Memoirs of Edward Alleyn: Including Some New Particulars Respecting Shakespeare, Ben Jonson ...

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I

MEMOIRS

OF

EDWARD 4LLEYN,

FOUNDEE OF DULWICH COLLEGE:

INCLUDING

SOME NEW PAKTIOOLABS

SHAKESPEARE, BEN JONSON, MASSINGER,
MARSTON, DEKKER, Sic.

J. PAYNE COLLIEH, ESQ., F.S.A.

LONDON :
PRINTED FOR THE SHAKESPEARE SOCIETY.

'tRTtf^a

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:;',-tH

^/l/ERS\

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]^l\lL

LONDON :
P. 8H0BBRL, JUW. 51, RUPERT 8TRBBT, HATMABKBT,
PRINTER TO B. R.H. PRINCE ALBERT.

COUNCIL

OP THB

SHAKESPEARE SOCIETY,

PRESIDENT.
THE MOST NOBLE THE MARQUESS OF NORMANBY.

VICE-PRESIDENTS,

RT. HON. HON. LORD BRAYBROOKE, F.S.A.
RT, HON. LORD F. EGERTON, M.P.
RT. HON. THE EARL OF GLENGALL.
RT. HON, LORD LEIGH.

AMYOT, THOMAS, ESQ., F.R.S. TREAS. S.A.

AYRTON, WILLIAM, ESQ.. F.R.S., F.S.A.

BRUCE, JOHN, ESQ., F.S.A.

CAMPBELL, THOMAS, ESQ.

COLLIER, J. PAYNE, ESQ. F.S.A.

COURTENAY, RT. HON. THOMAS P.

CRAIK^ GEORGE L., ESQ.

DILKE, C. W. ESQ. TREASURER.

DYCE, REV. ALEXANDER.

HALLIWELL, J. O. ESQ., F.R.S. F.S.A., &C,

HARNESS, REV. WILLIAM.

JERROLD, DOUGLAS, ESQ.

KENNEY, JAMES^ ESQ.

KNIGHT, CHARLES, ESQ.

MACREADY, WILLIAM C, ESQ.

MADDEN, SIR F., F.R.S., F.S.A., KEEPER OF THE

MSS. IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM.
MILMAN, REV. HENRY HART.
TALFOURD, MR. SERGEANT, M.P.
TOMLINS, F. GUEST, ESQ., SECRETARY.
WRIGHT, THOMAS, ESQ., F.S.A.
YOUNG, CHARLES M., ESQ.

PREFACE.

More than ten years ago, when the writer of the
following Memoir was collecting materials for his
" History of English Dramatic Poetry and the Stage,"
he had an opportunity of inspecting Henslowe's Diary,
and some few other original documents preserved in
Dulwich College. He was not then, however, aware
of the curious sources of information possessed by that
institution, in relation to some of our early theatres,
and to the Ufe of an individual, who for nearly half a
century was more or less prominently concerned in
dramatic representations.

His attention was not long since directed to these
additional stores; and on examining them, he found
that they afforded ample and novel matter for an ex-
tended biography of the Founder of Dulwich College,
including important and interesting particulars respect-
ing Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, Massinger, Marston,
Dekker, and other Dramatists of the reigns of Eliza-
beth and James I.

vi PREFACE.

It is necessary to mention, in order to account for some
of the imperfections in the succeeding pages, that a
knowledge of the existence of certain deeds and family
papers, left behind him by Alleyn and preserved in the
original " Treasury Chest of God's Gift College," did
not reach the writer until he had not only drawn up the
whole, but actually printed some part, of the present
Tolume. Had he enjoyed the advantage of having all
the information before him at once, he might have ren-
dered the narrative in some places more consecutive and
satisfactory.

He cannot too emphatically express his obligations
to the Master and Fellows of Dulwich College for
the facilities they have at all times afforded him in the
inspection of their muniments ; but his personal thanks
are especially due to the Rev. John Image for ready
assistance during the search for materials, and for the
most patient kindness while the writer was necessarily
occupied in going through them.

