58 CHILDREN OF THE CHAPEL AT BLACKFRIARS 
Evans and no one else was in possession both immediately and 
for some time prior to the lease of 1600, there seems no uncer- 
tainty that he was in possession when Ben Jonson’s The Case is 
Altered was first presented there by the Children in 1597, ca. 
Sept.—Oct.? 
We have no record of any earlier play at the new theatre. 
Also, there are no other known documentary statements as to the 
date of its first occupancy. 
It is quite possible that the long-term lease, dated Sept. 2, 1600, 
with term to begin at Michaelmas, was taken by Evans at or near 
the expiration of his rental year. 
If so, the date of his first occu- 
pancy would be about Sept. 1597,—approximately two to three 
months after Nathaniel Gyles was granted the royal commission 
that enabled these two men to unite in carrying out the Queen’s 
purposes.? 
Nathaniel Gyles,* a musician graduated from Magdalen Col- 
lege, Oxford, was sworn Gentleman of the Chapel Royal and 
Master of the Children June 9, 1597,* three days after the death 
of his predecessor, 
made by the Queen through 
*See “Plays,” 
plete work. 
“It is hardly probable that boys 
could be taken up and put into 
condition for singing and acting 
in less time. It is noteworthy here 
that the Canons of Windsor al- 
lewed to this same Nathaniel Gyles 
in their Commission of Oct. 1, 1595, 
“the space of three months” for col- 
lecting a similar company of boys 
for singing and acting. See infra, 
68°. 
* Nathaniel Gyles (1559-1634, Jan. 
24): Mus. Bac. June 26, 1585; 
Mus. Doc. 1622; Master of the Chil- 
dren of St. George’s Chapel, Wind- 
sor, Oct. 1, 1595, to Jan. 24, 1634, 
and Master of the Children of the 
Chapel Royal June 9, 1597, to Jan. 
24, 1634. The inscription over his 
grave in the aisle adjoining. St. 
George’s Chapel gives 49 years as 
Master of St. George’s, and 38 years 
as Master of the Children of his 
Majesty's Chapel Royal. But the 
in vol. II, of com- 
William Hunnis. 
The appointment was 
the Lord Chamberlain,> Lord 
49 years is an error for 39, as above 
dates show. The same inscription 
allots him 75 years. 
Between 1597 and 1626, Gyles was 
the recipient of at least nine royal 
grants. The chief ones are con- 
nected with the present history and 
are printed or sufficiently noticed 
in the pages of this and succeeding 
volumes. ; 
41597. William Hunnis died the 
6th of June, Master of 
the Children, and Na- 
thaniell Giles sworne gent 
and Master of the Chil- 
dren in his place the 9th 
of the same, from Win- 
sore.’—The Old Cheque- 
Book or Book of Remembrance of 
the Chapel Royal (ed. E. F. Rim- 
bault, for The Camden Society, 
1872), 5 
. “1597 June. 
The Right Honorable the Lord 
Chamberlaine, upon the 9th day of 
June, commanded me, Bartholomew 
172 
< silane ee 
7 
— es ST ee ee 
Sth 
ile le inn ie taal 
