these rhymed afterpieces were concerned, there was 
 no question of fulfilling an advertised programme. Choice 
 of jigs was frequently left to the audience, as indicated 
 in the references to calling for them.* Evidence is almost 
 wholly lacking as to the average duration of these gross 
 
 ' The evidence, as marshalled by Collier, op. cit. (1831), iii. 376-7, points to three 
 o'clock as the usual hour, but there must surely have been an earlier start in the winter. 
 
 ' See the prologues to Lov^s Pilgrimage, The Tieo Noble Kinsmen, and The Unfor- 
 tunate Lovers j also the epilogue to The Scholars. 
 
 ' For other references to "three hours," see Prologue to The Lover's Progress, 
 epilogue to The Loyal Subject, and Timon's allusion in Lady Alimony (c. 1634]. 
 
 * Cf. Collier, op. cit. iii. 379 ; also textual allusion in Shirley's Changes, or Love 
 in a Maze (1631), showing that the custom had then passed out of vogue. 
 
86 Music and Song in the Elizabethan Theatre 
 
 afterpieces, but if they approximated to the length Indicated 
 in Tarleton's News out of Purgatory, where gentlemen are 
 referred to as laughing at them for an hour, all the more 
 reason why they would have had to go by the board. Every- 
 thing points in the normal condition to very brief inter-acts. 
 Such an habituation would explain why to many of the 
 Elizabethan dramatists an act was more an arbitrary divi- 
 sion than a literary unit, and account for that constructive 
 peculiarity where acts are finished off abruptly in the middle 
 of something that demands completion. Assuredly that 
 remarkable situation in A Midsummer Night's Dream 
 where the four lovers sleep on the stage from the end 
 of one act until the middle of the opening scene of the 
 next would have been perilous had the wait been of any 
 duration. ^ 
 
 Under pressure of circumstance the step from intervals 
 of extreme brevity to a semi-continuous performance would 
 have been of easy gradation. And it is noteworthy that of 
 resort to semi-continuous performance we have meagre, if 
 satisfying evidence. In Marston's Histriomastix,^ Act ii, at 
 the close, Mavortius and his company remain on the stage 
 till Pride comes on to raise a mist ' under cover of which 
 they may disappear. Immediately on the departure of 
 Mavortius the third act begins. There is again no break 
 between the third and fourth acts, but the action apparently 
 ceased between the first and second and the fourth and fifth. 
 The reason, of course, for these curtailments is that the 
 play ran to six acts and presented seven incidental songs 
 and a dance. The final interval, if so it can be styled, was 
 
 • Cf. Mr. William Archer's article in The Quarterly Revieiv for April, 1908, pp. 
 459-60. 
 
 ^ The alterations in this play for court performance (as indicated by the double 
 ending, &c.) seriously confuse the issue. But, Fleay to the contrary notwithstanding, 
 there is no reason for doubting that it had its initial production in a private theatre. 
 (Cf. R. A. Small, The Stage Quarrel between Ben Jomon and the so-called Poetasters. Breslau, 
 1899, pp. 77 fF.) The date, c. 1598, and Marston's connexion with Paul's point to the 
 Singing School as the source, but difficulties arise owing to the two-hours' limit which 
 ruled there, though, of course, this would account for the semi-continuity. The only 
 alternative is the Blackfriars. 
 
 ' Effected by a cloud of smoke emerging ftom a stage trap. For other examples 
 see Lo-ve's Metamorphosis, iv. 1, and the dumb show in The Prophetess, Act v. 
 
Music and Song in the Elizabethan Theatre 87 
 
 brief and connective. Act v. ends with the departure of 
 Christoganus. Then "allarmes in severall places, that brake 
 him off thus : after a retreat sounded, the musicke playes 
 and Poverty enters." The sixth act then begins. ^ 
 
 Middleton's No fFit, no Help Like a Woman's^ was, on 
 Fleay's showing, originally produced at the Hope in or about 
 1 6 14. But the printed play as we now have it represents 
 Shirley's revision of twenty years later. At the end of the 
 fourth act one finds the direction, " Exeunt Philip Twilight, 
 and Savourwit. Manent Widow and Mrs. Low-water." 
 As a colloquy between the two women opens the fifth act, 
 there was apparently no wait. In this connection it is note- 
 worthy that the Hamlet of the Folio is divided only as far 
 as Act ii. sc. 2, as if the remainder of the tragedy ran on 
 without break. Fleay points out that this particular version 
 is some two hundred lines short of Shakespeare's full manu- 
 script, a circumstance that points to its being a sound acting 
 copy. My impression is that implications of semi-continu- 
 ous performance are more dependable than implications of 
 unbroken continuity. It is difficult to divine whence sprung 
 up that seemingly senseless practice of printing the early 
 quartos without indication of act-divisions. It was not the 
 mere perpetuation of an elementary principle. The Enter- 
 lude ofRespublica (1553) and the comedy of Roister Doister 
 (1566) are both divided into acts and scenes, the latter, of 
 course, determined in the French way. It would not be a 
 difficult matter to prove that many of the later undivided 
 quartos represented plays that in actual performance had 
 act-divisions, A noteworthy example is Middleton's private 
 theatre play The Phoenix (4to 1607), where the breaks are 
 indicated in the text and shown to have been signified by 
 the playing of music. It would be probably useless to seek 
 an explanation why all the Shakespearean quartos, save 
 the Othello of 1 62 1 , are wholly undivided. PrOlss ^ thinks 
 
 ' Of. C. F. Tucker Brooke, The Sbakafeare Apcrypba, p, 1 80 (Tfo Life and Death 
 of the tard Cromiaell, lines 109 ff). 
 
 2 Robert Pr51ss, Von den altesun Drucken der Dramen Shakespeares (1905), p. 4.5 et 
 seq. For Monkemeyer'» reply see his Prolegomena au einer Darstellung der englisehen 
 yolhhabne zur Elisabeth- und Stuart-Zeil. 
 
88 Music and Song in the Elizabethan Theatre 
 
 the plays existed in two forms, one for the public theatre 
 and one for the private; and he endeavours by this means to 
 explain the discrepancies between the quartos and the folios. 
 Monkemeyer seriously traverses this in arguing that the 
 quartos were mostly surreptitious copies badly taken down. 
 But one does not exactly see why even the most indifferent 
 of stenographers should not have noted the act divisions, 
 if they existed. 
 
 Considering the precedent set by the Children of the 
 Chapel at Blackfriars it is not surprising to find that through- 
 out the first half of the seventeenth century the best musi- 
 cians were attached to the private theatres. When Shirley's 
 masque, The Triumph of Peace, -vrSi^ represented, at court in 
 February, 1 634, Sir Bulstrode Whitelock superintended 
 the music, the expense of which came to about one thousand 
 pounds. "I was so conversant with the musitians," he writes, 
 "and so willing to gain their favour, especially at this time, 
 that I composed an aier myselfe, with the assistance of Mr. 
 Ives, and called it Whitelocke^s Coranto ; which being cried 
 up, was first played publiquely by the Blackefryars Musicke, 
 who were then esteemed the best of common musitians in 
 London. Whenever I came to that house (as I did some- 
 times in those dayes, though not often), to see a play, the 
 musitians would presently play Whitelocke" s Coranto ; and it 
 was so often called for, that they would have it played twice 
 or thrice in an afternoone. The queen hearing it, would not 
 be persuaded that it was made by an Englishman, bicause 
 she said it was fuller of life and spirit than the English aiers 
 used to be ; butt she honoured the Coranto and the maker 
 of it with her majestyes royall commendation."^ 
 
 It is interesting to note that owing to the non-provision 
 of any specified programme of inter-act music, the Eliza- 
 bethan custom of calling for particular airs persisted in the 
 theatre until the close of the eighteenth century, and, in 
 Dublin, often proved the source of considerable trouble 
 through the recurring demand for party tunes. 
 
 ^ Burney's History of Music , iii. 376. 
 
Music and Song in the Elizabethan Theatre 89 
 
 In Chetde's Kind-Hart's Dreame one notes a reference 
 to "Players and Fiddlers" who being "maisterlesse," were 
 burnt in the ear. It is curious to find that in the theatre, 
 where the vocations of the two were often seriously con- 
 fused, players and musicians had to procure a separatelicense. 
 On April 9, 1 627, the musicians of the King's company had 
 to pay Sir Henry Herbert, Master of the Revels, the sum of 
 one pound (equal to at least £^ of the present currency) for 
 a warrant of protection.^ Vexatious as was this impost, it at 
 least procured the playhouse fiddlers immunity froni"asf rest 
 as vagabonds when they ventured to exercise their calling 
 elsewhere. In a whimsical passage in the tract called The 
 Actor's Remonstrance (1643), written after the silencing of 
 the theatres, we read, " Our music, that was held so delect- 
 able and precious, that they scorned to come to a tavern 
 under twenty shillings salary for two hours, now wander 
 with their instruments under their cloaks — I mean such as 
 have any — into all houses of good fellowship, saluting every 
 room where is company with 'Will you have any music, 
 gentlemen ? ' " 
 
 Collier, in his section on early theatrical music, says that 
 "Malone refers to a warrant of protection, dated 27th of 
 December, 1 624, by Sir H. Herbert, to Nicholas Underhill, 
 Robert Pallant, John Rhodes, and seventeen others, 'all 
 imployed by the King's Majesty's servants in their quallity 
 of playinge as musitians, and other necessary attendants,' 
 and a doubt must exist whether the musicians did not some- 
 times perform, and vice versa. We know that Phillippes 
 and other actors of eminence played upon different instru- 
 ments, and Pallant was a performer in the 'Plat' of the 
 second part of the Seven Deadly Sins, before 1588: possibly 
 after he had ceased to act he became an instrumental per- 
 former in the band." ^ 
 
 ' It is amusing to find Collier speculating upon a point 
 which he could have easily determined by a patient examina- 
 
 ' Malone's Shakespeare (Dublin, 1794), ii. 81. 
 
 ' op. cit. iii. 449. Pallant merely came in as an attendant in the Second Part of 
 the Seven Deadly Sim (1592), and may therefore have been primarily a musician at that 
 period. 
 
90 Music and Song in the Elizabethan 'Theatre 
 
 tion of the old quartos. We know, for example, that the 
 musicians often came on the stage in their own character, 
 and in that capacity were occasionally allotted a few lines. ' 
 Again, in situations where a great show of supernumeraries 
 was deemed requisite, both the musicians and the gatherers 
 were pressed into the service of the^scene. ^ I am referring 
 now to general custom, without laying any stress on the 
 evidence deducible from plays performed at the Blackfriars, 
 Paul's and Whitefriars by children. This precaution is 
 necesssary, as, in all cases, the "little eyases" combined 
 the two vocations. Qne other point needs to be emphasised. 
 When songs were given on the stage (and not, as sometimes, 
 in the music-room), the musicians almost invariably came 
 on to play the accompaniment.^ Much of this coming on 
 in plays of contemporary English life was mere stage 
 realism. It was customary for the Elizabethan spendthrift 
 to keep a "noise" of musicians in his employ. Sometimes 
 they did duty as servants and wore blue liveries. A scene 
 of this order occurs in The City Madam, Act iii, where 
 Goldwire, Junior, comes on disguised as a Justice of the 
 Peace and his fiddlers as watchmen. Happily for the present 
 day investigator, this play was printed from a well-marked 
 prompt copy, as acted at the Blackfriars. Twenty lines 
 before the disguised musicians appear, we have the margi- 
 nal note, " Musicke come down." Similarly in the last act, 
 occurs the direction " musicians come down to make ready 
 for the song at the arras." 
 
 Whence, it may be asked, did they come .? The question 
 leads to a consideration of the position normally occupied 
 
 ' Cf. Othello, iii. i, where the musicians on the stage (evidently bag-pipers), talk 
 after playing. In Tfit Without Money, end of Act v, the musicians come on and one of 
 them speaks. In Monsieur Thomas, iii. 3, a Fiddler enters and takes part in the dialogue. 
 Afterwards he sings and plays. 
 
 ' In Heywood's If Tou Knoiv not Me, Tou kno'iv Nobody, Part ii (ed. 1 874, p. 297), 
 we have the direction "Enter Sir Thomas Ramsie, the 2 Lords, My Lady Ramsie, the 
 Waits in Sergeants' gowns, with an Interpreter." The musicians had just played pre- 
 viously and now come on as disguised supernumeraries. In several other plays one finds 
 them referred to as " the waits". 
 
 ' Cf. Nevis from Plymouth (1635 'i' '^^^ Globe), Act iii ; Cymbeline, ii. 2 ; the Dis- 
 tresses, Act i. Dancing was also sometimes similarly accompanied, e.g.. Lust's Dominion, 
 iii. 2, "Enter Oberon and Fairies dancing before him ; and Music with them." 
 
Music and Song in the Elizabethan Theatre 91 
 
 by the musicians when not engaged in the traffic of the 
 scene. It is plain to be seen at the outset, from the various 
 duties they had to fulfij, that the position must have been 
 somewhere within stage regions, where they could obtain 
 ready access to the tiring-room, and not an isolated box in 
 the auditorium. This of itself would negative Dr. Wegener's 
 contention that the position is indicated by the word "orches- 
 tra" in the well-known Dutch sketch of The Swan, even if 
 other rebutting evidence were lacking. ^ Curiously enough, 
 Malone, more than a century ago, got within hail of the 
 secret, but, in stating the result of his enquiries, only suc- 
 ceeded in rendering the problem more intricate for pos- 
 terity. Writing in his "Historical Account of the Rise and^ 
 Progress of the English Stage," he says "The band, which, 
 I believe, did not consist of more than eight or ten per- 
 formers, sat (as I have been told by a very ancient stage 
 veteran, who had his information from Bowman, the contem- 
 porary of Betterton), in an upper balcony, over what is now 
 called the stage-box." ^ Unfortunately, Malone did not 
 know, what is well known now, that the Elizabethan theatre, 
 unlike the theatre of his own time, had neither proscenium 
 arch nor front curtain ;otherwisehewouldnothave conveyed 
 his information in precisely these terms. The stage boxes in 
 the latter half of the eighteenth century were situated on 
 either side of the "apron," or avant scene, a little in front 
 of the proscenium arch. * It is at least made clear to us, 
 however, by Malone that the ancient "music-room" was 
 in stage regions and not in the auditorium proper. Most 
 likely, what Bowman's acquaintance meant to convey to him 
 was that the Elizabethan musicians occupied an upper 
 balcony at the back of the stage. Broadly speaking, this 
 tallies with most of the evidence educible on the subject. 
 An important clue is afforded by The Thracian Wonder, 
 "a comical history," attributed, on its first publication in 
 J 66 1, to Webster and Rowley. Fleay's opinion is that this 
 
 ' Vide ante p. 39. 
 
 ' Malone^ s Shakespeare (Dublin, 1794), ii. So. It is painful to find Dr. Brandes 
 and others endorsing this hi^y confusing statement. 
 
 ' Cf. Victor E. Albright, The Shahferian Stage, plate 10, 
 
92 Music and Song in the Elizabethan Theatre 
 
 play was acted c. 1617 by Prince Charles' company. In 
 Act IV. i. 186, occurs the stage direction "Pythia above, 
 behind the curtains." Four lines previously the prompter 
 notes, "Pythia speaks in the Musick Room behind the 
 Curtain." Here we have three significant indications : (i) 
 the Music Room was "above" in the tiring-house ; (2) it 
 had front curtains ; (3) and it could be used, occasionally, 
 for dramatic purposes. All this clearly elucidates a situation 
 in the third act of The Late Lancashire Witches (1634) as 
 acted at the second Globe. Quite unconscious of their 
 oflFence, the bewitched musicians have been plaguing the 
 wedding guests with unearthly discords. Each, in fact, has 
 been playing a different tune. They are asked to try again. 
 " I, and lets see your faces," says Doughty, "that you play 
 fairely with us" ; and then follows the direction, "Musitians 
 shew themselves; above." 
 
 It was in this " musick room," behind the curtains, that, 
 when songs had to be rendered "off", the singer usually 
 took his stand. In Sophonisba, Act iv (an early Blackfriars 
 play), "a short song to soft musicke" is heard "above", 
 and in The Chaste Maid in Cheapside (as at the Swan) we 
 read at a certain juncture that "while the company seem 
 to weep and mourn, there is a sad song in the music room." 
 Even as late as March 23, 1661, the old custom still 
 obtained. Recording a visit to the Red Bull on that date, 
 Pepys comments on the vile acting, adding "and with so 
 much disorder, amongst others, in the musique-room, the 
 boy that was to sing a song, not singing it right, his master 
 fell about his ears and beat him so, that it put the whole 
 house into an uproar." 
 
 It was doubtless also in the music-room that Ariel sang 
 when Ferdinand heard the sweet strains above him in the 
 air. Apparently, however, no hard and fast rule existed : 
 the ready student will have no difficulty in citing instances 
 where music or song heard " off" was not rendered above. 
 Thus, in Sophonisba, Act iv, " a treble viaU and a base lute 
 play softly within the canopy." No previous mention is 
 made of the canopy, but the scene was the mouth of a cave. 
 
Music and Song in the Elizabethan Theatre 93 
 
 and the canopy (or traverses shrouding the inner stage) 
 evidently covered it. This is shown by the subsequent 
 direction, "Syphax hastneth within the canopy as to Sopho- 
 nisba's bed." 
 
 Returning now to the main question, it would probably 
 be futile to seek a single solution to the problem of exact 
 locality. There are grave reasons for suspecting that not 
 all theatres of either category at any given period were 
 arranged alike. Generalisation fails to elucidate that unique 
 direction in Antonio's Revenge^ v. 5, "while the measure is 
 dancing Andrugio's ghost is placed betwixt the Musick 
 houses." To read the riddle set here would be to determine 
 the normal position occupied by the musicians at Paul's in 
 1 600. The ghost comes as a silent witness of the murder of 
 Piero, a deed evidently perpetrated on the inner stage. The 
 position is indicated by the subsequent na'fve direction, 
 "the curtaines are drawne [together], Piero departeth." 
 This means "close the traverses, so that the inner stage 
 may be cleared and the actor of the murdered man may go 
 about his business." According to this reading, Andrugio's 
 ghost must have been stationed somewhere on the side of 
 the stage near to the front. This position would approxi- 
 mate very closely to the position indicated by Malone. But 
 no rule can be safely educed from the evidence yielded by 
 the play, and everything points to the fact that the stage 
 of Paul's was of exceptional arrangement. There is little 
 room to doubt that in the majority of Elizabethan play- 
 houses a considerable portion of the central sjjace on the 
 second floor of the tiring-house was devoted to "the upper 
 stage", and the residue on either side partitioned oflF into 
 boxes for spectators and musicians. Irrespective of other 
 evidence, the so-called "Red Bull'' frontispiece to Kirk- 
 man's Drolls largely warrants this conclusion. 
 
 Some very curious details relative to the disposition of 
 some unascertainable private theatre, and bearing directly 
 on our subject, are to be found in Tom Killigrew's comedy. 
 The Parson's Weddings as first printed in a folio collection 
 of his plays in 1664. This piece had its first production 
 
94 Music and Song in the Elizabethan Theatre 
 
 on the stage at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, in October 
 of the same year, but it bears distinct evidence of having 
 been written twenty-four years previously. ^ A partial 
 proof of this is shown by the fact that while Drury Lane 
 at this period was fully equipped with scenery, the stage 
 directions largely refer to the arrangement and habitudes 
 of the earlier non-scenic theatre. Killigrew's first two plays 
 had been produced at the Cockpit c. 1636-7, and it may 
 have been that The Parson's PFedding was originally intended 
 for that house. On Fleay's showing there is some slight evi- 
 dence in favour of the Blackfriars. In Act iv, Jolly says he 
 has got the Blackfriars' music to come and play, and had 
 been to the theatre to hire them. The crux bristles with 
 difficulties, but one may take it that the play was designed 
 either for the Cockpit or the Blackfriars. Here, then, are 
 three apposite stage directions from the folio copy : 
 
 Act i. sc. 2. — "Enter Mistress Pleasant, widow Wild her aunt, 
 and Secret her Woman, above in the musick room, as dressing her ; 
 a glass, a table, and she in her night cloaths." 
 
 Act iv. sc. 6. — "The tyring room, curtains drawn [open] and 
 they discourse. His chamber, two beds, two tables, looking glasses, 
 night cloaths, waist-coats, sweet-bags, sweet meats and wine ; 
 Wanton dressed like a chambermaid ; all above, if the scene can 
 be so order'd . . . Enter Widow and Mrs. Pleasant, Wild and 
 Careless ; the Widow and Mrs. Pleasant salute Wanton . . . 
 Exeunt Wild and Careless . . . The curtains are closed." 
 
 Act V. sc. 2. — " The Fiddlers play in the tiring room, and 
 the stage curtains are drawn, and discover a chamber, as it were, 
 with two beds, and the ladies asleep in them ; Mr. Wild being at 
 Mrs. Pleasant's bedside, and Mr. Careless at the widow's. The 
 musick awakes the widow." 
 
 ' C{,'B\e3.y,Biog.Chron.Eng. Drama,\\. ij. The evidence here marshalled showithe 
 play to have been written c. 1640, but does not show, as Fleay assumes, that it had been 
 then acted at the Blackfriars. Several indications prove that it had not been performed 
 till seen by Pepys on October 11, 1664. In the first case the printed copy has neither 
 prologue nor epilogue. Secondly, Sir Henry Herbert, Master of the Revels, has a record 
 in his Office Book opposite the name of the play, at the time of the Drury Lane pro- 
 duction, of a receipt of a licensing fee of ^2. Herbert's fee for a revived play at that 
 period was £1 and for a new play £2. This is conclusive. Cf. Malone's Shakespeare 
 (Dublin, 1794), ii. p. 224. 
 
Music and Song in the Elizabethan Theatre 95 
 
 Even to those unacquainted with Killigrew's play, it needs 
 no demonstration to show that the terms "music-room " 
 and " tyring-room " in these directions refer to particular 
 parts of the playhouse, not to specific locations in the 
 action of the piece. Both these rooms were situated aloft 
 (proof of the position of the tiring-room will be cited later), 
 and one at least had front curtains. Probably a curtain 
 before the music-room is implied, as the direction from Act 
 i. 2 indicates a discovery. ^ It would appear that this room 
 was again utilised in the ensuing scene, where the Widow 
 and Pleasant show themselves "above" and speak down. 
 Before going off the " Widow shuts the curtain". 
 
 Everything points to the conclusion that the music-room 
 and the tiring-room in the theatre for which the play was 
 designed were situated side by side on the first storey of 
 the tiring-house. Moreover, since the tiring-room must 
 have occupied a very considerable space, viewing the size 
 and number of the properties placed there at the one time, 
 its identity with "the upper stage" seems well assured. To 
 many inquirers this deduction wiU doubtless bring in its 
 train an element of surprise. Few, however, on due reflec- 
 tion, wiU be disposed to scoflT at the practicability of the 
 arrangement. This indicated double function of the upper 
 stage gives added point to the graphic picture of earlier 
 theatrical times drawn in the original prologue to The 
 Unfortunate Lovers^ as spoken at the Blackfriars, c. May, 
 1638. After complaining that audiences had grown fastidi- 
 ous and looked for more wit in a single play than their 
 "silly ancestors" were vouchsafed in twenty years, 
 D'Avenant expatiates upon the complacency of former 
 generations : 
 
 For they, he swears, to the theatre would come. 
 Ere they had din'd, to take up the best room ; 
 There sit on benches, not adorn'd with mats, 
 And graciously did vail their high-crown'd hats 
 
 ' No thoroughgoing Elizabethan student will allow himself to be deceived for a 
 moment by this formal "enter". Discoveries were often senselessly phrased in this 
 manner. Ct'Tis Pitty She's a frhorel^to,i6ii),m.6: « Enter the Friar in his study, 
 sitting in a chayre, Annabella kneeling and whispering to him", etc. 
 
96 Music and Song in the Elizabethan Theatre 
 
 To every half-dress'd player, as he still 
 
 Through the hangings peeped to see how the house did fill. 
 
 So, too, when the Fortune players moved to the Red 
 Bull in the Easter of 1 640, they begged their new patrons 
 in a prologue written by Tatham — 
 
 ... to forbear 
 Your wonted custom, band [y]ing tile and pear 
 Against our curtains, to allure us forth ; 
 I pray, take notice, these are of more worth ; 
 Pure Naples silk, not worsted, . . . ^ 
 
 Conceive of the upper stage as shut off from view by 
 its own particular curtains, and utilised before the play as 
 a common tiring-room. Under such conditions it is easy 
 to see how the half-dressed player could peep out from 
 time to time to watch the filling of the house. Occasions 
 when the two functions of the upper stage would clash 
 would be very rare. Save at those brief sporadic periods 
 when the place was pressed into service as an illusive factor 
 of the scene, it could always be utilised by the players as a 
 dressing room. Cumbrous properties were very rarely seen 
 there, and scenes demanding their use were generally acted 
 on the inner stage. In this connexion, the elaborate mount- 
 ing in The Parson's Wedding, iv. 6, is apparently the excep- 
 tion that proves the rule. Killigrew, in devising it, had 
 his doubts as to its practicability, and adds, " all above, if 
 the scene can be so order'd." Who knows .' Perhaps the 
 awkwardness of the arrangement contributed in some de- 
 gree to the long delay in the production of the play. 
 
 ^ EngUsche Studieiij Vol. xxxii. p. 43. 
 
The Mounting of the Carolan Masques 
 
The Mounting of the Carolan Masques 
 
 Owing largely to the glowing peri phrastical descriptions in- 
 dulged in by Ben Jonson and others, one is apt to think of the 
 old court masques rather as the creation of Art Magick 
 than the product of the harmonised labours of poet, 
 scenic artificer and musician. For almost a score of years the 
 spirit of inquiry has been striving to dissipate this nebu- 
 losity of idea, but with little result. It is right and proper 
 that the literary history of the masque should be scienti- 
 fically written, but not the soundest and most searching 
 work of this order can yield to us a definite impression of 
 the prime characteristics of the masque as a scenical repre- 
 sentation.^ What rare old Ben states ironically in his Ex- 
 postulation with Inigo Jones, that " painting and carpentry are 
 the soul of masque " has been said in all seriousness by 
 another masque-poet. "In these things, wherein the only 
 life consists in shew," writes Daniel in Tethys" Festival, "the 
 art and invention of the architect gives the greatest grace, 
 and is of the most importance ; ours the least part, and of 
 least note in the time of performance thereof " Literary history 
 in dwelling upon the beauty of the lyrics and the fertility 
 of imagination displayed by the poet in these graceful 
 fantasies has reversed the proportions. Of the masque as 
 spectacle we shall never arrive at a full and true idea until 
 such time as the considerable number of Inigo Jones's 
 designs for scenery, proscenia and costume, at present in 
 the private collection of the Duke of Devonshire at Chats- 
 worth, be published, together with a lucid exposition of his 
 complex scenic system from someone profoundly versed in 
 the intricacies of early Italian stage mechanism. True, an 
 industrious German scholar,^ like another Curtius, has 
 
 ' No fault can be found with Mr. H. A. Evans's introduction to his collection of 
 English Masques (1897) in The Warwick Library series. Within its limits it is a wholly 
 admirable piece of work, 
 
 2 See Dr. Rudolph Brotanek's Die Englische Maskensfiek (Vienna, 1902). 
 
I oo The Mounting of the Carolan Masques 
 
 thrown himself heroically into the gulf; but the age of 
 miracles is past, and the gulf still yawns. If I, too, am equally 
 impotent to close the gap, circumstances have at least con- 
 spired to enable me to throw in a ton or two of earth. 
 Some practical discussion of Inigo Jones's scenic system in 
 the closing days of the court masque is now rendered 
 possible through the acquisition of four of his designs 
 (formerly in the Salvin collection), by the Royal Institute 
 of British Architects, and by the permission graciously 
 accorded to me by its Council to reproduce them. 
 
 Given as it was gratuitously, the normal scenically- 
 adorned masque of the latter Stuart period was a luxury 
 that few but monarchs could afford. Although the cost ■ 
 might be anything from ;£ 5,000 to ;£20,ooo, the same 
 entertainment was rarely presented more than twice, seldoni 
 more than once. During the period of 1612-40 it was 
 customary in mounting these dainty extravaganzas to pro- 
 vide for each a specially designed proscenium front, whose 
 composite ornamentation dealt emblematically with the 
 subject matter of the masque. This system, as we have 
 already seen, was subsequently followed by Sir William 
 D'Avenant in the earlier presentations of his operas. Hence 
 it may be predicated, without fear of contradiction, that the 
 Carolan masque, remote as it was by nature from the ordin- 
 ary run of theatrical entertainment, had a modest measure 
 of influence upon the initial scenic system of the Restora- 
 tion stage. 
 
 Although only two out of the four designs by Inigo 
 Jones now reproduced bear inscriptions (in the autograph 
 of the great architect), three of them are readily identifiable. 
 This is a happy circumstance, as it enables one to deal with 
 concrete examples, and avoid misleading generalities. Thus, 
 the inscription on our first reproduction "Front. Sery' 
 [ .'' Shirley's] masque. Inns of Court, 1633," conveys the 
 impression that the design was made for The Triumph of 
 Peace, as performed at Whitehall on February 3, 1633-4 ; 
 and resort to the quarto of Shirley's masque turns conjecture 
 into certainty. Than this, few English court entertain- 
 
i-i^*,.; 
 
 
 '! 
 
 f ^■ 
 
 
 14 
 
 
 '"1 
 
 _J 
 
 INIGO JONES'S DESIGN FOR THE PROSCENIUM OF SHIRLEY'S [Tofiaf.iou 
 MASQUE THE TRIUMPH QF PEACE (1634). 
 
The Mounting of the Carolan Masques loi 
 
 ments have greater historical interest. Not many months 
 previously, William Prynne, a member of Lincoln's Inn, 
 had written a treatise against the stage, entitled Histrio- 
 mastix, in which he had fulminated vehemently against all 
 women-players. Owing to the circumstance that the English 
 stage had not as yet begun to employ actresses, and to the 
 unfortunate coincidence that the book came out the very 
 morning after the Queen and her ladies had taken part in the 
 performance of the court pastoral of The Shepherd's Paradise, 
 the obnoxious passage was construed into a direct reflection 
 upon her Majesty. There was a hoUow mockery of a trial, 
 and the luckless Puritan was sentenced to a variety of 
 punishments, of which the most cruel and unjust was the 
 loss of his ears. The barbarity of the decree, savouring 
 more of savagery than a Christian community, only served 
 to draw the attention of the sober-minded to the scandal- 
 ous extravagance of the Court. Assuredly the docking 
 of those ears counted among the factors which event- 
 ually cost the King his head. Even the masques might 
 figure in the schedule, for the periodical emulation at 
 Whitehall of the luxurious habits of the courts of France, 
 Florence and the Savoy ran the King into debt, and led 
 to insufferable taxation. 
 
 The honourable and learned members of the four Inns 
 of Court had little sympathy with the extreme views of 
 their maltreated brother ; and by way of emphasising their 
 disapproval of his pronouncements, they commissioned 
 one of their number, James Shirley, the dramatist, of 
 Gray's Inn, to write a masque for presentment by them 
 before the Court. The result was The Triumph of Peace, 
 which owed its title to the King's happy return after allay- 
 ing the troubles in the north. When one comes to consider 
 the vast expense, amounting to some ;£2 i,ooo, incurred by 
 the four Inns of Court in connexion with this notable celebra- 
 tion, it must be borne in mind that the indoor entertainment 
 at Whitehall was preceded by a magnificent public pageant, 
 in which about two hundred members of the bar partici- 
 pated. The procession started early in the evening from Ely 
 
I02 The Mounting of the Carolan Masques 
 
 House, Holborn, and, making its way down Chancery Lane, 
 passed along to Whitehall. It consisted for the most part of 
 a number of mounted cavaliers, attended by pages and 
 torchbearers, and followed by trumpeters and truncheon 
 men. At the rear of the procession came four triumphal 
 chariots, each drawn by four horses ; and in these, we read, 
 "were mounted the grand Masquers, one of the foure 
 houses in every Chariot, seated within a half Ovall, with a 
 glorious canopy over their heads, all bordered with silver 
 fringe, and beautified with Plumes of Feathers on the top." 
 The old quarto also tells us that the four great chariots, (there 
 were one or two smaller ones) were all "after the Roman 
 forme, adorned with much embossed and carved workes, 
 and each of them wrought with silver and his several! 
 colour. They were mounted on carriages, the Spring-trees, 
 Pole and Axle-trees, the Charioter's seate, standers, wheels, 
 with the fellyes, spokes and naves all wrought with silver 
 and their severall colour." Whitelocke, who was one of the 
 executive council, relates in his Memorials how there was 
 much dispute between the grand masquers of the various 
 Inns on the point of precedence, and that, to obviate the 
 difficulty, it was finally decided the chariots should be of 
 the Roman triumphal order, all designed and ornamented 
 alike, but each with its distinctive colouring. The seats 
 were made of "an Oval form in the back end of the chariot, 
 so that there was no precedence in them, and the faces of 
 all that sat in it, might be seen together." My reason for 
 dwelling on these details is that Inigo Jones's uninscribed 
 design for the great chariots happens to be preserved in 
 the Salvin collection. In reproducing it now, I take all 
 responsibility for the identification. 
 
 Having brought the learned masquers and their retinue 
 to Whitehall, it is time to speak of the ornate frontispiece 
 surrounding the scene. Let us then compare the descrip- 
 tion given of it in the old quarto with Inigo Jones's design. 
 
 The border of the front and sides that enclosed all the Scaene 
 had first a ground of Arbor-worke enter-mixt with loose branches 
 and leaves, and in this was two Niches, and in them two great 
 
i ■ . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ,^^, 
 
 
 ^xm¥i 
 
 
 
 ■V::C^. 4^k 
 
 
 "jufe.- 
 
 INIGO JONES'S DESIGN FOR TRIUMPHAL CHARIOTS. 
 
 [Tof.KCl>. 10]. 
 
The Mounting of the Cardan Masques 103 
 
 figures standing in easy postures, in their naturall colors, and much 
 bigger than the life ; the one, attired after the Grecian manner, 
 held in one hand a Scepter, and in the other a Scrowle, and a 
 picked antique crowne on his head, his curasse was of Gold, richly 
 enchased, his robe Blue and Silver, his arms and thighs bare with 
 buskinds enricht with ornaments of Gold, his browne locks long 
 and curled, his Beard thicke, but not long, and his face was of a 
 grave and Joviall aspect. This figure stood on a round pedestal 
 fained of white Marble, enricht with severall carvings ; above this 
 in a compartiment of Gold was written minos. The figure on the 
 other side was in a Romane habit, holding a Table in one hand, 
 and a Pen in the other, and a white Bend or Diadem about his 
 head, his Robe was crimson and gold, his mantle Yellow and Silver, 
 his Buskins watchet trim'd with Silver, his haire and Beard long 
 and white, with a venerable aspect, standing likewise on a round 
 Pedestall answerable to the other. And in the Compartiment over 
 him was written numa. Above all this in a proportionate distance 
 hung two great Festons of fruites in colors which served for finish- 
 ing to these sides. The upper part in manner of a large Freeze was 
 adorn'd with severall compartiments with draperies hanging downe, 
 and the ends tied up in knots, with Trophies proper to feasts and 
 triumphs, composed of Masking Vizards and torches. In one of the 
 lesser Compartiments was figured a sharpe-sighted eye, and in the 
 other a Golden-yoke. In the midst was a more great and rich Com- 
 partiment on the sides of which sate naked children in their naturall 
 colors, with Silver wings, in action of sounding Golden Trumpets, 
 and in this was figured a Caduceus with an Olive-branch, all of 
 which are Hierogliphicks of Peace, Justice and Law. 
 
 It should be noted that one important feature of the 
 stage front, referred to in the book, is lacking in the design. 
 We are told that the basement "was painted in rusticke 
 worke," and that in the middle was "a descent of staires in 
 two branches landing into the roome." But the design bears 
 indications of having been cut into sections for working 
 purposes, and it may be that the lower portion is missing. 
 On the other hand, it might be argued that Inigo Jones, 
 in designing proscenia, did not always trouble to sketch in 
 the connective front steps, seeing that they were regular 
 and indispensible concomitants of all scenicaUy mounted 
 masques. Their common use (obscurely hinted at in Bacon's 
 
I04 'J'he Mounting of the Carolan Masques 
 
 essay "On Masques") serves to bring home to us that the 
 Carolan Masque, while bearing some resemblance to a 
 primitive Italian opera, had few of the characteristics of a 
 normal theatre play. So far from the picture being kept 
 wholly within the frame, the floor of the hall was, in a 
 sense, as much the scene of action as the stage. Here there 
 was some carrying over of old conventions, born of a period 
 when the masque had neither movable scenery nor a pro- 
 scenium arch. When any particular compliment had to be 
 paid to the King or Queen, the actors came down from the 
 stage by the proscenium steps and made their way up to 
 the canopy of state at the other end of the hall before 
 delivering their sugared lines. ^ This custom, one takes it, 
 was strictly of native origin, but a second, and more import- 
 ant, usage of the floor of the hall was largely due to Italian 
 precedent. Between the stage and the State was a broad 
 space equivalent to the ancient orchestra, and known as "the 
 dancing place." This was invariably carpeted with green 
 cloth.^ Here all the dances executed by the masquers 
 proper, distinguished as the Entry, the Main, the Revels 
 and the Going-out, were given.' On the other hand, the 
 dancing of the antick-masques was almost invariably con- 
 fined to the stage.* Unlike the others, these were dances 
 in character, more or less relevant to the action, and exe- 
 cuted by professionals. It is matter for regret that no 
 picture of a Stuart masque has come down to us, but, seeing 
 that the system of mounting pursued and the method of 
 presenting the main dances were strictly in accord with 
 Italian precedent, the spectacular characteristics of the 
 Carolan masques are satisfactorily visualized in Callot's 
 etching of a carnival performance at the Florentine court 
 in 1616, now reproduced. 
 
 ' Cf. H. A. Evans, op. cit. pp. 106, 110 {The Masque of Floivers, 1614). 
 
 ^ Cf. the vivid description of a performance of Ben Jonson's Pleasure Reconciled to 
 Virtue in 1618 given in Orazio Busino's translated letter in Cal, State Papers, Venetiatty 
 XV. pp. 110 et seq. 
 
 ' Cf. H. A. Evans, op. cit. intro. p. xxxiv. 
 
 * In Lovers Made Men (1617), generally miscalled Tie Maijaeo/'Leffe, wrhere the «^ 
 masquers and the antick-masquers are identical, the sole antick-masque was danced on 
 the floor of the hall. 
 
i 
 
 ' Urn. ■.,^-. _£^iH : : "^-i- j^^^h^-ii'^-cm^ 
 
 '^C&r. 
 
 
 INIGO JONES'S DESIGN FOR THE PROSCENIUM OF D'AVENANT'S [Tofacep. 105. 
 MASQUE THE TEMPLE OF LOVE (1635). 
 
The Mounting of the Carolan Masques 105 
 
 At the time when Inigo Jones executed the design given 
 here in reduced fac-simile, the masque for which it was 
 made had not received its determinate title. Inscribed, 
 "For the Quenes Masque of Indiands, 1634", it vividly 
 depicts the proscenium front (or "arch triumphal," as these 
 proscenia were sometimes called) provided for D'Avenant's 
 masque The Temple of Love ^ as given at "Whitehall by the 
 Queen and her ladies on Shrove Tuesday, February 18, 
 1634-5. A comparison of the various features of the design 
 with the following passage from the book of D'Avenant's 
 masque will readily prove this identity : 
 
 At the lower end of the Banquetting house, opposite to the State, 
 was a stage of six foot high, and on that was raised an Ornament 
 ot a new Invention agreeable to the subject, consisting of Indian 
 Trophies : on the one side upon a basement sate a naked Indian 
 on a whitish Elephant, his legges, short'ning towards the neck of 
 the beast, his tire and bases of severall coloured feathers, represent- 
 ing the Indian Monarchy ; on the other side an Asiatique in the 
 habit of an Indian borderer, riding on a Camell, his Turbant and 
 Coat difiFering from that of the Turkes, figured for the Asian 
 Monarchy; over these hung sheild-like Compartiments; in that 
 over the Indian was painted a Sunne rising, and in the other an 
 halfe Moone ; these had for finishing the Capital! of a great 
 Pillaster, which served as a ground to stick them of, and bore up 
 a larg freeze or border with a Coronice. In this over the Indian 
 lay the figure of an old man, with a long white haire and beard, 
 representing the flood Tigris ; on his head a wreath of Canes and 
 Seage, and leaning upon a great Vrne, out of which runne water ; 
 by him in an extravagant posture, stood a Tyger. 
 
 At the other end of this freeze lay another naked man, repre- 
 senting Meander, the famous river of Asia, who likewise had a 
 great silver urne, and by him lay an Unicorne. 
 
 In the midst of this border was fixed a rich Compartiment, 
 behind which was a crimson drapery, part of it borne up by najced 
 children, tack'd up in severall pleats, and the rest was at each end 
 of the Freeze tyed with a great Knot, and from thence hung down 
 in foulds to the bottom of the pedestalls ; in the midst of this 
 Compartiment in an Ovall was written templvm amoris ; all 
 these figures were in their naturall colours, bigger than the life, 
 and the Compartiments of Gold. 
 
io6 The Mounting of the Carolan Masques 
 
 Inigo Jones's rough, uninscribed sketch for a masque- 
 scene, reproduced on the opposite page, is none the less 
 valuable to the student of early scenic conditions because, 
 through haziness of detail, it admits of no positive identifi- 
 cation. It bears out, what one readily infers from records of 
 the famous, architect's life, that inspiration was largely de- 
 rived from the imposing court entertainments of Florence, 
 Ferrara and Milan.' Of this, its apparent incompleteness 
 yields subtle indication. In Italy, as elsewhere, there was no 
 such thing as irregular, or oblique, raking of the scenic back- 
 grounds before the last decade of the seventeenth century. 
 Practically the whole of the scene was expressed on the 
 wings, which were so symmetrically balanced that in design- 
 ing the features of the one side, Inigo Jones sufficingly 
 indicated both. Front curtains were used in all the Stuart 
 masques of the middle and final periods, but as they were 
 only brought into service at the opening and the close, all 
 the scenic changes had to be made with neatness and dis- 
 patch in full sight of the audience. No human agency was 
 apparent, and the various mechanical transformations had 
 their element of charm and surprise. Much on this score 
 can be learned from a painstaking study of Inigo Jones's 
 ground plan and sectional elevation for the scenery in 
 D'Avenant's Salmacida Spolia^ which, with other plans of 
 the sort, are now preserved among the Lansdowne MSS. 
 in the British Museum.^ Jones's wings and flats, charac- 
 teristically called " shutters", were all arranged in sets of 
 four or five, and worked in grooves top and bottom. That 
 is to say, there would be four double rows of wings, each 
 provided with the component parts for four or five changes, 
 and with the whole closed in behind by a corresponding 
 sequence of closely grouped flats. At a considerably earlier 
 period (notably at Oxford in 1605, when he mounted the 
 tragedy of Ajax Flagellifer), Jones had adopted another 
 
 ' For an account of one of these, with contemporary illustrations (Florence, 1608), 
 see my article "A Primitive Italian Opera," in The Connoisseur, xv. (1906), p. 235. 
 
 ^ No. 1 171. The student should be warned that the plans are not arranged in 
 chronological order, particularly as one of them (which has been bound in upside down !) 
 is uninscribed. 
 

 .^ c^-^-*^ 
 
 -5-^-" ^^ 
 
 
 
 ;>-\e^^<^^j?V^-f' 
 
 
 UNINSCRIBED SKETCH BY INIGO JONES FOR A MASQUE-SCENE. [To face p. 
 
 io6. 
 