• M

MEMOIRS

OF

EDWARD ALLEY N.

CHAPTER I.

Manuscripts in Dulwich College Library — ^AUeyn's Birth and Pedigree-
Fuller's " Worthies" — Alleyn's Education — Number of London Theatres
in his Youth — ^Nash's ** Pierce Pennyless," and other proofs of AUeyn's
celebrity and excellence as an Actor — Original MS. of his part in
R. Greene's ** Orlando Furioso"— Other Characters in which he was
famous.

Wk know little or nothing of Edward Alleyn before his
connection with the stage ; but, as regards posterity, the later
portion of his career seems to be the only important part of
his life. Respecting that part, we are now in possession of
fuller details than, as far as we are yet aware, exist respecting
any of his dramatic contemporaries — even Shakespeare him-
self.

Nearly all our materials are derived from Alleyn's family
papers preserved in Dulwich College, often mentioned, but
never hitherto thoroughly examined. Malone had many of
them in his possession for some years ; but it is impossible
to suppose that he saw them all, or he could not have passed
them over so carelessly as not to observe how much they
contain that is interesting and curious in relation, not only
to the history of the stage, but to the biography of many of

B

2 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN.

the great poets and actors of the time.* If Malone had the
whole collection in his custody, the result shews that he
made comparatively little use of the documents, and that
those who are earnest and zealous in the pursuit of informa-
tion of the kind need never despair of finding it, even where
it might be supposed that the reapers of the harvest would
scarcely have left scanty gleanings behind them.

Edward AUeyn was born on the 1st September, 1566,
and in his Diary (of which we shall have occasion to speak
more at large hereafter) he registers that fact five times,
although in one instance he seems to have kept the anni-
versary on the day following. It is stated in the " General
Biographical Dictionary'' (following Oldys, who wrote the
article in the '' Biographia Britannica"), that in '' a memo-
randum of his own writing" AUeyn states, that his birth
took place *' in the parish of St. Botolph without Bishop-
gate ;" but this is a mistake, as he never mentions where he
was bom. The fact, however, has been ascertained from the
registers of that parish, by which it appears that he was
baptised on the day after his birth.

We have his pedigree on his own authority, for he entered
it himself at the visitation of the County of Surrey two
years before his death ; and the records of the College of
Arms shew that he was the grandson of Thomas AWeyn, of
Willen in Buckinghamshire, and of Mesham in Bedford-
shire. His father, Edward Alleyn, was the second son of
Thomas Alleyn, who had three sons, Thomas, Edward, and

• Former hftads of Dulwich College, not aware of the value of the papers,
aUowed them to pass out of tlieir hands without reserve ; but what now
remain (probably only a small quantity of the original stock of MSS.),
are duly prized, and carefully preserved. Henslowe's mutilated Diary,
various notes from Massinger, Field, Daiborne, Rowley and other dra-
matists, together with some miscellaneous documents, were not, we believe,
restored to the College until after the death of Malone, when they were
returned by the late James E^oswell, Esq.

MEMOIRS OF BDWABD ALLEYN. 8

William. Edward Alleyn, the father of the founder of Dul-
wich College, had also three sons, John, Edward, and William.
Their mother was Margaret, daughter of John Towneley,
Esq. of Towneley, in Lancashire ; and from this alliance we
might infer that Edward Alleyn, the father of the actor, was
a man of some property at the tune of his marriage; yet in
1556 (which is the earliest date at which we have any notice
of him) he is termed ^* Edward Alleyn of London, yeoman,"
His will (in which he is called *^ Citizen and Innholder*'),
dated 10th September, 1570, was proved on the 22d of the
same month, and is inserted in the Appendix. The recent
discovery of this document establishes that he had both '^ lands
and tenements," which he left to his widow for life, and after-
wards to his children ; while his ^^ goods leases and ready
money" were to be equally divided between them.

