THE QUEEN’S REQUIREMENTS 113 
___ The provision, noted by Gerschow, for the training of the Boys 
in singing, instrumental music, play-acting, and other arts, as well 
as in general culture, accords not merely with the material condi- 
tions and provisions of an ample instructorate, school-house, the- 
atre, apparel, and financial expenditures. It accords most par- 
- ticularly with Elizabeth’s passion for the drama and her special 
loves and liberal-mindedness toward all means. that make for 
broader living,—characteristics which make her age the era of 
unprecedented progress, and for which the world of letters and 
_ arts has long done her honor. 
The entertainment attended by the Duke of Stettin was, as the 
_ Diary lets us know, of the usual sort. From this it is made clear 
_ that the new management under Kirkham and associates was 
_ carrying out requirements to the Queen’s wish. The chief train- 
ing of the lads that could be practiced or exhibited on the stage 
is shown,—their skill in singing, instrumental music, acting, and 
dancing. It may be concluded that the other requirements were 
being complied with equally. 
The stage directions of the Blackfriars plays during Elizabeth, 
_ though admittedly meager, are nevertheless corroborative of the 
_ Diary’s statements on these heads. Still more, they show that 
these requirements were complied with from first to last, under 
Evans alone as well as under the Evans-Kirkham company, and 
that the plays were specially written to fit the company and meet 
these conditions. The evidence becomes more emphatic by com- 
paring with the same company’s plays under James. There we 
find comparatively little singing, dancing, and instrumental mu- 
sic.t It is of importance also that the combined evidence wholly 
disproves Clifton’s charge before the Star Chamber to the effect 
that the boys taken up under the commission to Gyles could not 
sing and were not taught to sing,? but were abusively used solely 
stage paid besides the admission fee 
an additional sixpence to a shilling 
for a stool there. 
*See The Children of the Queen’s 
Revels at Blackfriars in complete 
work, vol. I. 
* Having named seven of the boys 
besides his own (u. s., 80°), Clif- 
ton continues, “being childeren noe 
way able or fitt for singing, nor by 
anie the sayd confederates endev- 
oured to be taught to singe, but by 
them the sayd confederates abus- 
ively employed, as aforesayd, only 
in playes & enterludes.”—Supra, 80°. 
This is the spirit of the Com- 
plaint and its basis throughout. The 
virulent animus is too apparent. 
227 