The Mounting of the Carolan Masques 107 
 
 Italian system of quick changing, that on which all the 
 scenery was placed on perpendicular revolving triangular 
 frames, worked from below. But owing to the fact that 
 this system called for more stage space than could always 
 be devoted to it, and from the more serious drawback that 
 it only admitted of three changes, it had ultimately to be 
 abandoned. In the Carolan masques Inigo Jones's scenery 
 was all ranged along the two sides of an equilateral triangle, 
 of which the base formed the proscenium opening and the 
 apex the vanishing point, placed in the centre of the 
 horizontal , line. In accordance with this arrangement, the 
 wings jutted out more and more in strict proportion as they 
 receded. Not only this, but the farther they went back, the 
 shorter they became. Each row of wings was provided 
 with a sky-border, and as the wings grew shorter, so the 
 borders came lower down, concealing the upper grooves. 
 Owing to this encroachment of the top and sides upon the 
 visual area, very little of the back flat could be seen ; in 
 normal cases only a space of about half the measurement 
 of the proscenium opening. Widely different, too, from 
 latter-day principles was the equipment of the borders. 
 These were arranged in two parts, so that they might be 
 pulled off laterally at either end when it was desired to show 
 one of those descending clouds, freighted with classic divini- 
 ties, which were popular features of all the European court 
 entertainments of the seventeenth century. Trivial as these 
 points may appear, they are not without some measure of 
 historical importance. One finds no reason to doubt that all 
 the early Continental theatres of the public order, begin- 
 ning with the Teatro di San Cassiano of Venice in 1 639, for 
 long adopted the scenic and mechanical principles which 
 had obtained privately for at least a quarter of a century 
 previously.' 
 
 It will, of course, appear incongruous to many a modern 
 inquirer, as it did of old to Steevens, that the Jacobean 
 
 > Cf. Georges Moynet, Trua et Dicors, Chap, ix, " Gloires, vols et apotheoses." 
 
io8 ne Mounting of the Carolan Masques 
 
 stage should have lacked the illusions of painted scenery 
 at a time when masques were mounted with decorative 
 profusion and great mechanical ingenuity. But without 
 the purse of Fortunatus the players could not hope to emu- 
 late the costly glories of the court. Happy was it for the 
 well-being of English drama that the physical conditions 
 of the stage had long been determined upon and accepted 
 before the masque assumed new graces by the acquire- 
 ment of movable scenery; happy, too, that both player and 
 dramatist should have been tenacious in maintaining those 
 elemental principles of dramatic construction which stimu- 
 lated the imagination without glutting the eye. All lovers of 
 literature have reason to be thankful for this truly English 
 resoluteness, and to rejoice over the classic austerity of the 
 old rush-strewn, tapestry-hung stage. 
 
The Story of a Peculiar Stage Curtain 
 
The Story of a Peculiar Stage Curtain 
 
 So scanty and perplexing is the evidence in favour of the 
 employment of a front curtain in the ancient Greek theatre 
 that careful inquirers are loath to make a definite pronounce- 
 ment on the subject. In Greece, the usages of the curtain, 
 if any, are purely conjectural, based on inferences and analo- 
 gies. In the fifth century, when the theatre at Athens had 
 no raised stage, and the "skene" behind the orchestra was 
 little better than a hut or "tiring-house" for the players, 
 material aids to the imagination were so few that a front 
 curtain was no more requisite than in the English theatre 
 in Elizabethan times. On the other hand, we find ourselves 
 confronted by the circumstance that certain of the plays 
 of Euripides, Sophocles and Aristophanes open with a 
 scene crowded with already assembled personages. This, to 
 DSrpfeld-Reisch, implies the sudden removal of a front 
 curtain; but if such were employed, it is strange that in the 
 comedies of Aristophanes changes of scene were effected 
 while the characters remained in full view of the audience. ^ 
 
 Nothing more definite is known about the methods of 
 the fourth century beyond the fact that the arrangements of 
 the Greek Theatre at that period were better adapted for 
 the use of a front curtain. The stone "skene" then adopted 
 was furnished with "paraskenia," or projecting wings, bor- 
 dering a space that could readily have been shrouded by a 
 curtain. 
 
 When we arrive at the Hellenistic era, the well-defined 
 usages of the early Roman theatre supply one or two illumi- 
 nating analogues. It would appear that in taking over the 
 Greek aulaia, the Romans merely Latinised the name by 
 which it had been known. Still, in the Attic Theatre in its 
 
 ' Awkward as was this system, it was frequently followed on the Elizabethan 
 stage, where it was doubtless a relic of a primitive conyention. For examples, see 
 G. F. Reynolds' Same Principles of Elizabethan Staging (1905), Pt. ii. pp. 6-1 1. 
 
1 12 The Story of a Peculiar Stage Curtain 
 
 final form — what with resort to revolving scenery and the 
 absence of act divisions — there could have been little neces- 
 sity for a front curtain. 
 
 In dealing with the early Roman theatre we find ourselves 
 on much firmer ground. We are at least safe in dating from 
 about ^^ B.C. (the period of the erection of the first perfect 
 Roman theatre of stone), the employment of a truly remark- 
 able stage curtain/ remarkable not only from the peculiarity 
 of its method of working but from the fact that it long sur- 
 vived the downfall of the Empire. It differed essentially 
 from the normal theatre curtain of to-day, inasmuch as it 
 descended beneath the stage at the opening of the play and 
 arose when it was necessary to obscure the scene. As to the 
 mechanism employed authorities disagree. Donaldson 
 (who may be taken as exemplar of the old school) argues 
 that the device was a simple curtain, drawn down through 
 a narrow slit in the boards of the flooring, and wound up on 
 a cylinder beneath the stage. In proof of this he gives an 
 illustration of the small theatre at Pompeii, showing the 
 receptacle for the curtain and its roller.^ 
 
 To the broad theory of the reverse roller curtain an emi- 
 nent theatrical architect takes serious exception. Unaware 
 that the aulaum had been revived in modern times, Charles 
 Garnier scouts the idea as utterly impracticable. Unless the 
 cross-bar that supported the curtain was placed, he argues, 
 at an extreme altitude, its presence would obstruct the view 
 of the spectators on the upper seats and prove an eyesore 
 to everybody. No matter what the altitude of the cross- 
 bar, the great width of the stage would have necessitated 
 five or six connecting cords between it and the curtain, so 
 that the latter might be properly drawn up when required. 
 With the curtain down and the action going on, these cords 
 would divide the scene vertically, and destroy even the 
 modicum of scenic illusion then procurable.' 
 
 ^ Besides this aulaum, or front curtain, there was also in the Roman theatres a 
 sifarium, or light inner curtain, screening only part of the stage, which could be drawn 
 aside^ Its description recalls to mind the traverses of the Elizabethan stage, and the 
 uses of the two may have been analogous. 
 
 ' Theatre of the Greeks (1875), p. 273. 
 
 ' Charles Garnier, Le ThMtre, (1871), p. 233 et seq. 
 
The Story of a Peculiar Stage Curtain 1 13 
 
 Mindful of these sound objections, latter-day French 
 archaeologists incline to the opinion that the aulaum was 
 not so much a curtain as a screen, and that it was concealed 
 in the double wall dividing the basement from the orchestra. 
 According to this theory, it was at best but a makeshift, as 
 when raised between the acts it merely served to obscure the 
 stage from the patricians in the lower seats. The plebeians 
 above could see over it. Recent minute examination of the 
 two theatres ofPompeii tends to confirm the accuracy of this 
 concept without making clear what was the precise system 
 of working employed. In discussing the later investigations 
 in the large theatre Herr Mau writes : 
 
 The room underneath the stage was divided into several parts. 
 Between the front wall and that just back of it was the place for 
 the curtain, which, as in Roman theatres, was let down at the 
 beginning of the play, and raised at the end. The space between 
 the parallel walls must have been covered, leaving only a narrow 
 slit for the curtain ; otherwise it would not have been easy to go 
 upon the stage from the steps in the orchestra. Underneath the 
 place for the curtain is a low passage, on the vaulted roof of which 
 are two rows of holes, cut in blocks of basalt, and evidently designed 
 to holdupright timbers. Thepassagehasinrecentyearsbeen entirely 
 cleared. In the floor directly under the openings in the vaulted roof 
 and corresponding with them were square holes. In those nearer the 
 front of the stage were remains of timbers and of square pieces of 
 iron fitted to the ends of these, a larger and a smaller piece for each 
 hole. It seems likely that, as Mazois suggested, hollow upright 
 beams were set in the holes, and in them smaller hollow beams were 
 placed, in which were still smaller poles or iron rods ; by the sliding 
 of these up and down, the long horizontal pole on which the curtain 
 was hung could be raised or lowered. The use of the inner row of 
 poles has not been satisfactorily explained.^ 
 
 Some allusions in the old poets and satirists enable us to 
 arrive roughly at the characteristics of the Roman aulaum. 
 Thanks to the clue as to its pictorial nature provided in 
 Virgil's Georgia (iii. 25), we are in a position to read the 
 riddle set in Ovid's Metamorphoses (iii. 111-4) : 
 
 ' August Mau, Pompeii, Its Life and Art (1902), p. 140. 
 
114 1'he Story of a Peculiar Stage Curtain 
 
 Sic, ubi tolluntur festis aulaea theatris, 
 Surgere signa solent, primumque ostendere vultus, 
 Cetera paullatim, placidoque educta tenore 
 Tota patent, imoque pedes in margine ponunt. 
 
 The reference here is to the raising of the curtain at the 
 close of an act, when the figures embroidered upon it would 
 gradually come into view, as if springing up from the earth. 
 
 Conversely, Horace (in whose time, by the way, act-divi- 
 sions first came into vogue) has an allusion ^ to the aulaum 
 being down while the performance is going on : 
 
 Quattuor aut plures aulaea premuntur in horas, 
 Dum fugiunt equitum turmae peditumque catervae. 
 
 Hitherto it has been generally assumed that the only kind 
 of front curtain employed on the modern stage before the 
 introduction of the upper-working roller curtain (c. 1620), 
 was of the double order, draperies pulling up or drawing 
 away on either side. Undoubtedly, from the simplicity of 
 their working, these were the curtains employed on all 
 primitive European stages, where curtains were employed 
 at all. But the fact has been lost sight of that, owing to the 
 tidal wave of classic influence which swept over Renaissant 
 Italy, the aulaum was revived on the academic stage, and, 
 travelling far, held its place for upwards of a century. It was 
 not deemed suflficient to restore Plautus and Terence to the 
 stage, and to constitute them models of form and style ; 
 some approximation to the physical conditions of the old 
 Roman theatre had to be made as well. 
 
 The earliest clue to the employment of the aulteum on 
 the modern stage is afforded in the Orlando Furioso of 
 Ariosto, the first forty cantos of which were published in 
 1 5 1 5. In the description of the reception given to Melissa 
 at the castle of Tristano, ^ the poet writes : 
 
 Quale al cader de la cortine suole 
 Parer, fra mille lampade, la scena, 
 D'archi, et di pi6 d'una superba mole 
 D'oro, e di statue e di pitture piena. 
 
 ^ 2 Epist. i. 189. 
 
 ^ Canto xxxii, stanza 80, 
 
The Story of a Peculiar Stage Curtain 115 
 
 Seeing that the first forty cantos of the poem were written 
 at Ferrara, where Ariosto had been for some years court 
 dramatist, and that the stanza cited crystallizes the charac- 
 teristics of Renaissance stage mounting, one is safe in 
 assuming that the falling curtain therein referred to had been 
 for some time employed in the theatrical performances at the 
 Ferrarese court. All doubt on this score is removed when, 
 within the space of a few years, we find the aulaum in use in 
 other Italian States. 
 
 It is curious what stumbling blocks these allusions to the 
 old reverse curtain in ancient and modern poets have proved 
 tothe translators. Out of the difficulty presented by the pas- 
 sage in Ovid, Addison only extricated himself by a para- 
 phrase based on a popular analogy. To the translators of 
 Ariosto's stanza no such expedient was possible, and the 
 result was that Harington, Huggins, and Hoole all stum- 
 bled over this falling curtain. Among English renderings 
 of the quatrain, the following, in point of neatness and 
 finish, easily ranks first : 
 
 Thus, at the curtain's gradual fall we spy. 
 Amidst a thousand lamps, a prospect fair. 
 Triumphal arcs, proud piles that threat the sky, 
 Statues, and fretted gold and pictures rare. 
 
 About four years after the first instalment of Orlando 
 Furioso was written, or on March 6, 1 5 19 (being the Sunday 
 of the Carnival), T Suppositi, one of Ariosto's Ferrarese 
 . comedies, was presented in Rome before Leo X in the 
 apostolic palace of Cardinal Innocenzo Cibo, the Pope's 
 nephew. An interesting account of the performance has 
 been preserved in a letter written two days later to the Duke 
 of Ferrara by his envoy, Alfonso Paolucci.^ His Holiness 
 stationed himself at the door to regulate the admission of 
 the guests, giving his benediction to those whom he se- 
 lected — about two thousand in all. The auditorium was 
 arranged amphitheatrically, and the Pope's throne was 
 placed in the middle of the fifth step from the floor. The 
 
 1 Of. Campori, Notizie inedite di Raffadlo da Urhiito, pp. 126-129. 
 
1 16 The Story of a Peculiar Stage Curtain 
 
 pictorial curtain and the scenery had been provided by the 
 divine Rafael. On the curtain was depicted a quaint conceit : 
 Fra Mariano, the Pope's Dominican Jester, engaged in 
 frolic, with a weird assembly of demons. Above was the 
 legend Questi sono It capricci di Fra Mariano. When all had 
 assembled, the curtain descended to the music of the pipers, 
 revealing a striking scene of the city of Ferrara, which the 
 Pope minutely examined through his spy-glass, marvelling 
 meanwhile over its beauties. 
 
 In celebration of the marriage of Dom Francesco di Medici 
 to Joan of Austria in 1565, Z« Cofanaria, a.nev/ comedy, with 
 intermedii, from the pen of Gio Battista Cini was performed 
 amidst gorgeous surroundings in the Great Hall of the 
 Ducal Palace at Florence on St. Stephen's Day. Vasari who 
 superintended the production, afterwards wrote a pamphlet 
 detailing its main features.^ The stage was adorned with an 
 auUum, 1 6 braccia in height and 20 braccia wide, on which 
 Federigo Zucchero had painted a fine hunting scene. Ac- 
 cording to Vasari ^ this fell at the beginning, revealing to 
 the gaze of the astounded audience a view of Paradise, with 
 angels seated on clouds, and indulging in vocal and instru- 
 mental harmony.' 
 
 Of the persistence in Italy of the aulaum until at least 
 the second decade of the seventeenth century, we have clear 
 evidence in Lodovico's pastoral DelV Origine di Vicenza, as 
 performed at Vicenza on March 5, 1 6 1 2, and printed there 
 later in the year. In the description of the prologue we read, 
 "al cader della Cortina si discoperse la scena ornata ed 
 lUuminata con. bellissimo artificio : dalla parte destra vi si 
 vedeva il Monte Berico : dalla sinistra alcune selve om- 
 brose." By this period force of Italian example had carried 
 the aulteum to France and England, where, as in Italy, its 
 
 ^ Descriziorte dell* apparato della Comedia et Intermedii d'essa recitata in Firenze il 
 giorm di S. Stefano I'anno 1565, etc., etc. (/« Fiorenza, MDLXf^I). See Brit. Museum, 
 press mark " 604 b 20 " or " 14.3 a 27." 
 
 ^ John Addington Symonds fails to grasp the significance of Vasari's " al cascar 
 della tela," and states that the curtain rose at the beginning of the performance 
 {Shahpere'i Predecessors, 1884, p. 327). 
 
 * For another example of the employment of the aulautn in Florence at this period, 
 see La Gelosia, comedy, by A. F. Grazini (Florence, Giunti, 1568, p. 11). 
 
The Story of a Peculiar Stage Curtain 1 17 
 
 use was restricted to court, or private performances. One 
 doubts, indeed, if the principle of the reverse roller curtain 
 was ever put into practice in any modern public theatre. In 
 England trace of it begins with Ben Jonson's Masque of 
 Blackness, as given at Whitehall on Twelfth Night, 1605. 
 In the first printed copy of three years later we read: " First 
 for the scene ^ was drawn a landtschap consisting of small 
 woods, and here and there a void place filled with huntings ; 
 which falling, an artificial sea was seen to shoot forth as if it 
 flowed to the land," &c. 
 
 As Inigo Jones was scenic artificer of this masque, the 
 chances are that he brought the principle of the aulaum 
 straight froni Italy and now utilised it in England for the 
 first time. It is noteworthy that a copy of the masque in the 
 calligraphy of its author, differing essentially in minor detail 
 from the quarto, now forms one of the literary treasures of 
 the British Museum.^ Since it bears no distinguishing title, 
 this was evidently a first draft of the entertainment. In it the 
 analogous description to the one quoted reads : 
 
 In the end of the designd place, there is drawne uppon a downe 
 right c;loth, straynd for the scene, a devise of landtscope, w'li open- 
 inge in manner of a curtine, an artificiall sea is seene to shoote foorth 
 it self abroade the roome, as if it flowed to ye land.' 
 
 Two years later one has indication of the employment of 
 an aulaum in Marston's unnamed masque as presented by 
 Lord and Lady Huntingdon at Castle Ashby in honour of 
 the visit of the Countess of Derby. * In the description it 
 figures merely as a traverse, and, according to my reading of 
 the following passages, must have been drawn down and up 
 at least twice : 
 
 • Scenes front curtain in early masque descriptions. Of. The Masque of Hymen 
 (1606], "The scene being drawn, there -wza first discovered an altar," &c. 
 
 ' Printed by the Shakespeare Society, under title The Twelfth Nighfs Revells, in 
 its volume on Inigo Jones, issued in 1848 (pp. 99-107). 
 
 ^ since the present tense is used in the MS. in all the descriptions and the past 
 tense in the quarto, it would appear that the MS. was prepared for presentation to the 
 King immediately before the performance. For allusions to this practice, see No Wit, 
 No Help like a IVomatCs, scene of the introduced Masque of the Elements ,• The Constant 
 Maid, iv. 3, and The Lover's Melancholy, iii. 3. 
 
 * First printed in 1801 in the fifth vol. of Todd's Milton. Of. Nichols' Progresset 
 of King James the First, ii. 145, 
 
1 1 8 The Story of a Peculiar Stage Curtain 
 
 At the approach of the Countesse into the great Chamber, the 
 hoboyes played untill the room was marshaled, which once ordered, 
 a travers slyded away ; presently a cloud was seen move up and 
 downe almost to the topp of the great chamber, upon which 
 
 Cynthia was discovered ryding Suddenly, upon this 
 
 Songe, the cornets were winded, and the travers that was drawn 
 before the Masquers sanke downe. The whole shewe presently 
 appeereth, which presented itself in this figure ; the whole body of 
 it seemed to be the syde of a steepely assending wood, on the top 
 of which, in a fayre oak, sat a goulden eagle, under whose wings 
 satt in eight severall thrones the eight Masquers. 
 
 I As late as 1618, when Jonson's Pleasure Reconciled to 
 Virtue was given once or twice at Whitehall, the aulaum^ in 
 its modern conception, was still in existence at the English 
 court. In a vivid account of the second performance of the 
 masque, given by Orazio Busino, chaplain to the Venetian 
 Ambassador, we read, after a description of the Banquetting 
 Hall and of the assembling of the spectators : 
 
 In an instant a large curtain dropped, painted to represent a tent 
 of gold cloth with a broad fringe ; the background was of canvas 
 painted blue, powdered all over with golden stars. This became 
 [? was] the front arch of the stage, forming a drop scene, and on 
 its being removed there appeared first of all Mount Atlas, whose 
 enormous head was alone visible up aloft under the very roof of the 
 theatre ; it rolled up its eyes and moved its head very cleverly. ^ 
 
 In mounting the Carolan masques Inigo Jones abandoned 
 the old aulaum in favour of a curtain that rose at the begin- 
 ning and fell at the close. This reads as if he had then 
 introduced the normal roller curtain of later times — a prin- 
 ciple which, as we shall presently see, was already known of 
 and practised in Italy. As a matter of fact, although Malone^ 
 long ago credited him with that innovation, we have as yet 
 no conclusive evidence on the subject. All we know for 
 certain is that in Shirley's Triumph of Peace {16^^), Carew's 
 Ccelum Britannicum ( 1 634) and D'Avenant's Salmacida Spolia 
 
 1 Cal. State Papers, Venetian, xv. (i 6 17-9), p. no. I suspect the accuracy of this 
 translation. Clearly the curtain could not have become the front arch after it fell. 
 Note also the mis-identification of the masque as The Vision of Delight. 
 
 " Malone's Shakespeare, (Dublin, 1794), ii. 55. 
 
The Story of a Peculiar Stage Curtain 119 
 
 ( 1 640), as well as in the pastoral oiFlorimene (1635) '^'^^ other 
 court entertainments, the curtain, at the beginning, " flew 
 up on the sudden " or was "suddenly drawne up." ^ If the 
 curtain employed was the Italian roller curtain of the period, 
 working with pulleys or counterweights, it is curious that in 
 Inigo Jones' designs for the staging oiFlorimene and Salma- 
 cida Spoliay preserved in the Lansdowne MSS. in the British 
 Museum, no indications are given as to the method of 
 operation. When one finds that only a meagre space of 1 8 
 inches intervened between the proscenium arch and the first 
 pair of wings, one suspects that here at any rate the curtain 
 was not situated behind the proscenium . Curiously enough, 
 in the opening descriptions of one or two masques mention 
 is made of the drawing of the curtain before the proscenium 
 came into sight, showing that in these cases it was situated 
 in front, and probably of the double, or tableau, order. Thus 
 in Kynaston's Corona Minerva (i 636) we read : 
 
 A Curtaine being drawne, there is discovered a Frontispiece, 
 wheron the Image of Minerva is seene sitting upon a stone, placed 
 betweene two returns of a broken arch, supported by two brass 
 statues of Mars and Mercury, standing in neeches of Corinthian 
 worke; under, within a prospective is seen, a pav'd gallery invironed 
 on either side, and terminated with Doricke columnes, which flying 
 away, Minerva presents herselfe attired in her proper habit. Over 
 the entrance, in a square, was written corona minervae.^ 
 
 Even at this period employment of the auUum had not 
 been wholly abandoned. On June 15, 1633, when Charles I 
 made his state entry into Edinburgh, his advent was signal- 
 ised by sundry open-air spectacles of an allegorical nature, 
 given on stationary stages, each with its triumphal arch. 
 When the royal cavalcade reached one particular scaffold, 
 
 1 These frequent references in the Carolan masques to the curtain " flying up " 
 seemingly indicate that it was of the double order. Grobert dwells upon the rapidity of 
 the tableaux curtains, it being evident that if the height is equal to the breadth of the 
 proscenium opening, "la toile qui parcourt la moiti^ Sfel'espace pour disparoitre fait une 
 d^pense de temps, moindre de moitie, que celle quis'614vesurla totalite de la hauteur." 
 (De V Execution Dramatique, Considirie dans ses rapports a-vec le matiriel de la Salle et de la 
 Scene, 1809, p. 100.) 
 
 2 Cf. the Tetbys' Festival of Daniel (16 10). On the other hand, the elaborate openmg 
 description in Albion's Triumph (1632), clearly indicates that the frontispiece was in 
 view before the curtain was " suddenly drawne up." 
 
1 20 The Story of a Peculiar Stage Curtain 
 
 " a courten falling, the theatre discovered a lady attired in 
 tissue, her haire was dressed like a cornucopia," &c., &c. ' 
 
 Although France doubtless employed the auUum at least 
 as early as England, our first trace of it there is in 161 7 in 
 the court ballet, La Dilivrance de Renaud, as given in the 
 hall of the Petit-Bourbon. A painted curtain representing 
 a palace in perspective fell at the beginning, revealing a 
 mountain top.^ 
 
 Whatever may have been the mechanical difficulties pre- 
 sented in the working of the aulaum in ancient times, no 
 such difficulties had to be surmounted at the period of the 
 Renaissance. The conditions were entirely reversed, for 
 whereas the stage in the old Roman theatres was charac- 
 terised by its extreme width, in the primitive court theatres 
 it was remarkable for its narrowness. Some details as to the 
 modus operandi of the aulieum in the final period of its history 
 are given in Sabattini's curious treatise on scenery and stage 
 mechanism, published at Ravenna in 1638.' According to 
 this sound authority, three kinds of curtains were then 
 employed in Italy. There was the primitive kind, for which 
 he had little liking, the double curtain pulling up in loops 
 on either side. Then there were the curtain which rolled 
 up above and the curtain which rolled up below. Between 
 these there was not much to choose, but in working the 
 latter care had to be taken that the curtain did not fall upon 
 the actors or the flambeaux {} footlights), contingencies 
 that were apt to create panic and disorder. The curtain 
 which rolled up was somewhat of a novelty in Sabattini's 
 day, but seeing that it was little liable to accident, he is 
 inclined to give it the preference. In that he foreshadows the 
 practice of later times. But whether the seventeenth century 
 roller curtain was of the upper or lower order, the mechan- 
 ism was much the same. It consisted of a roller connected 
 with two lateral pulleys, and worked by a rope passing over 
 a third pulley which turned it either way. Sometimes the 
 
 ' Jackson's History of the Scottish Stage (Edinburgh, 1793), Appendix i. p. 5. 
 ^ Cf. Ludovic Celler, Les Decors, les Costumes, et la Mise en Seine au Dix-Septieme 
 Siecle, p. 7. 
 
 ' Pratica difabricar scene e Machine ne' Teatri (1638). Bk. 1. Chap. 37. 
 
The Story of a Peculiar Stage Curtain 121 
 
 third pulley was above, sometimes below, accordingly as it 
 was desired to raise or pull down the curtain. 
 
 At what period the normal ascending curtain of to-day 
 first came into use in the English theatre it would be diffi- 
 cult to say. Before one has examined all the pros and cons 
 one is inclined to jump to the conclusion that the period 
 synchronised with the introduction and regular employment 
 of scenery, say somewhere about 1664. But the cautious 
 investigator, confronted by disturbing data, will hesitate to 
 advance an opinion. There is some reason to believe that 
 the double curtains, pulling up on either side, were the first 
 employed in the English scenic theatre and that the principle 
 obtained until at least the second decade of the eighteenth 
 century. In Mrs. Centlivre's first play, the tragedy of The 
 Perjurd Husband, as performed at Drury Lane in 1 700, the 
 opening direction reads, "The Curtains fly up, and discover 
 a Mask in Pizalto's house". One recalls also that in the 
 description given by "Charles Easy" in The Spectator oi 
 December 5, 171 1 (No. 240), of the beau who aired his 
 figure on the stage, it is told how he went " behind the 
 curtain and obliged us with several views of his person 
 from every opening." 
 
Early French Players in England 
 
Early French Players in England 
 
 Viewing the fact that England had experienced consider- 
 ably over four centuries of French acting before hostility 
 to the foreign player finally exhausted itself in the famous 
 "Monte Christo" riot of 1848, the stage historian might 
 at first sight be disposed to think that a clue to the per- 
 sistency of racial antipathies on the part of audiences from 
 Garricic's early time onwards could possibly be found by 
 sedulous seeking in the sociological records of remoter 
 ages. Indeed, one has only to dwell upon the characteristic 
 stubbornness of the British mind in maintaining a preju- 
 dice, its inborn capacity for what Matthew Arnold called 
 provinciality of thought, to lend colour to a specious solu- 
 tion. This would lie in the abortive attempts made in the 
 twelfth century to impose upon the conquered Anglo- 
 Saxon populace the Norman-French miracle-plays. But 
 one should consider much too curiously to consider so. 
 No unbroken tradition of hostility on the part of the com- 
 monalty can be traced from the Norman period onwards. 
 For long the grudge, if it existed, had nothing to feed 
 upon. No appeal was made in the beginning by foreign 
 players to the people at large. The story of French acting 
 in England in the first two centuries of its course is well- 
 nigh inextricably associated with the intrigues of the crown 
 and the traffic of the court. Riotous demonstrations in the 
 mid-eighteenth century over the visits of foreign players, 
 although primarily conditioned by transient national feel- 
 ing, were largely due to the fact that the fight in the open 
 for a free hearing had been too long delayed. 
 
 As indicated there was a curious intermingling of the 
 fortunes of the Early French players in England with the 
 vicissitudes of the British crown, and the rise and fall of 
 dynasties. The exile of a Tudor and a Stuart had much 
 
126 Early French Players in England 
 
 to do with the fostering of a taste for foreign acting 
 among the English nobles. To the politic lingering in 
 Brittany and France of King Henry VII, when Earl of 
 Richmond, was due the first recordedjourneyof a French 
 troupe across the channel. During his prolonged sojourn 
 in Paris in 1483, the coming king had ample oppor- 
 tunity, in the full flush of his young manhood, to revel 
 in the pungent soties and farces of the Clercs de la Basoche 
 and the Enfants sans Souci. It may be, indeed, that it was 
 one or other of these famed organisations that pioneered 
 the way for the French player in England. What more 
 likely than that desire on the part of the play-loving Tudor 
 to renew some of the delights of his Parisian experience led 
 to negotiations for the bringing over of one or both com- 
 panies ? On that point, however, records are silent. It is 
 impossible to determine the identity of these first French 
 visitants, or what they acted. But of their coming to the 
 English court we are fully assured through the following 
 important entries in the two extant account books showing 
 Henry the Seventh's daily expenses from 1492 to 1509 : 
 
 8 Henry VII, January 6. To the Frenche Pleyers for a 
 
 rewarde. ^ i. o. o. 
 
 9 Henry VII, January 4. To the Frenche Pleyers in rewarde 
 ;£2 o. 0.1 
 
 One must confess one's inability to believe that a troupe 
 of French players remained for a whole year at the English 
 court, if even the nature of the entries did not tend to dis- 
 prove any such supposition. It may be taken with safety 
 that these payments indicate two successive visits, and 
 possibly of two separate companies, in the years 1494 and 
 1495. It is distinctly unfortunate that the early account 
 books of the court have not come down to us, as there is 
 some reason to believe that a body of French players visited 
 England in 1489. The following citation from the Scottish 
 
 ^ Collier, Hist^ J^^g- Ofam. Poetry, i. 49. No suspicion can be entertained as to the 
 genuineness of the entries. Malone had known of them previously, and cites one under 
 a wrong date. 
 
Early French Players in England 127 
 
 Exchequer Rolls, proving a performance before King 
 James IV at Dundee in 1490, is apposite : 
 
 Item, on Fryda the xxiij Julij in Dunde to the king to gif the 
 Franschemen that playt . . . . xx unicornis xviij li. ^ 
 
 Although positive evidence as to the pieces performed 
 at the English court in 1494 and 1495 is wholly lacking, 
 grounds exist for sensible conjecture. Apart altogether 
 from its perennial popularity, there is reason to believe 
 that the epoch-marking farce of Maistre Pierre Patelin 
 figured among the selections from the French repertory 
 acted before the King. Attention has already been drawn 
 to the fact that it was not through Rabelais the play began 
 its influence on English literature. ^ The story of " hym 
 that payde his dette with crienge bea " had appeared in 
 an English collection of Merry 'Tales at least as early as 
 1 535, and possibly in 1 525. Holbrook hazards the conjec- 
 ture that " one or more of the many editions of Maistre 
 Pierre Patelin printed in France had crossed the Channel 
 before 1500". It may be, however, that England made 
 its first acquaintance with the immortal farce in acted form, 
 at the hands of the French comedians. An important side 
 issue attaches itself to this surmise. The construction of 
 Maistre Pierre Patelin demanded a setting of the multiple 
 order — what is known in France as a dkor simultani. To 
 show that it had been acted before Henry VII at this perod 
 would be to afford the investigator a terminus a quo from 
 which to date that peculiar system of court dramaturgy 
 which flourished in the time of Lyly and was not without 
 its ultimate influence upon the popular drama. ' 
 
 ' Dibdin, Annals of the Edinburgh Stage, p. 15. 
 
 2 Richard Holbrook, The Farce of Master Pierre Patelin (Boston, 1905), p. 109. 
 
 ' I am not unmindful of the great service rendered by Chambers in showing (what 
 . Collier and others have so long obscured) that the primitive English miracle play was 
 stationary, with a multiple setting, and that the processional play was a later variant. 
 (Cf. The Medieval Stage, ii. 134). But assuming that the remoter court dramatists 
 derived the the principle of the simultaneous scene from the miracle-play, what is the 
 earliest court play in which the principle was followed ? Could it have preceded the 
 first visit of the French comedians ? My earliest trace of a secular play with multiple 
 setting is Lyndsay's Satyre of the Three Estaitis, performed in the open at Cupar in 1535 
 and at Edinburgh in 1540. It is significant that this play was derived from a French 
 source. 
 
128 Early French Players in England 
 
 Unless an entry in a later account book can be very 
 liberally interpreted, no further visits of the French players 
 can be traced for over one hundred and thirty years. In 
 "The Kyngs boke of paymentis, begynnyng primo dieOcti 
 A° 2 1 Regis Henrici VI I""' " occurs the following entry : 
 
 23 Henry VII Oct. 4. To 6 Mynstrellsof Fraunce that played 
 affore the kings grace at Habyndon ;^ 2. O. O. ^ 
 
 "Five straunge Mynstrells " had also "played afore the 
 King " a little better than two years previously, but viewing 
 the interpretation put on the word " minstrel! " in the legis- 
 lative enactments of the period, ^ one is not disposed to 
 believe that either troupe performed plays. On the other 
 hand, it seems highly improbable that no further visit of 
 the French comedians took place before 1 629. Apart from 
 Henry the Eighth's predilection for foreign artists and 
 musicians there is reason to infer the occasional presence 
 of French players at his court. Visits of the sort would 
 account for the inspiration undoubtedly derived by John 
 Heywood from Gallic sotie and farce. ' The Dyalogue du 
 fol et du Sage and the farces D'un pardonner, d'un tria- 
 cleur, et d'une taverniere and of Pemet qui va au vin — all 
 pressed more or less into English service by Heywood — 
 might have pleased the burly King so well in their original 
 form as to create a desire on his part to have them ready to 
 hand in the native repertory. And in this connection one 
 must remember that John Heywood, as player of the 
 virginals, was a servant of the King's household. 
 
 Strive as we may to fill up this mysterious and perplex- 
 ing gap, conjecture can only be taken for what it is worth. 
 The fact remains that no further visit of the French come- 
 dians is recorded until 1629, when the arrival of a luckless 
 and utterly unfriended troupe was marked by two distinct 
 
 ' Collier, i. 47-8. 
 
 ' Ibid, i. 60 note. 
 
 ' Cf. K. Young, " The Influence of French Farce upon the Plays of John Hey- 
 wood ", in Modern Philology, June, 1904. — The En/ants Sam Souci were in disgrace in 
 1 5 16, and acted for a time in the provinces. They might possibly have revisited 
 England at this period. See also Sir Sidney Lee*s The French Renaissance in England, pp. 
 372-4- 
 
Early French Players in England 129 
 
 innovations. So far as we know, the newcomers were the 
 first of their kind to bring with them women players, and 
 the first to make appeal to the ordinary playgoer. Expelled 
 from their native country for reasons not apparent, they 
 were frowned upon by the court and left to the tender 
 mercies of the British philistine. 
 
 It is a moot point whether this unhappy visit marks 
 the first appearance of an actress in the English theatre. 
 Although one feels assured that no very serious attempt 
 had previously been made to break in upon the time- 
 honoured custom of allotting female parts to boys, the fact 
 cannot be overlooked that Coryat, in discussing the charac- 
 teristics of the Venetian theatre, says, " Here I observed 
 certaine things that I never saw before, for I saw women 
 act, a thing that I never saw before, though I have heard 
 that it hath been some times used in London ; and they 
 performed it with as good a grace, action, gesture and 
 whatsoever convenient for a player, as ever I saw any 
 masculine actor". ^ Possibly Coryat 's allusion may have 
 been to the appearance of ladies in masques at court ; at 
 any rate, no record of the employment of women players in 
 the English theatres of his time has come down to us. ^ 
 
 The precise period of the arrival of this iU-treated French 
 company is determined by an entry in the Office Book of 
 Sir Henry Herbert, Master of the Revels : 
 
 For the AUowinge of a French Company to play a farse at Black- 
 fryers, this 4 of November, 1629, ^^ 2. o. o. 
 
 Prynne's evidence as to the reception accorded to the 
 foreign players is very contradictory. It might readily mis- 
 lead us as it misled Malone, had we not other and sounder 
 data to go upon. In discussing the question of women on 
 the stage, Prynne first says, "they had such Frenchwomen 
 actors in a play, not long since personated in Blackfriars 
 playhouse, to which there was great resort." ^ This savours 
 
 ^ Coryafs Crudiaes {1611), f. Z4-7- , . , 
 
 ' Cf. Thomas Jordan's lines headed « A Prologue to introduce the first woman that 
 
 came to act on the stage, in the tragedy called The Moor of Venice", first printed m 
 
 A Royal Arbour of Loyal Poesie, c. 1662. 
 ' Histriomastix (1633), p. 215. 
 
 K 
 
130 Early French Players in England 
 
 of approval of the Innovation on the part of the public, 
 but a couple of hundred pages farther on one comes 
 across a marginal note to the effect that "some French- 
 women, or monsters rather, in Michaelmas term 1629, 
 attempted to act a French play at the playhouse in Black- 
 friars, an impudent, shameful, unwomanish, gracelesse, yf 
 not more than whorishe attempt." ^ This " attempted to 
 act" seriously qualifies the earlier statement "to which there 
 was great resort ". The new complexion thus put upon the 
 matter gains confirmation from a passage in a private letter 
 sent by one Thomas Brande to some person unknown, and 
 bearing date (apparently without year) "the 8th Nov.":^ 
 
 Furthermore you should know, that laste daye certaine vagrant 
 French players, who had been expelled from their owne contrey, 
 and those women, did attempt, thereby giving just offence to all 
 vertuous and well-disposed persons in this town, to act a certain 
 lascivious and unchaste comedye, in the French tonge at the 
 Blackfryers. Glad I am to saye they were hissed, hooted, and pippin- 
 pelted from the stage, so as I do not thinke they will soone be ready 
 to trie the same againe. — Whether they had license for so doing I 
 know not, but I do know that if they had license, it were fit that 
 the Master ^ be called to account for the same. 
 
 Apparently no one in authority thought fit to challenge 
 Sir Henry Herbert for the course he had taken in the 
 matter. A little over a fortnight later he permitted the un- 
 fortunate exiles to give another performance, this time at a 
 public theatre. The entry in his own handwriting recording 
 this omits mention of the fee, but £1 is understood : 
 
 For allowinge the Frenche att the Red Bull for a daye, 22 Nov. 
 1629. 
 
 Another three weeks elapse, and then we learn of the 
 wretched foreigners at a third house, again for a single day 
 only, and with very 111 success : 
 
 ' Ibid, p. 414. 
 
 * Discovered by Collier in the Archives of the Archbishop of Canterbury at 
 Lambeth, and printed by him in Annals, ii. 23. He conjectures that the letter was sent 
 to Laud when Bishop of London. As no axe is ground with the details one has no 
 reason to suspect forgery. 
 
 ' "Of the Revels" interpolated by Collier within brackets. 
 
Early French Players in England 131 
 
 For allowinge of a Frenche companie att the Fortune to play 
 one afternoone, this 14 of Dec. 1629 .... ^^ i. O. o. 
 
 Appended is the note — showing that for all his rapacity- 
 Herbert was not without generous impulses : " I should 
 have had another peece, but in respect of their ill fortune, 
 I was content to bestow a peece back." 
 
 Basing evidently on Prynne, who was a prejudiced 
 witness (not only because of his whole attitude towards the 
 stage but from his especial abhorrence of women players), 
 Collier thinks the ill-reception of the French was due to the 
 presence of actresses in the company.^ He makes no allow- 
 ances for their possible raggedness nor for the bias created 
 by their unprotected state. Jealousy on the part of the 
 native players might easily have aroused a certain amount 
 of organised opposition. Brande's communication has the 
 air of having been inspired from some such source, and his 
 charge of obscenity was clearly a subterfuge, calculated to 
 stir into action some powerful ecclesiastic. One has no 
 belief in an early seventeenth-century audience expressing 
 vigorous disapprobation solely as censor of morals. Inde- 
 cency, thick and slab, had been indulged in with complacency 
 by the Elizabethan dramatists. 
 
 Collier's conclusions on this point, allied with an imper- 
 fect knowledge of the contemporary French stage, led to his 
 hazarding of an absurd conjecture in connection with the 
 more important French visit of 1 635. Overlooking the fact 
 that the later company was of a superior order and enjoyed 
 the protection of the Queen, he takes leave to think they 
 met with little opposition because they had the good sense 
 to profit by the experience of their predecessors, and leave 
 their actresses behind them. This contention is easily re- 
 futed. The French players of the time were not habituated 
 like the English to the casting of female parts to boys.^ Not 
 only that, but the pieces presented by the later company 
 called for careful acting on the spindle side. 
 
 ■ AmaU, ii. 66. This view has been adopted by Prof. A. W. Ward, in English 
 Dramatic Literature, i. 41 S. 
 
 * This refers only to youthful characters. Elderly women were mostly represented 
 by men. For fuller details see Euginc Rigal, Le Thiitre Franfais avant la Piriode 
 Claaique, pp. 17Z-81. 
 
132 Early French Players in England 
 
 Whether or not the newcomers were brought over directly 
 at the instance of the Queen, they signalised their arrival by 
 performing before her in private on February 1 5, 1 634-5. 
 A favourable impression was created, and her Majesty at 
 once induced the King to take the company under his 
 patronage. Two days later the French players appeared 
 before the court at the Cockpit in Whitehall, giving a per- 
 formance of La Melise, ou les Princes Reconnus, a comic 
 pastoral of Durocher, "with good approbation".^ The 
 King was so gratified that he not only gave the company 
 a reward of ten pounds, but immediately granted them a 
 remarkable concession. On February 20th following, Her- 
 bert records : 
 
 This day being Friday, and the 20 of the same monthe, thekinge 
 tould mee his pleasure, and commanded mee to give order that this 
 Frenche company should playe the too sermon daies in the weeke, 
 during their time of playing in Lent, and in the house of Drury-lane, 
 where the queenes players usually playe. 
 
 The king's pleasure I signified to Mr. Beeston, the same day, 
 who obeyd readily. 
 
 The house-keepers are to give them by promise the benefit of 
 their interest for the too days of the first weeke."^ 
 
 Collier points out that this unexampled concession was 
 in nowise injurious to Beeston's Cockpit company as the 
 Wednesdays and Fridays in Lent, on which the French 
 were permitted to play, were tabooed to the English. The 
 Cockpit in Drury Lane (not to be confounded with the 
 Cockpit in Whitehall) was a private theatre with a select 
 audience, one eminently well disposed to take its cue from 
 the royal lead. That it did so in this instance is shown by 
 Herbert's statement to the eiFect that the French players 
 
 ' Cf. The Athenaeum, No. 3326, where a wrong date for the performance is given. 
 Mr. Swinburne here expresses the opinion that the piece might have been the Milite, 
 ou Les Fausses Lettres of Pierre Corneille, first acted in 1629, but printed four years 
 earlier. There is really, however, no valid reason to dispute Herbert's statement. 
 Durocher's was the newer piece, having been produced in 1633. 
 
 ^ Malone's Shakespeare by Bosiaell (1821), iii. 121. The French players were to 
 have the entire profits of the first two performances, but subsequently were to fall in 
 line with English theatrical custom and share the receipts with the house-keepers. 
 
Early French Players in England 133 
 
 while there "got two hundred pounds at least, besides 
 many rich clothes were given them".' To Herbert as 
 Master of the Revels the visitors made proffer of a fee of 
 £, I o, but so high was their standing at court that he thought 
 it politic to refuse, jotting down as his reason that " he 
 wished to render the Queen, his mistress, an acceptable 
 service". Having momentarily conquered his greed, he did 
 not stop there but made it his business to obtain permission 
 from the King for the French to continue performing at 
 the Cockpit during Passion week, a concession which must 
 have occasioned much jealousy and heart-burning.^ No 
 English company had ever been allowed to give representa- 
 tions during that solemn period. 
 