The subject of the present Memoir was, therefore, only
four years old when his father died, and other documents at
Dulwich establish, that his mother subsequently married a
person of the name of Browne, an actor as well as ^' a haber.
dasher." No doubt, therefore. Fuller is correct when he states
{'' Worthies,'' ii. 84 Edit. 1811), that Edward Alleyn, having
been bom in the parish of St. Botolph, ^^ near Devonshire
House, where now is the sign of the Pye," was '^ bred a stage
player ;" and he certainly afterwards became ^* the Roscius of
our age, so acting to the life, that he made any part (espe-
cially a majestic one) to become him.*' We may very safely
conclude that Browne brought young Alleyn up to the pro-
fession of the stage ; and when it is said by some of his bio-
graphers, "that his father would have given him a liberal
education, but that he was not turned to a serious course of
life," it is a mere guess, for until now it was not known that
Edward Alleyn's father died before his education could have
commenced.

John Alleyn, his elder brother, was also connected with the
stage, although in 1588-9 (see the Appendix) he was, like

4 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLETN.

his father, an innholder. The old practice of employing inn-
yards as theatres had not then been entirely abandoned; and
it is not at all impossible that, in the time of their father, the
yard of his inn had been converted to that purpose, and was
so continued by his son John^ who succeeded him. What
was the value of the property Alleyn, the father, left to his
widow and children is no where stated ; but the founder of
Dulwich College owned houses in the parish of St. Botolph,
Bishopgate ; and his father, as we find by extant leases and
other writings, had bought one or more of them from a person
named William Parker : on the 6th of March, 1565, he pur-
chased of this person a house, for which he gave £90 5 and
the original deed was many years afterwards indorsed by his
son, Edward, "An indenture of sale from Parker to my
iather.'^ Mr. and Mrs. Browne probably endeavoured to make
the most of the histrionic talents of Edward Alleyn, and the
cultivation of his mind was, therefore, neglected.

The earliest date at which we hear of him, in connection
with the stage, is the 3d of January, 1688-9, when he bought,
for £37 10*. Od., the share of " playing apparels, play-books,
instruments and other commodities,^' which Richard Jones
owned jointly with the brothers, John and Edward Alleyn, and
their step-father. On the 8th of July of the following year,
John Alleyn and Edward Alleyn, '' sons of Edward Alleyn,
citizen and innholder, deceased," mortgaged a house in the
parish of St. Botolph to William Home for £80. This was,
perhaps, the same house their father had bought of Parker
twenty-five years before. Other papers at Dulwich shew that
John Alleyn became a distiller about the year 159^, and re-
sided in the parish of St. Andrew, Holborn. William Alleyn
seems to have been dead in 1590.

With reference to the early career of Edward Alleyn, we
are to recollect that, not many years after his birth, acting in
stage-plays, as they were called, though not a very respecta-
ble, became a very common employment. Few of the nobility

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN. 5

were without companies of comedians^ performing under the
protection of their names^ and as their theatrical servants.
Even knights had their dependant players, and as early as
1553 we hear of those of Sir Francis Leek, and in 1571 of
those of Sir Robert Lane (Hist. Engl. Dram. Poetry and
the Stage, i. 160, 196). The first public Theatre upon
record was opened about this latter date 5 and the Curtain
(another place purposely constructed for the exhibition of
dramatic entertainments) was in use before 1576. Both
these playhouses may be said to have been in the immediate
vicinity of the place where Alleyn was bom, for they were
situated near each other in the parish of St. Leonard, Shore-
ditch. The Blackfriars theatre was also constructed in
1576 ; and the Whitefriars theatre was in the possession of
a theatrical company soon afterwards. The Rose, Hope,
and Swan theatres, on the Bankside, were opened either
shortly before or after 1580;* so that by the time Alleyn
was sixteen years old dramatic representations were ex-
tremely frequent and popular in all quarters of the metro-
polis. When he was in his nineteenth year they received
additional encouragement from the direct patronage of
Queen Elizabeth, who took into her service twelve players
selected from the most distinguished associations of the day.
It no where appears that Alleyn was one of the performers
so chosen, and in 1583 he might not have attained suffi-
cient eminence to entitle him to such a situation. Perhaps
he began, like many others, as the representative of female
characters ; and all the companies of players of that date,
and earlier and later, had boys or very young men attached
to them for this purpose. It is quite certain, however, that
before 1592 Alleyn had established a very high reputation as

