26th of January, 1616-17, the building, to use the words of the Privy Council, was almost, if not fully, finished.' In order to give greater effect to the command to prevent the erection of a new theatre, the King's authority was now employed, and the Lord Mayor was written to on the day abovenamed in these terms: You shall understand that his Majesty hath this day expressly signified his pleasure, that the same [playhouse] shall be pulled down, so as it be 'made unfit for any such use: whereof we require

your Lordship to take notice, and to cause it to be 'performed with all speed, and thereupon to certify us ' of your proceedings.'

Chalmers doubted whether the order had been enforced, and the new playhouse demolished, because, although he consulted the registers of the Privy Council, he did not find any entry stating that the Lord Mayor had certified the execution of the King's command. The city authorities proceeded immediately to the work, and before three days had elapsed, the Privy Council was duly and formally made acquainted with the fact, that Rosseter's Theatre had been made unfit for any such use' as that for which it had been designed.

On Twelfth-night, 1616-17, the Mask of Christmas by Ben Jonson was performed, and it was repeated on the 19th of January. In the Lansdown MS. last cited, we find an entry of Mr. Sadler for the Masque, 4001.' which no doubt was for these exhibitions.

James I. commenced his journey to Scotland on the 14th of March, 1616-17; and very shortly A. D. previous to his departure an event occurred 1616-17. in theatrical history, which seems to have excited considerable alarm for the tranquillity of the metropolis during his absence. On Shrove Tuesday, March 4th, some riots occurred in Lincoln's Inn Fields (then an open space, unoccupied by houses) and in Drurylane, where the mob, among whom the apprentices appear, as usual, to have been especially active, made an attack upon the Cockpit theatre. Camden, in his Annals, states that they pulled it down, and destroyed the wardrobe *; but, according to the account of this circumstance in the Privy Council Register, which was drawn up on the following day, the mob only I attempted to pull it down.' However, there is no doubt that they did very considerable damage, and that several lives were lost in the affray. The apprentices of London from time immemorial had claimed, or at least exercised, the right of attacking and demolishing houses of ill-fame on Shrove Tuesday†, and in this instance they carried their zeal for morals a degree farther. The most circumstantial account of this transaction is contained in an old ballad on the occa

His words are, under the date of March 4, 1616-17 :-' Theatrum 'ludionum, nuper erectum in Drury-lane, à furente multitudine diruitur, 'et apparatus dilaceratur.

The Bawd, in Eastward Hoe, Act IV. Scene 3, complains that 'the prentices had made a riot upon her glass windows upon Shrovetuesday; and, in a note, the Rev. Mr. Dyce, in his excellent edition of 2 D

VOL. I.

sion, which I copy from a contemporary MS., and which is written with a good deal of spirit. Hence it would seem, that the principal injury done was to the doors and windows of the playhouse, and to the dresses and playbooks belonging to the company. Two of the leaders of the mob, Thomas Brent and John Cory, are mentioned by name, and they were no doubt among those who were soon afterwards severely punished. The ballad is entitled :

A Ballade in praise of London Prentices, and what they did at the Cock-pitt Playhouse in Drury Lane.

The Prentices of London long

'But I say looke before ye,

And see the deed they have now doue,
• Tom Brent and Johnny Cory.

Tom Brent said then to his merry men,
Now whoop, my men, and hollow,

And to the Cockpitt let us goe,

Webster's Works, gives the following apposite quotation from Pasquil's Palinodia, 1634 :

'That unto Bacchus hath his dedication,

"When mad-brain'd 'prentices, that no men feare,

'Oerthrew the dens of bawdy recreation.'

Nothing could be easier than to multiply proofs to the same effect, were it necessary.

* If the hero thus alluded to be Rollo, Duke of Normandy, it would prove, either that Fletcher's play was written considerably before the

Then Johnny Cory answerd straight,
In words much like Apollo:

6.66

Lead, Tommy Brent, incontinent,
'And we'll be sure to follow."

'Three score of these brave Prentices,
All fit for workes of wunder,
'Rushd down the plaine of Drury Lane,
'Like lightning and like thunder;

' And there each dore, with hundreds more,
And windows burst asunder;

And to the tire-howse broke they in,
'Which some began to plunder.

"Now hold your handes, my merry men,"

Said Tom, "for I assure ye,
'Who so begin to steale shall win
Mee both for judge and jury;

And eke for executioner

Within this lane of Drury:

But teare and rend, I'll stand your frend,
And well upholde your fury."

King Priam's robes were soon in rags,

And broke his gilded scepter;

'False Cressid's hood, that was so good

When loving Troylus kept her *.

Besse Brydges gowne, and Muli's crowne,

·

Who would ful faine have lept her† :

403

date at which it is supposed to have been first produced, or that the story on which it was founded was well known before he employed it for his purpose.

*This might be Shakespeare's play, acted surreptitiously at the Cockpit, as it was the property of the King's servants: possibly it was a different play on the same subject.

Bess Bridges and Muli-sheg are characters in Heywood's Fair Maid of the West, which was not printed until 1631, though written, as

• Had Theseus seene them use his queene
So ill, he had bewept her *.

'Books olde and young on heap they flung,

And burnt them in the blazes,

'Tom Dekker, Haywood, Middleton

And other wandring crazyest:

'Poor Daye that daye not scapte awaye;
And what stil more amazes,
'Immortall Cracke‡ was burnt all blacke,
'Which every bodie praises.

'Now sing we laude with one accord
To these most digni laude,
'Who thus intend to bring to end

6 All that is vile and bawdie.

All playes and whores, thrust out a'dores,

The damage to the theatre was probably not very extensive; and we soon afterwards find the company called the Queen's servants again performing there §.

can be proved from internal evidence, before the death of Elizabeth. It was acted, no doubt, at this date at the Cockpit.

* Probably alluding to Heywood's Silver Age, printed in 1613, in which Theseus is introduced.

This line may allude to their strolling with companies round the country, or to their 'wandering' with their plays from theatre to theatre, sometimes writing for one company and sometimes for another, as they could procure purchasers.

Regarding this person or play, whichever it might be, I can give no information.

§ The following is an extract from a letter, sent by the Privy Council to the Lord Mayor on the day following the disturbance. It was originally quoted by Chalmers from the Registers. For as much as