 With the arrival of Easter, Beeston's players resumed 
 full control of the private house in Drury Lane. On Easter 
 Monday, April 4, the French company appeared before the 
 court at Whitehall in Le 'Trompeur Puni, ou Histoire Sep- 
 tentrionale. Unless one misinterprets Herbert's somewhat 
 ambiguous entry,' Scud6ri's tragi-comedy was better liked 
 than the earlier pastoral. It had then been about four years 
 on the acting list. A still newer tragi-comedy, the Alcimedon 
 of Duryer, was given at Whitehall " with good approba- 
 tion" on the 1 6th of the month. 
 
 Dilatory as Charles I. was in paying his English players, 
 he lost no great time in rewarding the French for their three 
 performances at court. On May loth following, a warrant 
 was issued directing £,2,0 to be paid " unto Mons. Josias 
 Floridor, for himself and the rest of the French players, for 
 three plays acted by them at the Cockpit". * 
 
 These details indirectly reveal that the French sojourners 
 were no important company direct from Paris but nierely a 
 troupe of strollers. Josias de Soulas,* who, under his stage 
 name of Floridor, was to become a favourite at the Thedtre 
 
 • Videop.cit. ^ Ibid. ' Ibid. 
 
 * i. e. at Whitehall. Of. Chalmers, Apology, p. 508. 
 
 5 After due consideration I adopt the routine opinion, as expressed by Hawkins, 
 Annab of the French Stage from its Origin to the Death of Racine, i. 148. But there is some 
 reason to believe from an entry in Sir Henry Herbert's Office Book (vide infra), that 
 Floridor's real name was Josias d'Aunay. 
 
134 Early French Players in England 
 
 du Marais, as "orator" in 1643, and to proceed thence to 
 the H6tel de Bourgogne, had not yet made his d^but in 
 Paris. The well-nurtured son of a German father and a 
 French mother, he began life in the army but speedily 
 turned stroller, and was manager of his own troupe before 
 thirty. Although London saw him in the first flush of his 
 career, he had already added to his natural powers and graces 
 considerable artistic judgment, so that his success at White- 
 hall is not to be marvelled at. Stage history cherishes his 
 memory as the first French tragedian who departed from 
 convention, and spoke, instead of chanting. 
 
 One favour followed another at the hands of the King 
 until the lucky visitors were finally allowed to set up a 
 theatre of their own. The authority for this is again Sir 
 Henry Herbert : 
 
 A warrant granted to Josias d'Aunay, Hurfries de Lau, and 
 others, for to act playes at a new house in Drury-lane, during 
 pleasure, ye 5 may 1635. 
 
 The king was pleased to commande my Lord Chamberlain to 
 direct his warrant to Monsieur Le Fevure, to give him a power 
 to contract with the Frenchmen for to builde a playhouse in the 
 manage house, which was done accordinglye by my advise and 
 allowance. ^ 
 
 Herbert adds in a marginal note, " These Frenchmen 
 were commended unto mee by the queene, and have passed 
 through my h^ndes, gratis ". Later on, however, they gave 
 Blagrave, Herbert's deputy, "three pounds for his pains". 
 Acting at the new playhouse probably began early in May. 
 On April 1 8, the Lord Chamberlain had recorded in his 
 Memorandum Book that the King had commanded him 
 " to signify his royal pleasure that the French comedians 
 (having agreed with Mons. le Fabure), may erect a stage, 
 scaffolds and seats, and all other accommodations, which 
 shall be convenient, and act and present interludes and 
 stage plays, at his house during his Majesty's pleasure 
 without any disturbance, hindrance or interruption."^ 
 
 1 Shakespeare by Boswell (1821), iii. 121 ff. 
 * Chalmers, Apology, p. 506. 
 
Early French Players in England 135 
 
 No evidence exists to show whether or not the foreign 
 players made any employment of scenery during their 
 visit, but on divers counts it hardly seems probable their 
 performances were given on a bare, or merely tapestried, 
 stage. The poorest of provincial French companies at this 
 period were habituated to the use of a modest pictorial 
 background, and generally carried a scene-painter in their 
 train. Moreover the court at Whitehall had now grown 
 accustomed to look for luxurious mounting of the masques 
 owing to the brilliant catering of Inigo Jones, and it is 
 doubtful whether the King would have tolerated a theatrical 
 representation given with the Spartan simplicity of Elizabe- 
 than times. Assuming, however, that the French players 
 used scenery, the next difficulty that arises is to determine 
 what kind. On the one hand we know that in the court 
 masques Inigo Jones had long adopted the principle of 
 successive backgrounds, employing scenery that changed 
 rapidly, in full sight of the audience ; on the other, it is 
 equally certain that French strollers were still following 
 the quaint old system of the decor simultane. In Paris, the 
 public theatres were only just abandoning the multiple set- 
 ting, and it may be taken (although the fact has never been 
 demonstrated) that the production of Le Prince Deguise of 
 Scuderi marks the regular introduction to the French stage 
 of successive scenery. 
 
 No clue presents itself as to the repertory of Floridor's 
 company at the new house in Drury Lane. Little more can 
 be gleaned about their doings, save that they seem to have 
 acted there, on and off, until the close of the year. Malone 
 cites an entry from the Office Book of the Lord Chamber- 
 lain, showing that in 1636 a warrant was issued for £10, 
 payable to " Josias Floridor, for himself and the rest of the 
 French players, for a tragedy by them acted before his 
 Majesty in December last. " * 
 
 ' Sbake,pearebyBoi-weU,M. 122. OaDecember23, 1635,3 troupe of Spanish players 
 under John Novarro performed before the King and were granted ;f 10 in reward. There 
 had been several earlier visits by Italian players, but no previous Spanish company is 
 recorded, and none probably was seen again for a couple of centuries. 
 
136 Early French Players in England 
 
 French acting was now so much in the air at Whitehall 
 that the Maids of Honour must needs indulge in it. 
 Herbert's memorandum of the event is written, appropri- 
 ately enough, in French : 
 
 Le Pastorale de Florimene fust represent^ devant le Roy et la 
 Royne, le Prince Charles, et le Prince Palatin, le 21 Decern, jour 
 de St. Thomas, par les filles Franfoise de la Royne, et firent tres 
 bien, dans la grande sale de Whitehall, aux depens de la Royne.' 
 
 It is difficult to determine whether the pastoral oi Flori- 
 mene was some old piece, already performed in France, or 
 whether it had been specially written by some courtier for 
 the occasion. No play so called can be traced on the French 
 stage of the early seventeenth century. Florimene was pre- 
 sented at Whitehall with scenery by Inigo Jones, ^ and, 
 according to a synopsis of the entertainment printed at the 
 time in English, was arranged in five acts, with intermezzi 
 of the Four Seasons. Seeing that the antlmasques at court 
 were Invariably performed by professional players,' It is not 
 improbable that the grotesque characters in the interludes 
 were sustained by members of Floridor's company. That 
 the dancing between the acts took place, not on the raised 
 stage where the pastoral was represented, but on the floor of 
 the hall, can readily be seen by examination of Inigo Jones's 
 ground-plot for the stage and its attendant auditorium. The 
 characters in the interludes came on at first within strictly 
 scenic regions, descending to the floor of the hall by stairs 
 placed at the two ends of the proscenium front. 
 
 The native player folk would have been considerably 
 more than human and very uncharacteristic of their class 
 
 ' Not the first time, apparently, that a French play had been acted by the ladies of 
 the Court. In Cal. State Papers,Dom.Ser. xii. (1625-6), 4, one finds a letter of Sir Benjamin 
 Rudyerd to Sir Francis Nethersole informing him that the Christmas of 1625 was to be 
 spent at Hampton Court, with plays. "The demoiselles mean to present a French 
 pastoral wherein the Queen is a principal actress." But on December 3 1 he writes again 
 from Hampton Court to say "the Court removes on Tuesday next and keeps the end 
 of Christmas at Whitehall. The Queen intends to act her pastoral at Denmark House." 
 
 2 The original ground-plot for the scenery, &c., is preserved in the Lansdowne MSS. 
 in the British Museum, and the design for the special proscenium in the Duke of 
 Devonshire's collection of Inigo Jones's drawings at Chatsworth. 
 
 ' Cf. Dekker, Epistle Dedicatorie to Endymion Porter in Dekker bis Dreame {1620) : 
 " Besides, I herein imitate the most courtly Revellings ; for if Lords be in the Grand 
 Masque, in the Antimasque are players." 
 
Early French Flayers in England 137 
 
 had they not experienced some heart-pangs over the favour 
 shown to their foreign rivals in high quarters. If envy 
 existed it was all the more excruciating from having to be 
 cloaked. There could be no stirring up of popular preju- 
 dices against those whom the Queen had taken under her 
 protection, and for once the pippin-pelters were impotent. 
 All the native players could do was to take a poor revenge 
 by mimicking the fervid delivery and profuse gesticulation 
 of the strangers within the gate. Precisely at what j uncture 
 this mild retaliation was attempted one cannot say, probably 
 at the close of 1635. All that is known for certain is that 
 somewhere about that period the Cockpit company brought 
 out a comedy by Henry Glapthorne called The Ladies^ Privi- 
 ledge ^ in which the whole point of a scene in the second act 
 depended upon the skill with which the actor of Adorni 
 burlesqued the characteristics of the French players. Pos- 
 sibly there was no venom in the caricature: one notes on the 
 imprint of the comedy that it had been twice performed 
 before the King at Whitehall. But, as will be remarked 
 on reading the following citation of the salient portion of 
 the scene, the mimicry in question was a matter of sheer 
 improvisation, and its nature and intensity may have varied 
 with the place of performance : 
 
 La(ctant'io). But Adorni, 
 
 What thinke you of the French ? 
 
 Ad(orni). Very ayry people, who participate 
 More free than earth ; yet generally good 
 And nobly disposition'd, something inclining 
 Ent. Corim{ba). 
 
 To overweening fancy — This Lady 
 Tells my remembrance of a Comick scene, 
 I once saw in their Theatre. 
 
 Bon(ivet). Add it to 
 
 Your former courtesies, and expresse it. 
 
 Ador. Your entreaty 
 
 Is a command, if this grave Lady please. 
 To act the Lady I must court. 
 
 ' First printed in 164.0. 
 
138 Early French Players in England 
 
 Cor. Why doe you thinke I cannot play the woman ? I 
 have plaid a womans part about twenty, twenty years agoe in 
 a Court Masque, and tho' I say't as well as some o' them, and 
 have bin courted too. But it is truth, I have a foolish quality, 
 as many more women are guilty of besides myselfe, I alwayes 
 love them best, which slight me most, and scorne those that 
 doe court mee : look you Signior, if 't be a lovers part you are 
 to act : 
 
 Take a black spot or two, I can furnish you. 
 'Twill make your face more amorous, and appeare 
 More gracious in your Mistris eyes. 
 
 Ador. Stande faire Lady, 
 
 Cor. Tis your part to stande faire sir; doubt not my car- 
 riage — 
 
 most rare man : sincerely, I shall love the French 
 The better while I live for this. 
 
 Ador. A cU furiously. 
 
 Nay pray sir, gentlemen entreat the man 
 To pacific his wrath, tell him He love him, 
 Rather than see him rage thus. 
 
 Bon. He would have just reason to be mad indeed then, 
 but now 
 The Mood is alter'd. 
 
 Ador. acts ut antea. 
 
 Cor. Excellently ravishing : this of force 
 To make the hardest hearted Lady love him : 
 Can I intreat him but to teach my Cosen 
 Some of his French, he will for ever be engallanted. 
 
 Enter Eurione and Frangipan. 
 
 Bon. Beautious Cosen, 
 
 Y' ave mist the quaintest sport; honest Adorni 
 You would endeare this Lady to you, would you 
 Please to react it. 
 
 Ador. Nay, if you make me common once, farewell ; 
 
 1 am not for your company. 
 
 As Adorni presently undertakes to teach Frangipan 
 French, we may conclude that in his "acting" he babbles 
 French, or something supposed to represent it. 
 
Early French Players in England 139 
 
 Viewed from our present standpoint, the exile of 
 Charles II proved much more far-reaching in its ultimate 
 results than the exile of the Earl of Richmond (afterwards 
 Henry VII). In literature and the arts French exemplars 
 were servilely followed throughout the easy-going Stuart's 
 reign. One traces their domination in the new heroic drama, 
 in the recurrence of the theatrical couplet, in Restoration 
 music, and in the florid accessories of the new scenically 
 adorned stage. The King brought back with him a GaUic 
 hedonism that debased the moral currency. French para- 
 sites of all sorts and conditions swarmed at Whitehall, and 
 French (or French-Italian) comedians were seldom long 
 absent from England. The King had hardly settled himself 
 on his throne before the first French troupe came over. It 
 occupied for a time the old Cockpit in Drury Lane, the 
 scene of Floridor's early triumphs. Pepys, who seldom 
 missed any sight that was going, from an Italian puppet 
 show to a bearded woman, took his long-suiFering wife to 
 see the French players on August 30, 1661. But the im- 
 pression gained was far from favourable, constraining him 
 to jot down in his diary, "to the French comedy, which 
 was so ill-done, and the scenes and company and everything 
 else so nasty and out of order and poor, that I was sick all 
 the while in my mind to be there." A rare pamphlet in the 
 Malone collection in the Bodleian library apparently reveals 
 to us full details of the play seen by Pepys on this occasion. 
 It consists of eighteen pages in English and French, and 
 the imprint runs : 
 
 The I Description | of the | Great Machines | Of the Descent 
 of Orpheus | Into Hell. | Presented by the French Commedians 
 at the Cockpit in Drury Lane. | The Argument | Taken out of the 
 Tenth and Eleavnth Books of Ovid's Metamorphosis. | London | 
 Printed for Robert Crofts at the Crown in Chancery Lane, | 1661. 
 
 The piece in question was probably Le Manage d'Orphee 
 et d'Eurydice of Chapoton, the scene of tlie fourth act in 
 which is laid in the infernal regions. It dates from 1 648, 
 but, curiously enough, was revived in Paris in 1662. One 
 
140 Early French Players in England 
 
 can only account for Pepys' depreciation of the perform- 
 ance by the supposition that the small stage of the Cockpit 
 was ill-adapted for the elaborate scenic effects required. 
 That the company was not altogether so despicable as the 
 diarist indicates is shown by the fact that it made frequent 
 appearances before the King at Whitehall. Evelyn records 
 the performance of a French comedy at court on December 
 16, 1661 ; and exactly six days earlier a warrant had been 
 issued "to pay to John Chemnoveau 300 1. as the King's 
 bounty to be distributed to the French comedians "} 
 
 It is noteworthy that once the foreign players became 
 assured of the Merry Monarch's countenance, they made 
 careful preparation for their visits, bringing with them all 
 the necessary accessories. We have no evidence of any 
 such course being followed in earlier Stuart times. Among 
 the State Papers preserved in the Record Office is a copy 
 of a Permit dated August 2 5, 1 663, authorising "the French 
 comedians to bring over their scenes, stage decorations," 
 &c. Some historical value attaches itself to this document 
 inasmuch as we have no other record of the visit implied. 
 But the coming of the French players to England was now 
 of sufficient frequency to justify Sir William D'Avenant 
 in the mild fun he poked at them. This was heard in his 
 composite piece, A Playhouse to be Let, produced at the 
 Duke's theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields in the Long Vaca- 
 tion of 1 663. ^ In the first act, which in earlier days would 
 have been called an induction, a whimsical picture Is drawn 
 of the dire straits of the native players In their offseason. 
 As the theatre is to be let, there are several applicants for 
 temporary lesseeship, and the remaining four acts show 
 the performances (or rehearsals) given under their auspices. 
 One of the aspirants is a Frenchman who has crossed the 
 Channel with a troupe, and who is anxious to perform a 
 farce in broken English. This affords the raison d'tre for 
 
 ' Jusserand, Shakespeare in France, p. 131. In Cal. of State Papers, Dom. Series, 
 Charles II, the name is given as " Channoveau ". 
 
 2 Dr. Edward Browne includes the play in the list of pieces seen by him at that 
 house in 1662-3 (cf- Mem. Book in Sloane MS., 1900) ; and the epilogue to the piece 
 makes allusion to the fact that the sterner critics were out of town. 
 
Early French Players in England 141 
 
 the version given in the second act of Molifere's Sganarelle, 
 ou le Com Imaginaire, a comedy which, it will be remembered, 
 had originally been produced at the Petit Bourbon in May, 
 1660. 
 
 D'Avenant in his proem makes no bones about pander- 
 ing to the blunt prejudices of an English audience. Says 
 the Player to the French manager : • 
 
 Your farces are a kind of mongrel plays, 
 But sir, I believe all French farces are 
 Prohibited commodities and will 
 Not pass current in England. 
 
 And then the Tirewoman is made the mouthpiece of British 
 sentiment. 
 
 I like not that these French pardonney mays 
 Should make bold with old England. 
 
 Doubtless it would be idle to infer that the ridicule of 
 D'Avenant had any serious influence, but the fact remains 
 that at this juncture there is a considerable break in our 
 records. Beyond Pepys' reference to the magnificent sing- 
 ing of a French eunuch in The Faithful Shepherdess at the 
 Theatre Royal, in October, 1668, we have no further note 
 of the French in London for a period of nine years. Mean- 
 while, however, there had been some exchange of compli- 
 ments, artistically speaking, between the two countries. The 
 facetious Joe Haines had been sent over to amuse the 
 French court, and abundantly fulfilled his mission. Perwich 
 writes from Paris to Sir Joseph Williamson on October 
 25, 16^9: 
 
 I think I told you something of Jo. Haines ; now I can add that 
 he behaved himselfe there ^ to everybody's wonder, and diverted 
 the King by severall English dances, to his great satisfaction and 
 that of all the court. I believe he will have a present made him. 
 If you should think it convenient, it would do him a great kind- 
 nesse in England to mention him in the Gazette among the King's 
 divertisements at Chambort, where, whilst the Balets were preparing, 
 he hunted the wild bore and pheasants. By the enclosed you see 
 
 1 Evidently St. Germain in Laye flora the context. 
 
142 Early French Players in England 
 
 the severall entries and manner of the Balet ; between every one 
 Haines had order to dance by himselfe, and notwithstanding the 
 confronting of the best dancers, carried it ofF to admiration, and 
 was ordred to dance some things twice over. ^ 
 
 Of the visit paid to London by some French players 
 early in 1672 little is known save what can be gathered 
 from an allusion in one of Dryden's prologues. It would 
 appear, however, that they performed at one of the regular 
 playhouses — possibly in that old haunt, the Cockpit in Drury 
 Lane — and were responsible for two striking theatrical in- 
 novations. There was no such thing as numbered seats or 
 advance booking in those days, and playgoers, irrespective 
 of rank, had to make early resort to the theatre to secure 
 good places. The visitors introduced the French custom of 
 sending footmen to purchase and occupy seats until claimed 
 by their actual owners, a custom that eventually gave rise 
 to much disturbance in the house, but remained in vogue 
 for over a century. ^ The other novelty lay in the employ- 
 ment of coloured daybills to allure audiences, a device that 
 had never struck the tradition-ridden English manager. 
 
 On January 25, i67i-2,or about the period of the arrival 
 of the innovators. The Theatre Royal in Bridges Street was 
 burnt down. During the process of rebuilding, the King's 
 players had to content themselves with the small, ill- 
 equipped theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields. Stripped bare 
 by misfortune, they were unduly sensitive to the lash of 
 competition. Dryden makes bitter reference to their state 
 in the prologue to Arviragus and Philicia, first spoken in 
 the following March or April : 
 
 A brisk French troop is grown your dear delight ; 
 Who with broad bloody bills ' call you each day 
 To laugh and break your buttons at the play ; 
 
 • Dispatches of fTiUiam Ferwich (Camden Society, 1905), p. 116. — Haines was 
 evidently associated with the first performance of Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme at Cham- 
 bord on October 14, 1670. 
 
 ' Cf. Robert W. Lowe, Thomas BHterton, p. i8. For the trouble which ensued and 
 the duration of the custom, see John Fyvie, Comedy Queens of the Georgian Era, p. 14. 
 
 ' In Paris at this period each theatre used differently coloured daybills. Red bills 
 were the prerogative of the H6tel de Bourgogne. See V. Fournel, Curiositis Thlatrales 
 (iS78),p. .26. 
 
Early French Players in England 143 
 
 Or see some serious piece which we presume 
 Is fallen from some incomparable plume ; 
 
 We dare not on your privilege entrench 
 Or ask you why you like 'em ? They are French. 
 Therefore some go with courtesy exceeding, 
 Neither to hear nor see, but show their breeding. 
 Each lady striving to outlaugh the rest ; 
 To make it seem they understand the jest. 
 Their countrymen come in, and nothing pay. 
 To teach us English where to clap the play. 
 
 A trifle over a year later another French company came 
 to London for a spell. Their visit is referred to in the epi- 
 logue written byDryden for delivery at Oxford by the King's 
 players in the Long Vacation of 1673 : 
 
 Heaven for our sins this summer has thought fit 
 
 To visit us with all the plagues of wit. 
 
 A French troop first swept all things in its way. 
 
 But these hot Monsieurs were too quick' to stay ; 
 
 Yet to our cost in that short time we find, 
 
 They left their itch of novelty behind. 
 
 The Italian Merry-Andrews took their place. 
 
 And quite debauched the stage with lewd grimace. 
 
 The Italian comedians from Paris, under Tiberio Fiorelli 
 (better known as Scaramuccio, from his favourite character), 
 came to England in May, 1673, and acted at Whitehall till 
 the second week in September. On the 22nd August, James 
 Vernon wrote a gossiping letter from court to Sir Joseph 
 Williamson, telling him incidentally that 
 
 Senior Scaramouchio and his band have begged his Majesty's 
 leave to returne, their affaires requiring their presence att home. It 
 seemes Baptiste hath a grant of the Palais Royal to play the operas 
 in it, and these gentlemen are to remoove to Sourdiacs Theatre 
 in the Faunbourg St. Germains ; and now I am among players I 
 ought not to omitt to acquaint your Excellency that the Duke's 
 house are preparing an Opera and great machines. They will have 
 dansers out of France, and St. Andr6 comes over with them, who 
 
144 Early French Players in England 
 
 is to have a pension of the King, and a patent of master of the 
 compositions for ballets, etc.^ 
 
 The opera here referred to as in preparation was un- 
 doubtedly Shadwell's version of Psyche, which I take to 
 have been brought out at the Duke's (notwithstanding old 
 Downes' somewhat later dating^) about Christmas, 1673. 
 One cannot well see to what other production Evelyn's 
 record of January 5, 1673-4, could have applied. "I saw 
 an Italian opera in music ", he writes in his Diary, "the first 
 that had been in England of this kind." That Psyche, after 
 being "long expected", as Downes tells us, was eventually 
 brought out about this period is indicated by the following 
 allusion in Dryden's prologue for the opening of the New 
 Theatre Royal, as spoken there on March 26, 1673-4: 
 Whilst scenes, machines, and empty operas reign, 
 And for the pencil you the pen disdain. 
 While troops of famished Frenchmen hither drive, 
 And laugh at those upon whose alms they thrive. 
 The particular sort of rivalry which the King's players had 
 now to combat was soon to be experienced within the walls 
 of their new house, where the newly-constituted Academy 
 of Music had arranged to produce, for the first time in 
 England, genuine French Opera. The approximate period 
 of the operatic season at the Theatre Royal can be arrived 
 at by two entries in the Lord Chamberlain's Accounts : 
 
 1674, March 27. Warrant to deliver to Monsieur Grabu, or to 
 such as he shall appoynt, such of the scenes remayning in the theatre 
 at Whitehall, as shall be useful for the French Opera at the theatre 
 in Bridges street ^ and the said Monsieur Grabu to return them again 
 safely after 14 days' tyme to the theatre at Whitehall. 
 
 1674, April 27. Warrant to deliver to Sir Christopher Wren, 
 His Majesty's surveyor generall of the works, the scenes belonging to 
 
 ' Letters to Sir Joseph ff^illiamson at Cologne (Camden Society), i, 179, Andr6 cer- 
 tainly came over subsequently ; there are abounding references to him in contemporary 
 squibs. See Dryden's epilogue to Lee's Mitbridates, King ofPontus (1678). 
 
 ^ See his Roscius Anglicanus, where the date given is February, 1673-4. Psyche was 
 published before February 15, 1674-5 (virhen it is announced in the Term Catalogue) and 
 Shadwell in his preface speaks of it as having been written sixteen months previously, 
 or c. September, 1673. 
 
 ' Such was the usual contemporary description of the new theatre, which, however, 
 is generally referred to by historians as the second Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. 
 
Early French Players in England 145 
 
 His Majesty's Theatre at Whitehall, which were formerly delivered 
 to Mr. Grabu for the use of the French Opera in Bridges Street.^ 
 
 Although possibly others were produced, only one piece 
 is on record as having been brought out at the Theatre Royal 
 during the French operatic season. This was a musically 
 re-composed version of Perrin's opera, Ariane, ou le Mari- 
 age de Bacchus^ as originally performed in Paris (after many 
 delays) in 1669. Cambert, the original composer, is said 
 to have superintended the English production. He had 
 certainly left France for England in the August or Septem- 
 ber previous, ^ but the statement otherwise admits of no 
 confirmation, and runs counter to the definite details on the 
 title-page of the book.' Tradition also maintains that 
 sometime before his mysterious death in March, 1677, 
 Cambert's opera, Pomone, originally produced in Paris in 
 1 67 1, was performed at the English court. Of this one 
 finds no trace, but it may be that Pomone formed one of the 
 productions of the French operatic season at the Theatre 
 Royal. If the season lasted a fortnight or three weeks, as 
 the entries in the Lord Chamberlain's Accounts indicate, 
 more than one opera must have been performed. 
 
 In all probability the visits of the French players to White- 
 hall would have been much more frequent had it not been 
 for the fact that the easy-going King was very dilatory in his 
 payments. It was seemingly by way of compensation for un- 
 discharged liabilities that he permitted Scaramouch and his 
 fellows to establish, on their return to England in 1675, 
 
 ' H. C. de Lafontaine, The Kin^s Mustek, pp. 269-70. 
 
 ' Of. Nuitter et Thoinan, Les Origines de VOpera Franfais (1886), pp. 303 ff. 
 These authorities err in stating that Ar'tane was sung at the Theatre Royal in English. 
 In July, 1674, Cambert was superintending the King's Music at Windsor. (Cf. H. C. 
 de Lafontaine, op. cit. pp. 273 and 280). 
 
 ' Two books of the Opera, one in French and one in English, were published 
 simultaneously at the period of production. Both versions have an engraved frontis- 
 piece giving a view of London with the Thames in the baclcground, the scene of the 
 specially localised prelude. In the English copy the imprint reads : "Ariadne, or 
 the Marriage of Bacchus, an Opera, or a Vocal Representation ; first compos'd by 
 Monsieur P. P. Now put into Musiclc by Monsieur Grabut, Master of his Majesties 
 Musick. And acted by the Royal Academy of Musick at the Theatre Royal in Covent 
 Garden . . ." It should be noted that the new house in Bridges Street was sometimes 
 spoken of as "the Theatre Royal in Covent Garden", thus taking its description from 
 the parish in which it was situated. No Covent Garden Theatre, in the latter-day sense 
 of the term, then existed. Nuitter and Thoinan blunder sadly over this (op. cit.) p. 304. 
 
 L 
 
146 Early French Players in England 
 
 what was virtually a public theatre in Inigo Jones's great 
 Banquetting House. There was much whispering about 
 town over this reprehensible concession. Andrew Marvell, 
 writing to his friend William Ramsden on July 24, 1675, 
 says inter alia, " Scaramuccio acting daily in the hall of 
 Whitehall, and all sorts of people flocking thither and pay- 
 ing their money as at a common playhouse ; nay even a 
 twelve penny gallery is builded for the convenience of his 
 Majesty's poor subjects." Two months later Evelyn went 
 to see the Italians, and was shocked to find entrance money 
 being charged, "which was very scandalous and never so 
 before at court diversions ". ^ 
 
 It would appear that the King, indisposed to remain for 
 long without exotic entertainment and unable to recompense 
 the foreign players with the necessary promptitude, had de- 
 termined upon making the public pay at first hand for his 
 pleasures. Both the French and the Italians would be more 
 disposed to return to Whitehall when they knew they had 
 the right to charge for admission. One consequence of this 
 was that the English players grew to look upon the court 
 theatre as a serious opposition. The doings there, so far from 
 being sacro-sanct, were viewed as fair game by the native 
 dramatist. One finds some French company which happened 
 to be acting at Whitehall early in 1677 held up to ridicule at 
 Dorset Gardens in the epilogue to ne French Conjuror} The 
 speaker, in the character of a Frenchman, is made to say : 
 
 All my French blood be in a rage, 
 Damn'd English Acteur, English Teatre, 
 Dere's no such thing as Wit nor Acting dere. 
 De Wit, de Sense, de Fame, and de Renown 
 Be in the French troop at toder end o' Town. ' 
 Dere Player be brisk aery spark, here Dog 
 Of Actor, more like heavie English Log. 
 
 ' These details upset the contention of Wheatley, who maintains in his recension 
 of Pepys that admission to court performances was obtainable by payment from the 
 dawn of the Restoration. 
 
 2 A precise date for Porter's comedy cannot be determined, but the play was 
 licensed for publication on August 2, 1677, and was probably brought out a month or 
 two earlier. 
 
 ' Undoubtedly a reference to Whitehall. 
 
Early French Players in England 147 
 
 Writing to a relative on May 31,1677, John Verney says : 
 
 On Wednesday, his Majesty's birth night, was some gallantry at 
 Whitehall, where was acted a French opera, but most pitifully done, 
 so ill that the king was aweary 6n't, and some say it was not well 
 contrived to entertain the English gentry, who came that night in 
 honour to their King, with a lamentable ill-acted French play, when 
 our English actors so much surpass ; however the dances and voices 
 were pretty well performed. ^ 
 
 Unless some postponement of the performance took 
 place Verney must have written " Wednesday " in mistake. 
 The King's birthday (May 29) fell this year on a Tuesday. 
 As to the despised French opera presented on the occasion, 
 we have a clue to its identity in the entry in the Lord 
 Chamberlain's Accounts made under date May 22, 1677 : 
 
 Order to Mr. Staggins, Master of his Majesty's Musick, and in 
 his absence to Mr. Lock who officiates for him : — That all His 
 Majesty's musitians doe attend to practise in the theatre at White- 
 hall at such tymes as Madam Le Roch and Mr. Paisible shall appoint 
 for the practising of such musick as is to be in the French comedy to 
 be acted before His Majesty on the 29 May instant. ^ 
 
 The opera in question was an entirely new production, in 
 a prologue and three acts, written in the French court style 
 by one Madame La Roche-Guilhen, and composed by James 
 Paisible. When published a few months afterwards it bore 
 the following title : 
 
 Rare en Tout. Comedie Meslee di Musique Et de Balets Repre- 
 sentee devant Sa Majest6 Sur le Theatre Royal de Whitehall. A 
 Londres. Chez Jacques Magnes, & Richard Bentley, \ la Poste 
 de Russel-street, au Covent Garden, 1677. ' 
 
 At least two French troupes visited London in 1677. 
 Care must be taken not to confound the troupe referred to 
 in Porter's epilogue (which may possibly have taken part in 
 the representation of Rare en Tout) with the troupe per- 
 forming at Whitehall at the close of the year. Of the 
 
 ' Verney Papers, Hist. MSS. Comm., Appendix to 7th Report, p. 469. 
 
 2 The Kings Mmick, p. 318. 
 
 ' Of. The Musical Antiquary for Oct., 1910, p. 57. 
 
148 Early French Players in England 
 
 latter we glean some curious details in a letter from Henry 
 Saville to Lord Rochester. Writing from Whitehall on 
 December 17, 1677, the coming Vice-Chamberlain con- 
 veys the intelligence that Mrs. Barry the actress had just 
 borne the libertine lord a daughter. This prelude strikes 
 the keynote of the communication : 
 
 I had allmost forgott for another argument to bring you to 
 towne (continues Saville) that a French troop of Comaedians bound 
 for Nimeguen were by adverse winds cast into this hospitable port, 
 and doe act at Whitehall soe very well that is a thousand pittyes 
 they should not stay, especially a young wench of fifteen who has 
 more beauty and sweetnesse than ever was seen upon the stage 
 since a friend of ours left it. In good earnest you would bee de- 
 lighted above all things with her, and it were a shame to the nation 
 shee should carry away a mayden head shee pretends to have brought, 
 and that noe body heer has either witt or addresse or money enough 
 to goe the price of. The King sighes and despaires and sais noebody 
 but Sir George Downing or my Lord Ranelagh can possibly purchase 
 her. 1 
 
 One would say from the tenor of this quaint epistle that 
 the troupe which had been accidentally cast into the port of 
 London had not more than a month arrived. It may be 
 deemed a happy circumstance that the identity of the 
 charming young actress whose virtue proved so unassailable 
 at the hands of Comus and his rabble rout can be readily 
 determined.. She was none other than Mile. Pitel, better 
 know to theatrical fame as Mile. Raisin. Long before the 
 publication of Saville's letter, records had been unearthed 
 in France showing that at about this period Henri Pitel, 
 Sieur de Longchamp, a not undistinguished theatrical 
 manager, came to England, bringing with him his daughter 
 Fran9oise (the future Mile Raisin), his wife, and her eldest 
 daughter Anne, the last of whom was married to a member 
 of the troupe called Durieu. ^ Pitel's company is said to 
 
 1 Hist. MSS. Comtn., Calendar o/MSS. of the Marjuis of Bath at Longleat, Wilt- 
 shire, ii, 1 60. 
 
 ' Charton, La Troupe du Roman Comique (1876), p. 98. Durieu was a nephew of 
 Mile. Beauval. He was received, together with his wife, at the Comidie Franyaise in 
 1685. 
 
Early French Players in England 149 
 
 have remained at the English court some fifteen or eighteen 
 months, but this is probably an exaggeration. 
 
 In the spring of 1683, Charles II entered into negotia- 
 tions through his envoy, Lord Preston, for the return of the 
 Franco-Italian comedians to England, but Fiorelli proved 
 impossible to persuade. And little wonder : the King was 
 still in arrears to him over his last visit. Baffled in his hopes 
 in this direction, " Old Rowley ", in the following August, 
 dispatched Betterton the tragedian to Paris to make arrange- 
 ments for the performance of French opera at Whitehall. 
 On September 22, 1683, we find Lord Preston writing 
 from Paris to the Duke of York : 
 
 I should not have presumed to give your Highness the trouble of 
 this if something of charity had not induced me to it. I do it at the 
 instance of a poor servant of his Majesty's, who some time since 
 was obliged by a misfortune to leave England. It is Mr. Grahme, Sir, 
 whom perhapsyour Highness may remember. Mr. Betterton coming 
 hither some weeks since by his Majesty's command, to endeavour 
 to carry over the Opera, and finding that impracticable, did treat 
 with Monsr. Grahme to go over with him to endeavour to repre- 
 sent something at least like an Opera in England for his Majesty's 
 diversion. He hath also assured him of a pension from the House, 
 and finds him very willing and ready to go over. He only desireth 
 his Majesty's protection when he is there, and what encouragement 
 his Majesty shall be pleased to give him if he finds that he deserves 
 it, etc. ^ 
 
 In the above extract, given exactly as cited in the His- 
 torical MSS. Commission Report, it seems to me that the 
 name " Grahme " is a pardonable misreading^ of" Grabut " 
 or "Grabue" (as the name of the mediocre French composer 
 was often phonetically rendered). It is necessary here to 
 recall that Louis Grabut, after having been master of the 
 King's Music from 1667, was cashiered late in 1674 in 
 favour of Nicholas Staggins. His salary at that period was 
 seriously in arrears, but, though he suffered much from want, 
 
 ' Hist. MSS. Comm., 7th Report, Part i, p. Z90. 
 
 * Doubly pardonable for the reason that there were several Grahmes at this period 
 at the English Court. Of. The Secret Service Papers of Charles U (Camden Society), 
 wherein payments are recorded in 1686 to James and Richard Grahme. In The Ellis 
 Correspondence mention is made of "Rene Grahme and other officers." 
 
1 50 Early French Players in England 
 
 it was not until three years later that, after many import un- 
 ings, he received payment of the large sum (over £()od) 
 due to him. Being a Catholic and timorous, he fled from 
 London towards the close of 1678, and settled miserably 
 in Paris, where Betterton apparently found him in 1683. ^ 
 Lord Preston's application to the Duke of York evidently 
 led at once to the extension of Charles IPs protection to his 
 old servant. Within three or four months Grabut must 
 have returned to London. Did he not supply the music for 
 the songs in Southerne's comedy of The Disappointment, or 
 the Mother in Fashion, as produced at the Theatre Royal, 
 c. February, 1684 } About the same period he entered into 
 collaboration with Dryden in the composition of an opera 
 intended for performance at Whitehall. The death of the 
 King on the verge of its production upset all their arrange- 
 ments ; but, under the title oiAlhion and Albanius, the opera 
 was eventually brought out at Dorset Gardens on June 3, 
 1685. 
 
 Beyond the return of Louis Grabut, and certain im- 
 provements in the working of English stage mechanism, 
 Betterton 's visit to Paris had no immediate outcome. Not 
 to be baulked in his desire for some sort of exotic enter- 
 tainment, Charles II bethought himself to ask William, 
 Prince of Orange, for the loan of his French court players. 
 The sequel to the request, is indicated in a letter written 
 from London on June 10, 1684, by B. Grenville to W. 
 Leveson Gower : 
 
 The Dutch letters bring that Sir Thomas Armstrong 
 
 was seized and secured at Leyd en in Holland by the King's minister, 
 Mr. Chudley, and was immediately put on board one of his 
 Majesty's yaughts that was attending the transportation of the 
 Prince's French players, expected with the prisoner this night. ^ 
 
 The Prince of Orange's players under the directorship 
 of one Francis Duperier, remained in England for close on 
 five months, and performed before the King both in town and 
 
 • These details concerning Grabut are largely based on the records published in 
 The Kin^B Musici. 
 
 2 Hist. MSS. Comm., Jth Report, Part i (1876), p. 186. 
 
Early French Players in England 151 
 
 country. On October 29th a payment of ;^45 bounty was 
 ordered "to Francis Duperier for the charge of ye French 
 players attending his Majestie at Windsor and Winchester 
 and returning to London ". ^ 
 
 King Charles's predilections for exotic amusements were 
 shared to the fuU by his ill-fated brother. French opera was 
 given at James the Second's court in the spring of 1686. 
 Writing to the Duchess of Rutland on January 23, 1685-6, 
 Peregrine Bertie says, "next week begins the French Opera". 
 But a postponement took place, and on the 28th following 
 he writes again to Her Grace conveying the news that "last 
 night was acted The Chances at Whitehall" and that "the 
 French opera wiU begin the weeke after the next". On Feb- 
 ruary nth he hastened to inform her, "to-day was the 
 French opera. The King and Queen were there, the musicke 
 was indeed very fine, but all the dresses the most wretched 
 I ever saw ; 'twas acted by none but French. A Saturday 
 the court goes to another play, to take their leaves of those 
 vanitys till after Lent".^ It seems not unlikely that Jacques 
 Rousseau, formerly operatic scene-painter in Paris, pro- 
 vided the mounting for these court performances. We 
 know that he came to England on the revocation of the 
 edict of Nantes, and remained there till his death in 1693. 
 
 Between a period of two and three years later occurs the 
 last recorded direct visit of a troupe of French players to 
 the English court. Among the secret service accounts of 
 James II passed for payment in October, 1688, one finds an 
 entry oi £100 "to John de Sureis for himself and the rest 
 of the French players, being 12 in number, bounty".' 
 
 The waning of the century saw a temporary disappear- 
 ance of all prejudice against foreigners in the English 
 theatre. Thanks largely to the initiative of Betterton, at his 
 wits' end to know how to draw audiences, French dancing 
 came to be looked upon as a boon and a blessing. But the 
 
 ' Secret Service Accounts of Charles II and James II (Camden Society, 1 8 J l), p. 93. 
 
 2 Hist. MSS. Comm., Rutland Papers, 11. (1889), pp. 102 et seq. For an allusion 
 to the French Opera, see the prologue to jevons' play. The Devil of a ff^ife, or a Com- 
 ical Transformation, spoken at Dorset Gardens on March 4, 1685-6. 
 
 ' Secret Service Papers, p. 209. 
 
152 Early French Players in England 
 
 tastes catered for were rather those of the classes than of 
 the masses. Downes, writing in 1708, says : 
 
 In the space of Ten years past, Mr. Betterton to gratify the 
 Desires and Fancies of the Nobility and Gentry ; procur'd from 
 Abroad the best dancers and Singers, as Monsieur L'Abbe, Madam 
 Sublini, Monsieur Balon, Margarita Delpine, Maria Gallia, and 
 divers others ; who being Exhorbitantly Expensive, produc'd small 
 Profit to him and his company, but vast Gain to themselves. 
 
 Nine years earlier, Wright in his Historia Histrionica had 
 made his puppet Trueman say with a sigh for the good old 
 days that formerly the players 
 
 could support themselves merely from their own merit, the 
 weight of the matter and goodness of the action, without scenes and 
 machines ; whereas the present plays with all that show can hardly 
 draw an audience, unless there by the additional invitation of a 
 Signor Fideli, a Monsieur I'Abbe, or some such foreign regale ex- 
 press'd in the bottom of the bill. 
 
 Three years later, or in 1 702, Gildon, in his Comparison of 
 the Two Stages, leads his interlocutors to discuss this matter : 
 
 Rambler : At six I'll meet you at Lincoln's Inn Playhouse. 
 
 Sullen : I wonder what Play is it ? 
 
 Ramb. : The Way of the World, with the new dancer, 
 Madam d'Subligny. 
 
 Critic : There's another toy now, God ! There's not a 
 year but some surprising monster lands ; I wonder they don't 
 first show her at Fleet Bridge with an old drum and a cracked 
 trumpet. — "Walk in and take your places; just going to 
 show." 
 
 Ramb. : Let's meet there ; methinks I long to be ogling 
 madam's feet. 
 
 Sull. ; . . . No, I'm not for meeting there ; The Generous 
 Conqueror is acted at the other house, ^ and lest it should never 
 be acted again, let's go see it to-night. 
 
 Sull. : ... It was otherwise lately with Balon ; ^ the town 
 ran mad to him, and the prices were raised to an extravagant 
 degree to bear the extravagant rate they allowed him. 
 
 1 Drury Lane. The foreign singers and dancers were mostly engaged at Lincoln's 
 Inn Fields. 
 
 ' Of. The Post Man of April 6, 1699 : "On Easter Monday at the New Theatre 
 in Little Lincoln's Inn Fields will be an entertainment of Dancing, performed by 
 Monsieur Balon, newly arrived from Paris." 
 
Early French Players in England 153 
 
 Gildon, we take it, was a typical British playgoer, and 
 in the voice that speaks for his puppets we hear the first 
 faint mutterings of the storm which was to burst forty years 
 later, and to recur again and again. For full arousal of these 
 bitter passions it only needed the upspringing of grave 
 foreign complications and the resultant fostering of a spirit 
 of Gallophobia. The whirligig of Time brought all these 
 revenges. Not so soon, however, as the summer of 17 18, 
 when a French company, exiled from Paris by the suppres- 
 sion oftheTh^dtres de la Foire, came to Lincoln's Inn Fields 
 and played Tartuffe^ Le Foire de Saint Germains and Les Deux 
 Arlequins unmolested. Nor can it be traced that any sple- 
 netic feeling was evinced towards the visitors styling them- 
 selves " the French Comedians of his Grace the Duke of 
 Montague ", who opened the New Theatre in the Hay- 
 market on December 29, 1720, with La Fille i la Mode, ou 
 le Badaud de Paris, and remained there until early in the 
 following May.^ If they suffered, it was from the apathy of 
 the beau monde, which took so mild an interest in their en- 
 terprise that the weekly nights of acting had to be reduced 
 from four to two and the prices of admission lowered. 
 Only one member of the company. Mile, de Livri, Voltaire's 
 erstwhile mistress, had any reason to look back upon the visit 
 with satisfaction. On the closing of the theatre she took a 
 situation in a French caf6 off the Strand, and there so infatu- 
 ated one of its frequenters, the Marquis de Gouvernet, as to 
 receive from him an ojfFer of marriage. Overawed by his 
 station, she gave her suitor a point-blank refusal. But the 
 Marquis was no believer in a woman's "No", and by a 
 clever device, eventually induced her to change her mind. 
 Having first presented her with a lottery ticket, he made 
 her believe later on that she had won a large prize. He had 
 loved her when she was poor, would she not marry him now 
 she was rich .-' The charming young actress swallowed the 
 bait and returned to Paris Madame la Marquise. ^ 
 
 1 Of. H. Barton Baker's The London Stage (1889), i. 173-4- The opening piece ^ 
 was a prose comedy in three acts by M. Barbier, an advocate of Lyons, where it had 
 originally been produced in 1707. 
 