* A document is in the possession of the writer which shews that there
was a house called the Hose on the Bankside in 1571 ; but it may be
doubted whether it was then a theatre, or au inn which was converted
into a theatre afterwards.

6 MBMOIBS OF EDWABD ALLBYN.

an actor. In that year came out Thomas Nash's *' Pierce
Pennyless, his Supplication to the Devil ;" and as there were
three editions of the same date, we may conclude, perhaps,
that the first, from which we quote, made its appearance early
in 1592. AUeyn is there twice mentioned as a performer of
the utmost and most deserved distinction. The marginal
note in the tract is " The due commendation of Ned Allen,"
and the text opposite to it runs thus : — " Not Roscius nor
^sope, those tragedians admyred before Christ was borne,
covdd ever performe more in action than famous Ned
Allen* (Sign. H 3). This sentence contains Nash's tes-
timony to AUeyn's merits, and to the fame which attended
those merits; and -he adds on the next page, '* If I ever
write any thing in Latine (as I hope one day I shall), not a
man of any desert here amongst us but I will have up—
Tarlton, Ned Allen, Knell, Bentley, shall be made knowen

♦ Ben JonsoD, in his '' Epigram," addressed '' to Edward Allen," also
pouples him with Roscius and ^sop. It was first printed in 1616, but it
)iad been written, no doubt, fifteen or twenty years earlier.

" If Rome so great, and in her wisest age,
Fear'd not to boast the glories of her stage.
As skUfull Roscius and grave iEsope, men^
Yet crown'd with honors as with riches then ;
Who had no lesse a trumpet of their name
Then Cicero, whose every breath was fame ;
How can so great example dye in mee>
That, Allen, I should pause to publish thee ?
Who both their graces in thy selfe hast more
Outstript, then they did all that went before ;
And present worth in all dost so contract.
As others speake, but onely thou dost act.
Weare this renowne : 'tis just, that who did give
So many Poets life, by one should live,"

Ben Jonson was no flatterer, and of course a most competent judge.
The Duchess of Newcastle, in one of her Letters, 1664, foL, p. 362, says,
*< 1 never heard any man read well but my husband, and I have heard
jijflf^ say he never Jieard any man read well but Ben Jonson."

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD AIXBTN. 7

to Fraunce^ Spa}me> and Italie ; and not a part that they sur-
mounted in^ more than other^ but I will there note and ^t
downe, with the manner of their habites and attyre." Thus
we see AUeyn put upon a level with Tarlton (who had been one
of the leaders of the Queen's Company of Players in 1683, and
who died in 1588), the most celebrated comic performer this
country had ever produced, as well as with Knell and Bentley,
who had also enjoyed an extraordinary reputation. Nash
never lived to complete his design of noting the parts ^' they
surmounted in/' and we are left to collect them, as well as
we can, from other authorities and accidental notices.

One of the parts which AUejm '* surmounted in" we may
now assert for the first time, was Orlando, in Robert Greene's
play of '* Orlando Furioso." It is alluded to, or at all events
a play on the same subject seems spoken of, by G. Peele in
his " Farewell" to Sir John Norris and Sir Francis Drake,
printed in 1589 ; and when Henslowe in his Diary notices it,
under the date of 21st February, 1591-2, he does not treat it
as if it were a new production. * Greene was an author in
1584, and if he wrote *' Orlando Furioso" in 1588, Peele
might well mention it on account of its popularity in 1599.

