playing, as formerly, at the Globe and Blackfriars theatres. 2. The Queen's players, under Christopher Beeston, occupying the Cockpit in Drury Lane*. 3. The Prince's players, under Joseph Moore and Andrew Kane, playing at the Fortune in Golding Lane. * In 1635, when Hannibal and Scipio, by Nabbes, was played by the Queen's servants, they consisted, among others, of the following performers, as appears by the list of characters and actors prefixed to that tragedy. William Sherlock, John Sumner, William Allen, Hugh Clerke, Robert Axen, Anthony Turner, Michael Bowyer, John Page, Richard Perkins. Wilbra A little earlier (about 1630), when Heywood's Fair Maid of the West was revived, Christopher Goad, William Robinson, and ham, belonged to the company. Theophilus Bird, in the list of persons before that play, is named Theophilus Bourne, showing that he was called either Bird or Bourne, as his father had been before him, who, in Henslowe's Diary, is constantly called 'William Bird, otherwise Borne.' Sir H. Herbert states (without date, but about 1637), that hedisposed Perkins, Sumner, Sherlock, and Turner, to Salisbury Court, and joined them with the best of that company;' probably to strengthen its then weakness. The Turner here mentioned was Anthony Turner, and not Henry Turner, who, in March, 1639-40, had become the leader of the Queen's players, though he is not included in the list in 1635. 4. The Children of the Revels, under William Blagrave, who are spoken of as a company distinct from that of the Queen, but the place of their performance is not stated: it was possibly the Red Bull. 5. The Salisbury Court company, so called in all the accounts, under the management of a person of the name of Richard Heton *. In the beginning of 1636, an increase was made in A. D. the salaries and allowances of the officers of 1636. the Revels, as a compensation for additional duties. Those additional duties began, as appears by documents remaining in the office of the Lord Chamberlain, in 1630, when the Master, the Clerk Comptroller, the Clerk, the Yeoman, and the Groom of the Revels were required to attend the court from the 30th Oct. to the end of Shrovetide; whereas, until then, they had only been called upon to be in readiness from the 30th Nov. to the end of Shrovetide for this month, the Master was allowed 12. (at the rate of 8s. per day), the Clerk Comptroller, Clerk, and Yeomen, 31. 6s. 8d. each, and the Groom 11. 13s. 4d., making in the whole an increase of 231. 13s. 4d. Orders for this purpose were given on the 25th of May, 1636, and on the 13th Feb., 1636-7, with a retrospective operation to the year 6 *On the 8th Feb. 1636-7, Richard Heton had a warrant, for him'self and the rest of the company of players at Salisbury Court, for 'three plays acted by them before his Majesty, in October and Febru ary, 1635. Two at 207. a piece, being at Hampton Court; the other at 107., being at St. James's.' Chalmers' Apology, p. 509, 1631, so that the different officers of the Revels were allowed their arrears. The Court Revels, at Shrovetide in this year, included plays at court, and a Mask in the Middle Temple. Sir Henry Herbert mentions the following, among the plays in the spring:-The second part of Arviragus and Philicia, on 16th February; the Silent Woman, on the 18th February ;the Duke's Mistress, on the 22d February;- Love's Aftergame (by the Salisbury Court players), on the 24th February;—and the Knight of the Burning Pestle, on the 28th February. The first and second parts of Arviragus and Philicia were acted before the King, Queen, Prince, and the Elector Palatine, on Easter Monday and Tuesday, the 18th and 19th April. The Masque in the Middle Temple was Davenant's* Triumphs of the Prince d'Amour, on the 23rd February, which the Queen, and many ladies of *It is known that Davenant succeeded Ben Jonson, as Poet Laureat, on the death of the latter in Aug. 1637; but for some cause or other he did not obtain the pension until a year and a half had elapsed, and then with the omission of the clause granting the 'terse of Canary Wine.' The Privy Seal for Davenant's pension is in the Chapter-house, Westminster : it is dated 10th December, 1638, and it gives to' William Davenant, Gent.' 'one annuity or yearly pension of one 'hundred pounds, in consideration of service heretofore done, or here' after to be done.' It says nothing about encouraging him to proceed in those services of wit and pen,' which are mentioned in Ben Jonson's warrant on 6th March, 5 Car. I. Yet there is no reason to believe, that Davenant was out of favour with the King and Court at this period: the contrary may be inferred from various circumstances. 6 her court, attended in the dresses of citizens: she sat on a scaffold among her subjects*. The plague, having broken out in London, was raging with so much violence in the spring of 1636, that it was found necessary to prevent dangerous assemblies of the people,' by the 'suppression,' for a time, of theatrical amusements. An order for this purpose, dated 10th of May, is extant in the registers of the Privy Council, which forbids the representation ' of stage-plays, interludes, shows, and spectacles, until 'farther order.' Sir Henry Herbert did not communicate this decision until the 12th of May, when he sent information of it to the four companies,' whom he does not name in his office-book; but he, * Sir H. Herbert gives the following particulars of this exhibition :'On Wednesday the 23d Feb. 1635 [1635-6], the Prince d'Amours C gave a Mask to the Prince Elector and his brother, in the Middle 'Temple, when the Queen was pleased to grace the entertainment by 'putting off majesty to put on a citizen's habit, and to sit upon a scaf'fold on the right hand amongst her subjects. The Queen was 6 attended, in the like habits, by the Marques of Hamilton, the Coun" tess of Denbigh, the Countess of Holland, and the Lady Elizabeth Fielding. Mrs. Basse, the law-woman, lead in this royal citizen and her company. 'The Earl of Holland, the Lord Goring, Mr. Percy, and Mr. Jermyn, " were the men that attended. The Prince Elector sat in the midst, his 'brother Robert on the right hand of him, and the Prince d'Amours ' on the left. 'The Mask was very well performed in the dances, scenes, clothing, ' and music, and the Queen was pleased to tell me, at her going away, 'that she liked it very well. Henry Lawes and William Lawes made 'the music. Mr. Corseilles made the scenes.' doubtless, meant the King's, Queen's, and Prince's players, and the actors at the Salisbury-court theatre. These were the principal associations of performers at the date to which we are now referring. : On an occasion of this kind it was usual for the companies to proceed to the provinces; and, besides the authority they possessed, under their patents and the commission of the Master of the Revels, it seems to have been sometimes thought necessary to obtain from the Lord Chamberlain what was termed 'a Player's Pass.' That which was granted to the King's company on 17th of May (within five days after the temporary closing of the theatres in the metropolis) is extant, in a MS., in the office of the Lord Chamberlain hence we learn, that at this date the body consisted of about eighteen performers; and as Taylor, Lowen, and Swanston, who were, and continued to be the leaders, are not named in it, we may infer, perhaps, that they did not join in this expedition. It empowers William Pen, Thomas Hobbes, William Trigg, William Patrick, Richard Baxter, Alexander Gough, William Hart and Richard Hawley, together with 'ten more, or thereabouts, of their fellows,' to repair to all towns corporate, market towns, and other where they shall think fit,' to act their plays, comedies, and interludes' in any 'common halls, moot'halls, school-houses, or other convenient rooms.' also appears by the same instrument, that they had been ordered to attend the King in his summer pro It |