 ' Frederick Hawkins, The French Stage in the Eighteenth Century, i. 174-6. 
 
1 54 Early French Players in England 
 
 In 1738 the storm-cloud burst, racial antipathies having 
 been excited by a curious concatenation of circumstances. 
 In October, shortly after the Haymarket had been closed 
 under the terms of Walpole's new Licensing Act, it was 
 announced that the theatre, whence the English players 
 had been banished, was to be re-opened, "by authority," 
 by a company of French players. Aroused by the sense of 
 injustice John Bull rose to the occasion. There was an 
 organised opposition, and the opening night proved the 
 closing one. Here is the account of the riot, written by an 
 eye-witness : 
 
 People went early to the Theatre, as a crouded house was 
 certain. I was there in the centre of the Pit ; where I soon perceived 
 that we were visited by two Westminster Justices, Deveil and 
 Manning. The Leaders, that had the Conduct of the Opposition, 
 were known to be there ; one of whom called aloud for the song 
 in Praise of English Roast Beef, which was accordingly sung in the 
 Gallery by a Person prepared for that Purpose; and the whole House, 
 beside Joining in the Chorus, saluted the Close with three Huzzas ! 
 This, Justice Deveil was pleased to say, was a Riot ; upon which 
 Disputes commenced directly, which were carried on with some 
 degree of Decency on both Sides. The Justice at first informed us, 
 " that he was come there as a Magistrate to maintain the King's 
 Authority ; that Colonel Pulteney, with a full Company of the 
 Guards, were without, to support him in the execution of his office; 
 that it was the King's Command the Play should be acted ; and 
 that the obstructing it was opposing the ICing's Authority ; 
 and if that was done he must read the Proclamation ; after which 
 all Offenders would be secured directly by the Guards in waiting." 
 To all these most arbitrary Threatnings, this abuse of his Majesty's 
 Name, the Reply was to the following Effect : — " That the Audience 
 had a legal Right to shew their Dislike to any Play or Actor; that 
 the common Laws of the Land were nothing but common Custom, 
 and the antient Usage of the People ; that the Judicature of the Pit 
 had been acknowledged and acquiesced to, Time immemorial ; and 
 as the present Set of Actors were to take their fate from the Public, 
 they were free to receive them as they pleased." 
 
 By this time the hour of six drewf near ; and the French and 
 Spanish Embassadors, with their Ladies ; the late Lord and Lady 
 Gage; and Sir T[homas] R[obinson], a Commissioner of the 
 
Early French Players in England 155 
 
 Excise, all appeared in the Stage Box together ! At that instant the 
 Curtain drew up, and discovered the actors standing between two 
 Files of Grenadiers, with their bayonets fixed, and resting on their 
 Firelocks. There was a sight! enough to animate the coldest Briton. 
 At this the whole Pit rose, and unanimously turned to the Justices, 
 who sat in the Middle of it, to demand the Reason of such arbitrary 
 Proceedings? The Justices either knew nothing of the Soldiers being 
 placed there, or thought it safest to declare so. At that Declaration, 
 they demanded of Justice Deveil (who had owned himself the com- 
 manding officer in the affair) to order them off the Stage. He did so 
 immediately, and they disappeared. Then began the Serenade ; not 
 only Catcalls, but all the various portable Instruments, that could 
 make a disagreeable Noise, were brought on this occasion, which 
 were continually tuning in all parts of the House; and as an attempt 
 to speaking was ridiculous, the Actors retired, and they opened with 
 a grand dance of twelve Men and twelve Women ; but even that was 
 prepared for, and they were directly saluted with a Bushel or two 
 of Peas, which made their Capering very unsafe. After this they 
 attempted to open the Comedy ; but had the Actor the Voice of 
 Thunder, it would have been lost in the confused Sounds from 
 a thousand various Instruments. Here, at the waving Deveil's 
 Hand, all was silent, and (standing up on his seat) he made a Pro- 
 posal to the House to this effect : — " That if they persisted in the 
 opposition, he must read the Proclamation ; that if they would 
 permit the play to go on, and to be acted through that Night, he 
 would promise (on his Honour) to lay their Dislikes, and Resent- 
 ment to the Actors, before the King, and he doubted not but a Speedy 
 End would be put to their acting." The Answer to this Proposal was 
 very short, and very expressive. " No Treaties^ No Treaties ! " 
 At this the Justice called for Candles to read the Proclamation, and 
 ordered theGuardsto be in Readiness; but a gentleman, seizing Mr, 
 Deveil's Hand, stretched out for the Candle, begged of him to con- 
 sider what he was going to do, for his own Sake, for ours, for the 
 King's ! that he saw the unanimous Resolution of the House ; and 
 that the appearance of soldiers in the Pit would throw us all into a 
 Tumult, which must end with the Lives of many. This earnest 
 Remonstrance made the Justice turn pale and passive. At this Pause 
 the Actors made a second Attempt to go on, and the Uproar revived ; 
 which continuing some Time, the Embassadors and their Ladies left 
 their Box, which occasioned a universal Huzza from the whole 
 House ! and after calling out some Time for the Falling of the 
 
156 Early French Players in England 
 
 Curtain, down it fell. I will venture to say, that at no Battle gained 
 over the French by the immortal Marlborough, the Shoutings could 
 be more Joyous than on this Occasion. What greatly added to my 
 pleasure was, to see the two Justices join in this grand Huzza, by 
 waving their Hats over their Heads, and at the same Time wore 
 faces more like the conquered than Conquerors. ^ 
 
 There was a series of disturbances of a similar order at 
 the same theatre in Npvember, 1749, when Jean Monnet 
 brought his company over and got quite innocently em- 
 broiled in the rivalries of a fierce electioneering contest 
 through gaining the ardent patronage of my LordTrentham, 
 one of the candidates. From the violent prejudices with 
 which the town now became obsessed it took it a whole 
 century to recover. The very suspicion of a French dancer 
 in the theatre sufficed to cause its destruction. Drury Lane 
 was wrecked on this score in 1755, although Garrick's sole 
 offence had been the bringing over of Noverre and a number 
 of Swiss executants to dance in The Chinese Festival. 
 
 1 Benjamin Victor's History of the Theatres of London and Dublin (1761), i. pp. 53 fF. 
 According to an epigram in The London Magazine^for Oct, 1738, (p. 514), the comedy 
 intended to be acted on the opening night was L'Embarras des Ricbesses, 
 
Proscenium Doors : an Elizabethan Heritage 
 
Proscenium Doors: an Elizabethan Heritage 
 
 Although the terms "platform stage" and "picture 
 stage ", ^ as applied to the non-scenic and the scenic theatre, 
 are very convenient and come ready to the pen, they prove 
 on. examination to be arbitrary, unscientific and, worst of 
 all, misleading. The popular idea of an abrupt transition 
 from the platform stage to the picture stage at the period 
 of the Restoration is wholly astray. Then, and for two 
 hundred years after, the two principles overlapped. The 
 picture stage, as we now know it, i.e., with the picture en- 
 tirely within the frame, only dates back a matter of half 
 a century. 
 
 When acting was first renewed after the blank period of 
 the Civil War and the Commonwealth, it was strictly 
 on Elizabethan principles. Three of the old dismantled 
 theatres, Salisbury Court, the Cockpit and the Red Bull, 
 were hastily restored in 1660 to their original condition, 
 or a sound approximation thereto. Not only that but the 
 first wholly new theatre of the Restoratian era, the house 
 erected in a tennis court in Vere Street in the same year, 
 was based on the old formula. There was an immediate 
 revival of Elizabethan conventionalism, which, despite 
 the altered conditions of a lustrum later, permeated and 
 informed the technique of the Restoration and the Post- 
 Restoration dramatist. 
 
 In England the picture stage in its crudity began with the 
 opening of the new Duke's Theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields 
 in June, 1 66 1 , with D'Avenant's opera, 'The Siege of Rhodes. 
 Even then the pristine platform stage was not wholly aban- 
 d.oned, for the King's players remained at Vere Street until 
 the opening of their scenically-equipped house, the Theatre 
 Royal in Bridges Street, on May 7, 1 663. The influence of 
 
 ' Due, I think, to the inventive resource of Mr. A. B. Walkley. See his anony- 
 mous theatrical article in The Edinburgh Review for July, 1 902. 
 
1 60 Proscenium Doors : an Elizabethan Heritage 
 
 continental models on our first two theatres of the picture 
 stage order was much slighter than has been popularly sup- 
 posed. From first to last the English theatre has preserved 
 a certain individuality. We may concede that the prime 
 characteristics of the picture stage, viz., the proscenium arch 
 and the front curtain, together with movable scenery and 
 its attendant mechanism had been derived from the French 
 or Italian theatres, although as a matter of fact all had been 
 seen years before in the Carolan court masques. But here at 
 best all resemblance ends, and there were many differenti- 
 ating factors, French models could have had little influence, 
 for the French theatre of the latter half of the seventeenth 
 century preserved the standing pit. In the Restoration 
 scenic theatres, the auditorium was, sui generis, based on 
 the latest development of the Elizabethan private theatre. 
 The benches of the pit rose in gradually ascending tiers 
 until checked by the front partition of the boxes. Where 
 the one ended and the other began the difference in eleva- 
 tion between the two was inconsiderable, probably only 
 three or four feet. ^ 
 
 In adopting the Italian principle of a changing pictorial 
 background, the Restoration players apparently had their 
 doubts concerning the efficiency of the new medium as a 
 satisfactory substitute for the old physical conditions, espe- 
 cially in its application to the old plays which still formed the 
 major portion of their repertory. The result was that they 
 decided to combine the prime characteristics of the obso- 
 lescent platform stage with the essentials of the new picture 
 stage. How to do this was the puzzle, seeing that the various 
 features of the tiring-house front could no longer be pre- 
 served at the back of the stage. Finally, they resolved to 
 bring them forward and place them in or about the prosce- 
 nium. The result was that the two main entering doors 
 with the superincumbent balconies were embedded in either 
 side of the proscenium arch, and the music-room placed 
 above it. As the arch was to serve many of the purposes 
 of the old tiring-house fa9ade, it was vital that some 
 
 ' Cf. R. W. Lowe, Thomas Bemrton, p. 34. 
 
Proscenium Doors: an Elizabethan Heritage i6i 
 
 considerable stage room should be left in front of it. Hence 
 the origin, so far as the English stage is concerned, of the 
 longevous principle of "the apron.''^ Inartistic as we should 
 now reckon it, the result proved wholly grateful. Since the 
 proscenium doors formed the normal mode of entry and 
 exit, action mostly took place on the apron, thus making for 
 the better hearing and (at a time of indifferent lighting) 
 sight of the spectator. 
 
 Since I have argued that the distinctive arrangement of 
 the Restoration proscenium was based on the conventions 
 of the Elizabethan stage, it may be as well, before proceed- 
 ing to a lengthened consideration of the usages and literary 
 influence of the doors and balconies, to prove the analogy 
 by demonstrating the hitherto unsuspected position of the 
 early picture stage music-rooms. We know that in practi- 
 cally all the Elizabethan theatres the musicians occupied an 
 elevated position at the back,^ and we have solid reasons 
 for believing that, despite some attempts to place the 
 musicians in front of the stage, a similarly elevated posi- 
 tion was allotted to them in the Restoration houses of the 
 new order. 
 
 Let us first look at the evidence for the Duke's Theatre 
 in Lincoln's Inn Fields, the earliest of our picture stage 
 theatres. On November 7, 1667, when Pepys repaired 
 thither to s"ee The Tempest, he found the house crowded 
 owing to the lateness of his arrival, and had perforce " to sit 
 in the side balcony over against the musique-room." From 
 this it would appear that the music-room at the Duke's was 
 situate above the proscenium. It might be argued, of course, 
 on the strength of French analogy' that the musicians were 
 placed beyond stage regions, somewhere in the auditorium 
 
 ' The apron already existed in some of the larger Italian opera-houses, where it 
 had originated through the necessity to throw the voice of the singer well forward. (Cf. 
 Count Algarotti's Essay on the Opera, 1767, pp. 96-7). On the other hand, proscenium 
 entering doors were utterly unknown on the continent ; so we are safe in assuming 
 that the English apron was not derivative. 
 
 ^ Vide ante pp. go-2 
 
 ' Cf. Chappuzeau, Le Thiitre Fratifois, p. 240, where reference is made to the fact 
 that the French musicians then occupied a box at the back of the auditorium, and were 
 so little in touch with the traffic of the scene that people had to cry out to them to 
 play when music was necessary. 
 
 M 
 
1 62 Proscenium Doors: an Elizabethan Heritage 
 
 proper. But a little reflection shows this to have been impos- 
 sible. The old Elizabethan necessity for the musicians to 
 occupy a position allowing of ready access to the stage still 
 held good. Many scenes in the works of contemporary 
 dramatists called for their presence on the boards. ^ 
 
 With the opening of the new Theatre Royal in Bridges 
 Street in 1663 an attempt was made to introduce the Italian 
 principle of the orchestra as practised to-day. Pepys went 
 there on the second day of acting (May 8), and records 
 " the musique being below, and most of it sounding under 
 the very stage, there is no hearing of the basses at all, nor 
 very well of the trebles, which sure must be mended." It 
 would appear that, because of these defects, the musicians 
 were transferred later on to an elevated position, probably, as 
 in the Duke's, to a room over the proscenium arch. In a 
 curious old ballad ^ relating the destruction by fire of the 
 Theatre Royal on January 25, 167 1-2, we read : 
 
 But on a sudden a Fierce Fire 'gan rage. 
 
 In several scenes, and overspread the stage 
 
 The " Horrors " waiting on the dismal sight 
 
 Soon taught th' players to th' life to act a Fright. 
 
 The Boxes where splendors us 'd to surprise 
 
 From constellations of bright ladies' eyes, 
 
 A difiFerent blazing lustre now is found 
 
 And th' music-room with whistle flames doth sound. 
 
 Then catching hold o' th' roof it does display, 
 
 Consuming fiery trophies every way. 
 
 From the progressive nature of this description, begin- 
 ning at the stage and gradually working upwards, it is plain 
 to be seen that the music-room in the King's playhouse was 
 situated not very far from the roof. One notes also that, when 
 the house was rebuilt, no orchestra, in our latter-day sense of 
 the term, was provided. The view of the stage given in the 
 frontispiece to the opera oiAriane, ou le Mariage de Bacchus 
 (as performed at the new Theatre Royal in April, 1674) 
 
 ' Cf. Dryden's An E-venin^s Love (1671), Act ii ; also his Troilus and Cressida 
 (1679), iii. 2. 
 
 * Percy Fitzgerald's New History of the English Stage, i. 137. 
 
Proscenium Doors: an Elizabethan Heritage 163 
 
 shows a projecting semi-oval front with an ornamented 
 base, and no enclosure. 
 
 For the second Duke's Theatre, as built in Dorset 
 Gardens and opened on November 9, 1 671, we have both 
 pictorial and textual evidence, the two being apparently 
 In conflict. It is possible, however, to reconcile these con- 
 tradictions. In Settle's tragedy. The Empress of Morocco, as 
 acted at this house and published in October, 1 673, several 
 illustrations of the scenes are given, each with an elaborate 
 (but not wholly complete) view of the proscenium and its 
 immediate surroundings. ^ In examining these one notes 
 that the top of the proscenium arch projects over the apron 
 by way of sofiit, or sounding-board,^ and that it bears upon 
 it a large room with three curtained openings, one in front 
 and two at the sides. As no spectator could have seen the 
 inner stage and scenery from this position, and as the whole 
 arrangement was too elaborate to be merely ornamental, 
 one takes it that this was the position normally occupied 
 by the musicians, that is to say at periods when their duties 
 almost wholly consisted of the playing of preludes and act- 
 tunes. ' It would appear, however, that on special operatic 
 occasions, when the violins were increased from twelve to 
 twenty-four, the musicians generally sat at the front of the 
 stage. This would explain the apparent contradiction pre- 
 sented by the initial instruction in Shadwell's anonymously 
 published opera of The Tempest : * 
 
 The front of the stage is open'd and the Band of 24 Violins with 
 the Harpsicals and Theorbos, which accompany the voices, are 
 plac'd between the Pit and the Stage. While the Overture is 
 playing the Curtain rises and discovers a new Frontispiece Joyn'd 
 to the great Pylasters, on each side of the Stage. 
 
 ' One of these is badly reproduced in Mr. Albright's The Shaiesperian Stage, p. 46 ; 
 for another and better example, see The Pall Mall Magazine for Sept. 1894, p. 89 (Mr. 
 E. Manson's article on "Nell Gwyn"). 
 
 ' Thus bearing a superficial resemblance to "the heavens'' of the Elizabethan 
 theatres. 
 
 ' Those who feel inclined to dub this line of argument preposterous should bear 
 in mind that once or twice within living memory the musicians have been placed over 
 the proscenium in a box similarly arranged. See the illustration of the Madison Square 
 Theatre, New York, in The Scientific American for April 5, 1884 (Vol L. No. 14). 
 
 * Quarto, 1 674, as acted at Dorset Gardens in April or May of that year. 
 
164 Proscenium Doors: an Elizabethan Heritage 
 
 It is plain to be seen that this was a special arrangement ; 
 had it been otherwise the description would have been 
 superfluous. With the increasing popularity of opera (or 
 what passed as such in Post-Restoration times), the orches- 
 tra, as we now know it, was more and more resorted to, until, 
 finally by the end of the century, it had become the normal 
 position of the musicians. Some relics, however, of the old 
 elevated music-room still lingered. Dunton, the itinerant 
 bookseller, who visited Ireland in 1698, writes, in The 
 Dublin Scuffle, of a visit paid to the Smock Alley Theatre 
 at that period. He found 
 
 the Dublin playhouse to be a place very contrary to its owners ; 
 for they on their outsides make the best show; but this is very 
 ordinary in its outward appearance, but looks much better inside 
 with its stage, pit, two galleries, lattices ^ and music loft, &c. 
 
 Before proceeding to an exhaustive consideration of the 
 history and usages of the proscenium doors and balconies, 
 it will be necessary to prove that — whatever other doors or 
 ways of entrance might have been used, as occasion required, 
 in the scene — there were only two permanent, conventional 
 doors, and that these formed the regular, but not sole, 
 method of entrance and exit. It is imperative this should 
 be thrashed out first, seeing that Lowe, in his careful 
 study of the period, has made out a plausible case for four 
 permanent doors, situated in or near the proscenium.^ Had 
 he exercised his sound sense of the theatre, instead of speak- 
 ing strictly from his brief, it would have dawned upon him 
 that two such doors on both sides of the proscenium would 
 have been in excess of all requirements. 
 
 Lowe's first item of evidence is derived from Etherege's 
 She Would If She Could, ii. i., as performed at the Duke's 
 Theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields in 1668. The scene is the 
 Mulberry Garden, whither come Ariana and Gatty, in 
 masks, to meet their gallants. They pass briskly over the 
 
 1 i. e. side boxes in the middle gallery. The term was apparently peculiar to Dublin 
 and lingered there until the last century. 
 ^ Thomas Betterton, pp. 49-52. 
 
Proscenium Doors: an Elizabethan Heritage 165 
 
 stage, and Freeman and Courtal, having espied them, go 
 off in ardent pursuit. Then the scene proceeds as follows : 
 Enter Women again, and cross the Stage. 
 Ariana. Now if these should prove two Men of War 
 That are Cruising here, to watch for Prizes. 
 
 Gatty. Wou'd they had Courage enough to set upon us, 
 I long to be engag'd. 
 
 Ariana. Look, look yonder, I protest they chase us. 
 Gat. Let us bear away then : if they be truly Valiant 
 they'll quickly make more sail and board us. 
 
 \The Women go out, and go about behind the Scenes to the 
 other Door. 
 
 Enter Courtal and Freeman. 
 
 Free. 'Sdeath, how fleet they are ! whatsoever Faults they 
 have, they cannot be broken-winded. 
 
 Court. Sure, by that little mincing step they shou'd be 
 Country Fillies that have been breath'd a Course at Park, 
 and Barly-break : we shall never reach 'em. 
 
 Free. I'll follow directly, do thou turn the cross walk and 
 meet 'em. 
 
 Enter the Women, and after 'em Courtal at the lower door, 
 and Freeman at the upper on the contrary side. 
 
 It is these references to upper and lower doors that in- 
 duced Lowe to believe there were four permanent entering 
 doors in or about the proscenium. But it is clear that the 
 upper door spoken of must have been a door (or entrance- 
 way) in the actual scene itself, the scene of the Mulberry- 
 Garden. Otherwise there would be no sense in the previous 
 direction, where reference is made to "the other [permanent] 
 door ". What confirmed Lowe in the belief that there were 
 ordinarily four entering doors was the finding of a passage 
 in CoUey Gibber's Apology referring to the "lower doors". 
 In dealing with the alterations made in Drury Lane Theatre ^ 
 by Christopher Rich c. 1 696, with the view of enlarging the 
 pit. Gibber writes in his twelfth chapter : 
 
 It must be observ'd then that the Area or Platform of the old 
 Stage projected about four Foot forwarder, in a Semi-oval figure, 
 
 ' Originally opened, as we have seen, in March, 1674. 
 
1 66 Proscenium Doors: an Elizabethan Heritage 
 
 parallel to the Benches of the Pit ; and that the former lower 
 Doors of Entrance for the Actors were brought down between the 
 two foremost (and then only) Pilasters, in the place of which Doors 
 now the two Stage Boxes are fixt. That where the Doors of En- 
 trance now are, there formerly stood two additional Side Wings, 
 in front to a full Set of Scenes, which had then almost a double 
 Effect in their Loftiness and Magnificence. 
 
 By this Original form the usual Station of the Actors, in almost 
 every Scene, was advanc'd at least ten Foot nearer to the Audience 
 than they now can be, because, not only from the Stage's being 
 shorten'd in front, but likewise from the additional Interposition of 
 those Stage Boxes, the Actors (in respect to the Spectators that 
 filled them) are kept so much more backward from the main audi- 
 ence than they us'd to be ; but when the Actors were in possession 
 of that forwarder Space to advance upon, the Voice was then more 
 in the Centre of the House, so that the most distant Ear had scarce 
 the least Doubt or Difficulty in hearing what fell from the weakest 
 Utterance; All Objects were thus drawn nearer to the Sense; every 
 painted Scene was stronger, every grand Scene and Dance more 
 extended ; every rich or fine-coloured Habit had a more lively 
 Lustre; nor was the minutest Motion of a Feature (properly 
 changing with the Passion or Humour it suited) ever lost, as they 
 frequently must be in the Obscurity of too great a Distance : and 
 how valuable an advantage the facility of hearing distinctly is to 
 every well-acted scene, every common spectator is a Judge. 
 
 Basing on these two items of evidence Lowe argues that 
 our early picture stage theatres had four permanent enter- 
 ing doors, that, up to the year 1 700, the whole four were in 
 front of the curtain, and that subsequently two were in front 
 of, and two behind, the proscenium. But in assuming that 
 because Cibber speaks of " the former lower doors of en- 
 trance" he infers the presence of upper doors, Lowe is clearly 
 wrong. Cibber merely uses the word "lower" the better to 
 indicate to the ordinary reader the precise locality of the 
 doors. The truth is, if we are to base wholly on evidence 
 of this sort, there is no reason why we should stop at four 
 entering doors. Why not six .'' In Lacy's comedy, 'The Old 
 Troop, Act ii, as acted at the Theatre Royal c. i S6^, we have 
 the direction " Enter Twelve Troopers at six doors : two at 
 a door." If we reckon upon two permanent proscenium 
 
Proscenium Doors: an Elizabethan Heritage 167 
 
 doors this would imply the presence of four doors (or en- 
 trance-ways) in the actual scene. Curiously enough,Flecknoe 
 in his unacted comedy, Damoiselles a la Mode{i 667), writes 
 of his piece, "the scaenes and cloaths being the least consider- 
 able in it; any Italian scaenes with four doors serving for the 
 one, and for the other any French cloaths a la mode." The 
 "chambre a quatre portes" was a common feature at this 
 period of the French stage, where it was utilised as the sole 
 setting of a play to preserve (fallaciously, or at the expense 
 of all illusion) the Unity of Place. Such was the nature of 
 the setting employed for the revival of Le Cid in 1673.^ 
 Apart from all this, we must bear in mind that not in aU 
 cases where the Restoration dramatist mentions doors does 
 he mean doors. It is easy to show that the word was often 
 used in a loose sense. In Dryden's An Evenings Love, Act v. 
 Bellamy says, " MaskaU, open the door." Maskall goes to 
 the side scene which draws and shows a tableau of seven 
 figures. Later on the scene shuts when Maskall is told to 
 close the door. Again in Crowne's Sir Courtly Nice, Act i, on 
 Leonora calling for the door to be opened, the scene draws 
 and reveals her aunt and a company of friends at breakfast.^ 
 
 Opposite Lowe's misleading items of evidence for four 
 doors can be placed scores of stage directions proving that 
 all our picture stage theatres of the seventeenth century had 
 but two permanent doors of entrance. A few examples may 
 be cited : 
 
 Duke's Theatre, Lincoln's Inn Fields (1662-74). 
 
 Orrery's tragedy, Mustapha the Son of Solyman the Magnificent 
 (4to 1669, Acted in April, 1665), v. "Exeunt Queen and Haly. 
 Enter Zarma at the other door." 
 
 Orrery's comedy, Guzman (4to 1 693. Seen by Pepys on April 1 6, 
 1669), iii. 4. "They go out hastily at one Door, and Ovie. and 
 Pirac pass out at the other." 
 
 The Theatre Royal in Bridges Street (1663-72). 
 
 Dryden's The Wild Gallant (4to 1669 as acted in 1667), v. 3. 
 " Enter at one door. Trice drunk with the Watch : Bibber and 
 
 ' Of. M. EugineRi^l, he Tbehtre Franfais avant la Piriode Classiquc, 291 note i. 
 ' See the final scene of the play for another example ; also Love for Love, Iv. i. 
 
1 68 Proscenium Doors: an Elizabethan Heritage 
 
 Frances following; at the other, Nonsuch and Servants, and 
 Failer." 
 
 Duke's Theatre, Dorset Gardens (1671-1709). 
 
 Otway's Friendship in Fashion (1678), iv. I. Night Garden. 
 "Enter Goodvile at one Door, Mrs. Goodville and Lettice 
 following her at the other." 
 
 Dryden's Troilus and Cressida (1679), v. 2. "Clattering of 
 swords at both Doors ; he runs each way and meets the noise." 
 
 Dryden's King Arthur (1691), iii. ("A Deep Wood.") 
 " Exeunt Arthur and Merlin at one door. Enter Osmond at the 
 other door." 
 
 Second Theatre Royal in Bridges Street (1674- 1789). 
 
 Dryden's All for Love ; or The World Well Lost (acted 1677), 
 iii. I. "At one Door enter Cleopatra, Charmion, Iras, and Alexas, 
 a train of ^Egyptians ; at the other Antony and Romans. The 
 entrance on both sides is prepar'd by musick." 
 
 Dryden's Don Sebastian King of Portugal (1689) iii. "She runs 
 off, he follows her to the door ; then comes back again and goes 
 out at the other." 
 
 Theatre in Little Lincoln's Inn Fields 
 (opened April 30, 1695). 
 
 Lord Lansdowne's comedy. The She Gallants (1695), v. "Enter 
 Angelica in Women's apparel, and masked at one door ; and 
 Bellamour at the other." ^ 
 
 When we come to look for evidence as to the precise 
 number and disposition of the doors and balconies in con- 
 temporary illustrations of the seventeenth-century picture 
 stage theatres the result is unsatisfactory. Only three views 
 of the kind are known, the plates in Settle's Empress of 
 Morocco showing the Dorset Gardens' stage, the frontispiece 
 to Ariane (i 674) dealing with the second Theatre Royal in 
 Bridges Street (afterwards known as DruryLane), and a 
 later view of the same house showing Joe Haines speaking 
 an epilogue riding on an ass (1697).^ In Settle's plates 
 
 ^ Many of the directions of the Post-Restoration period read '* one door .... 
 another door," These evidently imply two doors only, otherwise they would render the 
 more precise directions unmeaning. 
 
 ^ The only exemplar I know of the Haines' print is preserved in the British 
 Museum in Smith's Compiled History of the Stage (press-mark "11826 r") Vol. iv. 
 (unpaged). It is inscribed in writing, " Joe Haines, mounted upon an Ass, speaking the 
 Epilogue to Unhappy Kindness" (a play by Thos. Scott, acted at Drury Lane in 1697.) 
 
w 
 
 ^ 
 
 ci 
 
 11 
 
 H 
 
 a- 
 
 -r 
 
 ^ 
 
 w 
 
 1^/ 
 
 :i: 
 
 ■- 
 
 L-. 
 
 ?3 
 
 W 
 
 c 
 
 ;^ 
 
 - 
 
 < 
 
 T 
 
 J 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Di 
 
 p 
 
 i-j 
 
 ^ 
 
 p^ 
 
 "I 
 
 Q 
 
 c 
 
Proscenium Doors: an Elizabethan Heritage 169 
 
 we get only a partial view of the immediate front of the 
 proscenium, and although entrance-ways, surmounted by 
 balconies, are clearly indicated, the entrances appear to be 
 large, open arches rather than actual doors. In the frontis- 
 piece to Ariane no indication of doors or balconies occurs, 
 but we see the projecting semi-circular stage. As the apron 
 in the Haines' prints shows the right-hand corner of a 
 rectilinear apron, the print evidently deals withDrury Lane 
 after the alterations made by Christopher Rich. In it a door 
 is depicted, not set obliquely, as we should anticipate from 
 a knowledge of later theatres, but built into a brick wall and 
 running parallel to the front of the stage. No overhanging 
 balcony is indicated. These details require to be recorded, 
 but the truth is old theatrical prints are seldom scrupulously 
 accurate, and no dependence can be placed on their evidence. 
 If the original proscenium entrances were based, as I main- 
 tain, on Elizabethan conventions they must have been, as 
 Restoration stage directions imply, solid wooden doors, 
 and not mere apertures. Had our first picture stage theatres 
 employed open archways it is hardly likely that doors would 
 have been substituted in the eighteenth century, a period 
 in which we have abundant evidence of their employ- 
 ment.^ 
 
 There is no room to doubt that the proscenium doors 
 of our first picture stage theatres were suggested by the 
 tiring-house entering doors of the old platform stage and, 
 subject to some modifications due to the employment of 
 scenery, carried on their conventional usages. In the Eliza- 
 bethan playhouses the doors were provided with knockers ^ 
 and with locks and keys,' so as to assist the illusion of the 
 scene as occasion demanded. We have no direct evidence of 
 a similar provision in connection with the first proscenium 
 
 1 It should be noted, however, that in Vander Gucht's emblematic frontispiece 
 to the third edition of Harlequin Horace, or the Art of Modern Poetry (1735), the pro- 
 scenium entrances bear a marked resemblance to the arch-ways indicated in the illustra- 
 tions to The Empress of Morocco. Over them are balconies occupied (as customary at 
 that period) by spectators. From 1735 onwards, for close on a century, all genuine 
 English theatre views depict unmistakable doors. 
 
 ' In Middleton's comedy ThePboenix (c. 1 605), the use of a ring knocker is indicated. 
 
 ' Cf. Massinger's The Renegado, ii. 5 ; Webster's Devil's Law Case, v. 4. 
 
lyo Proscefiium Doors: an Elizabethan Heritage 
 
 doors, but it seems not unlikely that in scenes where the 
 knocking and locking and breaking open of doors took 
 place on the early picture stages, it was these doors that 
 were utilised. If it can be assumed that the later disposition 
 of the doors and balconies was largely traditional, and I 
 think it can, then it is important for us to note that the 
 proscenium doors of the early nineteenth century were aU 
 provided with knockers.^ 
 
 On the early picture stages entrance and exit by the pro- 
 scenium doors were not imperative, but, as action took place 
 mostly on the apron, the doors were used in the generality 
 of cases. Characters could be discovered by the rising of the 
 curtain or the drawing of a scene and they could be closed 
 in by the running on of a pair of flats. But at first little use 
 was made of the new medium, and in many early Restoration 
 plays the characters enter with the opening of the scene.^ In 
 dramatic construction and stage arrangements there was a 
 curious persistence of Elizabethan conventions. Tableaux 
 endings of acts were slow in arriving. Down to the close of 
 the century the termination of the act was marked by a clear 
 stage. Lest it should be argued that "exeunt" simply meant 
 " curtain ", cases may be cited where this would not apply. 
 In An Evenings Love, end of act iv, we have " Exeunt, the 
 Men leading the Women." Sometimes the characters depart 
 one after the other, leaving a clear stage, as in Otway's Don 
 Carlos, Prince of Spain, acts iii and iv.' This system was 
 apparently an unnecessary perpetuation of the Elizabethan 
 convention. The conclusion would be that, as in the con- 
 temporary French theatre, the curtain did not fall in the 
 inter-acts, and, as a matter of fact, it has yet to be proved 
 that it did so fall. AU we know for certain is that the curtain 
 rose at the beginning and fell at the close. The usual direc- 
 tion at the opening of intermediate acts in the Restoration 
 
 • See Cruikshank's illustrations to Boz's Memoirs of Joseph Grimaldi. Some also 
 had street bells — a latter-day addition. 
 
 ' e.g. Etherege's The Comical Revenge (1664). A decenninm later, Dryden made 
 frequent use of discoveries. 
 
 ' In The Careless Husband of CoUey Gibber (1704), one notes two rapid separate 
 exits at the close of Act iv. 
 
Proscenium Doors: an Elizabethan Heritage 171 
 
 and Post-Restoration drama is either " the scene opens " 
 or " the scene draws." ^ The difficulty is to know whether 
 these directions have a literal meaning or merely imply the 
 rising of the curtain. If they mean what they say, then we 
 can only assume that the scene with which the previous act 
 terminated remained in full view of the audience while the 
 inter-act music was being played, and that the drawing of the 
 scene marked the beginning of the succeeding act. In that 
 case the few definite examples we possess of the curtain fall- 
 ing between the acts would be the exceptions proving the 
 rule.^ The point is a very puzzling one to determine, but 
 from the tenor of the following extract from Gibber's pro- 
 logue to She Won d and She Wou d Not {fjo^), referring to 
 the attempt to preserve the Unity of Place, I am inclined to 
 believe that from the Restoration to at least the reign of 
 Queen Anne the curtain usuallyremained up until the close 
 of the play : 
 
 His action 's in the Time of Acting done, 
 No more than from the Curtain up and down. 
 While the first Musick plays he moves his Scene, 
 A little space, but never shifts again. 
 
 Returning to our consideration of the usages of the pro- 
 scenium doors, it is noteworthy that one particular mode 
 of separate entrance at the back of the scene, so far from run- 
 ning counter to Elizabethan tradition, clearly perpetuated 
 it. On the platform stage eavesdroppers never entered 
 through either of the two doors but invariably came on 
 through the inner stage to peep through the traverses in 
 front. " Enter behind " was the conventional instruction in 
 these cases, and where one comes across that direction one 
 may be always prepared for a scene of eavesdropping. ' 
 
 ' Cf. Howard and Dryden's The Indian Queen (1664), Acts iv and v; Lee's The 
 M.aaacre of Farts (1690), iv; Settle's Empress of Morocco (1672), ii ; Motteuz's The 
 Island Princess (1699), iv. 
 
 ' The cnrtain drew up on Act iv of Orrery's Henry V at the Duke's in 1 664 ; and 
 in the same author's tragedy of The Black Prince (1667), the curtain fell on Act i and 
 was drawn up again before Act ii. 
 
 ' Cf. The Phoenix, v. i ; The Roaring Girl, iv. I ; Hyde Park, iii. i. Sometimes 
 the direction reads "enter privately", as in The Prophetess, iv. 6, and The Little French 
 Lawyer, iii. i. But the variant seems peculiar to Beaumont and Fletcher. 
 
172 Proscenium Doors: an Elizabethan Heritage 
 
 In the drama of the early picture stage era the same thing 
 applies. Listeners always came on at the back. ^ Where 
 characters were not closed in by the running on of a front 
 scene, exits were generally made by the proscenium doors. 
 Now and again, however, the stage arrangements called for 
 departure at the back, as in The Plain Dealer, iii. i , where 
 Manly leaves Fidelia, and goes out"atthe end of the stage." 
 
 For long the technique of dramatic construction was not 
 materially altered by the introduction of scenery. The 
 Restoration dramatist wrote as if he still had the old plat- 
 form stage in his mind's eye, and, regardless of the worries 
 of stage mechanists and managers, continued to shift his 
 scene with almost breathless rapidity. The consequence was 
 that, to admit of ready handling, the scenery had to be of the 
 lightest framework. With a rapidly changing stage elaborate 
 built-up backgrounds were wholly out of the question. 
 Under these conditions the presence of the proscenium 
 doors and their attendant balconies proved extremely grate- 
 ful. They admitted of the realising of many situations and 
 incidents that otherwise could not have been dealt with. 
 All the action that usually took place "above" on the plat- 
 form stage was transferred to the proscenium balconies. 
 Hence the persistence of the old stage direction.^ One great 
 advantage of the two sets of doors and balconies was that 
 they could be used either singly or in combination. To 
 the variety of situation thus admitted of was largely due the 
 vogue at the Restoration period of the comedy of intrigue, 
 and drama of the cape and sword order. Serenade scenes 
 abounded, and plays seem almost to have been written to 
 exploit the possibilities of the doors and balconies. Once 
 more the physical conditions of the theatre were exercising 
 a potent influence upon dramaturgy. 
 
 Of the simple, as contrasted with the complex, use of the 
 balconies we have a good illustration in The Comical Revenge, 
 
 1 Cf. The Wild Gallant, iv. i, "Enter Loveby behind"; The Country Wit, ii. i ; 
 All for hove, Iv. i. Occasionally characters not eavesdropping entered at the back, as 
 in Mrs. Behn's The Ronier, Part i, i. i. 
 
 ' Cf. St. Serfe's Tarugo's Wiles; or The Coffee House (1668), v. i, "enter Liviana 
 above" ; All for Love, iv. i ; (Edipus, v, at close ; and A» Evening's Love, Act ii. 
 
Proscenium Doors: an Elizabethan Heritage 173 
 
 Hi. 2 (as in 1664 at the Duke's), where the chambermaid 
 and her mistress come successively to " the window " and 
 speak down. To avoid confusion it is necessary here to 
 point out that there was no separate permanent window on 
 the picture-stages of the seventeenth century, and that the 
 terms "window", "balcony" and "above" were all inter- 
 changeable. It is difficult from the stage directions to arrive 
 at the exact disposition of the early balconies but, in keeping 
 with their recognition as windows, it is significant that in 
 the early nineteenth century they were invariably provided 
 with lace curtains. In George Digby, Earl of Bristol's 
 comedy Elvira, or the Worst Not always True, ii. 7-8 (as 
 probably acted at the Duke's in 1666), we read of a balcony 
 door capable of being locked. At first one is inclined to 
 think this was merely the entering door below until one 
 is given pause by the following stage directions in Orrery's 
 Guzman, as acted at the same theatre three years later : 
 " A balcony opens, in which Antonio appears drest in Pink 
 
 Colour, &c Pastr. and Anto. shut the balcony 
 
 and retire." In Mrs. Behn's The Amorous Prince, or the 
 Curious Husband, iv. 4 (as played at the same house in 1 67 1 ), 
 an interesting situation occurs. Lorenzo descends from the 
 balcony by means of sheets, taken from a bed by Isabella and 
 knotted together. A variant of this "business" is to be found 
 in the second part of The Rover, by the same author, as acted 
 at Dorset Gardens in 1675. In Act i v. 5, we read : "Scene 
 the Street, a Sheet ty'd to the Balcony, and Feth. sitting 
 across to slide down." Fetherfoot subsequently "goes half 
 
 down and stops The Door opens. Beau, goes 
 
 up to it ; Will, puts him by, and oiFers to go in, he pulls 
 him back." A quarrel ensues; "strikes him, they fight, and 
 blows light on Fetherfoot who hangs down." The indi- 
 cation in these two plays of the distance to be traversed 
 between balcony and stage shows that when the King 
 in CEdipus (1679) throws himself from the window, it is a 
 dummy figure that falls, as evidenced by the fact that to mask 
 the deception " the Thebans gather about his body." No 
 dramatist of the time had a better sense of the theatre than 
 
174 Proscenium Doors: an Elizabethan Heritage 
 
 Mrs. Behn and none made more adroit employment of the 
 balconies. In proof of this take The Rover, Part i, Act ii. i, 
 as performed at Dorset Gardens in 1677. The scene is the 
 exterior of the house of Angellicathe courtesan. "Enter two 
 Bravos, and hang up a great picture of Angelica's against 
 the Balcony, and two little ones at each side of the Door." 
 Blunt and his companions comment on the portraits and 
 speak of the rapacity of the fair original. Then " enter 
 Angellica and Moretta in the Balcony, and draw a silk 
 Curtain." They listen to what is going on below, and talk. 
 " Enter at one Door Don Pedro, Stephano ; Don Antonio 
 and Diego at the other Door," &c. Later on " Angellica 
 throws open the curtains, and bows to Antonio, who pulls 
 ofFhis vizard and bows, and blows up kisses." 
 
 The complex use of the doors and balconies admitted of 
 many situations of considerable ingenuity and uncommon 
 illusion. Probably the best example is that capital scene in the 
 fifth act of Sir Martin Afar-^// (as. given in 1668 at the 
 Duke's), where the thick-witted Knight makes pretence of 
 serenading his lady-love, and exposes his own trick by con- 
 tinuing to finger on the lute and to make mouths as if singing, 
 long after his concealed substitute has ceased. The stage 
 directions run : " Enter Mrs. Millisent, and Rose, with a 
 Candle by 'em above. ... Sir Martin appears at the adverse 
 Window, a tune play'd." In the Second Part of The Rover, 
 Act ii, spectators come bn at both balconies to view the tricks 
 of the mountebank on his temporary stage. In Crowne's The 
 Country Wit, as acted in 1675 at Dorset Gardens, Act ii 
 occurs in "The Street" and Lady Faddle and Bridget appear 
 at the opening on the balcony. Considerably after they 
 have retired, " Lord Drybone, Betty Frisque and Cis, come 
 to the Window " and talk while Ramble and Merry below 
 listen. Here the window was doubtless the adverse balcony. 
 
 While it seems to have been unusual on the early picture 
 stages for the curtain to be let down between the acts, ^ 
 
 ■ In Mrs. Behn's tragi-comedy The Young King, or The Mistake (as at Doriet 
 Gardens in 1679), we read at the opening of Act iii : "The Curtain is let down — being 
 drawn up, discovers Orsames seated on a Throne asleep . . . Above is discovered the 
 
Proscenium Doors: an Elizabethan Heritage 175 
 
 instances occur, curiously enough, where it was lowered in 
 the middle of an act, and that, too, without serious break 
 in the action. About the earliest example of this occurs in 
 the last act of Orrery's Henry V, as given at Lincoln's Inn 
 Fields in 1664. The curtain having been let down, two 
 Heralds appear " opposite to each other in the balconies 
 near the stage." A proclamation is made and the curtain 
 again rises. A similar expedient was resorted to at the same 
 house two years later when Caryl's play, The English Princess, 
 or the Death of Richard HI was produced there. This was 
 probably due to the many changes of scene in Act iv, the 
 act in which it was employed. Scene viii begins with the 
 premature announcement " The Scene is changed to the 
 King's Lodging," premature because the scene reaUy repre- 
 sents the ante-chamber to the King's Lodging, which forms 
 scene ix. Then comes the following sequence of directions : 
 " [The Curtain is let down.] . . . Enter Catesby and 
 RatclifFe at one of the Doors before the Curtain." . . . 
 Some dialogue ensues revealing that the two are in the 
 King's ante-chamber. ..." Enter Lovel at the other Door 
 before the Curtain . . . Sc. ix. The Curtain is opened". 
 Here we have evidence of the presence and employment 
 of the apron in the first English scenic theatre. 1 have 
 already said that scene viii was probably played before the 
 curtain because of the great amount of scene-shifting that 
 had preceded. That explanation, however, would not apply 
 to a much later representation of an ante-room, where a 
 similar arrangement was followed. This was in Southerne's 
 comedy, The Wives' Excuse, as produced at Drury Lane in 
 1 692, a year or two before Rich reduced the dimensions of 
 the apron. The opening scene of the piece was played in 
 front before the rising of the curtain. It represented " the 
 Outward Room to the Musick-meeting " and showed a 
 number of servants in attendance, exchanging confidences ; 
 after which " the curtain drawn up shews the company at 
 the Musick-meeting." 
 