The evidence to establish that the character of the hero of
the piece was performed by AUeyn, may be looked upon as
decisive. Among the MSS. at Dulwich College is a large
portion of the original part of Orlando, as transcribed by the
copyist of the theatre for the actor. It is in three pieces, one
much longer than the others, all imperfect, being more or less

♦ The entry by the manager (who, as will be seen by and by, was step-
father to Alleyn's wife) runs exactly thus : —

8, d,
" Rd at Orlando the 21 of febreary [1591] . i xvj vj."

It is the oldest entry, excepting two, in the Diary ; and the mark which
Henslowe placed before plays represented on particular days, for the first
time, is not found attached to it. Therefore ** Orlando Furioso" was not a
new play in Feb. 1691-2.

8 IfEMOIBS OF EDWARD AIXETN.

injured by worms and dme. Here and there certain blankd
have been supplied in a different hand-writing, and that hand-
writing is Allejm'a. We may conclude, therefore, that this is
the very copy from which he learnt his part ; and that the
scribe, not being able in some places to read the author's
manuscript, had left small spaces, which Alleyn filled up,
either by his own suggestion, from the MS., or after
inquiry of Greene. It contains no more than was to be
delivered by the actor of the character of Orlando, with the
cues (as they were then, and are still, technically called) regu-
larly marked, exactly in the same manner as is done at the
present day by transcribers in our theatres. We need have
no hesitation in pronouncing this one of the most singular
theatrical relics in existence, and it is therefore printed entire
(as entire, we mean, as it has come down to us) in the Ap-
pendix. It is not worth while here to point out in what
respects, and to what degree, it differs from the copy of the
play as published in 1594 and again in 1599, although the va-
riations are numerous and considerable. The Rev. Mr. Dyce
has inserted " Orlando Furioso" with great accuracy, from the
printed copy of 1594, in his edition of Greene's Poetical
Works (2 vols. 8vo. 1834) ; so that a comparison may be
easily made by those who are curious on such points, and who
wish to form an opinion from thence of the very imperfect
and slovenly manner in which our old plays usually came
from the press.*

Another of Allejm's famous characters was Barabas, in
Christopher Marlowe's tragedy, " The Rich Jew of Malta ;"
and to this fact we have the evidence of his contemporary,
Thomas Heywood, the dramatist, who had been an actor in
AUejm's company in 1596, and doubtless recollected the effect

• As this fragment by some extraordinary chance has been preserved,
we may not unreasonably conclude that Alleyn's papers at Dulwich Col-
lege originally contained many such portions of old plays, in the perform-
ance of which he was principally engaged.

►

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLETN. 9

produced by him in the part. Possibly, Heywood did not
recollect the first production of the tragedy, about 1589
or 1590; but it continued a favourite with the town for
many years, most likely until Alleyn finally quitted the stage.
It was not printed until 1633, when it was revived at the,
Cckjkpit Theatre in Drury Lane, and its success there recom-
mended it for representation at Court. Heywood ushered it
into the world in 1633 by a Dedication to that impression,
and by Prologues and Epilogues at Whitehall and at the
Cockpit Theatre. In the Dedication he states that '* the
part of the Jew was presented by so unimitable an actor as
Mr. Allen 5" and in the Prologue at the Cockpit he inserted
the following remarkable lines : —

" We know not how our play may pass this stage.
But hy the best of poets in that age
The Malta Jew had being and was made ;
And he then by the best of actors play'd.
In Hero and Leander one did gain
A lasting memory : in Tamberlaine,
This Jew, with others many, the pther wan
The attribute of peerless; being a man
Whom we may rank with (doing no one wrong)
Proteus for shapes, and Roscius for a tongue.
So could he speak, so vary."

