28 Mr. Eenry B. Wheatley [Feb. 7, 



building erected as a playhouse is correct. It is worth while to stop 

 for a moment to ask what was the meaning attached to the word 

 theatre when it was first introduced. To us it means a pLace of 

 amusement specially devoted to the drama, but this was not, I think, 

 the meaning which was conveyed to the populace of London in 1576 ; 

 a theatre was probably understood as a place for the exhibition of 

 spectacles. This opinion is corroborated by a passage in Barclay's 

 ' Argenis ' (lib. 4, cap. xiii.), where we read of " shoutes in a theatre at 

 the fall of a sword bearer," and we know that fencing was commonly 

 exhibited at these early playhouses. The Theatre had a short life of 

 twenty-three years, and it never seems to have taken a very high 

 standing. The Curtain, which was situated close by the Theatre, and 

 was built in the year 1577, was a much more distinguished playhouse. 

 Marlowe was an actor there, and Shakespeare was associated with it 

 in his early career. The two theatres in Shoreditch remained alone 

 for a few years. Plays w^ere occasionally acted in Blackfriars and 

 "Whitefriars, but another theatre was not erected until the Eose was 

 built on the Bankside. This playhouse is shown in Norden's Plan 

 of London in 1593, which is the earliest representation of an English 

 theatre known to exist.* 



There can be no doubt that the evils connected with the theatres 

 were very considerable, and the Lord Mayor and Aldermen threw 

 every obstacle in the way of the players. First of all they would 

 have no theatres built within the city walls. Some inn-yards where 

 plays had been acted were within, but no new building was allowed. 

 Then they threw obstacles in the way of those outside, and if the 

 erection of a new building w^ere sanctioned, an old one was usually 

 at the same time condemned. This was the case with the Fortune 

 which replaced the Curtain, as the Globe replaced the Theatre when 

 the lease of the latter expired. The Lords of the Council took a 

 rather different view of the situation. They aj)proved of the 

 closing of theatres during times of sickness ; but in view of the 

 Queen's very strong predilection for the stage, they did not allow 

 the city authorities to go quite so fast as they wished. The very 

 interesting volume printed by the Corporation of London, which 

 gives an account of the contents of the Bememhraiicia contaius note 

 of several letters from the Lord Mayors, and the Lords of the 

 Council on this matter. In November 1581, the Lords of the 

 Council directed the Lord Mayor to allow plays to be acted, and give 

 this reason — " in order to relieve the poor players, and to encourage 



* A diagram wns exliibited which showed the space -within the cit}' walls 

 unoccupied by any theatre, and the relative positions of tlie theatres outside the 

 walls. On the north of the river were the Theatre and tlie Cnrtain, the Ked Bull 

 at Clerkenwell, and the Fortune in Barbican. The Blacktriars theatre was 

 opened in 1590, and was within the walls, but Blackfriars was outside the city 

 jurisdiction. On the south side were the Swan at Paris Garden, the Globe, 

 tlie Rose, and the Bear Garden (afterwards the Kope), all on the Bankside. At 

 Newington Butts was another theatre, of which we know little or nothing. 