 Qneen Olympia, and Women." This would surely indicate that it was not then usual 
 to drop the curtain at the end of an act. 
 
176 Proscenium Doors: an Elizabethan Heritage 
 
 Scenes of this peculiar order were of no great frequency 
 but one finds them persisting for over a century in rehearsal 
 plays. ^ In that famous exemplar, The Rehearsal, as origi- 
 nally produced at the Theatre Royal in December, 1671, 
 portions of the piece were certainly played on the apron 
 with the curtain down, but exactly how many it would 
 now be difficult to say. At the end of the fourth act, Bayes, 
 after clearing the stage, says "let down the curtain" and 
 goes off with the others. The fifth act opens on the apron 
 to which Bayes and the two gentlemen enter through one of 
 the proscenium doors. Evidently this is the position they 
 occupy during the ensuing rehearsal, which begins with 
 the direction " the curtain is drawn up, the two usurping 
 Kings appear in state, with the four Cardinals," &c., &c. 
 The precedent thus established was followed for long in 
 most pieces of a similar order. Curtain scenes were em- 
 ployed by Fielding in no fewer than three of his Haymarket 
 travesties. The Authors Farce (iy2ol), Tumble Down Dick; or 
 Phaeton in the Suds (1736), and The Historical Register for 
 1736 (1737). If it can be taken that Hogarth's "Pasquin" 
 plate represents the Haymarket stage (on which Fielding's 
 Pasquin was first produced in 1736), then it is worthy of 
 note that the plate shows a deep apron, flanked by prosce- 
 nium doors and balconies. Foote adopted the Duke of 
 Buckingham's old device in writing his Occasional Epilogue 
 for the opening of the Haymarket in 1767.^ The first part 
 of this represented the street, the second the stage of the 
 theatre, and the rising of the curtain in the middle indicated 
 the change of locality. From an incidental remark one notes 
 that the Haymarket proscenium at this period was adorned 
 with statues typifying Ancient and Modern Comedy.' 
 Finally, Sheridan, in writing The Critic for production at 
 
 * See also Dennis's comedy P/o? awf/iVo P/or, as acted at Druiy Lane in 1697 and 
 revived at Covent Garden in April, 1746. The second act is laid in "The Playhouse 
 before the Curtain," and the characters speak from the stage, the stage box and the side 
 boxes. Genest thinks Foote derived his device in The Orators (1762) from this arrange- 
 ment. 
 
 2 For which, see The Monthly Mirror of January 1804. 
 
 ^ Similar statues adorned most of the early eighteenth century London theatres. For 
 Drury Lane at an earlier period see Hogarth's print, A Just Vieiu of the British Stage. 
 

 / 
 
 
 '//// 
 
 U 
 
 FRONTISPIECE TO hARLEQUIN HORACE, 5R1) EDITION {1735). 
 Proscenium entrances and balconies. 
 
 \_Tofacc f. 177. 
 
Proscenium Doors: an Elizabethan Heritage 177 
 
 Drury Lane in 1779, followed the lead of Buckingham and 
 Fielding, in staging portions of the second and third acts on 
 the apron with the curtain down. 
 
 At what exact period spectators were first allowed to sit 
 in the proscenium balconies it would be difficult to say. 
 Writing of earlier times in the Memoirs of his Own Life 
 (1790), Tate Wilkinson says : 
 
 Whenever a Don Choleric in The Fop''s Fortune, or Sir Amorous 
 Vainwit in A Woman's a Riddle, or Charles in The Busybody, tried 
 to find out secrets, or plot an escape from a balcony, they always 
 bowed and thrust themselves into the boxes over the stage door, 
 amidst the company, who were greatly disturbed, and obliged to 
 give up their seats. 
 
 Some reason exists to believe that the custom of specta- 
 tors sitting in the proscenium balconies originated almost 
 at the very outset. In D'Avenant's ballad epilogue to The 
 Man's the Master^ as acted at the Duke's in March, 1668, 
 we read : 
 
 Nay, often, you swear, when places are shewn ye 
 
 That your hearing is thick 
 
 And so by a love-trick. 
 
 You pass through our scenes up to the balcony. 
 
 Lowe ^ assumes that the balcony here referred to was 
 simply the boxes in the auditorium, but the whole passage, 
 and especially the allusion to assumed deafness, seems to 
 indicate that the proscenium balcony was in the writer's 
 mind. The problem could be readily solved if one could 
 determine the position of " the side balcone over against 
 the musique room " to which Pepys made unwilling resort 
 at the same house on November 7, 1667. That the custom 
 of spectators sitting in the proscenium balconies was prac- 
 tised throughout the greater part of the eighteenth century 
 old theatrical prints clearly show.^ At one theatre at least the 
 
 ' op. cit. p. 21-2. 
 
 * See the frontispiece to the third edition (only) of Harlequin Horace (1735) already 
 referred to ; also the broadside "Fitzgiggo", showing a view of Covent Garden stage in 
 1763 (reproduced in Mr. Henry Saxe Wyndham*s Annals of Covent Garden Theatre^ 
 i. 154). 
 
 N 
 
lyS Proscenium Doors: an Elizabethan Heritage 
 
 price of admission there was duly advertised. At Good- 
 man's Fields in 1 734 the cost was five shillings, or a shilling 
 more than to the boxes. 
 
 Acting at this period still remained a rhetorical art. Not- 
 withstanding the long habituation to pictorial backgrounds 
 little progress had been made towards scenic illusion or stage 
 realism. Not only were spectators allowed to sit in stage boxes 
 and proscenium balconies, but they also occupied benches 
 running on the sides of the stage from the orchestra half- 
 way to the back scene, and railed in with heavy balustrades, 
 or draped enclosures.^ Owing to the frequency of disturb- 
 ances behind the the scenes it was decreed in 172 1 that a 
 guard of soldiers should be sent nightly to the principal 
 theatres, and from this period onwards for half a century two 
 grenadiers kept watch and ward at each performance beside 
 the proscenium doors. We find a reference to their presence 
 in the first number of The Centinel, a weekly Journal, pub- 
 lished in London on January 6, 1757 : 
 
 The Centinel has likewise engaged in his service those tall gen- 
 tlemen of the cloth, who at our theatres appear upon the stage in 
 clean spatter-dashes, nodding-caps and burnished arms, seeming to 
 support the wooden ornaments of the Proscenium, and adding a 
 terrific grandeur to the drama. They are instructed to superintend 
 the representation with a critical eye ; to make a faithful report of 
 the excellencies and demerits of each performer ; &c., &c. 
 
 In Dublin, where the proscenium doors had been a 
 regular stage feature from late in the seventeenth century,^ 
 the custom of having a military guard in front was soon 
 followed. In connection with her engagement at the Smock 
 Alley Theatre in 1 746-7, Mrs. Bellamy writes : 
 
 Mr. Sheridan, in consequence of the insult I had received from 
 Mr. St. Leger, as before related, and on account of the inconveni- 
 ences arising from the custom, had given a general order at the 
 
 ' See the reproduction of Hogarth's painting of "The Beggar's Opera" in The 
 Magazine of Art for August, 1895, p. 386 (article on "Stage Scenery in the Eighteenth 
 Century"). 
 
 * In Charles Shadwell's The Hasty Wedding, ii. 4, as acted at Smock Alley c. 171 8 
 and first printed in Shadwell's collected works in 1720, we have the direction, "Exit. 
 Enter, at the other door, Herriot," 
 
Proscenium Doors: an Elizabethan Heritage 179 
 
 doors of the theatre, and notice in all the public papers, that no 
 gentleman was, on any account, to be admitted behind the scenes. 
 It happened one night, just as I was so far recovered as to venture 
 to the house, but not to perform ; that an officer who had more 
 wine in his head than humanity in his heart, insisted on passing 
 the centry placed at the [proscenium] stage-door. The poor fellow 
 persisting in his refusal of admittance, the officer drew his sword 
 and stabbed him in the thigh, with so much violence that the 
 weapon broke, and left a piece in the most dangerous part. Hear- 
 ing a riot on the stage, I ran from the box in which I sat, and flew 
 in my fright to the next centinel for protection. This happening 
 to be the man who had been wounded, I found myself in a moment 
 encompassed by numbers, and was obliged to be a witness to the 
 broken steel being taken out.^ 
 
 Ireland by no means formed the western limit of the 
 travels of the proscenium doors and balconies. By 1767 the 
 conventional disposition had been adopted in New York, to 
 remain in vogue in all the leading American theatres for 
 half a century. ^ 
 
 After the abolition of the custom of spectators sitting on 
 the stage managers sought to make up for their consequent 
 loss of revenue by increasing the number of stage boxes. 
 Eventually the tendency in this direction operated against 
 the preservation of the proscenium doors. In a rare engrav- 
 ing of the Screen scene in The School for Scandal, issued in 
 October, 1 778, showing the stage front of Drury Lane, one 
 notes no fewer than twelve stage boxes on the two sides in 
 four vertical rows. Probably only eight of these were for 
 actual use, as the uppermost pair on either side are shown 
 empty, and were doubtless added to be in harmony with the 
 general architectural scheme of the auditorium. Beyond the 
 stage boxes were the two entering doors with their small 
 balconies, and finally, in the distance, the proscenium arch.' 
 
 • An Apology for the Life of George Anne Bellamy (Dublin, 1785), i. 94. 
 
 * A quaint old view of the primitive John Street Theatre, New York, c. 1767, 
 shows the doors and balconies but gives no indication of the apron. For the doors at 
 Philadelphia in 1811, see Dunlap's Memoirs of Geo. Fredk. Cooke, ii. 286. 
 
 ' For an exemplar of the engraving (the only one I know of), see the Grangerised 
 copy of George Daniel's Garrick in the Green Room (1829), in the British Museum (press- 
 mark "1871 b"). 
 
i8o Proscenium Doors: an Elizabethan Heritage 
 
 As acting still took place well to the front, the players were 
 flanked on both sides by tiers of spectators. Liberal as this 
 supply of stage boxes at old Drury now appears, it apparently 
 did not suffice to meet the demands ; in September, 1780, 
 the entering doors were taken away and extra boxes put in 
 their place. ^ We know that these doors were subsequently 
 restored, in deference probably to the wishes of the tradition- 
 ridden players, but the exact period of restoration is difficult 
 to determine. The only definite evidence that can be un- 
 earthed points to the year 1794, but two items of no great 
 cogency suggest a much earlier date. Boaden in writing, 
 longo intervallo, of Mrs. Siddons's acting as Jane Shore at 
 Drury Lane in 1782, apparently from personal recollec- 
 tions, says : 
 
 There was in my early days such a permanent property as a 
 stage-door in our theatres, and the proscenium beyond it ; so that 
 when Shore was pushed from the door, she was turned round and 
 staggered till supported by the firm projection behind her. Here 
 was a terrific picture full in the eye of the pit, and this most pic- 
 turesqe of women knew the amazing value of it.^ 
 
 It maybe, of course, that in writing a quarter of a century 
 after the event, Boaden fell a victim to a confused memory. 
 On the other hand there is some slender evidence to hand 
 which tends to prove the accuracy of his statement. In a 
 collection of Drury Lane ana preserved in an old scrapbook 
 in the British Museum is a cutting ^ dated "1785", without 
 mention of the source, which runs : 
 
 We wish to point out to the managers of old Drury a little 
 circumstance to which we hope they will pay immediate and strict 
 attention. We mean the eternal jar of the stage-doors. The ladies 
 of this Theatre are most of them, we must confess, very pretty 
 women, and well frized, well feathered, well-rouged, and well- 
 dressed ; we never see them without pleasure. We should be happy 
 therefore to be spared the mortification of such unseasonable peeps 
 
 ' See the account of the opening of Drury Lane for the season in Walker's Hiber- 
 nian Magazine for October, 1780. 
 
 * Memoirs of Mrs. Siddons (1827), Chap. ». 
 
 ' Copied by me some years ago. Unfortunately I omitted to note the press-mark 
 of the volume. 
 
Proscenium Doors: an Elizabethan Heritage i8i 
 
 at the dear creatures in their dishabille, with their unpowdered 
 locks about their ears, or tucked under a black bonnet, and their 
 sweet persons disguised in long cloaks, and loose-bodied coats.^ 
 
 Whether or not the doors at old Drury were soon re- 
 stored, one notes that in September, 1782, Covent Garden 
 made a faint attempt to follow the lead given. Extra boxes 
 were placed on the stage and the entering doors removed 
 behind the curtain. ^ Boaden explains why the alteration 
 created general discontent among the players : 
 
 I well remember the effect of its additional boxes in the situa- 
 tion of the old stage doors, and that these essential things in the 
 new structure were behind the curtain. The actors seemed to feel 
 embarrassed by the more extended area of the stage. There was 
 no springing off with the established glance at the pit and projected 
 right arm. The actor was obliged to edge away in his retreat to- 
 wards the far distant wings with somewhat of the tedium, but not 
 all the awkwardness, which is observed in the exits at the Italian 
 Opera. ^ 
 
 The result was that, when Covent Garden was recon- 
 structed in 1792, the stage was provided with a deeper 
 apron, the extra boxes were removed, and the doors brought 
 back to their old position. That is to say, they were en- 
 sconced between the Corinthian pilasters and columns of 
 the proscenium, and adorned attractively with white and 
 gold. Boaden's contemptuous reference to the Italian Opera 
 is amusing, seeing that the absence of proscenium doors and 
 cumbersome stage boxes at the King's Theatre in the Hay- 
 market had led there to a forestalment of the latter-day 
 triumphs of scenic illusion. In a notice* of the Don Giovanni 
 of Mozart at that house in 1 8 1 7, we read : 
 
 We have never seen upon any stage so perfect an exhibition ot 
 moonlight as that at the King's Theatre in the new opera of Don 
 
 ' It was customary for players and others in those days to linger (and sometimes 
 sit) behind the proscenium doors. See an anecdote of Tom King in Dublin in 1794 in 
 Michael Kelly^s Reminiscences (1826, second edition), ii. 49. 
 
 * fValker' s Hibernian Magazine (flctoher, 1782), p. 508. 
 ' op. cit. Chap. viii. 
 
 * Quoted from some London paper, unspecified, in The Freeman^ s Journal of Dublin 
 for April 23, 1 8 1 7. The King's Theatre was built in 1 790 from designs by Novosielski. 
 
1 82 Proscenium Doors: an Elizabethan Heritage 
 
 Juan ; it is produced also by the simplest means. The blue trans- 
 parent veil through which the light falls on the statue is a perfect 
 imitation of nature ; and we see in this instance how preferable for 
 dramatic efFect is the form of stage in the front of which there is 
 no projection, either by side wings, doors, pillars, or picture frames. 
 Here the scene and the hall (i.e. the part allotted to spectators) run 
 into one another, without a break or interruption — and the spec- 
 tators actually sit in the moonlight, so perfect is the illusion. 
 
 For some considerable time before this the Italian opera- 
 houses had been enabled to give a series of object-lessons in 
 scenic realism to the London theatres owing to their freedom 
 from the conventional doors. Foreign singers, accustomed 
 to enter by the wing, set their faces resolutely against all 
 attempts to introduce the English principle. A view of the 
 Pantheon, published in 1 8 1 5 by Robert Wilkinson, shows 
 the opera house as it was after its reconstruction four years 
 previously on the model of the great theatre at Milan. The 
 position within the proscenium arch on either side, normally 
 occupied at the patent theatres by the entering doors and 
 balconies, was filled up from the boards to the proscenium 
 border with boxes, eight in all, in vertical sets of four. 
 Although a capacious apron, flanked by other rows of boxes, 
 was provided the singers were prevented from coming out 
 beyond the proscenium by a series of formidable footlights 
 ranged in line with the front pilasters. 
 
 If the entering doors were restored to their old position 
 at Drury Lane about 178 1, it is curious to find, when the 
 house was rebuilt in 1793, that the extra stage boxes still 
 held their pride of place and that no entering doors were 
 to be seen. One would be inclined to think from this that 
 they had never been replaced. At best the whole story of the 
 choppings and changings at this house reveal woeful inde- 
 cision on the part of its proprietors. In September, 1797, 
 the doors were once more restored to their old position. 
 Concerning the alteration we read in The Monthly Mirror : 
 
 There is a stage door on each side, forming a segment of a circle, 
 and over these doors are two tiers of boxes. The effect of this addi- 
 tion is a contraction of the width of the stage, and an additional 
 
Proscenium Doors: an Elizabethan Heritage 183 
 
 space behind the scenes, which gives more facility to the move- 
 ment of the scenery.^ 
 
 The difficulty experienced from this onward in insti- 
 tuting a wholesale reform was due to the fact that the 
 London stage of the early nineteenth century was mostly 
 recruited from the ranks of country players, and that in the 
 country the convention of the proscenium doors died ex- 
 ceedingly hard. Players, as a rule, are more concerned for 
 the effect of their own individual acting than for the general 
 artistic result, and they fight stubbornly for anything that 
 panders to their own selfish instincts. It is this attitude that 
 stiU preserves the footlights in spite of the century-long 
 clamouring of the reformers. 
 
 Owing to the prolonged employment of the proscenium 
 doors England had failed to keep step with other nations 
 in the steady march towards scenic realism. This point was 
 soundly driven home by an acute observer in 1 807 : 
 
 In England there is hardly ever a central door contrived in the 
 flat vifhich closes the scene. Whatever be the performance, and 
 whosoever be the personages, they either all walk in and out at the 
 permanent doors, which form part of the proscenium, or they slide 
 in and out between the intervals of the wings, which are generally 
 intended to represent a solid cohering wall ; so that, were the laws 
 of perspective so sufficiently attended to in the painting of the 
 scenes, and they were made, as they should be made, to look like 
 an uninterrupted mass of masonry, the entrance and exit of each 
 personage through the solid wall would every time appear to be 
 effected by downright witchcraft.^ 
 
 In France at this period, the writer goes on to say, things 
 were difi^erently ordered. If a room were represented it 
 bore the normal aspect of a room and had appropriate fold- 
 ing doors. Or, if the business of the scene required that the 
 room should lead into several others, then two or three 
 
 ' In a view of Drury Lane in May, i 800, preserved in Smith's Compiled History 
 of the English Stage, Vol. xvii (in the British Museum), showing George III standing in 
 the left hand stage box after being shot at by Hatfield, a proscenium door on that side 
 of the modest apron is clearly indicated. For interior views of Drury Lane, Covent 
 Garden and the Haymarket in 1808, see Thomas Gilliland's The Dramatic Mirror, 
 Vol. I. All three show the doors. 
 
 ^ Cited by Dutton Cook in On the Stage, i. 1 90, without mention of the source. 
 
1^4 Proscenium Doors: an Elizabethan Heritage 
 
 doors were provided. Illusion by this means was heightened, 
 and the story of the play made more comprehensible, "not 
 to speak of the infinitely more striking effect which is pro- 
 duced by a performer of commanding mien, invested with 
 a dignified character, entering the scene in the centre, and, 
 from his very first appearance, presenting himself in front 
 to the spectators, instead of being obliged to slide edge- 
 ways on and off the boards through an interstice in the side 
 scenes." 
 
 Reform in this direction was snail-paced ; it was not until 
 the period of the Bancroft management at the Prince of 
 Wales' Theatre sixty years later that anything material was 
 effected.^ But in 1 8 1 2 Drury Lane again essayed to pioneer 
 the way. When the house was rebuilt after the disastrous 
 fire, several improvements, suggested by Samuel Whit- 
 bread, the brewer, one of the managing committee, were 
 carried out. Once more the permanent doors were taken 
 away. For the old-fashioned proscenium arch was substi- 
 tuted a gilded picture frame, remote from the footlights, 
 over which the actors were forbidden to step.^ Grumblings 
 both loud and deep were heard among the players over their 
 various deprivations, and finally old Dowton, pluckier than 
 the rest, broke into open rebellion. "Don't tell me of frames 
 and pictures ! " he exclaimed, with choler, " if I can't be 
 heard by the audience in the frame, I'll walk out of it." And 
 out of it he came. The absurdity, of course, was in pre- 
 serving a useless apron before the frame. To the removal 
 of the proscenium doors mordant allusion was made in one 
 of " The Rejected Addresses ", wherein the ghost of Dr. 
 Johnson, after rising through a trap, indulges in a disquisi- 
 tion from which the following is extracted : 
 
 Permanent stage doors we have none. That which is permanent 
 cannot be removed ; for, if removed, it soon ceases to be perma- 
 
 ' Cf. Mr. William Archer's The Theatrical World of iSgy, pp. 180-1, article on 
 "The Drama of the Reign." 
 
 * When a similar device was adopted at the Queen's Theatre, Manchester, in 
 March, 1846, a local journal characterised the innovation " an outrage upon the best 
 principles of theatrical usage." The proscenium picture frame, with hidden footlights, 
 was finally established by the Bancrofts at the Haymarket in 1879. 
 
COVENT GARDEN THEATRE, 1821 
 (Model for a Toy Theatre.) 
 
 [To face p. 184. 
 
Proscenium Doors: an Elizabethan Heritage 185 
 
 nent. What stationary absurdity can vie with that ligneous barri- 
 cade which, decorated with frappant and tintinnabulant appendages, 
 now serves as the entrance of the lowly cottage, and now as the 
 exit of a lady's chamber : at one time insinuating plastic harlequin 
 into a butcher's shop, and at another yawning as a floodgate, to 
 precipitate the Cyprians of St. Giles's into the embraces of Macbeth. 
 To elude this glaring absurdity, to give to each respective mansion 
 the door which the carpenter would doubtless have given, we vary 
 our portal with the varying scene, passing from deal to mahogany, 
 and from mahogany to oak, as the opposite claims of cottage, palace, 
 or castle may appear to require. 
 
 Amid the general hum of gratulation which flatters us in front, 
 it is fit that some regard should be paid to the murmurs of despon- 
 dence that assail us in the rear. They, as I have elsewhere expressed 
 it, "wholive to please," should not have their own pleasures entirely 
 overlooked. The children of Thespis are general in their censures 
 ofthe architect in having placed the locality of exit at such a distance 
 from theoily radiators which now dazzle theeyesofhimwhoaddresses 
 you. I am, cries the Queen of Terrors, robbed of my fair propor- 
 tions. When the King-killing thane hints to the breathless auditory 
 the murders he means to perpetrate in the castle of MacdufF " ere 
 my purpose cool," so vast is the interval he has to travel before he 
 can escape from the stage, that his purpose has even time to freeze. 
 Your condition cries the Muse of Smiles, is hard, but it is cygnet's 
 down in comparison with mine. The peerless peer of capers and 
 congees has laid it down as a rule, that the best good thing uttered 
 by the morning visitor should conduct him rapidly to the doorway, 
 last impression vying in durability with first. But when on this 
 boarded elongation it falls to my lot to say a good thing, to ejacu- 
 late, "keep moving," or to chaunt, "hie hoc horum genitivo," 
 many are the moments that must elapse ere I can hide myself from 
 public vision in the recesses of O.P. or P.S. 
 
 Irritated beyond endurance by the complaints of the 
 players, the Drury Lane management restored the doors 
 for the last time in the course of a year or two. As if to 
 prove they still had their utility, they were pressed effec- 
 tively into service in an amusing epilogue about an epilogue 
 spoken after the new comedy of Lost Life, on November 1 3 , 
 1 82 1. No sooner had the curtain fallen than Mrs. Edwin 
 and the prompter came on through the P.S. door to wrangle 
 
1 86 Proscenium Doors: an Elizabethan Heritage 
 
 over the lines that should be delivered. In her distress, after 
 the departure of the prompter, the actress goes to the door 
 and rings up the curtain. Then the players are discovered 
 on the stage in confusion. Willing as they are to help, they 
 finally decree that no epilogue shall be spoken — and, in so 
 expressing themselves in rhyme, speak it ! ^ This, however, 
 was but an expiring flicker ; within a year the doors were 
 banished from Drury Lane for ever. When the house re- 
 opened for the season on October i6, 1822, Terry spoke 
 an address by George Colman in which incidental reference 
 was made to the change : 
 
 Thus, then : — our Manager, who scouts the fears 
 Of pulling on old house about his ears, 
 Has spared of our late edifice's pride. 
 The outward walls, and little else beside : 
 
 Look round and judge ; his efforts are all waste 
 Unless you stamp them as a work of taste ; 
 Nor blame him for transporting from the floors 
 Those old offenders here — the two stage doors ; 
 Doors which have oft with burnish'd pannels stood 
 And golden knackers ghttering in a wood, 
 Which on their posts, through every change remain'd 
 Fast as Bray's Vicar, whosoever reign'd ; 
 That served for palace, cottage, street or hall, 
 Used for each place, and out of place in all ; 
 Station'd, like watchmen who in lamplight sit, 
 For all their business of the night unfit. ^ 
 
 Exactly a year later Covent Garden fell in line. A report 
 of the re-opening of that house in October, 1 823, tells us 
 " the stage doors have been removed, and superb boxes put 
 in their places."^ But as yet only half the battle had been 
 won. Neither in town nor country was the example of 
 the two great patent theatres immediately followed. * In 
 1828-30, when the French players occupied the Lyceum 
 
 ^ Given in externa in The Drama ^ or Theatrical Pocket Magazine (iSzi), i. 354. 
 ' The Drama i or Theatrical Pocket Magazine, iii. 228. 
 ' The Drama, V. 128. 
 
 * For a view of the Olympic in 1826, showing the doors, see The Era Almanack 
 (1891), p. 21. A reform took place there in 1831, 
 
Proscenium Doors: an Elizabethan Heritage 187 
 
 theatre, the doors were still in situ but were hidden during 
 their tenancy by draperies. ^ It was probably owing to the 
 contempt with which they were treated by the visitors that 
 they were removed within the next year or two. Most of the 
 outlying theatres, however, continued to cling stubbornly 
 totheoutworn convention. In 1853 the doors were actually 
 restored at the Royal Standard Theatre after a long banish- 
 ment, ^ In 1 865 they were still in existence at the Surrey at 
 the period of the fire there. ^ When the house was rebuilt 
 the apron was again to be seen, but the doors were not re- 
 placed. So far as the metropolis was concerned, the old 
 doors lingered longest at Sadlers Wells, where they sur- 
 vived the theatrical glories of Islington, remaining /« «Va, 
 as silent testimonies to a creed outworn, until about the 
 year 1879. Writing of his juvenile experiences at that 
 historic house in the early fifties, Clement Scott says : 
 
 Two things were impressed on my young mind in the arrange- 
 ment of the tlieatre soon after Grimaldi had quitted the stage of 
 life for ever. One was the orthodoxy of the proscenium, as may 
 be seen from the pictures by George Cruikshank, . . . and the 
 second was the solemn custom of never playing tragedy at any 
 theatre save on a green baize carpet. The proscenium was to all 
 intents a little house, and it was fascinating to a child to see on 
 either side of the stage proper a little green door with brass knockers 
 and handles, and over each door a window with lace curtains 
 and a balcony with flower pots on it. These proscenium doors 
 were never used, except occasionally in pantomime for the pur- 
 poses of the play ; but no one dreamed of taking a call or of coming 
 on to make a managerial speech except through these little doors, 
 a survival, no doubt, of the Theatre of the Greeks, as you will see 
 in Donaldson's remarkable book.^ 
 
 ' Cf. Austin Brereton's The Lyceum and Henry Irving (i 903), p. 53, for a view of the 
 Lyceum at this period. Above the draperies are to be seen the proscenium boxes shown 
 above the doors in the cut of the Lyceum in 1817, given at p. 42. 
 
 2 Cf. The Theatrical J ournid, Jtiv. No. 712, p. 238. 
 
 ' See the view of the theatre on fire in Vol. i of W. C. Streatfeild's Theatrical 
 Notices from Newspapers, in the British Museum (press-mark "314 b"). 
 
 < English Illustrated Magazine (Christmas, 1898), p. 271, article on "The King of 
 Clownland". For the reference to Donaldson, see The Theatre of the Greeks (eighth edition, 
 1875), p. 262 et seq. But the suggested origin (as applied to the Elizabethan doors) 
 would be difBcult to prove. 
 
1 88 Proscenium Doors: an Elizabethan Heritage 
 
 One may be pardoned here for going ofF at a tangent to 
 discuss an interesting point suggested by the above extract, 
 a point too trivial to admit of separate consideration. It 
 would appear that the custom of covering the stage with 
 a green cloth when a tragedy was to be performed was of 
 some little antiquity. (Tragedy and it, by the way, died 
 together fifty years ago). In Garrick's epilogue to Home's 
 tragedy, Alfred, as spoken at Covent Garden by Mrs. Barry 
 in 1778, we read: 
 
 If this green cloth could speak, would it not tell, 
 
 Upon its well-worn nap how oft I fell ? 
 
 To death in various forms deliver'd up 
 
 Steel kills me one night, and the next the cup. 
 
 Some slight evidence exists to show that even when these 
 lines were spoken the custom was old. In a slipshod trans- 
 lation of Sorbieres' " Relation d'un voyage en Angleterre 
 oil sont touchees plusieurs choses qui regardent I'estat 
 des sciences et de la religion et autres matieres curieuses ",' 
 issued in London in 1 709, under title A Voyage to England, 
 we find, at p. 69, the following passage : 
 
 The Playhouse is much more Diverting and Commodious : the 
 best places are in the Pit, where Men and Women promiscuously 
 sit, every Body with their Company. The Stage is very handsome, 
 being covered with green cloth, and the Scenes often change, and 
 you are regaled with new Perspectives. 
 
 In this last sentence are both an omission and a mistrans- 
 lation. Insert the one and you prove the other. What 
 Sorbieres wrote ^ was : "Le Theatre est fort beau, couvert 
 d'un Tapis verd, et en scene y est toute libre, avec beaucoup 
 de changemens, et des perspectives." The word "theatre" 
 here refers to the auditorium, not to the stage, which was 
 free (not encumbered, as in Paris, with spectators) ; and 
 it was the benches of the pit that were " couvert d'un Tapis 
 verd." But the fact that the translator made a palpable mis- 
 reading proves that the custom of placing a green cloth 
 on the stage for tragedies was known early in the reign of 
 
 ' Paris, 1664.. 2 p. 166. 
 
o 
 c 
 
 Q 
 
 O u 
 
Proscenium Doors: an Elizabethan Heritage 189 
 
 Queen Anne. What Sorbieres meant to convey is indicated 
 in the following passage from the Journal des Voyages de 
 Monsieur de Monconys^ describing a visit paid to the Theatre 
 Royal in Bridges Street on May 22, 1663 : 
 
 L' apres-din^e nous fusmes chez le Milord de S. Alban, et de la 
 a la Comedie dans la lege du Roy. Le ThMtre est le plus propre 
 et le plus beau que j'aye Jamais veu, tout tapiss^ par le has de 
 bayette verte; aussi bien que toutes les loges qui en sont tapiss^es 
 avec des bandes de cuir dore. Tous le bancs du parterre oil toutes les 
 personnes de condition se mettent aussi, sont rangez en amphithea- 
 tre, les uns plus hauts que les autres. 
 
 It needs to be said that this demonstration of the trans- 
 lator's mistake is made "without prejudice". The custom 
 of placing a green cloth on the stage for tragedies may have 
 existed in Restoration days. We have no record of it earlier. 
 
 Returning to our main theme one may say, in concluding, 
 that the "last scene of aU " ending our " strange, eventful 
 history " is laid in what is quaintly known in theatrical 
 argot as " the provinces." Driven from London, the con- 
 vention of the proscenium entering doors made its last stand 
 in the country playhouses, and was "an unconscionable long 
 time a-dying." Here and there in the backwaters of life 
 some memorials of its former rule remain. No need, how- 
 ever, to depart from the main stream in seeking for examples. 
 Down to the period when it ceased to be used for dramatic 
 purposes, or about six years ago, the old Adelphi in Liver- 
 pool continued to preserve its time-honoured proscenium 
 doors, with their over-hanging balconies traditionally 
 arrayed in white lace curtains. The theatre is now used 
 for cinematograph exhibitions, but the stage is untouched 
 and the doors stiU remain. 
 
 ' Lyon, 1666, Part ii, p. 25. 
 
Did Thomas Shadwell write an Opera on 
 " The Tempest " ? 
 
Did Thomas Shadwell write an Opera on 
 " The Tempest " ? 
 
 The sole authority for the ascription of an opera on The 
 Tempest to Thomas Shadwell is 'the Roscius Anglicanus of 
 John Downes, a rambling stage record published in 1708, 
 when the quondam prompter who penned it was in the 
 decline of his years and his intellect. Having little or no 
 documentary evidence to rely upon, and fully conscious 
 of the defectiveness of his memory, Downes takes shelter 
 behind the hope that "he is not very erroneous in his 
 relation." In the face of this warning, and owing to the 
 difficulty of obtaining testing data, later historians have 
 taken his statements largely on trust, and thereby perpetu- 
 ated many a falsity. It cannot be too strongly emphasised 
 that through slovenliness of arrangement the Roscius 
 Anglicanus is positively honeycombed with error. It is 
 the perspective of the thing that is wholly wrong. In other 
 words, the events related mostly took place, but seldom in 
 the sequence indicated. It is the old story of a senile 
 memory with nothing to check its vagaries. One takes it 
 that Downes is least likely to have erred in dealing with 
 matters which came directly under his own notice, when he 
 was prompter at the old Duke's theatre in Dorset Gardens. 
 In accordance with that view, the present inquiry has been 
 undertaken with the hope of demonstrating the accuracy 
 of his statement concerning Shadwell's provision of an 
 operatic version oiThe Tempest ior that house, and of arriv- 
 ing at some approximation to the date of its production. 
 The discussion is not profitless, for one cannot solve the 
 problem without clearing up on the way one or two minor 
 mysteries of Post-Restoration stage history. 
 
 When we come at the outset to look for explicit corrobo- 
 ration of Downes' statement all historical resources fail. 
 No version oiThe Tempest, bearing Shadwell's name on the 
 
 o 
 
194 I^id Thomas Shadwell write 
 
 title-page, was ever printed. Winstanley, in dealing with 
 his friend's career in his Lives of the Famous English Poets 
 (1687), is careful to mention his Psyche, although it was 
 little better than a bald translation, but is silent regarding 
 The Tempest. A few years later Langbaine and Gildon, 
 in similar works, are equally ill-informed. One says ill- 
 informed advisedly, because the silence of all three on the 
 point indicates, not the possible blundering of Downes, but 
 that the secret of Shad well's association with the opera had, 
 for some reason, been carefully preserved. 
 
 Let us now minutely consider what Downes says on the 
 subject. Treating of what appears to have been the original 
 production of Aphra Behn's maiden effort, The Forced 
 Marriage ; or The Jealous Bridegroom, he implies that the 
 play was brought out at Dorset Gardens in 1672. We are 
 directly informed that it held its place in the bills for six 
 nights, and that in it Otway, as the King, made his first and 
 last appearance on the stage, his failure being so pronounced 
 that he abandoned all hope of following acting as a profes- 
 sion. Continuing, Downes writes : 
 
 The year after, in 1673, The Tempest, or the Inchanted Island, 
 made into an opera by Mr. Shadwell, having all new in it ; as 
 Scenes, Machines ; particularly one Scene painted with myriads 
 of Ariel (sic) Spirits ; ^ and another flying away, with a Table 
 Furnisht out with Fruits, Sweetmeats and all sorts of Viands ; just 
 when Duke Trinculo and his companions were going to Dinner ; 
 all was things perform'd in it so admirably well, that not any suc- 
 ceeding opera got more money. 
 
 Now, to begin with, unless Downes is referring to a 
 revival of Mrs. Behn's tragi-comedy, which is extremely 
 unlikely, his implied date for The Forced Marriage is wrong. 
 Not only that, but he has assigned the production to a wrong 
 
 ' At this period, and for half a century later, it was customary, in scenes of a silent 
 multitude, to paint the figures on the canvas, and not to bring on a host of supernumera- 
 ries. This was the cheaper, but hardly the more illusive method. For a later example, 
 see Chetwood's General History of the Stage (London, 1749), p. 154. The custom had 
 been introduced by D'Avenant in his Commonwealth operas and was doubtless derived 
 from the French stage. Of. La Mortde Cyrus, tragi-comedy of M. Rozidor (1659). Also 
 Engine Rigal, Le Thi&tre Franfais avant la PMode Classique, p. 255 (reference to the 
 tragedy of La Pucelle d' Orleans c. 1642). 
 
An Opera on '■'■The Tempest"? 195 
 
 theatre. It is necessary to recall that the Duke's Theatre in 
 Dorset Gardens, as first opened on November 9, 1 67 1, suc- 
 ceeded to the title of an earlier theatre in Lincoln's Inn 
 Fields. It was certainly at the latter house that The Forced 
 Marriagewa.s produced, and the period must have been about 
 the close of the year 1670, for the play was printed in Jan- 
 uary or February, 1 67 1, "as acted at the Duke's Theatre".* 
 In the cast of characters prefixed, the name of Westwood is 
 placed opposite the King. If Otway the poet made his debut 
 as an actor in the original production of the play and never 
 appeared afterwards, then Westwood cannot be taken as his 
 nom de guerre, for Westwood's name crops up again in the 
 cast of Crowne's Juliana, a tragi-comedy acted at Lincoln's 
 Inn Fields in the summer of 1 67 1 . From what Downes says 
 it seems probable that Otway broke down during the first 
 performance oiTbe Forced Marriage, and in that case he may 
 have been at once succeeded by Westwood in the part of the 
 King.^ 
 
 Here one must cry a halt to discuss the earlier stage 
 history of The Tempest. By a curious regulation, made in 
 December, 1660, D'Avenant's company — the company 
 which afterwards occupied the two Duke's theatres in suc- 
 cession — were given the monopoly of nine of Shakespeare's 
 plays. The Tempest among the number. ' The result was 
 most injurious to the poet. After long delay, a brutally 
 augmented version of The Tempest,the work of Dryden and 
 D'Avenant, was brought out, as a comedy, at the Duke's 
 in Lincoln's Inn Fields on November 7, 1 667. In this pain- 
 ful, long-lived sophistication Miranda was provided with a 
 sister, Dorinda, and, by way of balancing the sexual equili- 
 brium, a youth, Hypolito, was introduced, who had never 
 seen a woman. It is generally, perhaps justly, considered 
 
 ' It is announced in the Term Catalogue issued on Feb. 13, 1671. 
 
 ' Most authorities render confusion worse confounded in dealing with this matter. 
 The Diet, Nat. Biog., sub nomine "Otway", bases on Downes and manipulates the facts 
 accordingly. Cf. Mr. Edmund Gosse's Seventeenth Century Studies, p. 273, where we are 
 told, after some discussion of Downes' blunder, that Otway went to Christ Church in 
 1669, appeared at Lincoln's Inn Fields in the Long Vacation of 167 1, and returned to 
 Oxford, where he remained till 1674. 
 
 ' Cf. R. W. Lowe's Tbomas Betlerton, p. 75. 
 
196 Did Thomas Shadwell write 
 
 that the discredit of these additions must mainly fall upon 
 Sir William D'Avenant. Be that as it may, the play, after 
 his death, remained the property of his widow, who, in 
 conjunction with her son, at once assumed control of the 
 Duke's Theatre. As first printed in quarto (Quarto i) by 
 Henry Herringman early in 1670, this maltreatment of 
 ne Tempest had a signed preface by Dryden, written in 
 1669. Now comes the important point. In 1674 the same 
 publisher issued a piece entitled " The Tempest, or The 
 Enchanted Island, a Comedy, as it is now acted at his 
 Highness the Duke of York's Theatre " (Quarto 2). ^ 
 It will be remarked that nothing is here said as to the 
 authorship, but seeing that the quarto not only in- 
 cludes Dryden's earlier preface but the prologue and 
 epilogue of 1667 as well, the unwary student is apt to 
 jump to the conclusion that the whole is merely a reprint, or 
 corrected impression, oftheDryden-D'Avenantplay. Into 
 the trap thus laid by a stupid publisher all the editors of 
 Dryden and of D'Avenant carelessly fell. ^ It never dawned 
 upon them (what remains to be demonstrated) that in 
 Quarto 2 they had the book of Shadwell's opera. It is far 
 from easy to divine why Herringman should have re- 
 printed the old preface and rhymed addresses where they 
 had absolutely no relevancy. The senselessness of this course 
 is all the more remarkable from the fact that the opera, as will 
 shortly be seen, had a special prologue and epilogue of its 
 own. It may be, however, there was method (of a kind) in 
 Herringman's madness, for he had previously been guilty 
 of at least one act of similar stupidity. When he reprinted 
 The Siege of Rhodes in 1 659, immediately after its revival at 
 the Cockpit theatre, he reproduced D'Avenant 's original 
 
 * Announced in the Term Catalogue of Nov, 25, 1 674, 
 
 ^ Scott, in editing Dryden*s Dramatic Works in 1808, gave the text of Quarto 2 
 as that of the Dryden-D'Avenant comedy. Of. Furness, yariorum Shakespeare, ix, pp. 
 389 fF., where the error is repeated. Credit is due to Prof. Saintsbury for having 
 been the first to draw attention to the discrepancies between the two quartos. (See his 
 recension of Scott's Dryden, 1883, iii. 104). Unfortunately, instead of recognising that 
 they represent two different versions of the altered play, the one a comedy and the other 
 an opera, he assumes Quarto 2 to be a mere corrected copy of Quarto i, and takes great 
 pains to indicate the variations in his footnotes. In connection with Dryden this is 
 labour wholly mis-spent. 
 
An Opera on '■'■The Tempest"? 197 
 
 preface of 1656, with all its inapposite references to the 
 restricted space of" the room " in Rutland House, where 
 the opera had been first performed. 
 
 Next to the reprinting in Quarto 2 of the Dryden preface, 
 prologue and epilogue of Quarto i, the one thing that has 
 long obscured the truth concerning Quarto 2 is the descrip- 
 tion, " a Comedy ", on the title-page. This, too, helped to 
 lead up to the erroneous conclusion arrived at by the various 
 editors of Dryden and D'Avenant. But as evidence it really 
 is of no value. Downes refers to the D'Avenant Mac^f /A and 
 to Circe as operas, although in the quartos of both they are 
 styled tragedies. It may be that the mis-description of 
 The Tempest was Downes's and that Shadwell's version was 
 not actually announced as an opera. The piece does not 
 come fully within the meaning of the term as interpreted by 
 Dryden. " An opera" he writes, " is a Poetical Tale, or 
 Fiction, represented by Vocal and Instrumental Musick, 
 adorned with Scenes, Machines, and Dancing." Elsewhere, 
 in the same essay, he points out that the story in an opera 
 must be wholly sung, and shows that he looked upon the 
 Shadwell TempesfiiS, a comedy "mixed with opera^ or a Drama 
 written in Blank verse, adorned with Scenes, Machines, 
 Songs, and Dances." ^ Downes, who was not given to nice 
 distinctions, calls the Shadwell Tempest an opera because it 
 had pronounced operatic features. New instrumental music 
 had been provided by Matthew Lock, particularly the First, 
 Second and Third Music (the third distinctively known as 
 the " Curtain Tune "), which, after the Restoration custom, 
 preceded the rising of the curtain, no matter what the nature 
 of the performance. ^ Some ofthe vocal music to the genuine 
 Shakespearean songs was old, written, it would appear, 
 by Banister and Pelham Humphreys for the Dryden- 
 D'Avenant comedy of 1667 ; but some new vocal music 
 
 ' Preface to Albion and Albanim {1685). North, in his Memoirs of Music, calls the 
 ornate musical productions of the period ''semi-operas". 
 
