tune, in Golding-lane*, and the Curtain, in Shoreditch, were engaged by the servants of Prince Henry†: the Red Bull was in the hands of the company playing under the name of the Queen; and, at a subsequent date, we find them in possession of the Cockpit theatre, in Drury-lane. The Hope, Swan, and Rose on the Bankside, had also theatrical tenants, at least occasionally, if not permanently. The last of these had been for many years in the possession of Philip Henslowe, and by a memorandum in his hand, dated 25th June, 1603, it is to be inferred, that at that date his lease of the ground on which it stood was about to expire, and that he was negociating for its renewal. He calls it the little Rose;' and it seems, that the rent required for the ground was 201., and it was also stipulated, that he should lay out 100 marks on some buildings connected with it. In the same memorandum he registers his opinion, that the demand was exorbitant, and he subjoins his determination, (expressed to the party negociating for the ground The Fortune was open at Christmas 1603, as is evident from Henslowe's Diary; and a piece called The Four Sons of Aymon was then represented at it. † Malone, in his Inquiry into the authenticity of the Shakespeare forgeries, p. 215, quotes a letter, dated April 9th, 1604, to the Lord Mayor of London, and to the Justices of the Peace of the Counties of Middlesex and Surrey, ordering them to permit and suffer the three compa'nies of Players to the King, Queene, and Prince, to exercise ther 'plaies in ther severall and usuall howses, the Globe, the Fortune, and the Curtain.' landlord) rather to pull down the theatre, than to accept such terms. Prior to this date, the Newington theatre (in which, also, Henslowe had been concerned, mentioning it under the years 1594 and 1596) had no doubt been pulled down, or the use of it as a playhouse totally discontinued. Samuel Daniel had the honour of being called upon A.D. to provide a Mask for the first Christmas 1604. after James came to the throne: it was called The Vision of the Twelve Goddesses, and it was presented by the Queen and her ladies on the 8th January, 1603-4. There is no trace of any other performance of the same kind; nor is it known whether the King's servants, or any other players, were required to act during the festivities of ChristThere is no distinct account of any payments of the kind; but a MS. belonging to the Royal Society, purporting to be a statement of Exchequer receipts and payments from Michaelmas 1603 to Easter 1603-4, includes the subsequent item, which shows that the services of the officers of the Revels had been required in that interval. 6 ' mas. To Edmund Tillney, Esquire, Master of the Revells, for the fees and wages of sondry officers ' and ministers attending in the said office, as for 'sondry other necessaries delivered into that office, by Privy Seale, 1007.' I have been able to find no Privy Seal for any such purpose; and the expenses of preparations for Masks were not then usually charged in the accounts of the Master of the Revels. Many instances will hereafter be produced, of separate payments, by virtue of Privy Seals, for Masks which were under the superintendence of a different individual. In the commencement of the reign of James I., Nathaniel Giles was continued in his office of Master of the Children of the Chapel; and, on the 17th Sept. 1604, he obtained, in that capacity, renewed letters patent* directed to all and singular Deans, Archdea'cons, Justices of the Peace, Mayors, Sheriffs, Bailiffs, 'Constables, and all other our officers and ministers,' authorising him, or his deputy, to take such and so many children, as he or his deputy shall think meet, ' in all Cathedral, Collegiate, Parish Churches, Cha'pels, and Schools, where public teaching of Music ' is used,' &c. ' of our princely care for the advance'ment, helpe, and furtherance of such children;' and it adds, that' after serving three years, if they lose their ' voices, they shall be sent to College to be taught at 'the King's charge.' It appears by what is entitled a Briefe Collection of the Extraordinarie Payments' of the Court of James I., from the time when he came to the crown to the end of 1609, that the charges for Masks' amounted to no less a sum than 4215l. It included *The Privy Seal is preserved in the Chapter House, Westminster. A very considerable part of this sum seems to have been expended upon The Mask of Blackness, and the Revels of 1604-5: according to letters from John Chamberlain to Sir Ralph Winwood, quoted by the expenses of Ben Jonson's Mask of Blackness, on the marriage of Sir Philip Herbert and Lady Susan Vere, in 1604-5*, and it is a circumstance, I believe nowhere noticed, (certainly not by Gifford,) that this piece exists, in the handwriting of the author, among the Royal MSS. in the British Museum: it is there called merely The Twelvth Nights' Revells, and it is curious, as it differs materially from the printed copies, and seems to have been intended by Ben Jonson as a direction how the performance should be conducted. This remark applies chiefly to the prose descriptions, Gifford, (Ben Jonson's Works, vii. 4) 30007. were delivered from the Exchequer in one sum, for the entertainments at Court during Christmas, 1604-5. 6 * Malone quoted the following particulars, regarding the Court amusements at Christmas 1604-5, from Winwood's Memorials, ii. 43: they are from a letter by Sir Dudley Carlton. 'At night (i. e. Christ6 mas night) we had the Queen's Mask in the Banqueting-house, or rather her Pageant. There was a great engine at the lower end of 'the room which had motion, and in it were the images of sea-horses, ' with other terrible fishes, which were ridden by the Moors. The in'decorum was, that there was all fish and no water. At the farther end 6 was a great shell, in the form of a skallop, wherein were four seats: on 'the lowest sat the Queen with my Lady Bedford: on the rest were 'placed the Ladies Suffolk, Derby, &c. On St. John's day we had 'the marriage of Sir Philip Herbert and Lady Susan performed at 'Whitehall with all the honour could be done a great favourite. The 'Court was great, and for that day put on the best bravery. At night 'there was a mask in the hall, which for conceit and fashion was suit' able to the occasion. The presents of plate, and other things, given 5 by the noblemen, were valued at 25007.; but that which made it a good marriage was a gift of the King's, of 5007. land, for the bride's 'jointure.' Shakespeare by Boswell, iii. 84. At the for the songs, with the exception of a few various readings*, are the same as in the old 4to. end is the following inscription: Hos • ego verficules feci. Ben: Jonson. The sum of 42157. seems likewise to have included some of the charges for getting up and bringing out the same poet's Hymenæi on the marriage of the Earl of Essex, celebrated on Twelfth Night, 1605-6. Regarding this performance there is a curious and minute account in a letter from John Pory to Sir Robert Cotton, among the MSS. of the latter in the British Museum f. It has no date, but it bears internal evidence of the time when it was written. 'I have seen both the Maske on Sunday, and the Barriers on Munday night. The Bridegroom car⚫ried himself as gravely and gracefully, as if he were of his father's age. He had greater guiftes given * They would all have been worth noting, had Mr. Gifford been aware of the existence of the MS. coming from no less an authority than that of Ben Jonson himself. As a specimen, the following two lines from the echo song, near the close, may be quoted: in the MS. they stand, 'If not, impute it each to other matter, 'They are but earth, and what you owed was water.' Ben Jonson would hardly have written owed with his own hand, if he had meant vowed, as it is given in Gifford's Ben Jonson, vii. 17. 'If not, impute it each to other matter, VOL. I. They are but earth, and what you vowed was water.' * |