MAINTENANCE OF THE CHILDREN 99 
to make sense thus, for then it meant that Evans had made the 
outlay.— Which I erroneously then took to be the case. 
_ But no one has a right to declare a document incorrect upon 
assumption. There must first be proof of error. 
I examined the original document in the Public Record Office, 
and accepted it as it stood. Taken thus it meant that Kirkham, 
“the said Complainant,” had made the disbursements and allow- 
ances weekly. But Kirkham had nothing to do with either the 
taking up of the Children or the personal management of the the- 
atre prior to the 1602 Articles referred to. Moreover, no other 
document mentions him as having any connection with the Black- 
friars Children prior to that date. I knew he was the Queen’s 
Yeoman of the Revels, but I could not see how that had anything 
to do with the point. 
With the discovery of new materials and a consideration of all 
evidences in every aspect, the field cleared. The Decree of the 
Court of Star Chamber showed that Evans had official papers, 
and the Clifton Complaint suggested the same. The Commis- 
sion to Gyles and the practices under it, with the Queen’s attend- 
ance at the theatre, were indubitable testimony of more than mere 
official countenance. The Diary of the Duke of Stettin, dis- 
cussed in the next chapter, was clear-cut declaration. All the 
numerous evidences in fact, a summary of which is given later,? 
thrust upon me conclusions as incontrovertible as new. Thev 
were a harmonious unit in revealing an official conduct of the 
theatre hitherto unguessed. ; 
Among other statements in the Diary of the Duke of Stettin 
is the one that the Queen furnished these Children for their the- 
atrical performances with a “superabundance of rich apparel.”? 
This helped explain the paragraph in question. All the Queen’s 
theatrical apparel was in the care of the Yeornan of the Revels 
who, by virtue of the letters patent of his appointment, was in- 
dependent of the Master of the Revels in administering his office.® 
‘Infra, 126-29. of all and singuler our Maskes 
*Infra, 106-7, 123*-247, 178-79". Revells and disguiseinges and alsoe 
*“Wee doe ordeyne constitute of the apparrell and Trappers of 
and make the same Edward Kirk- all and singuler our horses or- 
ham by theis presentes yeoman or deyned and appointed or hereafter 
keeper of our Vestures or apparrell to bee ordeyned and appointed for 
213 