The sense has hitherto been somewhat obscured by ill
pointing,* but the meaning seems to be, that Marlowe gained
a lasting memory by his paraphrase of Musaeus under the
title of '* Hero and Leander," (licensed for the press in 1593,
but not published till 1598) ; while Alleyn (whose name is

♦ In the Hist, of Engl. Dram. Poetry and the Stage, iii. 114,anopmion
is given by the anthor that the passage

'* in Tamberlaine

This Jew, with others many,"

applies to Marlowe, and not to Alleyn, and that the punctuation ought to
be regulated accordingly ; but this is at least doubtful.

10 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLBYN.

inserted in the margin) " wan the attribute of peerless" by
his personation of Tamberlaine^ the Jew of Malta^ and many
other characters ; he being a man who could so speak and
vary his appearance^ that he might be likened to '^ Proteus
for shapes^ and Boscius for a tongue/'

On the same authority, therefore, we find that AUeyn was
also the original representative of Marlowe's ^' Tamberlaine
the Great/' which there is every reason to suppose had been
acted in or before 1587, (Hist, of Engl. Dram. Poetry and
the Stage, iii. 112) 5 and AUeyn's performance of that part
ought (if it could have been done conveniently) to have been
mentioned before we spoke of his Orlando, or of his Barabas.
It is hardly too much to suppose that AUeyn was the actor
who sustained many, if not most, of the chief tragic characters
in the plays entered in Henslowe's Diary ; for, as we have
already seen. Fuller informs us that he was especially great in
parts requiring a majestic deportment. His countenance and
person, as far as we can judge from his full-length portrait
in Dulwich College, were admirably adapted to give effect to
such impersonations.

It merits observation, that in the preceding quotation from
the Prologue to " The Rich Jew of Malta," Heywood calls
Marlowe ** the best of poets in that age :'* he is to be under-
stood as meaning *' the best of poets" in the age in which
Marlowe flourished 5 for it is not likely that he intended to
exclude Shakespeare, and to place him in a rank inferior to
Marlowe. Heywood does not seem to have considered Mar-
lowe as in the same age with Shakespeare, and hence an
inference might possibly be drawn that Shakespeare did not
obtain any great eminence as a dramatic author until after
the death of Marlowe. Marlowe was buried on June 1, 1 593,
(Hist. Engl. Dram. Poetry and the Stage, iii. 144); and
there is reason to suppose that previous to that year Shake-
speare had done little more than improve the three parts of
Henry VI. (if, indeed, he touched the first part of Henry VI.

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN. 11

at all), and had written '* The Two Gentlemen of Verona,"
and '' The Comedy of Errors." His '' Richard II." has gene-
rally been assigned to the year 1593. Marlowe's career was
a comparatively short one, but it is very possible that he
began to write for the stage six or eight years before that
date.

CHAPTER II.

Theatrical Wagers, and AUeyn's concern in them— Shakespeare mentioned
under the name of '* Will"— AUeyn's Marriage with Joan Woodward —
His Wife's Property — Philip Henslowe's connection with Theatres — His
Partnership with Alleyu — Original Inventory of AUeyn's Theatrical
Wardrobe — Union of Shakespeare's and AUeyn's Companies of Players,
and the Dramas represented by them.

Otheb strong proofs of AUeyn's high character as an actor
are furnished by docimients still preserved at Dulwich Col-
lege, and one of them has been quoted by Malone, but with
some inaccuracies (Shakesp. by Boswell, iii. 335). It relates
to a wager which had been laid by some friend of AUeyn, that
in the performance of a particular part, which either Bentley
or Knell had formerly sustained, he should excel Peele, who,
we may perhaps conclude, had plumed himself on his his-
trionic abilities. Contests of this kind were not uncommon
in those days : Meres, in his *' Palladis Tamia," 1598, fol.
286, speaks of Wilson's *' challenge at the Swan on the
Bankside 5" and Malone has adduced two passages, one from
Dekker's " Gull's Hornbook," and the other from " the
Knight of the Burning Pestle," to the same effect. How
these wagers and challenges were conducted and decided, we
have no precise information : this, in which AUeyn ito^ to be
pitted against Peele, must have been given when the latter
was in his zenith, and considerably prior to the epistle which

12 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLETN.

in his distress^ and after long sickness, he addressed to Lord
Burghley in 1595. (Dyce's Peek's Works, i. xvi. second edi-
tion). It is likely that Peele did not recover from this illness,
and we know, on the evidence of Meres,* that he was dead in
1598. The following paper has no date, but we may place it
in 1590 or 1591 at the latest.

