His Life and Genius 177 



young boy of them all." Instead of such coarse 

 picture being the abstract creation of imagination 

 uninformed by observation, it probably repre- 

 sented something like that which Shakspeare had 

 observingly noted in the intercourse between his 

 noble friend and his loose tavern-companions ; 

 their profligate doings may well have furnished 

 the raw material of the humorous scenes in which 

 the Prince took part with the low company 

 frequented by him before he put off his loose 

 behaviour.* The Blackfriars Theatre was nowise 

 a holy shrine of innocence situate in the midst of 

 peaceful surroundings ; on the contrary, it was 

 a nuisance to the neighbourhood and such a 

 damage to surrounding property that when its 

 proprietors, Burbage, Shakspeare and their 

 partners applied for leave to enlarge and improve 

 it, they encountered so strong an opposition on 

 the part of the inhabitants as to oblige them to 

 solicit the help of their powerful patrons in sup- 

 port of their humble petition to Lords of the 

 Privy Council against the petition of the inhabi- 

 tants that the theatre should " be shut up and 

 closed, to the manifest and great injury of your 



* See Richard II, Act v., Scene iii., where the Prince's 

 father speaks thus : — 



Inquire at London, 'mongst the taverns there, 

 For there, they say, he daily doth frequent, 

 With unrestrained loose companions, 

 Even such, they say, as stand in narrow lanes 

 And beat our watch and rob our passengers. 

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