 ' A selection of Lock's Tempest music was published in 1675, together with his 
 music for Psyche. Of. Quart. Mag. ofthe International Societj/ of Music, Year v, Part iv. 
 1904, p. 552, article by Mr. W. Barclay Squire on " Purcell's Dramatic Music", wherein 
 the matter is fully discussed. 
 
198 Did Thomas Shadwell write 
 
 was also provided by Pietro Reggio and J. Hart. Apart, 
 however, from these extrinsic items of evidence, the 
 operatic nature of the piece is indicated by the prelimi- 
 nary description in Quarto 2 : 
 
 The front of the stage is opened and the Band of 24 violins with 
 the Harpsicals and Theorbos, which accompany the voices, are 
 placed between the Pit and the Stage. ^ While the Overture^ is 
 playing the Curtain rises, and discovers a new Frontispiece, joyn'd 
 to the great Pylasters, on each side of the Stage. This frontispiece 
 is a noble Arch, supported by large wreathed columns of the Corin- 
 thian Order ; the wreathings of the columns are beautifi'd with 
 Roses round them, and several Cupids flying about them. On the 
 Cornice, just over the Capitals, sits on either side a Figure, with 
 a Trumpet in one hand, and a Palm in the other, representing 
 Fame. A little farther on the same Cornice, on each side of a Com- 
 pass-pediment, lie a Lion and a Unicorn, on each side of a Royal 
 Arms of England. In the middle of the Arch are several Angels 
 holding the King's Arms, as if they were placing them in the midst 
 of that Compass-pediment. Behind this is the Scene, which repre- 
 sents a thick. Cloudy sky, and very Rocky Coast, and a Tempes- 
 tuous Sea in perpetual agitation. 
 
 Here, at the outset, we have proof, partly in the increased 
 orchestra and partly in the provision of a special frontis- 
 piece, or secondary proscenium, of the operatic nature of 
 the production. All the operas of the latter half of the 
 seventeenth century, from The Siege of Rhodes to Albion and 
 Albanius were adorned with these individual proscenia. As an 
 interesting side issue, it may be noted that the main charac- 
 teristics of the frontispiece to The Ti?»?/^j/ suggest that Shad- 
 well's version was prepared by command of Charles II and 
 enjoyed his patronage. Confirmation of this is lent by the 
 
 ' Malone, Collier and Karl Elze have all gravely confused the issue by attributing 
 this description to Quarto i, in which, of course, it has no place. Their conclusion that 
 it affords positive proof that the musicians had begun to occupy what we now consider 
 their normal position, c. 1667, must fall to the ground. Note we have here mention 
 of 24 violins ; the ordinary theatre band of the period had only twelve. 
 
 2 For the music of Lock's "Curtain Tune for The Tempest", see Stafford Smith's 
 Mmica Antiqua, i. 68, where also a Lilk from the same piece is given. Of. The Oxford 
 History of Musk, iii. 288, where the term "curtain tune" is misinterpreted. It was 
 never applied to inter-act music. 
 
An Opera on "The 'Tempest"? 199 
 
 fact (shortly to be demonstrated) that the men and boys of 
 the Chapel Royal were allowed to sing in the production. 
 
 Based on the Dryden-D'Avenant comedy of 1667, and 
 comprising all its features, Shadwell's opera has several 
 distinguishing characteristics. As these have been fully 
 noted by Prof. Saintsbury, ^ one finds no need to discuss 
 them in detail now. It will suffice to say that the main 
 differentiation of the operatic version lies in the terminal 
 Masque of Neptune and Amphitrite. But it is vital for us 
 to note that in Act ii. 4 of Quarto 2 occurs a new song, 
 "Arise ye subterranean winds," the music for which was 
 published in 1680, in Part ii. of Pietro Reggio's Songs, 
 under title " A Song in the Tempest. The Words by Mr. 
 Shadwell." Here we have ample corroboration of Downes' 
 statement regarding the authorship, as well as proof that 
 Quarto 2 represents the book of Shadwell's opera. Other 
 proof is afforded by the book itself. Downes' reference to 
 the "scene painted with myriads of Ariel spirits" tallies with 
 the description at the end of the fifth act, where the " Scene 
 changes to the Rising Sun, and a number of Aerial Spirits in 
 the air, Ariel flying from the sun advances towards the pit." 
 Downes' other reference to the " flying away, with a Table 
 Furnisht with Fruits, Sweetmeats and all sorts of Viands," 
 deals with the incidents in Act iii. 3 : "Dance of fantastick 
 Spirits, after the dance, a Table furnish'd with Meat and 
 
 Fruits is brought in by two Spirits Two Spirits 
 
 descend and flie away with the Table," 
 
 Our next task is to determine the period when the opera 
 was produced. An important clue is afforded by an unpub- 
 lished "Prologue and Epilogue to the Tempest "preserved 
 in the Egerton MSS. in the British Museum. ^ These two 
 addresses, now reproduced, were undoubtedly written by 
 Shadwell for his own opera. They are marked by that 
 "shambling doggerel," to quote Prof. Saintsbury, fqr which 
 the nascent poet laureate was noted : 
 
 ' Vide supra p. 196 note 2. ^ No. 2,623. 
 
200 Did Thomas Shadwell write 
 
 Prologue 
 
 Wee, as the fFathers of the stage have said, 
 
 To treat you here, a vast expense have made ; 
 
 What they have gott from you in chests is laid, 
 
 Or is for purchas'd Lands, or houses paid. 
 
 You, in this house, all our estate may find, 
 
 Wch for your pleasures wholly are design'd. 
 
 'Twas foolish, for we might, we must confesse, 
 
 Value ourselves much more, and you much lesse ; 
 
 And like those reverend men, we might have spar'd 
 
 And never for our Benefactors car'd : lo 
 
 Still made your Treatment, as they do, more Coarse, 
 
 As if you did, as fast as they, grow worse : 
 
 But we young men, are apt to slight advice, 
 
 One day, we may decrepid grow and wise : 
 
 Then, hoping not to time to get much more, 
 
 We'll Save our money, and cry out wee'r poore. 
 
 Wee're young, and look yet many yeares to live. 
 
 And by your future Bounty hope to thrive ; 
 
 Then let us laugh, for now no cost wee'l spare 
 
 And never think we're poor, while we your favours share, 20 
 
 Without the good old Playes we did advance, 
 
 And all ye stages ornament enhance ; 
 
 To splendid things they follow in, but late : 
 
 They ne're invent, but they can imitate : 
 
 Had we not, for yr. pleasure found new wayes 
 
 You still had rusty arras had, and thred-bare playes; 
 
 Nor scenes nor Woomen, had they had their will, 
 
 But some some with grizl'd Beards had acted Woomen still.' 
 
 Some restive horses, spight of Switch and spurre, 
 
 Till others strain against 'em, will not stir. 30 
 
 Envying our Splendid house, and prosp'rous playes. 
 
 They scofFat us, and Libell the high wayes. 
 
 Tis fitt we, for our faults, rebukes shou'd meet. 
 
 The Citty ought to mend those of ye street. 
 
 With the best poets' heads our house we grac'd 
 
 Wch we in honour to ye Poets plac'd.^ 
 
 ' Equal to claiming that Sir William D'Avenant had first introduced actresses and 
 scenery on the English Stage. 
 
 ^ Cf. Tom D'Urfey's Collin's Walk Through London (1690), Canto iv, where the 
 peripatetic, on visiting Dorset Gardens, 
 
An Opera on '■'■The Tempest"? 201 
 
 Too much of the old witt They have, tis true : 
 But they must look for little of ye new. 
 
 Epilogue 
 
 When feeble Lovers' appetites decay 
 
 They, to provoke, and keep themselves in play. 
 
 Must, to their Cost, make ye gay Damsells shine; 
 
 If Beauty can't provoke, they'l do't by being fine ; 
 
 That pow'rfull charme, wch cannot be withstood. 
 
 Puts oflFe bad faces, and adornes ye good. ' 
 
 Oft an embroider'd Damsel have we seen "j 
 
 Ugly as Bawd, and finer than a Queen, >■ 
 
 Who by that splendor has victorious been. j 
 
 She, whose weake Eyes had nere one Victory gott 10 
 
 May conquer with a flaming petticoat ; 
 
 Witt is a Mistresse you have long enjoy'd. 
 
 Her beauty's not impair'd but you are cloy'd ! 
 
 And Since 'tis not Witt's fault that you decay. 
 
 You, for yo« want of appetite must pay. 
 
 You to provoke yo^ Selves must keep her fine. 
 
 And she must now at double charges shine. ^ 
 
 Old Sinners thus 
 
 When they feel Age and Impotence approach. 
 
 Double the charge of furniture and Coach ; 20 
 
 When you of witt and sence were weary growne, 
 
 Romantick, riming, fustian Playes were showne. 
 
 We then to flying Witches did advance,^ 
 
 And for your pleasures traffic'd into IFrance. 
 
 From thence new acts to please you, we have sought "j 
 
 We have machines to some perfection brought, >■ 
 
 And above 30 Warbling voyces gott.' ) 
 
 "... saw each box with beauty crown'd 
 And pictures deck the structure round, 
 Ben, Shakespear, and the learned rout, 
 With noses some and some without." 
 
 These portraits remained in situ until the demolition of the theatre in 1 709. 
 
 ' Prices of admission were advanced during the run of new operas, owing to the 
 expense of mounting. DuiFet girds at the practice in the prologue to his Psyche Debauch' d 
 {1678). 
 
 ' Referring to a revival of the D'Avenant Macbeth at Dorset Gardens early in 1 673, 
 ' Mostly the boys and men of the Chapel Royal. Vide posiea p. 203. 
 
:.) 
 
 202 Did Thomas Shadwell write 
 
 Many a God and Goddesse you will heare 
 
 And we have Singing, Dancing, Devils here 
 
 Such Devils, and such gods, are very Deare.^ ) 30 
 
 We, in all ornaments, are lavish growne, 
 
 And like Improvident Damsells of ye Towne, 
 
 For present bravery, all your wealth lay downe, 
 
 As if our keepers ever wou'd be kind, \ 
 
 The Thought of future wants we never mind, I- 
 
 No pittance is for your Old age design'd. ) 
 
 Alone, we on yo= Constancy depend. 
 
 And hope yo= Love to th' stage will never end. 
 
 To please you, we no Art, or cost will spare 
 
 To make yr. Mrs. look still young, still faire. 40 
 
 Shadwell's prologue practically dates itself. It is nothing 
 more than a lumbering rejoinder to Dryden's prologue and 
 epilogue for the opening of the new Theatre Royal on 
 March 26, 1674. It will be readily recalled that the King's 
 company suffered severe loss by the fire which destroyed 
 their first house in January, i672,andthat duringthe period 
 of rebuilding they removed temporarily to the old Duke's 
 in Lincoln's Inn Fields. The first twenty lines of the MS. 
 prologue make sneering reply to Dryden's modest appeal 
 for the King's players : 
 
 They, who are by your favours wealthy made. 
 With mighty sums may carry on the trade ; 
 We, broken banquiers, half destroyed by fire. 
 With our small stock to humble roofs retire ; 
 Pity our loss, while we no longer strive ; 
 We yield in both, and only beg to live ; 
 
 Lines 3 2-4 for m a lame rej oinder to the sting administered 
 in Dryden's epilogue for the opening of the new Theatre 
 Royal : 
 
 Our house relieves the ladies from the frights 
 Of ill-paved streets, and long dark winter nights ; 
 The Flanders horses from a cold bleak road 
 Where bears in furs dare scarcely look abripad. 
 
 • For the "dancing devils" see The Tempest (Quarto 2), ii. 4, and for "the gods" 
 the terminal masque of Neptune and Ampbitrite. 
 
An Opera on " The Tempest" ? 203 
 
 Similarly, lines 35-8 deal impotently with Dryden's 
 neat point in the same address : 
 
 Though in their house the poets' heads appear, 
 We hope we may presume their wits are here. 
 
 While discussing these matters it wiU not be inoppor- 
 tune to recall that Dryden has an allusion — which has been 
 sadly misinterpreted^ — to Dorset Gardens in his prologue 
 for the opening of the new house. His concluding couplet 
 gives humorous expression to the mock fear — 
 
 That, as a fire the former house o'erthrew, 
 Machines and tempests wili destroy the new. 
 
 The allusion here is not, as has been inferred, to the 
 opera of The Tempest (which, like the British Fleet in The 
 CritiCjWas not yet in sight), but to the superfluity of thunder 
 and lightning and flying efi^cts in D'Avenant's Macbeth? 
 
 But enough of these addresses. Since, then, ShadweU's 
 prologue is merely an ineff^ective reply to Dryden's prologue 
 as spoken at the new King's Playhouse on March 26, 1 674, 
 it follows that, to have been by any means apposite, it must 
 have been delivered at Dorset Gardens within a month or 
 six weeks after. Prologues and epilogues in those days were 
 frequently repeated and often printed and vended in the 
 streets as broadsides. This would fix the date of production 
 of the Shadwell Tempest at circa April 30, 1674, probably 
 a sound approximation. That the opera was in the first 
 flush of its success a fortnight later is clearly shown by the 
 following entry in the Lord Chamberlain's Accounts : 
 
 1674, May 16. It is his Majesty's pleasure that Mr. Turner 
 and Mr. Hart, * or any other men or boys belonging to his Majesty's 
 Chappell Royall that sing in ye Tempest at his Royall Highnesse 
 Theatre, doe remaine in towne all the week (dureing his Majesty's 
 
 ' Genest, I think, was the original offender, but others have since fallen in line. 
 ' Cf. the epilogue to Ravenscroft's The Careless Lovers (1673) : 
 
 " Gallants tis fear'd, after our last loud play. 
 
 You will be deaf to all Low Wit can say. 
 
 Lightning, Machine and Noise your favourites are 
 
 These Murdering Playes, the stage's Men of War," &c. 
 ' Query, the J. Hart, who wrote the music for Dorinda's Song, "Adieu to the 
 pleasures" in ShadweU's opera ? 
 
204 Did Thomas Shadwell write 
 
 absence from Whitehall) to perform that service, onely Saturdayes 
 to repaire to Windsor, and to returne to London on Mundayes if 
 there be occasion for them. 
 
 And that they also performe ye like service in ye opera in ye 
 said Theatre or any other thing in ye like nature w^here their helpe 
 may be desired upon notice given them thereof. ^ 
 
 It was doubtless in the following winter that DuiFet's gross 
 travesty of Shadwell's opera, entitled The Mock Tempest, or 
 The Enchanted Castle was produced at the King's Theatre. 
 The announcement of its publication occurs in the Term 
 Catalogue of February 1 5, 1 675. Baker relates that "although 
 it met with some little success at first, it presently fell to 
 the ground ; and when it came to be presented in Dublin, 
 several ladies and persons of the first quality testified their 
 dislike of such low and indecent stuff by quitting the house 
 before the performance was half over." ^ 
 
 And now something requires to be said about the subse- 
 quent history of Shadwell's opera, both from a theatrical 
 and a bibliographical standpoint. The two considerations 
 really go hand-in-hand, for, in the Post-Restoration period, 
 reprints of old plays invariably indicate recent revivals, and 
 may be taken as evidence of revival when no other evidence 
 exists. After Quarto 1 all succeeding issues of The Tempest 
 published by Herringman (save the quarto of 169 1 which 
 1 have not seen) reproduce the text of the Shadwell opera, 
 but the misleading Dryden preface and prologue and epi- 
 logue continue to appear. Owing to this fatuous iteration 
 an idea became current towards the close of the century that 
 Dryden himself had written the opera, and before long this 
 crystallised into a tradition. 1 1 cannot be too strongly empha- 
 sised that Dryden was nothing more than Shadwell's 
 involuntary collaborator in the matter. He has enough of 
 his own sins to answer for. 
 
 Not content with misleading future generations by the 
 senseless repetition] ust referred to, Herringman must needs 
 crown his career by setting the unborn bibliographer the 
 
 < H. C. de Lafontaine, The Kin^s Musick, p. 271. 
 * Biog. Dram. (1782), ii. 239. No. 204. 
 
An Opera on " The Tempest" ? 205 
 
 deepest of riddles. In 1676 he issued two quartos of The 
 Tempest, both textually identical, but set up in different 
 founts of type, and the one with typographical errors not 
 in the other. ^ 
 
 It is noteworthy that from 1674 onwards the Shadwell 
 opera completely superseded (possibly because it comprised) 
 the Dryden-D'Avenant comedy. As for the genuine play 
 of Shakespeare, it lay perdu from the outbreak of the Civil 
 War, until near the middle of the eighteenth century, and 
 even then very rarely got an innings. On the other hand 
 revivals of Shadwell's opera were fairly frequent. One notes 
 that it was one of the three ornate spectacular productions 
 seen by the Morocco Ambassador at Dorset Gardens early 
 in 1682.^ Its anonymous book was re-issued by Herring- 
 man in June, 1690 "as now acted at their Majesty's 
 Theatre ; and again in October, 1 69 1 ' " as it is now acted 
 at their Majesties Theatre in Dorset Gardens." Somewhere 
 about the period of 1690-5, Shadwell's version, with addi- 
 tions, was wholly re-set by Henry Purcell. No clue to the 
 exact date presents itself. All we know for certain is that 
 about the close of 1695 Dorinda's additional song, "Dear 
 Pretty Youth" (not to be traced in any of the extant 
 seventeenth-century quartos), was published in Book iii of 
 Deliciae Musicae as " A New Song in The Tempest, sung by 
 Miss Cross to her Lover who is supposed Dead. Set by 
 Mr. Henry Purcell." 
 
 Half a century later, a malignant fate stiU pursued the 
 genuine play of Shakespeare. By an irony of circumstance, 
 
 ' Both were " printed by J. Macock for Henry Herringman "- Exemplars are to 
 be seen in the Dyce collection at South Kensington. No announcement of re-issue 
 occurs in the Term Catalogues for 1676. 
 
 ' Of. Tfe^»«'yaa»y,vi.4 (April, i9io),p. 133. Mr. W. C. BoUand, in quoting here 
 a contemporary reference to the Ambassador being " extreamly pleased " at the perform- 
 ance of The Temfett, wonders what pleased him, seeing that he was wholly ignorant of 
 the langiuage, and that the period (in Mr. Bolland's opinion) was not remarkable for its 
 spectacular brilliancy ! I commend to him a careful study of Psyche, Circe, and the operas 
 of Dryden, 
 
 ' Vide Term Catalogue, Michaelmas, 1691. I have failed to unearth an exemplar 
 of this edition. Should the text differ materially from Quarto 2 (or present Dorinda's 
 song, " Dear Pretty Youth ") it would serve as evidence to date Purcell's re-setting of 
 the opera. 
 
2o6 Did Shad-well write an Opera on " The Tempest" ? 
 
 when it came at last to be revived at Drury Lane, with much 
 flourishing of trumpets, on January, 31, 1746, it was not 
 deemed strong enough to stand alone, and was bolstered by 
 Shadwell's old masque oi Neptune and Amphitrite for which 
 Arne had written new music. At the same house on Feb- 
 ruary II, 1756, was seen Garrick's final sophistication of 
 the comedy, in which some of Shadwell's old lyrics were 
 sung to new music by John Christopher Smith. ' Similarly 
 JohnKemble's version of October, 178 9, had, on its literary 
 side, equal parts of Shakespeare, Dryden, D'Avenant, and 
 Shadwell, and on its musical side disproportionate parts of 
 Purcell, Arne and Linley. It was not until the middle of 
 the nineteenth century that these musty textual accretions 
 were wholly exterminated. 
 
 ' For proof, see Maidment and Logan, Sir William UA-venanfs Dramatic Works, 
 V. 402. I 
 
Who wrote the Famous "Macbeth" Music ? 
 
Who wrote the Famous "Macbeth" Music? 
 
 One of Life's little cynicisms is that while Error meets 
 with ready acceptance, Truth has to fight its corner. Thus 
 it is that in the sphere of antiquarianism the capacity to 
 discover is of little value without the ability to demonstrate. 
 One may stumble over the truth, call out loudly that it lies 
 pinned beneath one, and yet only succeed in obscuring it 
 from the light. 
 
 Here, in a nutshell, we have a clue to the mystery 
 concerning the time-honoured masquerading of Matthew 
 Lock's memory in the borrowed plumes of Henry Purcell. 
 For over a century it has been known to experts, more by 
 divination than by astute reasoning, that Purcell, not Lock, 
 wrote the famous Macbeth music. Dr. Philip Hayes, of 
 Oxford, Linley, the editor of Shakespeare's Dramatic Songs, 
 Dr. Arnold, Joseph Warren, the musical antiquary, and Dr. 
 Rimbault have all given expression to this truth, but none 
 has possessed the cogency to drive it home. In our own day 
 the claims of Purcell have had a strenuous and able advocate 
 in Dr. W. H. Cummings, but even he has spoilt his case 
 by wrong methods of attack and by irrational deductions. 
 The result is that what should be recognised as a fact is still 
 treated by the orthodox musical historian, somewhat con- 
 temptuously, as pure hypothesis. 
 
 From Dr. Cummings' attempt to prove that the Macbeth 
 music was the work of Purcell's boyhood nothing but harm 
 has ensued. His proposition has been reduced to absurdity 
 in the new issue of Grove's Dictionary, wherein it is stated 
 that " on the theory that the famous Macbeth music is by 
 Purcell, we are driven to suppose it to have been written in 
 Purcell's fourteenth year in 1672 ".^ This is a delicious non 
 
 ' An opinion evidently derived from Mr. J. Fuller Maitland's otherwise sound 
 article on Purcell in the Diet. Nat. Biog. 
 
 P 
 
2IO Who wrote the Famous "Macbeth" Music? 
 
 sequitur : we are driven to suppose nothing of the kind. 
 Purcell's claims to the authorship of the Macbeth music do 
 not rest on Dr. Cummings' contention^ that the score was 
 the product of his youth. As a matter of fact we shall have 
 to refute that argument before attempting to make some 
 approximation to the truth. One of the purposes of the 
 present paper is to show reason for believing that the music 
 was of later date than that usually assigned to it. New evi- 
 dence will also be adduced to prove the existence in theatrical 
 circles of a tradition associating the score, considerably before 
 its publication, with Purcell's name. By this means it will 
 at last be made clear that Boyce, in giving it to the world in 
 readily accessible form, had no valid reason for crediting it 
 to Lock. 
 
 Among the stock plays of which the Duke's company 
 under Sir William D'Avenant (by mutual arrangement 
 with the King's Players) were allowed a monopoly at the 
 dawn of the Restoration, were nine of Shakespeare's, in- 
 cluding Macbeth? In the cartel drawn up on December 12, 
 1660, D'Avenant agreed "to reforme and make fitt for the 
 Company of Actors appointed under his direction and 
 command " all the old plays specifically allotted to them. 
 It was not, however, until three years later that any attempt 
 was made to revive Macbeth. This is shown by the fact that 
 in or about November, 1663, Sir Henry Herbert, as testified 
 by his books, ' received a fee of ;^ i for licensing the tragedy 
 as " a revived play ". 
 
 Nothing could be wider of the mark than the widely 
 accepted statement that D'Avenant was the first to mingle 
 alloy with the pure gold of Shakespeare — unless perhaps 
 the accompanying fallacy that to him was due the interpola- 
 tions in Macbeth from Middleton's comedy of 'The Witch. 
 That the tragedy had the misfortune to be altered by a 
 second hand during the period of Shakespeare's retirement, 
 or shortly after his death, is definitely indicated by the First 
 
 ' Cf. The Musical Times (1882), Vol. xxin, p. 471, art., "Purcell's Music to 
 Macbeth ", a contribution to which I am under many obligations. 
 ' Cf. Robert W. Lowe, Thomas Bctterton, p. 75. 
 ' Malone's SAaiejf ears (Dublin, 1794), ii. 224. 
 
PHio wrote the Famous " Macbeth'" Music ? 211 
 
 Folio, which is, unluckily, our sole authority for the text.^ 
 The sophisticated copy of the play therein given clearly 
 proves the comparatively early introduction of a song and a 
 concerted piece from The Witch, \yl., " Come Away " and 
 "Black Spirits and White". When D'Avenant came to 
 revive the tragedy he made divers alterations and additions 
 but retained these two songs. ^ One has every reason to 
 believe, without having any positive data to go upon, that 
 they were sung then to the music originally composed for 
 them by Robert Johnson. ^ Although no performance of The 
 Witch can be traced in the latter half of the seventeenth 
 century, it is to be noted that between Johnson's somewhat 
 tenuous setting of" Come Away " and the Macbeth scores 
 of the Post-Restoration exists a certain similarity of phras- 
 ing, as if the earlier music had come to be looked upon as 
 a basis through active preservation in the theatre. Still, if 
 we concede the inclusion of Johnson's music in D'Avenant 's 
 perversion of the tragedy, it cannot be taken as the only 
 music heard in the first years of the revival. Into a new scene 
 in the second act D'Avenant introduced a concerted piece, 
 " Speak, sister, speak ! is the deed done ? " and a song, 
 "Let's have a dance upon the Heath " ; and (as wiU shortly 
 be seen) one has every reason to believe that for these, as 
 well as for some of the dances, Matthew Lock composed 
 the music. No one disputes that Lock was associated with 
 D'Avenant in the early revivals of the tragedy ; what one 
 
 ' See Mr, Henry Cuningham's introduction to Macbeth (Arden Shakespeare 
 series) for a fall consideration of this point. 
 
 ' No copy of the D'Avenant Macbeth was issued until 1 673, early in the spring of 
 which year W. Cadman published his anonymous quarto (Quarto i). A little better 
 than a year later, P. Chetwin printed another version, " with all the alterations, amend- 
 ments, additions and new songs. As it is now acted at the Duke's theatre "- (Quarto 2). 
 Beyond some transpositions of the scenes and some alterations in the sequence of the 
 ** business ", Quarto 2 does not differ very materially from its immediate predecessor. 
 For the variations see Furness, Variorum Shakapeare, vii, (1873), introduction. In the 
 same volume will be found the text of Quarto 2, My impression is that the discrepan- 
 cies between the two arose from the fact that Cadman, in his haste to take advantage 
 of the ornate revival at Dorset Gardens in 1673, derived his text from a copy of 
 D'Avenant's first version of the tragedy, and that Quarto 2 represents the maturer revisal, 
 
 ' Of the original music for The Witch only the setting of "Come Away" has been 
 preserved. It was given by Stafford Smith in his Musica Antiqua, from a contemporary 
 manuscript, and reproduced by Rimbault in his Ancient Vocal Music of England. Robert 
 Johnson lives in memory as the original composer of the songs in The Tempest. 
 
212 Who wrote the Famous "Macbeth" Music? 
 
 does dispute is that he wrote the famous and longevous 
 score first published under his name by Boyce in 1750. 
 
 D'Avenant's stage monopoly oi Macbeth passed after his 
 death to his widow, and extended up to the period of the 
 union of the two companies in 1682. Consequently all 
 representations of the tragedy in the twenty years preceding 
 took place either at the Duke's theatre in Lincoln's Inn 
 Fields or (after 1671) at the fine new theatre bearing the 
 same title, situated in Doi-set Gardens. ^ Owing to the 
 uniformly brilliant acting of Betterton and his wife in the 
 two leading characters, Macbeth was a standing dish with 
 D'Avenant's company. As presented by them the play had 
 a perennial variety of appeal for Pepys, who, between 1 664 
 and 1 669, saw it no fewer than eight times. "A pretty good 
 play, but admirably acted " is his verdict after having seen 
 it, apparently for the first time, on November 5, 1 664. His 
 second visit, on December 28, 1666, elicited the opinion 
 that it was "a most excellent play for variety ". What he 
 meant by "variety" can be inferred from two entries in his 
 Diary concern ing further experiences of th e tragedy in 1 6 6 7. 
 On January 7th it stood well the test of familiarity, and 
 though seen quite lately, "yet appears a most excellent play 
 in all respects, but especially in divertisement, though it 
 be deep tragedy; which is a strange perfection in a tragedy, 
 it being most proper here, and suitable ". He is more ex- 
 plicit on April 19th following, when Macbeth had been 
 played in hot weather to a small house : "which, though 
 1 have seen it often, yet it is one of the best plays for a 
 stage, and variety of dancing and musique,that I ever saw". 
 
 ' One has only to grasp these facts to become convinced of the manifold absurdi- 
 ties of Maidment and Logan's bibliographical note on the D'Avenant Macbetk 
 (D'Avenan^s Dramatic Works, v, 294). They begin by giving circumstantial details of 
 a quarto of 1673, issued by Henry Herringham (? Herringman), *'as now acted at the 
 Theatre Royal ". They have no note of Quarto 2, but go on to speak of a quarto of 
 1687 as identical vcith Quarto i. But their own text tallies with Quarto 2, as repro- 
 duced by Furness, and it is plain they cannot have examined Quarto i, which was issued 
 by Cadman as acted at the Duke*s. No reprint of 1687 can be traced. The date is 
 evidently a slip for 1689, in which year a quarto was issued by Henry Herringman "as 
 it is now acted at the Theatre Royal" (Quarto 3^. It was probably from this that 
 Maidment and Logan derived their text, as well as the misleading details for the imprint 
 pf Quarto i. 
 
JVho wrote the Famous "■Macbeth"' Music? 213 
 
 Still keeping to 1667, we note that on the i6th October, 
 Pepys went to the Duke's and was mortified to find Young, 
 a bad actor, playing Macbeth instead of Betterton, who 
 was seriously ill. But the D'Avenant sophistication had 
 other attractions for the diarist (nothing if not musical) 
 besides the acting, and he and his wife went again to see 
 it on the 6th of November, liking it immensely " though 
 mighty short of the content we used to have when Betterton 
 acted, who is still sick ". Later performances of the tragedy 
 are recorded by Pepys on August 1 2th and December 2 ist, 
 1 668, at the latter of which the King and Court were present, 
 and finally on January 1 5, 1 669. 
 
 One may note here, without desiring to make any deduc- 
 tion from the fact, that Pepys, from first to last, makes no 
 mention of Lock's association with the revival, although he 
 had long enjoyed the composer's acquaintance, and was 
 accustomed to play his music on the flageolet. The omis- 
 sion is absolutely of no significance as we know full well 
 that Lock had written music for D'Avenant's version of 
 Macbeth either at the period of its first production or very 
 shortly after. From published sources we can trace a Tune 
 and a Dance as so written. The tune was given in Mustek's 
 Delight on the Cithren in 1 666. It recurs as " The Dance in 
 the Play oi Macbeth " in Apollo's Banquet for the Treble Violin 
 in 1669. One. ^w^^'xX. 2i^-^va.'v!\ The Pleasant Companion \ or 
 New Lessons and Instructions for the Flagelet oiThom^is Greet- 
 ing in 1680, this time with the initials " M. L." attached. 
 Two years later it was given in the key of C, in Playford's 
 Musick's Recreation on the Viol, Lyraway, under the curt title 
 oi Macbeth. 
 
 In Apollo's Banquet {_ 1669), occurs an air headed "Witches' 
 Dance", undoubtedly another item of Lock's early Macbeth 
 music. It has been satisfactorily identified by Dr. Cummings, 
 who possesses an old MS., circa 1698, in which a variant of 
 the tune is to be found, bearing title " Dance of Witches in 
 Macbeth"} It is of paramount importance to note that none 
 
 ' Vide supra, article in The Musical Times, wherein Lock's early Macbeth music is 
 reproduced. 
 
214 ^^° wrote the Famous " Macbeth " Music ? 
 
 of these recur in the famous score, the so-called Lock's music 
 published in 1750. This has, indeed, no trace of Lock's 
 technique, and has been adjudged by a concensus of expert 
 opinion immeasurably superior to the ruck of his composi- 
 tions. 
 
 With Sir William D'Avenant's death in April, 1668, all 
 his theatrical rights and privileges passed to his widow, for 
 whom their son Charles acted. In November, 1671, the 
 better to compete with their old rivals at Drury Lane, the 
 Duke's Company removed to a splendid new theatre in 
 Dorset Gardens, specially designed and equipped for im- 
 posing spectacular effects. About a year later a gaudy 
 revival oi Macbeth was indulged in, ^ chronicled and charac- 
 terised by Downes in his Roscius AngUcanus thus : 
 
 The Tragedy of Macbeth, altered by Sir William Davenant ; 
 being dressed in all its finery, as new clothes, new scenes, machines, 
 as flyings for the witches, with all the singing and dancing in it : 
 the first composed by Mr. Lock, the other by Mr. Channel! and 
 Mr. Joseph Priest ; It being all excellently performed, being in the 
 nature of an Opera, it recompensed double the expense : it proves 
 still a lasting play, 
 
 Downes' irritating book is an edged tool that none but 
 the most skilful of historical workmen can safely handle. 
 What should have been one of the most important stage 
 chronicles ever penned has been rendered nugatory by utter 
 slovenliness of method. In narration of events — especially 
 those which came under his own notice — Downes is seldom 
 widely astray. Much truth lies embedded in his book if 
 one only has the skill and patience to dig it up. His fatal 
 weakness is lack of chronological sense. One could forgive 
 his avoidance of dates if only the sequence of his events 
 could be depended upon. But in the case of a book yield- 
 ing valuable first-hand information, clumsiness of treatment 
 
 ^ It is impossible to fix an exact date for this revival. Downes, an indifferent chron- 
 ologer, gives by implication the year 1672. Judging by the fact that the publication of 
 Quarto i, as "acted at the Duke's theatre" is recorded in the Term Catalogue of Easter, 
 1673 (issued on May 6th), one vf ould be inclined to date the highly spectacular version 
 from the end of 1672 or beginning of 1673. The allusion in Dryden's epilogue to The 
 Silent Woman, as spoken at Oxford in the summer of 1673, shovys that the production 
 cannot have been earlier. 
 
PFho wrote the Famous ''Macbeth " Music ? 215 
 
 cannot be permitted to nullify its authority. Slips of memory 
 as well as blunders in arrangement are to be found in the 
 Roscius Anglicanus, but it cannot be too strongly emphasised 
 that errors in narration occur with least frequency in 
 Downes' account of the Dorset Gardens theatre, where he 
 had officiated as prompter. But for him we should never have 
 known — what I have already demonstrated — that Shadwell 
 provided an operatic version of the Dryden-D'Avenant 
 Tempest ioT the Duke's house in 1674. While looking 
 Downes' shortcomings fairly and squarely in the face, I am 
 not prepared to admit the presence of any flaw in his account 
 of the spectacular revival oi Macbeth. 
 
 The MS. score from which Dr. Boyce printed the Macbeth 
 music in 1 750, ascribing it by pure surmise to Lock, is now 
 in the possession of Dr. Cummings. Upon it an eighteenth- 
 century musician and musical antiquary of eminence, Dr. 
 Philip Hayes, of Oxford, has written, "Purcell's score of ye 
 music in Macbeth, also the score from whence it was printed 
 under Mat. Lock's name". Even if it could be definitely 
 established that the score was in Purcell's handwriting, the 
 fact/»^rj^ would prove nothing. Some Curious Impertinents 
 have gone so far has to admit this moot point in order, . 
 as we shall see, the more completely to disallow Purcell's 
 authorship. As a matter of fact, acceptance of the truth has 
 been seriously delayed by a well-meaning endeavour to 
 establish this contention. Dr. Cummings once submitted 
 the cherished manuscript to the scrutiny of an expert 
 graphologist, who saw in it rudimentary indications of 
 Purcell's maturer hand. On this woefully insecure basis a 
 tottering structure, all compact of plausibility and false 
 reasoning, has been raised. Accepting the verdict of the 
 graphologist. Dr. Cummings gave voice to his opinion as 
 to the juvenility of the writing, thus leaving himself open 
 to the powerful rejoinder that young Purcell, in his admira- 
 tion for his friend Lock's music, had copied it out for 
 purposes of study. 
 
 Once having taken the plunge down this declivitous path. 
 Dr. Cummings is unable to stop himself. " The MS. score 
 
2i6 PFho wrote the Famous "Macbeth" Music? 
 
 oi Macbeth music ", he avers, " is in Purcell's boyish hand; 
 and certain passages are grammatically so erroneous that 
 they could not have been the work of an experienced master 
 of harmony like Lock, nor would they have been tolerated 
 by Purcell when he came to years of discretion "} Accord- 
 ingly the music must have been written — this music which 
 Hogarth rightly styles "a tremendous effort of genius" — 
 in 1672, when Purcell was a boy of fourteen. In other 
 words, it was composed for the spectacular revival oi Mac- 
 beth at Dorset Gardens, and Downes must have blundered 
 when he gave the name of Lock in that connection. Well, 
 e might not be unwilling to admit that the old prompter's 
 ...jmory had deceived him on this point, if it had so 
 happened that he had preserved silence as to the genesis 
 of Purcell's theatrical labours. But this is precisely what he 
 did not do. Treating of the production of Lee's Theodosius 
 at Dorset Gardens in 1680, he says, "all the parts in 't being 
 perfectly perform'd, with several Entertainments of Sing- 
 ing, compos'd by the famous master, Mr. Henry Purcell, 
 (being the first he ever compos'd for the stage) made it a 
 living and gainful play to the Company". At worst, Downes 
 is not very wide of the mark in his statement, as Purcell is 
 not known definitely to have written for more than one 
 earlier production, and that only a few months previously. 
 This was D'Urfey's comedy of 'The Virtuous Wife ; or Good 
 Luck at Last, which was printed, according to the Term 
 Catalogue, about November, 1679, and probably produced 
 a month or two earlier. But it may be that Downes is sub- 
 stantially correct in his statement, for while we know for cer- 
 
 ' Little weight can be attached to the traces of immaturity found by musical experts 
 in certain of Purcell's compositions. In his excellent History of Musk in England Dr. 
 Ernest Walker speaks of a defectiveness in the overture to Timon of Athens, somewhat 
 akin to the blemishes in the Macbeth score. But he dates the Timon music from 1678, 
 forgetful of the fact that Grabut was the original composer for Shadwell's play. It was 
 clearly for the revival of 1688 (in July of which year the play was reprinted) that Purcell 
 wrote. Mr. Barclay Squire's date for Purcell's Timon music is 1694, much too belated. 
 (Of. Quart. Mag. International Musical Society Year v., 1904, Pt. 4, p. 556.) Dr. Walker 
 impales himself on the horns of a dilemma by his several contentions, for he maintains 
 that the period of 1689-92 was that of Purcell's richest maturity. How then to 
 account for the deficiencies of 1688 ? Much, however, maybe forgiven toa writerwho 
 accepts the Macbeth music as Purcell's without argument, merely speaking of it as 
 " formerly attributed to Lock ". 
 
fVho wrote the Famous " Macbeth " Music ? 217 
 
 tain that both Farmer and Purcell composed for D'Urfey's 
 piece, no evidence exists as to the precise period. Careful 
 study of Purcell's theatrical career reveals the remarkable 
 circumstance that the bulk of his music was written for 
 revivals. Stage music in his day was apparently not long- 
 lived. There was then, as now, a craze for new music rather 
 than good music, and the theatrical managers were in 
 a position to gratify it by reason of the cheapness of com- 
 position. No score enjoyed a fixity of tenure, and a play had 
 only to be a few years in existence to have all its songs reset. 
 This peculiarity of the Post-Restoration period must be 
 borne carefully in mind in considering Purcell's claims to 
 the authorship of the Macbeth music. Viewing the usages 
 of the period, one feels assured that Purcell would have had 
 no more compunction in superseding Lock and Johnson 
 than he had in blotting out the music of Staggins and Smith, 
 when he reset the songs in Epsom Wells in 1693. 
 
 Admitting, however, for the sake of argument, that 
 Purcell wrote music for the original production of 'The 
 Virtuous fVife, the earliest authentic record of his association 
 with the stage would be in 1679. If then Purcell in 1672 
 was the youthful prodigy Dr. Cummings would have him 
 to be, if at that period he burst upon the world with his 
 great Macbeth score, how came it that in those intervening 
 years he received no further commissions .'' Of a surety 
 that long blank pricks the bubble. Ordinarily speaking, 
 twenty-one seems a more rational age for the beginning of 
 a career of theatrical composership than fourteen, and one 
 is safest in dating Purcell from 1679. ^ 
 
 Apply these deductions to the manuscript from which 
 the Macbeth music of 1750 v/as printed, and what conclu- 
 sion must be arrived at .'' Either that the manuscript, with 
 its grammatical deficiencies, represents the immature draft- 
 ing of a score not perfected and performed until many years 
 
 1 Aa against this comes the fact that on September lo, 1677, Purcell had been 
 appointed " composer in ordinary with fee for the violin to his Majesty, in the place of 
 Matthew Lock, deceased " (H. C. de Lafontaine, The Kings Musick, p. 322). There 
 must have been some demonstration of his creative ability before this, but it cannot be 
 shown to have been made in the theatre. 
 
2i8 fVho wrote the Famous "Macbeth" Music? 
 
 later, or that it is not in the handwriting of Henry Purcell. 
 Personally, I lean towards the latter. 
 
 Turn we now aside from the main issue for a while, to 
 pursue our chronological review oi Macbeth revivals during 
 the Post-Restoration period. It was in many respects a 
 memorable presentation of the tragedy, this Dorset Gardens 
 revival of 1672, for in it (if Downes is to be believed), 
 Nat. Lee, the mad poet, made an unsuccessful appearance 
 on the boards as Duncan. The old prompter Is as undoubt- 
 edly right in this as he is in other respects, for Lee's name 
 is to be found opposite the character in the cast preserved 
 in Quarto 2. That particular issue ofthe play is described 
 in the Term Catalogue of Trinity, 1674, as containing "all 
 the alterations, amendments and new songs, as it is now 
 acted at the Duke's theatre ". This statement testifies to the 
 extended popularity of the spectacular revival, but affords 
 little clue, save in the reference to the " new songs ", to the 
 points of departure from D'Avenant's sophisticated version 
 of an earlier date. One has grave doubts whether it differed 
 very much either textually or musically from the tragedy 
 which had such fascination for Pepys. In this connection 
 too much stress must not be laid upon Downes' description 
 "in the nature of an opera", for throughout his book he 
 makes woeful misuse ofthe term "opera", using it in an 
 even laxer sense than his contemporaries. He speaks, for 
 example, of the Shadwell Tempest of 1674 as an opera, 
 although beyond a certain superiority in scenic auxiliaries 
 and the appendage of a masque, it differed little from the 
 Dryden-D'Avenant version of 1667, and was published 
 as a comedy. ^ 
 
 While it is quite feasible that for the spectacular Macbeth 
 of 1 672 Lock may have embellished his old score, substitu- 
 ting, perhaps, some new lyrics in place of the old setting 
 of Robert Johnson, there is no reason to believe that the 
 success of the revival depended upon its music. On the 
 
 ^ In all the quartos of Macbeth issued during the seventeenth century the piece is 
 described on the imprints as a tragedy, and yet these all deal with the D'Avenant sophis- 
 tication. 
 
ffn:)o wrote the Famous ^^ Macbeth" Music? 219 
 
 contrary, its vogue was largely due to the inclusion of some 
 of "those gilt-gauds men-children run to see". Realistic 
 flying effects, procured by stage machinery specially brought 
 over from France, were shown in the play. Dorset Gardens 
 was proud of its enterprise, boasted of it a year later in 
 the epilogue to ShadweU's Tempest : 
 
 When you of witt, and sence, were weary growne, 
 
 Romantick, riming, fustian playes were showne. 
 
 We then to flying witches did advance, 
 
 And for your pleasures traffic'd into fFrance. 
 
 From thence new arts to please you, we have sought, 
 
 We have machines to some perfection brought. 
 
 And about thirty warbling voyces gott. ' 
 
 DufFet, who, with equal assiduity and scurrilousness, 
 kept burlesquing the Dorset Gardens spectacles at Drury 
 Lane, wrote (and printed in 1 674) " an Epilogue spoken 
 by witches, after the Mode oi Macbeth. Perform'd with new 
 and costly Machines, which were invented and managed by 
 the most ingenious operator, Mr. Henry Wright, P.G.Q." ^ 
 The whole of this imprint, down to the mystic initials, sounds 
 like a jeer at some grandiloquent announcement made by 
 the rival theatre. 
 