" Your answer the other nighte so well pleased the Gentlemen, as I

was satisfied therewith, though to the hazarde of the wager: and yet my

meaninge was not to prejudice Peele's credit, neither wolde it, though it

pleased you so to excuse it ; hut heinge now growen in question, the partie

affected to Bentley scornynge to wynne the wager by your deniall, hath

now given yow libertie to make choice of any one playe that either Bentley

or Knell plaide ; and least this advantage agree not with your minde, he is

contented both the plaie and the tyme shalbe referred to the gentlemen

here present. I see not how yow canne any waie hurte your credit by this

action, for if yow excell them yow will then be famous ; if equall them,

yow Wynne both the wager and credit; yf short of them, we must and will

saie Ned Allen still.

" Your frend to his power,

" W. P."
To this letter the following verses were appended : —

*' Deny me not, sweete Nedd, the wager's downe.
And twice as muche commaunde of me or myne ;
And if you wynne, I sweare the half is thyne.
And for an overplus an English Crowne:
Appoint the tyme and stint it as you pleas.
Your labors gaine, and that will prove it ease."

All this is written in a beautiful hand, and ** Ned Allen"
in the letter, and '* sweete Nedd*' and ^' English Crowne" in
the verses, are in characters of gold. It is clear that AUeyn
at this time had not attained the loftiest point of his celebrity,
inasmuch as he is told, that if he excels Bentley and Knell he
'* will then be famous." We have before seen Thomas Nash,

* In his « Palladis Tamia, or Wit*s Treasury," fol, 286 b. Peele's
death was occasioned by the irregularity of his life.

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN. 13

in a passage already quoted, mention AUeyn in conjunction
with Bentley, Knell, and Tarlton, in 1592.

But there is another paper of a very similar kind, appa-
rently referring to the preceding, or to some other like con-
test, but containing several remarkable allusions, which
Malone did not notice. Perhaps it never met his eye, or
perhaps he reserved it for his Life of Shakespeare, and was
unwilling to forestal that production by inserting it else-
where. It seems to be of a later date, and it mentions not
only Tarlton, Knell, and Bentley, but Kempe, Phillips,
and Pope, while AUeyn's rival Burbage is sneered at as
*' Roscius Richard," and Shakespeare introduced under the
name of Will, by which we have Thomas Heywood^s au-
thority (in his *' Hierarchic of the blessed Angels," 1635,
p. 206) for saying he was known among his companions.
The paper is in verse, and runs precisely as follows :

" Sweete Nedde, nowe wynne an other wager
For thine old frende and Fellow stager.
Tarlton himselfe thou doest excell.
And Bentley beate, and conquer Knell,
And nowe shall Kempe orecome aswell.
The moneyes downe, the place the Hope,
Phillippes shall hide his head and Pope.
Feare not, the victorie is thyne ;
Thou still as macheles Ned shall shyne.
If Rossius Richard foames and fumes.
The globe shall have but emptie roomes.
If thou doest act ; and Willes newe playe
Shall be rehearst some other daye.
Consent then, Nedde ; doe us this grace :
Thou cannot faile in anie case;
For in the triall, come what maye.
All sides shall brave Ned Allin saye."

