THE THEATRE.

of

MALONE declared himself unable to ascertain the situation of The Theatre *,' as it is called by way distinction in many old productions. Chalmers tells us that it was probably situated in the Blackfriars, out of the Lord Mayor's jurisdiction †;' and throughout he treats the Theatre, as if it were only another name for the Blackfriars play-house. This is an important error.

The Theatre was situated in Shoreditch; and had either Malone or Chalmers consulted the first impression of Stow's Survey of London, 1599, instead of subsequent editions, they could not have failed to make the discovery. Stow speaks of the suburbs of London without the walls, and particularly of the Priory of St. John Baptist at Holywell, surrendered to Henry VIII. in 1539, and then adds the following: The 'church therof being pulled downe, many houses 'have bene there builded for the lodgings of noble" men, of straungers borne, and other. And neare 'thereunto are builded two publique houses, for the acting and shewe of Comedies, Tragedies, and His'tories, for recreation. Whereof the one is called † Apology, 402.

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* Shakespeare by Boswell, iii, 53.

the Courtein, the other the Theatre, both standing 6 on the southwest side towards the field.' The passage varies slightly from Stow's original MSS. of his collections for this work, which are preserved in the British Museum *; and as the point is new, it may be worth while to quote from his own hand-writing :This Church (he says, referring to the Priory of St. John Baptist) being pulled downe, many howses ⚫ hath bene there builded for the lodgynge of noblemen, of straungers borne, and others; and namely neare adjoyning are builded two howses for the 'shewe of activities, comodies, tragidies, and his'tories, for recreation; the one of them is named the 'Curteyn in holy well, the other the Theatre: these ' are on the back syde of holy well, towards the filde.' In the margin opposite are the words, Theatar and Curtain at holy well.'

The principal variation is the omission of the word ' activities' in the printed copy, as if, in the interval between the writing and the publishing of his Survey, Stow had learnt that feats of activity, such as tumbling, vaulting, and rope-dancing, were not exhibited at the Theatre nor at the Curtain: we may, perhaps, therefore conclude, that prior to 1599, the companies acting at those two places confined themselves to tragedies, comedies, and histories. It will be observed, that both were beyond the jurisdiction of the Lord Mayor. Malone justly remarks, that the Theatre, from its

Harl. MSS., No. 538.

name, was probably the first building erected in or ' near the metropolis purposely for scenic exhibitions*;' but he supplies no information as to the period to which its existence could be traced. As Chalmers uniformly confounded it with the Blackfriars, of course, no intelligence on the point could be expected from him. I am able to show that it was in existence in 1576, because it is mentioned by name in Lambarde's Perambulation of Kent, first published in that year. 'Those (says Lambarde) who go to Paris Garden, the 'Bell Savage, or Theatre, to behold bear-baiting, in'terludes, 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 Bell Savage is known to have been an innyard, only temporarily applied to the performance of plays; and the mention, in the above quotation, of 'the Theatre' only, would tend to show that the Curtain,' which was near it, was not then constructed, or it perhaps would also have been inserted. Thus we see that there was a regular place devoted to the performance of plays, at least as early as 1576.

The next notice I find of the Theatre' is contained in John Northbrooke's Treatise against Dicing, Dancing, Vain Plays, or Interludes, which was licensed to be printed in 1577, and was therefore at that date ready for the press, although not published

* Malone's Shakespeare by Boswell, iii. 53.

+ See Strutt's Sports and Pastimes, 227, edit. 4to., 1810.

until perhaps two years afterwards. It is a dialogue between Youth and Age, the former asking the latter, among other things, his opinion of stage-players and enterludes, which are now practised amongst us 'so universally in towne and country; an expression which shows the extent to which dramatic representations were then carried. Age, in reply, inveighs warmly against Histriones, or rather Histrices, which 'play upon Scaffoldes and Stages, enterludes and ' comedies;' and Youth calls upon him to descend to particulars: Do you speake (he asks) against those places also which are made up and builded for such playes and enterludes, as the Theatre and Curtain 'is, and other such like places besides ?' Age answers in the affirmative; and hence we may infer, that there were more regular playhouses at that time, than the Theatre and the Curtain.

Malone has himself cited the next authority in point of date regarding this playhouse-John Stockwood's Sermon at Paul's Cross, on 24th August, 1578—and it is singular that the very terms that zealous puritan uses should not have led Malone to discover that the Theatre was in the fields: Stockwood, speaking of players, says so in express terms:- Have we not houses of 'purpose, built with great charges, for the main'tenance of them, and that without the liberties, as 'who shall say, There, let them say what they will, 'we will play? I know not how I might, with the godly-learned especially, more discommend the gorgeous playing place erected in the fields, than

'to term it, as they please to have it called, a 'Theatre.'

Our older writers against dramatic representations usually couple the Theatre and Curtain in the same sentence: thus John Field, in his Godly Exhortation on the accident at Paris Garden, in January, 1582-3, mentions the Theatre, the Curtain, and such like,' and Philip Stubbes, in his Anatomy of Abuses, 1583*, calls upon his readers to mark the flocking and running to Theatres and Curtains daily and hourly, night and day, time and tide, to see plays and 'interludes.' Recorder Fleetwood, giving an account to Lord Burghley of some disturbances in and near London in 1584, relates that an apprentice had been assaulted very near the Theatre or Curtain †, which of itself shows their vicinity. It may be remarked also, as a slight additional proof that the Theatre was more ancient than the Curtain, that the former almost invariably has precedence in the sentence.

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The last observation will apply also to an expression in Nash's Martin's Month's Mind, 1589, where he states that better mirth may be had for a penny ' at the Theatre and Curtain, and any blind playinghouse every day.' Another part of this tract is important to our present inquiry on a different account, inasmuch as it shows that at the time it was written a company of players, under the celebrated John Lane

* Stubbes was also author of A Motive to Good Works, 8vo. 1593, written during the plague of that year, of which I have never seen any other copy than that in my hands. It contains no allusion to plays. + See the Annals of the Stage, vol. i. p. 258.