 No advocate who has held a brief in the interminable case 
 of Purcell versus Lock seems to have been aware of the 
 distinctive theatrical usages of the Post-Restoration era. 
 Latterly aU appear to think thatPurceU's claim hinges solely 
 upon the spectacular Macbeth of 1672, that if he cannot 
 be identified as the composer for that revival, Lock must 
 remain in peaceful possession of the honours. This is essen- 
 tially the view of the new Grove based on Dr. Cummings' 
 anxiety to prove that the famous score was the efflorescence 
 of immaturity. But all who are conversant with the inner 
 workings of the period from a theatrico-musical standpoint 
 must concede that frank and full acceptance of Downes' 
 statement concerning Lock's authorship of the score of 1672 
 
 1 Vide ante p. zoi. 
 
 ' For an analysis of DufFet's burlesque, see Maidment and Logan, CA-uenanfs 
 Dramatic Works, v. 302. 
 
2 20 ff^ho wrote the Famous '■^Macbeth" Music? 
 
 does not negative Purcell's claim to the published score of 
 1750. Rather indeed does it strengthen it. One has only to 
 prove revivals oi Macbeth at a period of about a decennium 
 later to bring Purcell into direct touch with the tragedy. 
 And that can be readily accomplished. 
 
 It may be assumed that Lock as theatrical composer was 
 left in undisputed possession of his Af«C(^e//^ monopoly till 
 his death in August, 1677. True, that assumption flies 
 in the face of the theatrical usages of the period, but in 
 the absence of positive evidence to the contrary, no other 
 attitude can be taken. With the steady growth of Purcell's 
 popularity as a composer from 1679 onwards, it was 
 clearly open to him to reset the Witch scenes in Macbeth, 
 especially as the spectacular, sophisticated version of the 
 tragedy continued to prove attractive at Dorset Gardens. 
 Such, indeed, was Purcell's vogue, one feels assured that 
 even if the famous score had already been in existence, the 
 work, say of his dead friend Lock, not even the dread of 
 odious comparison would have checked him from trying his 
 hand. All through his career he was deliberately measuring 
 his strength with his predecessors, sturdily resetting what 
 they had set before, often blotting out their very memory. 
 It was thus with Circe in 1685, for which Bannister had 
 originally composed the music twelve years previously; 
 and thus with the Shadwell 'Tempest in 1690, for which 
 Pietro Reggio and Lock had provided the setting in 1 674. 
 Why then should Macbeth have been taboo .-' Under the 
 circumstances, it was no more audacious for Purcell to 
 approach the task than it was for his immediate successor, 
 Eccles. By 1 695 the famous Macbeth score must have been 
 in existence, whoever the composer, but Eccles in that year 
 summoned up his courage and drew upon his scholasticism 
 to reset the Witch scenes for Drury Lane.^ 
 
 One other revival o? Macbeth is recorded, of an earlier 
 date, before Purcell threw his gauntlet into the theatrical 
 arena. According to Langbaine, who states he was present 
 
 ' For Eccles' Macbeth music see Add. MSS. No. 12,219. It was probably written 
 for tlie revival indicated by Quarto 4, as issued in 1695. 
 
Who wrote the Famous "Macbeth" Music? 221 
 
 on the occasion, the tragedy was in the bill at Dorset 
 Gardens on August 28, 1675/ when the fatal quarrel took 
 place in the pit between Scroope and Sir Thomas Armstrong. 
 In view of the fact that Macbeth was a stock play and 
 afforded Betterton one of his finest characters, the tragedy 
 must have been frequently performed between 1675 and 
 1695 (the year of Purcell's untimely death). Owing, how- 
 ever, to the woeful incompleteness of Post-Restoration 
 stage annals we know only of two revivals within those two 
 decades. The first occurred at Dorset Gardens early in 1682, 
 and was seen by the Morocco ambassador sometime between 
 January and May in that year. ^ The second we only know 
 of through Quarto 3, as issued by Herringman in 1689. 
 It is clear from the statement made on the title-page, "as it 
 is now acted at the Theatre Royal" that the tragedy had been 
 recently revived at Drury Lane. ^ One takes leave to think 
 that this date marks the latest period at which the famous 
 score could possibly have been written. It is not to be con- 
 ceived that Eccles reset the witch scenes on the very heels 
 of Purcell's glorious effort, especially as the interests of the 
 two companies still remained united in 1695. Apart from 
 this, the year 1689, roughly indicates the period of Purcell's 
 greatest activity, and it seems a not improbable date for the 
 composition of the Macbeth music. 
 
 It only remains to see on what authority Dr. Boyce, in 
 publishingthe score in 1 7 50, ascribed it to Lock. One looks 
 naturally for some morsel of tangible evidence justifying 
 such a course, but all search is fruitless. It cannot be too 
 emphatically enforced that Boyce's attribution was mere 
 guesswork. We shall see anon that so far from echoing 
 theatrical tradition, he sets his face stubbornly against it 
 
 ' For the date and other details see The Hatton Correspondence (Camden Society, 
 1878), i. 121. 
 
 * Of. Gentleman's Magazine (i 8 1 3), pp. 220, art. on Dorset Gardens Theatre ; also 
 LuttreWs Diary (1857), i. 187. 
 
 ' Beyond the substitution of "Theatre Royal" for "the Duke's theatre" the 
 imprint is copied almost word for word from Quarto 2, and the same identity of phrasing 
 is to be noted in the edition of 1 710. Seeing that Quarto 3 presents no textual variations 
 from its predecessor, no stress can be laid upon the iteration in the imprint "with all the 
 alterations, amendments, additions and new songs ". I mention this to prevent future 
 error. 
 
222 PFho wrote the Famous ^'Macbeth" Music? 
 
 Not the slightest hint was conveyed by the manuscript 
 warranting the ascription. Nothing that Lock ever wrote 
 bears any resemblance to the music or is of quite so fine 
 a quality. No playhouse announcement o^ Macbeth can be 
 traced in the newspapers before 1750, holding out as a lure 
 the performance of Lock's music. That was a feature of the 
 bills to come later and remain long, thanks to the blunder- 
 ing of Boyce. In stage (as opposed to musico-antiquarian) 
 tradition, the memory of Lock had completely died out. 
 Nothing is left to us but to agree with Dr. Cummings that 
 Boyce had had the misfortune to fall across Downes' refer- 
 ence to Lock, in his account of the revival of 1 672, and not 
 conceiving the possibility of later scorings, had at once 
 j umped to a conclusion.^ In this absurd fashion was a fallacy 
 set on foot which none since has been able to arrest. 
 
 One has considerable satisfaction in now putting forward 
 for the first time four important items of evidence justify- 
 ing the Purcellites of the faith that is them. They go to 
 prove that, although no Macbeth music of Purcell's was 
 published in his lifetime, a tradition long existed in theatrical 
 circles associating his name with the great score. That tradi- 
 tion died hard, disappearing ultimately through unques- 
 tioning acceptance of Boyce's ascription. 
 
 In Faulkner's Dublin Journal of December 6, 1743,^ is 
 to be found an advertisement announcing the performance 
 oi Macbeth at the Smock Alley theatre on the 8th instant, 
 with Thomas Sheridan for the first time in the great rtle. 
 By way of extra attraction, " all the original songs and 
 Musick by the celebrated Mr. Purcell" are promised. I 
 hasten to anticipate the objection that misstatements were 
 of common occurrence in the old playhouse announcements, 
 and that in this case some error might have been committed. 
 
 • The circumstance that Boyce dedicated the music to David Garrick suggests an 
 alternative solution. Garrick, as a theatrical bibliophile, is likely to have had some 
 knovfledge of Downes' chronicle, and the attribution might have been originally his. 
 He had himself revived Macbeth at Drury Lane in 1744. (and again in 1748), discarding 
 most of D'Avenant*s interpolations, but retaining the witch music. Nothing, however, 
 exists to show that he publicly attributed the score to Lock in either of the years men- 
 tioned. 
 
 ^ A file is in Marsh's Library, Dublin, 
 
fFho wrote the Famous '■'Macbeth" Music? 223 
 
 The drafter of the Smock Alley advertisements was not 
 alone in his opinion, it was shared by Samuel Derrick, who, 
 under his pen-name of "Thomas Wilkes," gave proof in his 
 General View of the Stage of a wide acquaintanceship with 
 stage history and theatrical tradition. Although his book 
 came out nine years after the publication of the Macbeth 
 score. Derrick, in speaking of it, ignores Boyce's attribu- 
 tion. "There is a grandeur in Parcel's music", he writes, 
 " that is elevating, and wiU always please ; there is as much 
 true genius in the Music which he composed for Macbeth^ 
 as in creating the Witches; and his song, Britons strike home, 
 will immortalize him eternally, because in the mouth of 
 every Englishman, and equally pleasing to the most refined 
 taste, and the most vulgar capacity." ^ 
 
 The third and fourth items of evidence testifying to a 
 long-lived tradition as to Purcell's authorship of the music 
 consist of two Dublin advertisements issued at widely 
 different periods. In an announcement of the performance 
 oi Macbeth at Smock Alley on January 12, 1767, when 
 Mossop played the Thane of Cawdor, one finds appended 
 InFaulknef's Dublin Journal the statement "with the original 
 music of the famous Henry Purcel." When Macbeth was 
 again presented at the same theatre on January 12, 1784, 
 the same ascription, in almost identical terms, was made 
 in the advertisement in The Public Register, or Freeman's 
 Journal. 
 
 Viewed in association with these four items, the deduc- 
 tions of musical experts like Hayes and Arnoldgain Immeas- 
 urably in credence. No less skilled in technical knowledge, 
 Dr. Cummings has still further grounds for his lifelong 
 advocacy of Purcell's claims. In his collection are the 
 following : 
 
 (i) MS. volume, written by Saville of Lichfield Cathedral, and 
 formerly in the possession of Bartleman. This bears title, 
 " Purcell's Theatre Music ", and contains (i) " Macbeth", 
 (2) "The Indian Queen", (3) "CEdipus", (4) "Bonduca", 
 
 * London, 1759, p. 77- Derrick was born in Dublin in 1724 and lived there till 
 manhood. 
 
224 ^^° wrote the Famous "Macbeth'' Music? 
 
 (5) "Timon of Athens", (6) "The Libertine". (No one 
 has ever disputed the genuineness of the last five items.) 
 
 (2) MS. volume, formerly belonging to the Musical Society of 
 
 Oxford. Contains music for The Tempest, King Arthur v.nA 
 Macbeth, all attributed therein to Purcell. 
 
 (3) Word Book of the Academy of Music, published in 1768, 
 
 containing " The Masque in Macbeth (Purcell) ". 
 
 To sum up. Side by side with the fact that no Macbeth 
 music attributed to Purcell was published in his lifetime, 
 we see the existence of a healthy tradition giving him the 
 honours due to the composer of the great score. Under the 
 circumstances it would be absurd to imagine that this per- 
 sistency of idea had any less stable basis than that of truth 
 and actuality. Avoid confusion of the issue by separating 
 hypothesis from ascertained fact, discard from the mind 
 Dr. Cummings' untenable and misleading assumption as to 
 the alleged juvenility of the work, and the mass of evidence 
 is clearly in favour of Purcell's claim. 
 
 One can admire the beauties of the Macbeth m\\.s\c per se, 
 and fight vigorously in support of the truth, without approv- 
 ing of the old managerial taste that could so disfigure the 
 tragedy. Within the memory of the middle-aged the inter- 
 polation still held its place, but its disappearance a score of 
 years ago marked the dawn of a truer culture. Only the dawn 
 indeed, for Shakespeare is still encumbered with many scenic 
 excrescences. For generations previously Matthew Lock 
 had enjoyed posthumous honours and suffered posthu- 
 mous abuse, both equally undeserved. Let us hope that the 
 one has now cancelled the other. The hour has come to 
 attach whatever meed of praise is due to the memory of the 
 right man. The sum total of our musical heritage will be 
 none the less for this tardy readjustment, and the eternal 
 cause of truth and justice will have been maintained. 
 
New Facts about the Blackfriars : Monsieur 
 Feuillerat's Discoveries 
 
New Facts about the Blackfriars : Monsieur 
 Feuillerat's Discoveries 
 
 One of the prime vexations of Elizabethan research is that 
 it has absolutely no finality. Sincfc opinions cannot be kept 
 perpetually in solution where progress has to be made, 
 earnest workers have to ignore this patent fact or risk 
 paralysis of their activities. Some take refuge in dogmatism, 
 only to be brought face to face at the end with the limita- 
 tions of their horizon. One is moved to these reflections 
 by the disturbing circumstance that Professor Feuillerat's 
 modest preliminary announcement ^ of his important dis- 
 covery of a series of documents in the Loseley MSS. 
 proving the existence of an earlier and but dimly suspected^ 
 theatre in the Blackfriars, demands an immediate re-adjust- 
 ment of our historical perspective with regard to the evolu- 
 tion of the Elizabethan playhouse. Enough has already 
 been revealed to show that, within a period of two years 
 from the building of the first public theatre in the fields, 
 the principle of the private theatre was well established. 
 What that principle was, ab initio^ I shall strive later on to 
 determine : it needs first to recapitulate the absorbing story 
 of the earlier Blackfriars. 
 
 In December, 1576, Richard Farrant, master of the 
 Children of Windsor and deputy-master of the Children 
 of the Chapel, already favourably known as a playwright 
 and composer,* took a twenty-one years' lease of the old 
 Blackfriars monastery in the Liberties, and, pulling down 
 
 ' See his article, " Shakespeare's Blackfriars," in T:he Daily Chronicle of December 
 zz, 1911. 
 
 2 Cf. Collier's ^«na/jiii. 273. 
 
 ' For fuller details concerning Farrant, see the Diet. Nat. Eiog. and Grove's Diet, 
 of Music, sub nomine. Various payments for the acting of Farrant's boys at court from 
 1568 to 1578 are recorded in the acts of the Privy Council. It is noteworthy that on 
 Twelfth Night, 1576-7, the Children of Windsor and the Children of the Chapel 
 appeared unitedly before the Queen at Hampton Court in The Historic ofMutius Sccvola. 
 
228 New Facts about the Blackfriars : 
 
 the partitions of its second story, proceeded to construct 
 on that elevation a small theatre, ostensibly for the rehearsal 
 of new court plays. In time, under conditions not readily 
 ascertainable, certain select members of the public were 
 permitted to be present at these "rehearsals." But the 
 pretext under which the theatre was first opened about the 
 close of 1577, with the Children of the Chapel, was that 
 of a practising-place " for the better trayning them to do 
 her Majestic service." One has some reason to believe 
 that the Paul's boys were also acting in the city about this 
 period, or at least very shortly afterwards. The earliest 
 recorded court plays whose preliminary performances can 
 be safely inferred to have been given at the Blackfriars were 
 The Historie of Loyaltie and Bewtie and J History ofAlucius, 
 both of which were acted by the Children of the Chapel at 
 Whitehall, the former on Shrove Monday, 1579, and the 
 latter on St. John's Day, 1580. ^ 
 
 After Farrant's death in November, 1580,^ his widow 
 let the theatre to William Hunnis, master of the Children 
 of the Chapel, who rendered his period of management 
 memorable by producing in 158 1-2 the Campaspe and 
 Sapho and Phao of Lyly. By this time the Blackfriars had 
 proceeded far beyond the stage of a mere rehearsal-theatre, 
 for, notwithstanding that court performances by the Children 
 were comparatively few, we learn in Gosson's Plays Con- 
 futed in five Actions^ of the "great many comedies " that had 
 recently been acted there. Among other plays given, in all 
 likelihood, under Hunnis were Peele's The Arraignment of 
 Paris and a Moral entitled A Game of the Cards, the latter 
 of which was acted at Windsor by the Chapel Children on 
 St. John's Day, 1582. In 1583* the Chapel Children fell 
 into disfavour at court and, as a consequence, the popularity 
 
 ' Cunningham, Revels Accounts, pp. 142 and 154. 
 
 ^ I base here on Prof. FeuiUerat. The Diet. Nat. Biog. gives the date as 1585. 
 
 ^ Published without date, but entered at Stationers' Hall on April 16, 1582. 
 
 * It is noteworthy that the boys of Merchant Taylors' School, under Richard 
 Mulcaster, acted A Historie of Ariodante and Genevora before the Queen at Richmond 
 on shrove Tuesday, 1582—3. Mulcaster's boys had given court performances as early 
 as 1574 (Collier, Annals, i, 208-9). 6"'*'"> might there not have been a rehearsal- 
 tlieatre in the School ? 
 
Monsieur Feuillerat^s Discoveries 229 
 
 of the Blackfriars waned. Owing probably to the double loss 
 sustained (for we must remember that a charge of ;^6 1 3 j. /^d. 
 was usually made for each performance before the Queen), 
 Hunnis made petition in the same year for an extra allow- 
 ance for the upkeep of the twelve Chapel boys, in supplement 
 of the annual grant of l^o. ^ He had already surrendered 
 the Blackfriars to its owner, the widow Farrant, who let the 
 house in quick succession to one Newman and to Henry 
 Evans, "the very man," writes Prof. Feuillerat, "who was 
 to lease the Blackfriars Theatre started by Burbage in 1597." 
 At this juncture that " passing singular odd man " Edward, 
 the 1 7th earl of Oxford, who had been a patron of the drama 
 from hisyouth, had a troupe ofboy-players which had already 
 acted before the Queen, and which, on and off from 1580, 
 had been performing in the country.^ For their better 
 establishment in London, Oxford secured a sub-tenancy of 
 the Blackfriars from Evans, and housed the children there 
 under the control of his sometime private secretary, John 
 Lyly. Seeing that Puttenham in his Art of English Poesy 
 (158 9) praises the earl for his writing of "comedy and inter- 
 lude ", it may be that most of his lost plays were written for 
 performance by his Blackfriars boys. But all that can be 
 arrived at regarding their doings is provokingly slight. In 
 1584 they gave three performances at court, the last at 
 Greenwich, on St. John's Day, when ne History of Aga- 
 memnon and Ulysses was presented. ' In all probability, the 
 anonymous comedy The Weakest goeth to the Wall, published 
 in 1600, as "acted by the Earl of Oxford, Lord great Cham- 
 berlain of England, his servants ", belongs to this period. 
 This play was based on a story in Barnaby Rich's Farewell 
 to Military Profession (1581), and in act ii, scene i, allusion 
 is made to Oxford's players as "pigmies." Another piece 
 called The True History of George Scanderbage, entered by 
 
 ' Of. The Athenaeum of March 31, 1900, art. "William Hunnis" by Mrs. C. C. 
 Stopes. 
 
 ^ Cf. John Tucker Murray's English Dramatic Companies, 1558-1642, i. 344 and 
 ii. 62. Oxford's boys had acted several times at court before June, 1580. When at 
 Bristol in September, 1581, they were nine in number. 
 
 ' Cunningham, Revels Accounts, p. 188. 
 
230 New Facts about the Blackfriars : 
 
 Edwarde Aide on the books of the Stationers' Company on 
 July 3, 1601, " as It was lately played by the Right Hon. 
 the Earle of Oxenforde his servants " but not published, 
 cannot be readily associated with the boy-players. ^ After 
 the closing of the Blackfriars in 1585 under circumstances 
 presently to be related, Oxford lent his countenance to a 
 troupe of adult-actors whom we find playing somewhere 
 in London late in 1586. ^ The boys went at once on tour, 
 but apparently did not long survive. ' 
 
 At the conclusion of his terse account of the rise and 
 progress of the first Blackfriars, Prof. Feuillerat writes : 
 
 But Sir William More [the landlord] was now getting restive 
 at all these changes of tenancy, and he turned against Ann Farrant 
 prepared "to take forfeiture against her", the conditions of the 
 lease not having been fulfilled. She applied for protection to Sir 
 Francis Walsingham, the Queen's secretary, but his intervention 
 was ineffectual, for Sir William More, making up a list of his 
 tenants in the Blackfriars in 1585, did not include Ann Farrant's 
 name. This date, therefore, can be taken as indicating the moment 
 when the Blackfriars theatre came to a premature end. The play- 
 house was again divided into rooms, and it was to be remodelled 
 into a theatre only in 1597} when Burbage bought the house from 
 Sir William More. 
 
 To speak by implication of Farrant's house as the first 
 private theatre, as I have already done at the beginning of 
 this commentary, is, in a sense, to beg the question, seeing 
 that no positive evidence exists to show that the earlier 
 Blackfriars was known and recognised by that designation. 
 The point admits, however, of a posteriori reasoning. Most 
 of the distinguishing characteristics of the later private 
 
 ' Of. Fleay's Biog. Chron. Eng. Drama, ii. p. 64, No. 16. Also Marlowe's Works 
 (edit. BuUen), iatroduction, p. Ixv. 
 
 * See the reference to them in the anonymous letter to Walsingham, under date 
 "25th January, 1586 [7]," cited by Collier {Annals i. 263) under a wrong period. 
 Fleay {Chron. Hist. 88) conjectures that Oxford's men were at the Curtain in 1586-8, 
 but Mr. J. Tucker Murray, (op. cit.) effectively traverses this. 
 
 ^ Early in the summer of 1585 they were acting at Bath, where they had been 
 about a year earlier. (Cf. Belville S. Penley, The Bath Stage, p. 12). The later refer- 
 ences to Oxford's players in the country, traced by Mr. J. Tucker Murray (c. 1589-90) 
 evidently deal with visits from the adult company. 
 
Monsieur Feuilkrafs Discoveries 231 
 
 theatres can be shown to have existed, or may be rationally 
 supposed to have existed, in the first Blackfriars. ^ The era 
 of the small roofed theatre, with the seated pit, permanent 
 stage devoid of" heavens" and with artificial lighting, un- 
 doubtedly began with that house. Precedent for the copious 
 interspersion of music, dance and song which individualised 
 the performances of the second Blackfriars was certainly 
 established by Farrant's boys, whose master, we must recall, 
 was primarily organist and composer. ^ 
 
 Apart from all this, by solving an allied and considerably 
 more difl!icult problem, one can readily show that the earlier 
 Blackfriars was clearly recognised as the first private house. 
 Time out of mind, antiquaries and commentators have been 
 much puzzled to determine how the epithet "private" came 
 to be applied to aplace of performance where admission could 
 be obtained by anybody having money to burn. Thanks to 
 Prof. Feuillerat's vital discovery, I am now in a position to 
 clear up the mystery. In the "Act of Common Council" for 
 the regulation of acting within the city, passed on December 
 6, 1 575, the final clause runs : 
 
 Provydid allwaie that this Acte (otherwise then touchinge the 
 publishing of unchaste, sedycious, and vnmete matters) shall not 
 extend to anie plaies Enterludes Comodies, Tragidies or shewes 
 to be played or shewed in the pryvate hous, dwellinge, or lodginge 
 of anie nobleman, citizen, or gentleman, w<:h shall or will then 
 have the same thear so played or shewed in his presence, for the 
 festyvitie of anie marriage, assemblye of iFrendes, or otherlyke 
 cawse, w'l^owte publique or comen collection of money of the 
 auditorie, or behoulders theareof ; referringe alwaie to the Lorde 
 Maior and Aldermen for the tyme beinge the Judgement accord- 
 inge to equitie, what shalbe counted such a playenge or shewing 
 in a pryvate place, anie thinge in this Acte to the contrarie 
 notw^standing. ' 
 
 1 Much of what has already been said at pp. 16-21 of the physical disposition 
 and conventions of the second Blackfriars applies readily to its predecessor. For the 
 differentia note what now follows. 
 
 2 The evidence is a trifle more definite in the Hunnis period. Three songs were 
 rendered in Camfa^pi and four in Sapho and Fhao. In the former there was also dancmg 
 and tumbling. 
 
 ' Collier, Annals i. 214, sqq. 
 
232 New Facts about the Blackfriars : 
 
 There is not the shadow of a reason for doubting that 
 Farrant had already determined, when he set about building 
 his rehearsal -playhouse some twelve months after the 
 passing of this act, to keep within the spirit of its final 
 clause. He had only to live on the premises ^ and to avoid 
 the collection of money at the door or " gathering " inside, 
 to constitute the Blackfriars a "private house" within the 
 meaning of the act. Publicity, of course, had to be shirked. 
 No flag could be raised, no bills posted. ^ Here it is neces- 
 sary to anticipate the argument that Farrant was under no 
 necessity to indulge in this subterfuge, seeing that the 
 Common Council had no jurisdiction in the liberties of 
 the Blackfriars. In 1577 that was a point of law as yet 
 unsettled, and Farrant had good reason for entertaining 
 doubts. ' A little better than a year after the opening of 
 the theatre, the Lord Mayor laid claim to the exercise of 
 authority within "the precinct of the late dissolved Monas- 
 tery of the Blackfriars." But the Chief Justices delayed in 
 giving judgment, and on May 1 5, 1 580, the Privy Council 
 issued an order that, pending their decree, things should 
 " remain in statu quoprius, and that the Lord Mayor should 
 not intermeddle in any cause within the said Liberties, 
 saving for the punishment of felons as heretofore he hath 
 done." * This rebuke was practically the last word on the 
 subject, and dissipated all fears. Hunnis, in succeeding 
 Farrant as manager a few months later, had consequently 
 his standing better assured. From that onwards money could 
 have been taken at the doors, or gathered inside, instead 
 
 ^ We have no evidence that Farrant had apartments in the Blackfriars (perhaps 
 Prof. Feuillerat will inform us on the point later), but Lyly, a few years later, had. 
 
 2 Posters were probably issued at a subsequent period, but the ilag was never a 
 characteristic of the private theatre. Malone in this connection cites from Middleton's 
 j4 Mad pyorld. My Masters : **The hair about the hat is as good as a flag upon the pole, 
 at a common playhouse, to waft company." 
 
 ' The Privy Council, in issuing instructions to the Lord Mayor on December 24, 
 1578, for permission to be granted to various companies "to exercise plays within the 
 city ", by way of rehearsing what they had arranged to present at Court at Christmas, 
 included the Children of the Chapel in the list. (Fleay, Chron. Hist. p. 52). And yet it 
 must have been about this time that the Children were established at Blackfriars. 
 
 ' Cf. C. W.Wallace, The Children of the Chapel at Blackfriars,^. 154 note i. Also 
 Collier's Annals, iii. 273 note. 
 
Monsieur Feuillerais Discoveries 233 
 
 of relying upon the subscriptions or uncertain gifts of the 
 house's patrons. One cannot say exactly when the change 
 came, but when it did we may take it that the theatre 
 ceasedto be "private" in the old legal sense without losing 
 its designation. That was to become the inheritance of its 
 enfranchised successors, much to the mystification, be it 
 said, of a long line of future antiquaries. 
 
 Everything tends to show that the first Blackfriars was 
 a very simple building and not at all elaborately furnished. 
 To begin with, Farrant was of little means and without 
 subsidy. Even if he could have raised the necessary money, 
 he is not likely to have constructed a sumptuous playhouse 
 at a time when the Common Council were particularly restive 
 regarding playing within the city precincts, and when, as we 
 have seen, the Lord Mayor claimed jurisdiction within the 
 Liberties of the Blackfriars. So quietly and unostentati- 
 ously was the house conducted that the inhabitants of 
 the district scarcely recognised they had a theatre in their 
 midst. This is shown by the fact that when the residents 
 in the Blackfriars precinct petitioned the Privy Council in 
 November, 1596, to restrain Burbage from constructing 
 " a common playhouse " on this selfsame second floor of 
 the old monastery, it was urged that the Liberties had 
 thitherto remained unpolluted, that " there hath not at any 
 tyme heretofore been used any Common Playhouse within 
 the same Precinct." ^ This latter statement was, of course, 
 strictly accurate, the word "common" as applied to theatres 
 then being used in the sense of "public ". But the inhabit- 
 ants knew very well that Burbage was unable to construct 
 an ordinary public theatre within the narrow limits of an 
 upper storey. His intention was merely to reconstitute the 
 old private playhouse with closer approximation to the public 
 theatre type of auditorium. The natural inference is that the 
 earlier Blackfriars was hardly recognised as a theatre at all. 
 
 It is on this showing that I am in opposition to Prof 
 Feuillerat in his view that " it seems pretty certain that 
 
 1 Collier's Annah i. 227-8. See also C. W. Wallace, The Children of the Chapel 
 at Blackfriars, f^. 17 and ig, notes 5 and i. 
 
234 New Facts about the Blackfriars : 
 
 Farrant erected galleries all round the room, as was generally 
 practised when Royal or private halls were temporarily con- 
 verted into playhouses," Even the latter part of this state- 
 ment may be seriously queried. My own opinion is that the 
 auditorium in the first Blackfriars merely consisted of the 
 area, used as a pit and provided with stools or benches. In 
 this connection it may not be unprofitable to examine Prof. 
 Wallace's estimate ' of the seating capacity of the second 
 house, seeing that it occupied approximately the same 
 space as the first. All told, he conjectures that its pit and 
 three galleries held about 530 spectators. Of this total 96 
 are allotted to the pit. In Farrant's Blackfriars, however (if 
 I may proceed on the strength ofmy own hypothesis), the pit 
 space cut off in Burbage's house hy the lowermost gallery 
 would be at the disposal of the audience. Still basing on 
 Prof. Wallace's estimate, I calculate this to represent an 
 addition of 144 to the holding capacity of the first theatre, 
 or a total of 240 in all. One can readily surmise that when 
 the house was in the meridian of its prosperity, say in 1 582, 
 when Gosson speaks of " a great many comedies " being 
 acted there, the supply of pit-seats would often be consider- 
 ably less than the demand. Surely we have in this a clue to 
 the origin of sitting on the stage. It seems reasonably well 
 assured that that custom began in the private theatre, and 
 it has already been demonstrated that it was in existence 
 before the erection of the second Blackfriars. ^ We have, 
 therefore, fair grounds for assuming that it first came into 
 force at Farrant's house. If this assumption could be taken 
 as a certainty,itwouldof itself prove the absence of galleries 
 in the earlier Blackfriars, as, most indubitably, it can only 
 have been under the severest pressure that the custom was 
 allowed to spring into existence. It will not be difficult to 
 show that in the beginning it proved a serious obstruction 
 to the traffic of the stage, and that its persistence led to some 
 modification of the ruling conventionalities. 
 
 ^ op. cit. p. 50, conjectural plan. 
 
 ' Cf. C. R. BaskerviU, The Custom of Sitting on the Elizabethan Stage {Modern 
 Philology, viii. No. 4, 191 1, pp. 581-3). 
 
Monsieur Feuilkrat's Discoveries 235 
 
 Since the earlier Blackfriars was primarily a rehearsal 
 theatre for court plays, and as all the court plays of the 
 period, excepting pastorals, were provided with scenery of 
 the multiple order, it follows that to be properly rehearsed 
 these plays must have been mounted at the Blackfriars in 
 the same manner as they were to begiven before the Queen. 
 The scenery, costumes and properties required for court 
 plays given by the Chapel boys were provided in the Revels 
 office at the expense of the Crown. One can readily surmise 
 that they would be lent for "rehearsals", but it is not so well 
 assured that their use could be obtained for such perform- 
 ances as were given at the theatre after the plays were 
 produced at court. There must have been many such 
 performances, as well as performances of new pieces not 
 intended for presentation before the Queen. The little 
 theatre could not have been kept going for six months in 
 the year simply as a court rehearsal-house. Under what 
 conditions, then, were performances otherwise than "dress- 
 rehearsals " given there .'' We do not know, and are not 
 likely ever to be able to determine. It may be that they 
 were given after the normal manner of the public theatre 
 and that the earlier Blackfriars was furnished with a tiring- 
 house facade, with the usual entering doors, and inner and 
 upper stages. Such a disposition could frequently be turned 
 to advantage, even when practicable scenery of the multiple 
 order was utilised. 
 
 Excessive demand for seats is most likely to have 
 occurred during the dress-rehearsals of court plays, the 
 period when multiple scenery was certainly employed. 
 Everybody would want to forestall the Queen in her 
 Christmas enjoyment. But if sitting on the stage was 
 permitted at such periods, it must have been within the 
 zone of action, not at either end of the stage (the arrange- 
 ment suggested by Prof Wallace in his conjectural recon- 
 struction of the later Blackfriars). ^ For the stool-holder 
 
 ' op. cit. p. 46. In the absence of definite details as to the disposition of the early 
 Blackfriars stage, it would be idle to speculate as to whether the Lords' room (in the 
 tiring-house) was already in existence there. 
 
236 New Facts about the Blackfriars : 
 
 to have planted himself outside the"aptehowsesof paynted 
 canvas " and away from the traffic of the scene, would have 
 been to lose sight of what was going on. Obviously, once 
 the innovation grew into a habit drastic changes would 
 take place. One has only to picture the stool -holders 
 seated in the middle of the stage — an obstruction to the 
 players and an eyesore to the audience — to see that, in 
 time, the practice would lead to the abandonment of the 
 multiple setting. It may be thought by some that a com- 
 promise was effected somewhat on the lines indicated by 
 Percy a score of years later : 
 
 Now if it so be that the Properties of any of These, that be out- 
 ward, will not serve the turne by reason of concurse of the People 
 on the Stage, Then you may omitt the sayd Properties which be 
 outward and supplye their Places with their Nuncupations onely 
 in Text Letters. ^ 
 
 But to this there are divers objections. Apparently the 
 course proposed was even in 1 600 very exceptional. Had 
 it been the common practice under such conditions the 
 instruction would have been superfluous. Moreover, the 
 play with regard to which the option was given was a 
 pastoral, and not therefore a strictly multiple (or hetero- 
 geneous) setting. It is vital to recognise this. Pastorals 
 , by their nature seldom outraged the Unity of Place, and 
 although given a scenic background at court often arranged 
 on the multiple principle, all the components of that back- 
 ground were strictly congruous. Take two court plays of 
 this order that might possibly have been first performed 
 at the early Blackfriars, The Arraignment of Paris and Galla- 
 1 thea. The setting required for Peele's play — Diana's bower 
 I in the midst of thickets — could be realised on the stage of 
 , to-day without evoking derision. Lyly's pastoral did not 
 I demand the use of even a single mansion. The scene was 
 ' a simple landscape with a large oak tree in the foreground. 
 The use of real trees was a marked characteristic of court 
 plays of this order. 
 
 ^ vide supra p. 60. 
 
Monsieur Feuilkrafs Discoveries 237 
 
 It is advisable that the student of Elizabethan drama 
 should make himself thoroughly conversant with the dis- 
 tinguishing characteristics of the multiple scene and the 
 conventionalisms its employment gave rise to, so that he 
 may readily recognise a play constructed strictly on its 
 principles, when he comes across it. With the hope of pre- 
 venting a perpetuation of the painful ignorance displayed 
 in this connection by certain recent (and otherwise learned) 
 commentators, I take leave now to expatiate on the subject. 
 In reading old plays, particularly of the historico-romantic 
 or narrative order, one may safely infer the employment 
 of a multiple setting in all cases where frequent changes of 
 scene take place while the characters remain. Other cor- 
 roborative signs and tokens may be found by the skilled 
 worker, but this, I think, is the unfailing test. It must be 
 noted, however, that solitary instances of this peculiarity 
 prove nothing. ^ They are merely graftings from the older 
 convention. By the employment of a strictly limited 
 number of symbolic mansions typifying certain widely 
 separated localities it was possible to make the characters 
 perform a journey in full sight of the audience by simply 
 walking across the stage from one figurative component of 
 the scene to another. In the French theatre of the early 
 seventeenth century the maximum number of mansions 
 ^utilised was five, but it would appear, from the evidence 
 6f the RevelTAccounts and a careful analysis of a variety 
 'of court plays, that the normal number in English court 
 performances of c. 1570- 1600 was three. ^ As a rule, only 
 one mansion existed for the spectator at any given moment, 
 , theothers being suppressed by conventional understanding. 
 But a few exceptions, confined, I think, to Lyly's plays, 
 are to be found. One of these occurs in Sapho and Phao, 
 V. 2, 1. 45, where Venus seated in Vulcan's smithy spies 
 Cupid In Sapho's chamber on the other side of the stage. 
 
 ' e.g.. Measure for Measure, iii. 1-2, where the Duke remains while the change 
 takes place from the prison to the street. 
 
 ^ The History of the Four Sons ofFahius (l 5 80) called for " a Cytie, a Mounte " and 
 a Prison. (Cunningham, R£vels Accounts, pp. 155 and i6i). For the History of Serpedon 
 (1580) "a great citie, a wood, a castell" were provided (ibid p. 156). See also supra 
 p. 66, The Cuck-Queanes and the Cuckolds Errants. 
 
238 New Facts about the Blackfriars : 
 
 By way of giving pause to the Elizabethan commen- 
 tator, who is usually obsessed by a mania for minute 
 localisation, it is vital to point out that in many plays based 
 on the multiple-scene principle not all the places of action 
 were materially symbolised. This was due to the limited 
 number of mansions ' employed, and the dramatist had to 
 write his play accordingly. In the printed copies one can 
 readily distinguish the located (or visualised) scenes from 
 the unlocated. Some reference to the place of action 
 generally occurs in the located scenes, as in 'The PFoman 
 in the Moone, iv. i, 1. 292, when Stesias, on entering, says, 
 " This is Enlpeus' banke." In the others no clue whatever 
 is presented. ^ Inconsistent and absurd as this arrangement 
 may appear to us now, it created no confusion in the mind 
 of the spectator when put into practice. This is accounted 
 for by the fact that no interior scene was ever unlocated, 
 the unlocated scenes passing in the street, or at any rate 
 in the open. At these junctures the audience generally 
 recognised that the place of action was near to the last 
 located scene. ' One remarks also that in the typical play 
 of the multiple-scene order there is not only a conven- 
 tional compression of space but an equally conventional 
 compression of time. Admit the premiss and the one is a 
 logical deduction from the other. Lyly's mind, for example, 
 became so saturated with this associated principle that it 
 influenced him even in the writing of pastorals. Hence 
 Mr. Warwick Bond notes in his excursus on Love's Meta- 
 morphosis, that "there is visible an attempt at close con- 
 tinuity of action irreconcilable with the lapse of time which 
 the plot requires."* 
 
 ' The French term is used by me throughout in a broad technical scene to signify 
 a component part of the multiple setting. It would comprise a cave, or a wood (as 
 symbolised by a couple of trees). 
 
 ^ Thus all the scenes in Endimion placed by Mr. Warwick Bond {Lyly'i ff^orks. 
 Vol. III.) in the " Gardens of the Palace " are wholly unlocated. The multiple setting 
 in this play was arranged in three parts, representing (i) The Lunary Bank, (2) The 
 Castle in the Desert, (3) The Magic Fountain. 
 
 2 For a clue to the origin of the unlocated scene, see C. F. Tucker Brooke, The 
 Tudor Drama, p. 30. In the Play of the Con-version- of Sir Jonathan the Jeiv by Miracle of 
 the Blessed Sacrament (c. 1480), three mansions were employed, the rest of the stage being 
 "unallotted territory" where the characters could meet to transact business, &c., &c. 
 
 * Lyly's JVorks, iii. 298, 
 
Monsieur Feuillerafs Discoveries 239 
 
 It is noteworthy that " discoveries " could be made with 
 the multiple scene almost equally as well as on the ordinary 
 public stage and by a similar method. This lent illusion to 
 the action, especially in bed-chamber scenes. Most of the 
 mansions representing interiors such as shops, senate-houses 
 and caves were provided with double front curtains working 
 on poles and pulling back on either side. Consequently 
 although all these "apte howsesof paynted canvas " were 
 in situ before the play began, some of them remained con- 
 cealed from sight until the action called for the drawing of 
 the curtains. ^ There can be little doubt that all the records 
 to be found in the Revels Accounts of provision of material 
 for curtains in connection with various plays refer to the 
 curtains employed in front of the mansions. ^ Several years 
 ago, I was mightily puzzled to know for what these curtains 
 were used, and was half inclined to think some of them were 
 placed at the front of the stage, to be drawn away at the 
 beginning and to be closed at the end. * So much for view- 
 ing the past with a purely modern intelligence. It is time 
 for us to recognise that no direct evidence exists of the 
 employment of a front curtain in the court performances 
 of Elizabeth's reign and that the principle of the multiple 
 scene precluded the necessity of any such employment. * 
 Apparently the front curtain came into vogue at a slightly 
 later period, with the introduction of the proscenium arch 
 and movable (i.e., successive) scenery. 
 
 It is apposite now to consider whether we have any 
 definite evidence of the employment of the decor simultane, 
 or multiple setting, on the stage of the first Blackfriars. 
 Without beating about the bush I may say at once that we 
 
 • Of. Sapbo and Phao, iii. 3, and iv. 3 ; The Woman in the Moone, Act i. Abundant 
 analogies can be traced on the later French stage. See Engine Rigal, op. cit. pp. 252-3. 
 
 ' Cunningham's Revels Accounts, pp. 56, 85, 168. 
 
 ' See "Some characteristics of the Elizabethan-Stuart stage" ia Englische Studien, 
 Band 32 (1903), p. 40. 
 
 * Elsewhere, at private entertainments, front curtains were occasionally used. On 
 January 3, 1593-4, when the Gentlemen of Gray's Inn presented a sort of masque in 
 their Hall before the Queen, a curtain drew at the beginning, exposing the altar to the 
 Goddess of Amity, and closed at the end. (Cf. Gesta Grayorum ; or the History of the 
 High and Mighty Prince Henry, Prince of Purpoole, London, 1688, p. 56). In the same 
 year The Comedy of Errors was acted in the same Hall. 
 
240 New Facts about the Blackfriars : 
 
 have. Proof of the performance of Lyly's two court come- 
 dies, Sapho and Phao and Campaspe, at the Blackfriars is 
 afforded us in the printing of the prologues and epilogues 
 spoken there in the quartos of 1584. ^ By scenic analysis 
 it will not be difficult to show that both were constructed 
 on the principle of the compound simultaneous scene and 
 that one, at least, could not have been acted on any stage 
 without the use of a multiple setting. 
 
 In Sapho and Phao three mansions were evidently em- 
 ployed, representing ( i ) Sybilla's cave, (2) Sapho's chamber, 
 (3) Vulcan's forge. According to my reading all the scenes 
 unassociated with some one of these three mansions were 
 unlocalised. Act i. takes place in the open, near the ferry. 
 Act ii. I, Sybilla's cave. At the close Sybilla goes off, leav- 
 ing Phao to begin Scene 2, in the open ; 3, unlocated ; 4, 
 in the open near the cave. Phao goes to the cave and 
 calls and Sybilla answers without entering. Act iii. i, un- 
 located ; 2, in the open ; 3, Sapho's chamber (with curtains 
 in front of the wa»«o«). Sapho discovered in bed ^ .... 
 " Shee falleth asleepe. The curtaines drawne." . . . Sub- 
 sequently the curtains must have been re-opened just 
 before Sapho's long soliloquy (no direction). Act iv. i, 
 Sapho's chamber ; 2, the open ; 3, Sapho's chamber. 
 Seven characters on at the end but no direction for their 
 exeunt. Quare did they retire into the mansion ? Sapho says, 
 "draw the curteine". Scene 4, Vulcan's forge (elaborately 
 arranged : note song while the arrows are being made). 
 Act V. I, unlocated at the beginning; afterwards Venus 
 sends off Cupid, and, soliloquising, says she will await 
 his return at the forge, where she probably seats herself. 
 
 ' In both quartos the prologues for the Blackfriars precede the prologues for the 
 court, a true indication of their correct chronological order. That even the newest of 
 new plays was almost invariably given in public before being acted at court is shown by 
 an order from the Privy Council to the Lord Mayor, under date November i8, 1581, 
 preserved among the City Records. Acting having been prohibited in the city in 
 the July previous, the Lords of the Council authorise its renewal, so "that the Players 
 may be in readiness with convenient matters for the Queen's solace at Christmas, which 
 they cannot be without their usual exercise therein." (Of. Tie ^rfiCTaeam, January 23, 
 1869, p. 132, art. "Plays and Players," letter 295.) 
 
