8 Charles William Wallace 



by the perfect lists of witnesses, term by term, kept in the court's 

 witness-books. A commission was issued to Dyott and Gold- 

 smith to examine witnesses in the 1613 suit, but Goldsmith's 

 report indicates they examined no witnesses, but instead called 

 the plaintiff and defendant together in his office and arrived at 

 a basis of settlement. 



The matter in controversy is easy enough to follow. But some 

 of the most valuable points of history are only incidental to the 

 suits, and are elusive. They must be supplied from other sources. 



It appears there was some sort of building known as the Red 

 Bull in St. James, Clerkenwell, prior, to the theatre that was built 

 on the same place. It was owned by Christopher (?) Bedding- 

 field, whose wife and administratrix, after his death, leased it to 

 Aaron Holland. Holland, at some unknown date before 1605, 

 built the Red Bull theatre there, and leased it out. The date of 

 erection, as shown under the Smith-Beeston documents, must 

 have been between 1603 and 1605. 



Following the example set by Shakespeare and his associates 

 in dividing the Globe into shares, as presented in the now famous 

 Osteler-Hemynges documents which I made public in the London 

 Times, Oct. 2 and 4, 1909, the Red Bull likewise was divided into 

 shares. It was evidently leased to Queen Anne's company in or 

 before 1605 ; for Thomas Swynnerton, a lessee of one share or 

 seventh part in that year, with the official position of gatherer — 

 the box-office man of that day — was a member of her company. 



About three years later, Swynnerton sold his share or one- 

 seventh part to Philip Stone, who, like Holland, was too ignorant 

 to read or write. A new lease, or indenture, dated in February, 

 1608, was made accordingly by Holland to Stone, presumably on 

 the same terms as formerly to Swynnerton. In 1612, about the 

 time of Thomas Green's death, when the company underwent 

 several changes, Stone, needing money, sold out to Thomas 

 Woodford, a man little known to historians of the stage, but con- 

 nected, I find, with nearly every theatre in London. He was a 

 merchant, and traded extensively in continental Europe. 



The consideration from Stone to Swynnerton and in turn from 

 Woodford to Stone was 50/. outright for the one-seventh part 



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