32 Mr. Henry B. Wheatley [Feb. 7, 



It will be seen that with a movable stage placed in the centre of 

 an amphitheatre, effective scenery was practically an impossibility. 

 At the Restoration, however, scenery came into general use, and one 

 reason for this was that the stage having been completely crushed 

 during the Commonwealth an entirely new era then commenced. 

 The different kinds of dramatic entertainment, which had been 

 hitherto kept distinct, were united by Davenant and others, and 

 scenery which had been previously confined to masques was adopted 

 for other plays. Women, who had long before acted in masques, now 

 took their place upon the public stage. The history of the drama is 

 continuous, but that of the stage is in two parts, divided by the 

 period of the Commonwealth. The history of the modern stage 

 does not go farther back than the period of the Restoration. 



There are two other points connected with the early theatres 

 which require some slight notice — these are size and outside appear- 

 ance. With regard to the first, De Witt states that the Swan 

 theatre would seat 3000 persons, which is a rather startling 

 statement, as the ordinary caj)acity of these theatres was to hold 

 about a thousand. Although the Swan was evidently a larger build- 

 ing than most of the other theatres, it is not easy to believe that 

 its size was so much greater as these figures would necessitate. 

 It is necessary however for us to enlarge our ideas as to the number 

 of the sightseers. Although the population of London in Elizabeth's 

 reign was small when compared with what it is now% it was very 

 considerable for the period, and I think it will be found that the 

 attendants at theatres formed a much larger percentage of the 

 population than they do now. It is not necessary to enlarge upon 

 this point here, but mention may be made of the large number of 

 watermen who were employed upon the Thames, and were fully 

 engaged in taking the sightseers from one side of the river to 

 the other. When, in James I.'s reign, the theatres on the Bankside 

 fell into decay and Blackfriars theatre and other playhouses on 

 the northern side of the river were alone fashionable places of resort, 

 the watermen suffered severely by reason of their loss of custom. 

 To retrieve their position they made a most astonishing demand. 

 In 1613 Taylor, the water poet, was chosen by the Company of 

 Watermen to present their petition to the King. This petition set 

 forth the watermen's services to Queen Elizabeth and the advantages 

 to the State of favouring them. On this foundation they based their 

 extravagant claim that the players might not have a playhouse 

 in London or in Middlesex within four miles of the city on that side 

 of the Thames. If the players were made to return to the Bankside 

 the watermen expected a return of their former prosperity. The 

 substance of Taylor's statement is, that the theatres were first chiefly 

 to the north of London and the Thames ; that they were afterwards 

 transferred to the south, on the Bankside in Southwark, and then 

 again removed to the north. During the time they were at Bankside 

 the traffic on the river so greatly increased that the additional 