 ^ In scenes of this order on the ordinary public stage the bed was usually thrust 
 out from behind. 
 

 
 frr 
 
 
 I u-^ , .— ... 
 
 
 i:*-**.'^ v-* 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 i ^ gj <--» 
 
 It^ 
 
 > 
 
 Q K 
 
 Pi 5 
 
 o -^ 
 
 z >. 
 
 So 
 
 (7; W 
 
 w 
 
 
Monsieur Feuillerafs Discoveries 241 
 
 Scene 2, Sapho's chamber, into which Venus (who speaks 
 at line 45 without entering) can see from the forge, as she 
 says, " I marvel Cupid cometh not all this while. How 
 now, in Sapho's lap ? " At the close of her speech Sapho 
 replies. Sapho's chamber at end of scene was probably con- 
 cealed again by the curtains. Sapho says, " Come, Milela, 
 shut the door {Exeunt) ". Scene 3, before Sybilla's cave. It 
 is plain, I think, to be seen from this analysis that the fifth 
 act could not have been given on any stage, public or 
 private, without the conjunctive employment of two 
 mansions. Hence we have reasonable proof of the use of 
 the multiple setting at the early Blackfriars. As some 
 doubts may be expressed as to the nature of the curtains 
 employed in the scenes laid in Sapho's chamber, whether 
 they were simply bed-curtains draped round a four-poster 
 or traverses hanging in front of the mansion, I may say that 
 I arrived at the latter opinion strictly through French 
 analogy. At the H6tel de Bourgogne at a slightly later 
 period it was customary to stage all bed-room scenes, form- 
 ing part of a decor simultane, in this way. Two examples will 
 suffice. They are taken from the property-man's memo- 
 randa for the staging of the plays. "Au milieu du theatre ", 
 we read of the Agarite of Durval, "il faut une chambre 
 garnie d'un superbe lit, le quel se ferme et ouvre quand il 
 en est besoin." Similarly the instruction regarding La Folie 
 ^'Zytf^e//^of Hardy begins "il faut que le theatre soit beau, 
 et a un des c6t6s une belle chambre, oili il y ait un beau lit, 
 des sieges pour s'asseoir. Ladite chambre s'ouvre et se ferme 
 plusieurs fois. Vous la pouvez mettre au milieu du th^sltre, 
 si vous voulez," ^ 
 
 In his recension of Campaspe, Mr. Warwick Bond (who 
 has no suspicion of the existence of the multiple-scene 
 principle and interprets Lyly's plays by the usages of the 
 public theatre) places the action in Athens in four distinct 
 scenes, representing (i) A Suburb, (2) Alexander's Palace, 
 (3) The Market Place (with Diogenes' Tub), (4) Apelles' 
 Shop. But according to my reading only three of the locali- 
 
 ' Eugine Rigal, op. cit., pp. 248-9. 
 
242 New Facts about the Blackfriars : 
 
 ties were materially symbolised, all the suburban scenes 
 being unlocated. Hence the scene would be arranged some- 
 what after the following manner : 
 
 ApELLES* Shop, 
 
 Stage Front. 
 
 The Market Place was indicated simply by Diogenes' 
 tub, which, so far from being thrust up a trap when required 
 (as Mr. Bond surmises ^) remained on the stage from first 
 to last. Note that the tub stood on its end (at one j uncture 
 Diogenes pries over it), and that there was some means of 
 getting into it unseen at the back. Diogenes sometimes 
 departs from the stage in the ordinary way, only to emerge 
 later from his tub. Without full conception of the multiple- 
 setting it is impossible to visualize all the various muta- 
 tions in the third act. That the action in the opening scene 
 oscillates rapidly from the inside to the outside of Apelles' 
 shop is indicated in Psydus' speech. The shop, or studio, 
 must have been a fairly solid construction with a curtain 
 in front of it, the necessity for the latter being indicated 
 by the discovery at the opening of scene 3, as well as by 
 the situation in act iv. 4, where Apelles is found painting 
 Campaspe. Here the direction " Campaspe alone " does 
 not signify that Apelles goes off (as Mr. Bond implies), 
 but that Campaspe emerges into the street and soliloquises. 
 
 ' Of. C. F. Tucker Brooke, The Tudor Drama, pp. 173 and 432. It is painful to 
 find Mr. Brooke, not only accepting Mr. Bond's view, but going so far as to say that 
 in Lyly's court plays no effort was made to visualize the scene. How then would he 
 explain away the strong collateral evidence of the Revels Accounts f 
 
Monsieur Feuillerafs Discoveries 243 
 
 Immediately after her departure, the page enters and 
 addresses Apelles, showing that the artist has been all the 
 time in his studio. Apart from these denotements, the 
 transfers of scene while the characters remain prove the 
 multiple-setting. Unlike Sapho and Phao^ Campaspe would 
 have admitted, at a pinch, of staging by the ordinary public 
 theatre method, presuming the addition of a tub to the 
 conventional resources of the tiring-house fa9ade. But it 
 would have been at best a clumsy alternative, and my own 
 opinion is that both plays were given at the Blackfriars 
 exactly as they were represented at court. 
 
Bibliography 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 Actors' Remonstrance, The, or Complaint : for the silencing of 
 their profession and banishment from their severall 
 play-houses. 4to, 1643. (E. W. Ashbee's facsimile 
 reprint, 1869.) 
 
 Ademollo, a. — / Primi Fasti del Teatro di via della 
 Pergola in Firenze (1657-61). M ilan o, Ricordi (no 
 date). 
 
 Albright, Victor E. — The Shaksperian Stage, New 
 York, 1909. 
 
 Algarotti, Count — AnEssay on the O/era, London, 1767. 
 
 Apollo's Banquet for the Treble Violin, London, 1669. 
 
 Archer, William — The Theatrical World of 1897. "The 
 Growth of the Playhouse," art. in The Tribune of 
 August 17, 1907. "The Elizabethan Stage," art. in 
 The Quarterly Review, April, 1 908. " The Fortune 
 Theatre, 1600," in Shakespeare Jahrbuch, 1908, pp. 
 159-66. 
 
 AriOsto, Lodovico — Orlando Furioso, folio, Milano, 1 8 1 8. 
 
 Baker, David Erskine — Biographia Dramatica, or A 
 Companion to the Playhouse, 2 vols., 1782. 
 
 Baker, G. P. — The Development of Shakespeare as a 
 Dramatist, 1907. 
 
 Baker, H. Barton — The London Stage, 2 vols., 1889. 
 
 Baskervill, C. R. — "The Custom of Sitting on the 
 Elizabethan Stage." {Modern Philology, Chicago, 
 VIII, No. 4, April, 191 1). 
 
 Beaumont and Fletcher's Works, folio, 1647. 
 Bellamy, George Anne — An Apology for the Life of, 2 vols,, 
 
 Dublin, 1785. 
 Bernardin, N. M. — La Comedie Italienne en France, 1902. 
 
248 Bibliography 
 
 BoADEN, James — Memoirs of Mrs. Siddons(M.emdir Library- 
 Series), 1896. 
 
 Boz — Memoirs of Joseph Grimaldi, 2 vols., 1838. 
 
 Bradley, A. C. — Oxford Lectures on Poetry, 1 909. 
 
 Brereton, Austin — The Lyceum and Henry Irving, 1903. 
 
 Broadbent, R. J. — Stage Whispers, 1901. 
 
 Brooke, C. F. Tucker — The Shakespeare Apocrypha, 1908. 
 The Tudor Drama, 1912. 
 
 Brotanek, Rudolph — Die Englische Maskenspiele, Vienna, 
 1902. 
 
 Burney, Chas. — History of Music, 4 vols., 1789. 
 
 Calendars of State Papers, Domestic Series, temp. Charles I 
 and II. 
 
 Calendars of State Papers, Venetian. 
 
 Campori, Giuseppe — Notizie inedite di Raffaello da Urbino, 
 
 (Atti e Memorie di storia patria, Modena, 1863, 
 
 vol I.) 
 
 Celler, Ludovic — Les Decors, les Costumes, et la Mise en 
 Scene au Dix-Septieme Siecle, 1869. 
 
 Chalmers, Geo. — A Supplemental Apology for the Believers 
 in the Shakespeare Papers, London, 1799. 
 
 Chambers, E. K. — The Medieval Stage, 2 vols., 1903. 
 
 Chappuzeau, S. — Le theatre frangais divise en trois livres, 
 Lyon, 1674. 
 
 Chardon, Henri — La Troupe du Roman Comique devoilee 
 et les Comediens de campagne au 17^ Siecle, 1875. 
 
 Chetwood, W. R. — General History of the Stage, London, 
 1749. 
 
 CiBBER, Colley — An Apology for the Life of 'London, 1826. 
 
 Collier, J. Payne — The History of English Dramatic Poetry 
 to the time of Shakespeare ; and Annals of the Stage 
 to the Restoration, 3 vols., 1831. 
 
 Connoisseur Magazine, The — Vols, xv and xviii (1906-7). 
 
Bibliography 240 
 
 Cook, Button — On the Stage, 2 vols., 1883. 
 Coryat's Crudities — 2 vols., Glasgow, 1905. 
 CoTGRAVE, R. — A Dictionarie of the French and English 
 Tongues, folio, 161 1. 
 
 Cox, Robert — The Wits, or Sport upon Sport, 1662. 
 CuMMiNGs, W. H. — " Purcell's Music in Macbeth." In 
 The Musical Times, xxiii (1882), p. 471. 
 
 CuNiNGHAM, Henry — Macbeth (Arden Shakespeare 
 
 Series), 19 12. 
 Cunningham, Peter — Extracts from the Accounts of the 
 
 Revels at Court in the reigns of Queen Elizabeth and 
 
 King James I (Shakespeare Society, 1 842). Inigo 
 
 Jones (Shakespeare Society, 1 848). 
 
 D'Avenant, Sir William — Dramatic Works, edited by 
 James Maidment and W. H. Logan, 5 vols., 
 1872-4. 
 
 Dekker, Thomas — The Non-Dramatic Works of, edited by 
 the Rev. A. B. Grosart, 5 vols., 1884-6. 
 
 Description of the Great Machines of the Descent of Orpheus 
 into Hell. Presented by the French Commedians at the 
 Cockpit, in Drury L^ne, 1661. 
 
 DiBDiN, James C. — Annals of the Edinburgh Stage, Edin- 
 burgh, 1888. 
 
 Dispatches of William Perwich, The-r-Camden Society, 1905. 
 
 Dodsleys Old English Plays — Fourth edition, edited by W. 
 Carew Hazlitt, 15 vols., 12^4.-6. 
 
 Donaldson, J. W. — The Theatre of the Greeks, 1875. 
 
 D6RPFELD AND E. Reisch — Das GriecMsche Theater, 
 Athens, 1896. 
 
 DowNES, John — Roscius Anglicanus, London, 1708. 
 Drama, or Theatrical Pocket Magazine, The — ^Vols. i-iv 
 (1821). 
 
 Dryden, John — Works, edited by Sir Walter Scott and 
 G, Saintsbury, 14 vols., 1883-9. 
 
250 Bibliography 
 
 DunlaPjWm. — Memoirs of George Fred. Coo/^^, 2 vols., 1813. 
 DuNTON, John — ne Dublin Scuffle, London, 1699. 
 D'Urfey, Tom — Collin's Walk Through London, 1690. 
 
 Elton, C. I. — William Shakespeare, his Family and Friends, 
 
 1904. 
 Era Almanack, The, 1891. 
 
 Evans, Herbert A. — English Masques (Warwick Library 
 Series), 1897. 
 
 Feuillerat, a. — Documents relating to the Office of the Revels 
 in the time of Queen Elizabeth, 1908. " Shakespeare's 
 Blackfriars," art. in The Daily Chronicle, of Decem- 
 ber 22, 191 1. 
 
 Fielding, Henry — The Complete Works of, with notes and 
 introductions by James P. Browne, M.D., 1 1 vols., 
 1902. 
 
 Fitzgerald, Percy — A New History of the English Stage, 
 2 vols., 1882. 
 
 FiTzjEFFREY, H. — Notes from Black-fryers, 1620. 
 
 Forestier, a. — " The Fortune Theatre reconstructed " 
 (designs). In Illus. London News, Aug. 12, 191 1. 
 
 Foster, Frances A. — " Dumb Shew in Elizabethan 
 
 Drama before 1S20," Englische Studien,ha,nd xliv 
 
 (191 1), heft i. 
 Fournel, V. — Curiosites ThiAtrales, 1878. Le Vieux Paris, 
 
 Tours, 1887. 
 FuRNESS, Horace Howard — New Variorum Edition of 
 
 Shakespeare, 15 vols., Philadelphia, 1 871-1907. 
 
 Fyvie, John — Comedy Queens of the Georgian Era, 1906. 
 
 Garnier, Chas. — Le Thedtre, 1871. 
 
 Gayton, Ed. — Pleasant Notes upon Don Quixot, 1654. 
 
 Gentleman's Magazine, The, for 18 13, p. 220, art. on 
 " Dorset Gardens Theatre." 
 
 Gesta Grayorum ; or the History of the High and Mighty 
 Prince Henry, Prince of Purpoole, London, 1688. 
 
Bibliography 2 c i 
 
 Gherardi, Evaristo— Ze Thedtre Italien, Amsterdam, 
 1 72 1, 6 vols. 
 
 GiLDON, Chas. — A Comparison between the two Stages, 8vo, 
 1702. 
 
 GiLLiLAND, Thos. — The Dramatic Mirror, 1 vols., 1808. 
 
 Glapthorne, Henry — The Ladies" Privilege, a Comedy, 
 4to, 1640. 
 
 ^Godfrey, Walter H. — "An Elizabethan Playhouse," 
 Architectural Review, April, 1908. 
 
 GossE, Edmund — Seventeenth Century Studies, 1883. 
 
 GossoN, Stephen — The Schoole of Abuse, edit. Arber, 1868. 
 Plays Confuted in Five Actions [1582]. 
 
 Greeting, Thos. — The Pleasant Companion ; or New 
 Lessons and Instructions for the Flagelet, 1680. 
 
 Grobert — De r Execution Dramatique, consideree dans ses 
 rapports avec le materiel de la Salle et de la Scene, 
 1809. 
 
 Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, edited by J. A. 
 Fuller Maitland, 5 vols., 1904, &c. 
 
 Halliwell-Phillipps, J. O. — Outlines of the Life of Shake- 
 speare, 3rd edit., 1883. 
 
 Harlequin Horace ; or the Art of Modern Poetry, third edit., 
 
 1735- 
 Hatton Correspondence, The, 1 vols., Camden Society, 1878. 
 
 Hawkins, F. — Annals of the French Stage from its origin to 
 the Death of Racine, 1 vols., 1884. The French 
 Stage in the Eighteenth Century, 1 vols., 1888. 
 
 /Heckethorn, C, W. — Lincoln s Inn Fields and the Locali- 
 ties Adjacent, 1896. 
 
 Henslowe^s Diary, edited by W. W. Greg, M.A., 2 vols., 
 
 1904-8. 
 Hentzner, Paul — Itinerarium Germaniae, Angliae, Italiae, 
 
 cum indice locorum, rerum atque verborum commemo- 
 
 rabilium, Noribergae, 1629. 
 
252 Bibliography 
 
 Historical Manuscripts Commission Reports, various. 
 
 HoLBROOK, Richard — The Farce of Master Pierre Patelin, 
 Boston, Mass., 1905. 
 
 Jackson, John — History of the Scottish Stage, 1793. 
 
 Jonsonus Virbius, London, 1638. 
 
 Jordan, Thos. — A Royal Arbour of Loyal Poesie. No date 
 [c. 1662]. A Nursery in Variety of Poetry. No date 
 [c. 1665]. 
 
 JussERAND, J. J. — Shakespeare in France, London, 1898. 
 
 Kelly, Michael — Reminiscences of, 2 vols., 1826, 
 
 KiLLiGREW, Thos. — Dramatic JVorks, folio, 1664. 
 
 KoMENSKY, J. A. — Orbis SensualiumPictus,L.ondon, 1659. 
 
 Lacroix, Paul — Le ly Siecle, Lettres, Sciences et Arts, 
 
 1882. 
 Lafontaine, H. C. de — The King's Musick, no date 
 
 [1909], 
 Lam BARD, Wm. — A Perambulation of Kent, second edit., 
 
 1596. 
 Lee, Sir Sidney — The French Renaissance in England, 
 
 Oxford, 1 9 10. 
 
 Letter Book of Gabriel Harvey (1573-80), Camden Society, 
 1884. 
 
 Letters to Sir Joseph Williamson at Cologne, Camden Society, 
 
 2 vols., 1874. 
 Lowe, Robert W. — Thomas Betterton (Eminent Actors 
 
 series), 1891. 
 LuTTRELL, Narcissus — A Brief Historical Relation of State 
 
 Affairs, from Sept. 1678 to April, 17 14, 6 vols., 
 
 Oxford, 1857. 
 Lylys JVorks — Edited by R. Warwick Bond, 3 vols., 1902. 
 Lyonnet, Henry — Le Thedtre en Espagne, 1897. 
 
 Magalotti, Lorenzo — Travels of Cosmo HI, Grand Duke 
 of Tuscany, through England during the reign of King 
 Charles H {i66<)), 4to, 1 8 2 1 . 
 
Bibliography 253 
 
 MalonEjEdmond— 5i>«^«/)farfV Works, 1 1 vols., Dublin, 
 1794. Shakespeare Variorum, edit. Boswell, 21 
 vols., 1821. 
 
 Mantzius, Karl — A History of Theatrical Art, 5 vols., 
 1902, &c. 
 
 Marlowe's Works — Edited by A. H. Bullen, 3 vols., 1885. 
 Martin, William — The Site of the Globe Playhouse of 
 Shakespeare, 19 10. 
 
 Mau, August — Pompeii, its Life and Art, 1902. 
 
 Middletofis Works — Edited by A. H. Bullen, 8 vols., 1885. 
 
 Monconys, M. de — Journal des Voyages, Lyon, 1666. 
 
 MoNKEMEYER, Paul — Prolegomena zu einer Darstellung der 
 englischen Volksbuhne zur Elisabeth- und Stuart- 
 Zeit, Hanover, 1905. 
 
 MoRiCE, Emile — Histoire de la mise en scene depuis les 
 Mysteres jusqu" h Cid. 1836. 
 
 MoYNET, Georges — Trues et Decors, Paris, no date. 
 
 Murray, John Tucker — English Dramatic Companies, 
 1588-1642, 2 vols., 1910. 
 
 Mustek's Delight on the Cithren, London, 1666. 
 
 Nashe, Thos, — Works of, edited by Ronald B. McKerrow, 
 5 vols., 1904-10. 
 
 Nichols, John — The Progresses, Processions, (sfc, of King 
 James I, 4 vols., 1828. 
 
 NuiTTER, Chas. and Thoinan, E. — Les Origines de 
 U Optra Frangais, 1886. 
 
 Ordish, T. F. — Early London Theatres, 1894. 
 Oxford History ofMusick, The — Vol. vii. 
 Penley, Belville S. — The Bath Stage, 1892. 
 Pepys' Diary, edited by H. B. Wheatley, 10 vols., 1 897-9. 
 Percy, William — Plays, Roxburghe Club, 1824. 
 Playford, John — Musick's Recreation on the Viol, Lyra- 
 way, 16S2. 
 
254 Bibliography 
 
 ' " Plays and Players," art. in The Athenaeum^ January 23, 
 1869, p. 142. 
 
 PrOlss, R. — Von den ahesten Drucken der Dramen Shake- 
 
 speares, 1905. 
 Prynne, W. — Histrio Mastix, The Players Scourge ; or Actors 
 
 Tragaedie, 1633. 
 
 PuTTENHAM, Geo. — The Arte of English Poesy, edit. Arber, 
 
 1869. 
 RennerTjH.A. — The Life of Lope de Vega, Glasgow, 1904. 
 
 Reynolds, G. F. — Some Principles of Elizabethan Staging, 
 Chicago, 1 905 (Reprinted from Modern Philology). 
 " What we know of the Elizabethan Stage," in 
 Modern Philology, ix. No. i, July, 191 1. 
 
 RiGAL, Eugene — Le Thidtre Franfais avant la Piriode 
 Classique, 1901. 
 
 RiMBAULT, E. F. — Ancient Vocal Music of England, 1847. 
 
 Rye, W. B. — England as seen by Foreigners in the days of 
 
 Elizabeth and James I, 1865. 
 Sabattini, Nicolo — Pratica di fabricar scene e machine ni 
 
 Teatri, Ravenna, 1638. 
 
 " Scale Model of the Fortune Theatre, The " — Illustrated 
 
 Article in The Architectural Review, vol. xxxi 
 
 (January, 19 12), p. SZ- 
 Scaliger, Julius C^sar — Poetices Libri Septem, &?<:., folio, 
 
 Lyons, 1561. 
 ^.^CHELLiNG, Felix E. — Elizabethan Drama, 1 558-1 642, 
 ^ 2 vols., Boston, 1908. 
 
 Scientific American, The, vol. l. No. i 4, issue of April 5, 
 
 1 8 84. Illustrated Article on the Madison Square 
 
 Theatre, New York. 
 Scott, Clement — "The Kingof Clownland," art. in The 
 
 English Illus. Magazine, Christmas, 1898, p. 271. 
 
 Secret Service Accounts of Charles II and James II, 2 vols., 
 
 Camden Society, 1851. 
 Serlio, Sebastian — Architettura, Paris, 1545. 
 
Bibliography 2 c c 
 
 Settle, Elkanah— ri.^ Etnpress of Morocco, a traeedv 
 4to, 1673. ^ ^' 
 
 Shadwell, Chas. — Dramatic TForks, 2 vols., Dublin 
 1720. ' 
 
 Shirley, James — Narcissus; or the Self-Lover, 1646. 
 
 Sidney, Sir Philip — Astrophel and Stella, edited by A. 
 
 W. Pollard, 1888. Apologie for Poetrie, edited by 
 
 E. S. Shuckburgh, 1891. 
 Small, R. A. — The Stage Quarrel between Ben Jonson and 
 
 the so-called Poetasters, Breslau, 1899. 
 
 Smith, Horace and James — The Rejected Addresses, 18 13. 
 
 Smith, John Stafford — Musica Antiqua, 2 vols., 18 12. 
 
 SoRBiERES, Samuel de — Relation d'un voyage en Angleterre 
 oil sont touchees plusieurs choses qui regardent Vestat 
 des sciences et de la religion et autres matieres curieuses, 
 Paris, 1664. A Voyage to England, London, 1709. 
 
 ^ Speed, John — 571^ Theatre of the Empire of Great Britain. 
 1611. 
 Squire, W. Barclay — " Purcell's Dramatic Music," art. 
 in The Quarterly Magazine of the International 
 Society of Music, Year v (1904), Pt. 4. 
 
 Stopes, Mrs. C. C. — "William Hunnis," art. in The 
 Athenaeum of March 31, 1900. 
 
 Symonds, J. A. — Shakspere's Predecessors in the English 
 
 Drama, 1884. 
 Tarletons Jests and News out of Purgatory, with Memoir 
 
 by J. O. Halliwell. Shakespeare Society, 1844. 
 
 Term Catalogues, 1 668-1 709, edited by Edward Arber, 
 3 vols., 1903-6. 
 
 [Vasari, Giorgio] — Descrizione delV apparato della Comedia 
 et Tntermedii d'essa recitata in Firenze il giorno di 
 S. Stefano Vanno 1565, i£c., fcfc. Florence, 1565, 
 (British Museum, press-mark " 604 b 20.") 
 
 Victor, Benjamin — History of the Theatres of London and 
 Dublin, 2 vols. London, 1761. 
 
256 Bibliography 
 
 Walker, Ernest — History of Music in England, 1907. 
 
 Walker, J. C. — Historical and Critical Essay on the Revival 
 of the Drama in Italy, 1805. 
 
 Wallace, C. W. — ^e Children of the Chapel at Blackfriars, 
 1 597-1 603, 1908. "The Swan Theatre," art. in 
 Englische Studien, band 43, pp. 340 ff. 
 
 Ward, A.W. — English Dramatic Literature, 3 vols., 1899. 
 
 Wegener, Richard — Die Buhneneinrichtung des Shake- 
 speareschen 'theaters nach den Zeitgendssischen Dramen, 
 Halle, 1907. 
 
 Whitelocke, Bulstrode — Memorials oftheEnglish Affairs, 
 
 idc, folio, 1682. 
 Wilkes, S. [Samuel Derrick] — A General View of the 
 
 Stage, 1759. 
 
 Wilkinson, Tate — Memoirs of his own Life, 4 vols., 
 
 York. 1790. 
 Wilson, J. D. — Life in Shakespeare's England, 1911. 
 Winstanley, Wm. — Lives ofthe Famous English Poets, 1687. 
 
 WiNwooD, Sir Ralph — Memorials of Affairs of State, 
 
 folio, 1725. 
 Wotton, Sir Henry — Reliquiae Wottonianae, 1685. 
 
 Wright, James — Historia Histrionica : an historical account 
 ofthe English Stage : shewing the ancient use, improve- 
 ment, and perfection of dramatic representations in this 
 nation. In a dialogue of Plays and Players, 1699. 
 (Reprinted in Dodslefs Old Plays, 1 744, vol. xi.) 
 
 Wyndham, H. Saxe — The Annals ofCovent Garden Theatre, 
 2 vols., 1906. 
 
 Young, K. — " The Influence of French farce upon the 
 Plays of John Heywood." (Modern Philology, June, 
 1904.) 
 
Index 
 
INDEX 
 
 *** The small superior figures refer to footnotes. 
 
 Academic plays, 58, 82, 1 14 Bond, R.Warwick 59I, 238, 
 
 Act-divisions, Origin 114 241-2 
 
 Actress, First English 129^ Bowman, Mr 91 
 
 Admission, Systems of 10, Boxes, Stage 166, 177, 179, 
 
 14, 30, 20i\ 232 181, 186 
 
 Alternation, Theory of 32, Boyce, Dr. . . 215, 221-2 
 
 75 Brande, Thos. . . . 130-1 
 
 Antimasques, . . 104, 136 Brooke, C. F. Tucker 238^ 
 
 Apron, The 91, 161, 165-6, 242^ 
 
 170, 175 Browne, Dr. Edward 140^ 
 
 Ariosto, Lodovico . 114-5 Burbage, James i, 10, 15,21 
 
 Armstrong, Sir Thos. 150, Burbage, Richard 21, 229 
 
 221 Busino,Orazio8i\ 104^, 1 18 
 Aulaeum, The ...11 1-20 
 
 Cambert, Robert . . . 145 
 
 Baker, G. P. . . . 25^32 Card-playing in theatres, 35 
 
 Balconies, Stage 20, 160, Cellarage, Stage .... 19 
 
 169^172-7,179,187,189 Chambers, E. K., s^, 127* 
 
 Balon, Monsieur ... 152 Chambre a quatre portes. 
 
 Balustrades, Stage 18, 22 167 
 
 Bancrofts, The .... 184 Channell, Mr 214 
 
 Banister, John . 197, 221 Chapoton, 139 
 
 Barry, Mrs. . . . 148, 188 Chemnoveau, J. . . . 140 
 
 Bath, Players in . . . 230^ Childrenoftlie Chapel, The 
 
 Bedchamber scenes 240-1 15, 80, 88, 227-42 
 
 Beeston, Christopher 132 Children of the King's Re- 
 
 Behn,Aphra . . 173-4, 194 vels, The . . . . 16, 83 
 
 Bellamy, Mrs 178 Children of Windsor, 228 
 
 Bertie, Peregrine ... 151 Cibber, Colley 165, 170', 
 
 Betterton, Thos. . 149-52, 171 
 
 213, 221 Cini, G. B 116 
 
 Boaden, Jas 180-1 Continuous Performance, 
 
 BoUand, W.C 205' Theory of 75, 84, 87 
 
26o 
 
 Index 
 
 Conventions, Elizabethan 
 stage 7, 9, 13^ 59, 159, 
 169-71, 237 
 
 Coryat, Thos 129 
 
 Coulisses, Origin of the 57 
 
 Courtplays, 56-8, 60-1, loi, 
 
 1 1 5-6, 119-20, 127, 132- 
 
 133,135-7,140-2,146-7, 
 151, 227-42 
 
 Cross, Miss 205 
 
 Crowds painted on scenery, 
 
 194I 
 Cummings, W. H. 209-24 
 Curtains, Stage 6, 92, 95- 
 
 96, 111-21, 170-1, 174- 
 
 .175, 237-42 
 Curtain Tunes, 197, 198^ 
 
 Dancing, Inter-act . 81-2 
 Dancing-place, The . 104 
 Daniel, Samuel .... 99 
 D'Avenant, Charles . 214 
 D'Avenant, Sir William 49, 
 95, 100, 105-6, 118, 14D- 
 
 141,159,177,194', 195, 
 200^, 206, 210-14 
 
 Dekker, Thos. 29, 37, 6^, 
 
 85, 136' 
 Derrick, Samuel . . . 223 
 
 Designs for Masques, 106, 
 
 Deveil, Justice . . . 1 54-5 
 De Witt, Johannes 2, 3, 12, 
 
 32, 39 
 Doors, Stage 6, 19, 33, 65, 
 
 66^, 160, 164-89 
 Downes, Thos. 144, 194-9, 
 
 214-6, 218, 222 
 
 Dowton, William . . 184 
 Dublin, Theatrical customs 
 
 in 14, S3^ 88, 178, 181' 
 
 222-3 
 Duffet, Thomas 204, 219 
 Dumb Shows, .... 76-7 
 Dundee, French players in 
 
 127 
 Dunton the bookseller, 164 
 Duperier, Francis . 150-1 
 Duration of performance, 
 
 13, 83, 85 
 
 Durieu, 148 
 
 Durocher, 132 
 
 Duryer, Pierre .... 133 
 Dryden, John, 142-3,150, 
 
 168, 170^, 195-7, 202-4, 
 
 206, 214^ 
 
 Eccles, J 220 
 
 Edinburgh, Drama in 119, 
 127^ 
 
 Edwin, Mrs 185 
 
 Elizabeth, Queen 15, 239* 
 " Enter behind " . . 17 1-2 
 Evans, Henry . . 15, 229 
 Evans, H. A. . . 99^ 104^ 
 Evelyn's Diary, 144, 146 
 
 Farmer, the composer, 217 
 Farrant, Richard 227, 234 
 Ferrara, The drama in 115 
 Fiurelli, Tiberio 143, 146, 
 
 149 
 Flags on theatres, 8, 13, 19, 
 
 25', 50, 232 
 Florence, Drama in 106^, 
 116 
 
Index 
 
 261 
 
 Floridor, Josias . . 133-6 
 Foote, Samuel ... 1-76 
 Footmen keeping seats, 142 
 
 Forestier, A 24^ 
 
 France, Theatrical customs 
 of 142, i6i^ 194^, 237, 
 23 9S 241 
 French Opera, first in Eng- 
 land, 144 
 
 Galleries, . 9, 11, 18, 234 
 Garrick, David 156, 206, 
 
 222^ 
 Gatherers, . 14, 29, 232 
 Genga, Girolamo . . . 44^ 
 Gildon, C. 152, 153, 194 
 Glapthorne, Henry . . 137 
 Godfrey, Walter H. 24, 66^ 
 Gosson, Stephen 11,228, 
 
 234 
 Gouvernet, Marquis de 153 
 
 Grabut, Louis 144-5, ^49" 
 
 150, 216^ 
 Grahme, Mr. ..... 149 
 
 Grated stage boxes, . 36^ 
 Green stage cloth for trage- 
 dies, 187-9 
 
 Grimaldi, Joseph ... 187 
 Guard, military, in theatres 
 178-9 
 
 Haines, Joe . 141-2, 168 
 Hart, J. . . . 198, 203 
 Hayes, Dr. Philip 209, 2 1 5 
 Heavens, The 8, 19, 40, 
 
 163^ 
 Hentzner, Paul .... 81 
 Herbert, Sir Henry 89, 94^ 
 
 129-34, 210 
 
 Herringman, Henry 196, 
 
 204-5, 212^ 221 
 
 Hey wood, John ... 128 
 
 Holbrook, R 127 
 
 Humphreys, Pelham . 197 
 Hunnis, Wm. 228-9, 232 
 
 Inn-yard stages, . 1-5, 10 
 Intermedii, Italian . . 77 
 Italian comedians in Eng- 
 land, 143, 145-6 
 
 J igs, Elizabethan 13,21,81, 
 
 85-6 
 Johnson, Robert 211,218 
 Jones, Inigo 46, 48, 99- 
 
 100, 102-3, 105-6, 117^, 
 
 1 18-9, 136 
 Jonson, Ben 35-6, 62, 85, 
 
 86^, 99, 1 17-8 
 Jordan, Thos. . 23^ 129^ 
 
 Kemble, John .... 206 
 Killigrew, Thos. . . . 93-6 
 
 La Roche-Guilhen, Mme. 
 
 147 
 
 Lattices, 164 
 
 Lee, Nat .... 2 r 6, 2 1 8 
 Leo X, 1 1 5-6 
 
 Lighting, artificial 1 6, 1 8^, 
 
 19, 21, 82, 120 
 Livri, Mdlle. de ... 153 
 Lock,Matt. 147,197,198^, 
 
 209-24 
 Lowe, R. W. . 164-7,177 
 Lyly,John 59, 127, 228-9, 
 
 232', 236-42 
 Lyndsay, Sir David . . ^6 
 
262 
 
 Index 
 
 Machinery, Elizabethan 
 
 stage 9 
 
 Magalotti, Count . . 21^ 
 Maitland, J. Fuller . . 209' 
 Malone, Edmond 7, 32^, 
 
 Z\\ 9i> 93> 94' 
 Marlowe, Chris. . 59, 230^ 
 Marston, John 7 7-9, 86,117 
 Marvell, Andrew . . 146 
 Masques, Court 46-8, 69- 
 
 70, 88, 99, 117, 239* 
 Miracle Plays, 54-5, 125, 
 
 127', 238' 
 Mist effects, .... 21, 86 
 Monconys, M. de . . 189 
 Monkemeyer, P. . . 88 
 Monnet, Jean .... 156 
 More, Sir William . 230 
 Mossop, Henry . . . 223 
 Mulcaster, Richard . 228* 
 Multiple Scene, Principle of 
 
 the 55-9, 60-1, 64, 127, 
 
 i35j 236-43 
 Music, Preliminary 21^, 80^ 
 Musicians, Position of 7, 
 
 90-5, 1 6 1-4 
 Mysteries, French 54-5, 125 
 
 Novarro, John .... 135^ 
 Noverre, 156 
 
 Opera, English 163-4, 197, 
 
 218 
 Opera, Early Italian 106^, 
 
 161^ 
 Orchestra, 39, 91, 104, 162, 
 
 198^ 
 Otway, Thos. . . . 194-5 
 Oxford, 1 7th Earl of 229-30 
 
 Paisible, James .... 147 
 Pallant, Robert .... 89" 
 Paolucci, Alfonso ...115 
 Pastorals, Staging of 236 
 Pepys, Samuel 26, 92, 94^ 
 
 1395 141, 161-2, 177, 
 
 212-3 
 Percy, Wm. 59, dd^ 83, 236 
 Performances orally an- 
 nounced, 13^ 
 
 Picturestage, Riseof the 16, 
 
 17^, 20, 24, 159-60, 184^ 
 Pit, The continental 17^ 
 
 160; the seated, 17, 160, 
 
 188-9, 234 
 
 Pitel, Mdlle 148 
 
 Pitel, Henry 148 
 
 Platform stage, The 159-60 
 Platts, The .... 84, 89 
 Playbills,49\5o,52, 1 42,232 
 Playgoers, Elizabethan, 
 
 habits of 1 2-4, 29-30, 34- 
 
 38, 5o\ 88 
 Preston, Lord . . 149-50 
 Prices of admission, 9-1 1, 
 
 37-8, 52, 201^ 
 Priest, Joseph .... 214 
 Private Theatre, Origin of 
 
 231-2 
 
 Prolss, R 87 
 
 Prompt copies, .... 68 
 Prompter, The . 68-9, 84 
 Properties, 57, 60-2, dd, 96 
 Proscenia, emblematic 46- 
 
 49,102-3,105,119, 198, 
 
 239 
 Prynne, William 82, 10 1, 
 129, 131 
 
Index 
 Purcell, Henry 205, 209-24 
 
 263 
 
 Rain eiFectSj 21 
 
 Raisin, Mddle 148 
 
 Realism, Elizabethan Stage 
 20-1 
 
 Receipts, Division of 10- 11 
 
 Red Bull picture, The so- 
 called 18^, 32, 93 
 
 Reggio, Pietro 198-9,220 
 
 Rehearsal plays, . . 176-7 
 
 Reynolds, G. F. 6\ 43, 63, 
 65S ee, 68^ 
 
 Rich, Christopher . . 165 
 
 Rigal,Eugene55\56^i3i^ 
 . 1 67\ 194^241' 
 
 Riots, Theatrical 14^, 130, 
 154-6 
 
 Rochester, Lord ... 148 
 
 Rousseau, Jacques . . 151 
 
 Sabattini, Nicolo ... 120 
 Saint Andrd, . • . . 143-4 
 Saintsbury, Prof. 196^, 199 
 Saville, Henry .... 148 
 Scenes, Unlocated . 67-8, 
 
 238 
 Scenery, Revolving . 107 
 Scenery, successive. Rise of 
 
 71, 106, 135, 160, 172 
 Scenic systems, Italian 106- 
 
 107, 1 8 1-2 
 Scotland, early drama in s^^ Stage-Keeper, The . . 69 
 
 127 Staggins,Nicholasi47, 149, 
 
 Scott, Clement .... 187 217 
 
 Scud6ri I33j ^2iS Staircases, External 11,24. 
 
 Serlio, Sebastian ... 39 Statues, Proscenium . 176 
 Settle, Elkanah 163,168 Steps, Proscenium . 103-4 
 
 "Shadow, The" . . 8, 19 
 Shadwell, Thos. 144, 193- 
 
 206, 2i6\ 218 
 Shakespeare, Wm. i, 68, 
 
 86-7, 205, 210 
 Sheridan, R. B. ... 176 
 Sheridan, Thos. . . . 222 
 Shirley, James 53, loo-i, 
 
 118 
 
 Siddons, Mrs 180 
 
 Sidney, Sir Philip . 58, 63 
 Siena, The drama in . . 46 
 Singing, Inter-act . . 81-2 
 
 Siparium 112^ 
 
 " Sixpenny Rooms " 36-7 
 Smith, John Christopher 
 
 206 
 Songs, Terminal . . 82-3 
 Sorbiferes, Samuel de . 188 
 Spanish players in England, 
 
 Spectators on the Stage, 8, 
 
 19-20, 29-30, 178, 188, 
 
 234-6 
 Squire, W. Barclay 197^, 
 
 216^ 
 Stage, The Inner . 6, 171 
 Stage, The Projecting 18, 
 
 34, 91, 165, 169 
 Stage, The Upper 7, 24^, 
 
 32, 93> 95-6 
 Stages, Removable . 18-9 
 
264 
 
 Index 
 
 « Study, The " 6 
 
 Sublini, Mme 152 
 
 Sureis, John de ... 151 
 Swinburne, A. C. . 132^ 
 Tableaux endings, . . 170 
 Theatres, Private, Charac- 
 teristics of 15-6, 21, 3o\ 
 80-2, 88, 160, 230-1 
 
 THEATRES 
 
 PLATFORM-STAGE ERA 
 
 Blackfriars, The first 227-42 
 
 Do. The second 11, 
 
 15-22,25,67,71,77-80, 
 
 94-5>i29-30, 229, 233-5 
 
 Cockpit, Drury Lane, 16, 
 18, 26,49,83,94,132-3, 
 
 i37> i39-40> i59> 196 
 Cockpit, Whitehall, 132-3, 
 
 144 
 Curtain, 2-4, 25 
 
 Fortune, The first 10, 21-3, 
 
 25, 34> 38, 11, 79-80 
 Fortune, The second 11, 
 
 26 
 Globe, The first 19, 21-3, 
 
 25> 34, 38, 71, 79j 80 
 Globe, The second 11, 26 
 Hope, 20, 24, 26, 38, 85, 
 
 Newington Butts, ... 25 
 Paul's, 15-6, 18,25,59-61, 
 
 66, 71, 82-3, 86^ 93 
 Phoenix (see Cockpit, D.L.) 
 Red Bull, 23, 26, 32, 92, 
 
 96, I30> 159 
 
 Rose, The 8, 11-12, 17, 
 
 25, 84 
 Salisbury Court, 26, 159 
 Swan, The 1 1-2, 1 8, 24-5, 
 
 32, 38, 91-2 
 Theater, The 1-4, 8, 10, 
 
 25, 227 
 Vere Street, . . . 26, 159 
 Whitefriars, 16, 26, 81, 83 
 
 PICTURE-STAGE ERA 
 
 Covent Garden, 145', 177^, 
 181, i83\ 186 
 
 Drury Lane, 94, 121, 144^ 
 152, 156, 165, 168-9, 
 179-86, 206, 214, 219- 
 222 
 
 Duke's Theatre (Lincoln's 
 Inn Fields), 70, 142, 1 52^, 
 ^53, ^59, 161, 164, 167- 
 168,173-5,195,202,212 
 
 Duke's Theatre (Dorset 
 Gardens), 143-4, 146, 
 150, 1 5 1-2, 163, 168, 
 174) 193-205,211^212, 
 214-5, 218-9, 221 
 
 Goodman's Fields, . . 178 
 
 Haymarket, 154, 176, 183^, 
 184^ 
 
 King's Theatre, Haymarket, 
 1 8 1-2 
 
 Lincoln's Inn Fields, (1695- 
 
 1733), 168 
 
 Lyceum, 186-7 
 
 Olympic, 186 
 
 Pantheon, 182 
 
 Prince of Wales, . . . 184 
 Royal Standard, . . . 187 
 
Index 26 c 
 
 Sadlers Wells, .... 187 Trentham, Lord ... 156 
 
 burrey, . 187 Tunes called for, ... 88 
 
 Theatre Royal, Bridges Turret, Elizabethan, Uses 
 
 btreet, 94, 142, 144-5, of 8-9, 19 
 
 159, 162, 167-8, 176, Twelvepenny rooms, -17^ 
 
 202-3, 2i2> 38-9 
 
 PROVINCIAL udall, Nicholas 76 
 
 Dublin, 53, 164, 178, 222-3 Underbill, Nicholas . . 89 
 
 Liverpool, 189 
 
 Manchester, .... 184^ Vasari, Giorgio . ... 116 
 
 Verney, John .... 147 
 
 FOREIGN Vicenza, Drama in . . 116 
 
 American, . . . 163', 179 
 
 French, 134, 141, l42^ 143, Waits, The 90^ 
 
 1 60- 1, 170 241 Walker, Dr. Ernest 216^ 
 
 Greek, '. . .' . . iii, 187 Walkley, A.B. . . . 159^ 
 
 Italian, . . . . 9, 107, 129 Wallace, C. W. 15^^, i6\ 
 
 Pompeian, .... 112-3 ^7> 18, 21, 30, 80, 
 
 Roman, 111-14 ^32 , 233 , 234-5 
 
 Walsmgham, Sir Francis 
 230 
 
 Three trumpet blasts, The Wegener, R. . . . 39^ 91 
 
 9,80 Westwood (actor), . . 195 
 
 Thunder, Stage 9 Whetstone, 85 
 
 Tireman, The . 69, 141 Whitbread, Samuel . 184 
 
 Tiring-house, The 5-6,19- Whitelock, SirBulstrode 88 
 
 20, 30, 32, 93, 95, III, Wilkinson, Tate . 2>?>, I77 
 
 160 Window Scenes 7, 19, 173- 
 
 Tobacco - smoking in thea- 174 
 
 tres, I3>29 Women spectators, . . 13 
 
 Tragedy, Draperies for 7 Wren, Sir Christopher 144 
 
 Traps, Stage . . . . 18, 19 Wright, Henry ... 219 
 "Traverses" 6, 92, 95, 1 12^ 
 
 117-8 Yard, The .... 11, 24^ 
 
 Trees, Real, used . . 236 Young (actor) .... 213