No explanatory prose accompanies the above slip, which
seems to have been an inclosure. The wager was laid by
some brother actor, that Alleyn would be adjudged superior

14 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLETN.

to Kempe, (whom Nash, about 1689, in the dedication to
his ''Almond for a Parrot," called "Vice-gerent General
to the Ghost of Dick Tarlton,") in some part not mentioned 5
and hence we may gather that AUeyn was ''famous" in
comedy, as well as in tragedy : all the actors named, except-
ing Burbage and Shakespeare, (who is only spoken of here
as an author,) were comedians. The Hope was a theatre
in the occupation of Alleyn, and in the immediate vicinity
of the Globe, where " Roscius Richard" was in the habit of
performing, and where (and at the Blackfriars Theatre)
Shakespeare's plays, as far as we can now learn with cer-
tainty, were represented. We need feel little hesitation in

ft

believing that the couplet

" and Willes newe playe

Shall be rehearst some other daye,"

refers to Shakespeare 5 but it may be doubtful whether we
should take the word " rehearst" in the sense of a private
repetition before public performance, which then, as now, it
signified, or in the more general sense of acted. A mere
rehearsal would not attract an audience, nor would be
intended to do so ; and it would, therefore, have been no
disappointment if the " rooms" at the Globe were " empty ;"
while the words "new play" seem appropriate to the term
"rehearst." However, the point of the passage would be
lost, were we not to understand " rehearst" as acted, and
the reference to be to the first night of a new play by
"Will" Shakespeare.

We have thus completely established AUeyn's great
eminence in his profession, which, doubtless, independently
of any patrimony, yielded him such an income as would
enable him to marry with every prospect of comfort and
competence. This event occurred in the autimm of 1592.
On the 1st September, he completed his twenty-sixth year ;
and on the 22nd of October following he was united to Joan

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN. 16

Woodward, the daughter of the wife of Philip Henslowe, who
had married Agnes Woodward, a widow. The entry of the
marriage of Edward Alleyn with Joan Woodward stands
thus in a Diary or Account Book kept by Henslowe.

" Edward Alen wasse maryed unto Jone woodward the 22 day of octobr
1 592 In the iiij and thirtie yeare of the Queues Ma**® Rayne, elizabeth by
the grace of god of Ingland, france, and larland, defender of the fayth."

After his marriage, the house Alleyn was to live in was
either extensively repaired or built. At the other end «of
the book which contains the preceding entry is a state-
ment of figures thus entitled, " The Acount of such Carges
[charges] as hathe bene layd owt a bowt edward alenes
howsse, as foloweth — 1592." It commences on Nov. 4, and
a little farther on we meet with "Novmbr. 11 :" before it
is closed, items, dated February, 1593, and even February^
1594, are inserted, so that the work was going on for more
than two years. At the end are some particulars that appear
to relate directly to the marriage : thus we have,

" Itm pd for makinge the writtinges .... vs,
Itm sowld my soune a fetherbead for ... . xxx «.
Itm pd for makinge of writinges

for my sones parte ....... xx s"

There is groimd for believing that AUejm's wife, Joan
Woodward, possessed property in her own right, which she
had derived under her father's will : a portion of this pro-
perty was, probably, the lease of the parsonage of Firle,
in Sussex, before-mentioned, which, four years after his
marriage, Alleyn sold to Arthur Langworth for ^3000.
To this property the writings, above-noticed by Henslowe,
may have referred. Henslowe's wife, Agnes, had been a
widow, and before her marriage with Henslowe, they stood
(as Alleyn himself alleges, in a piece of evidence hereafter to
be produced) in the relation of mistress and servant : Philip
Henslowe had been the servant of Agnes Woodward, and

16 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLETN.

we may presume that her first husband had left her and her
daughter Joan sufficiently provided for. The very book in
which Henslowe^ at a subsequent date^ made his theatrical
memoranda had most likely belonged to her husband^
Woodward, who appears £rom it to have been extensively
engaged in the iron mines and foimderies in Ashdowne
Forest, the dates conunencing in 1576. Hence, perhaps, the
property in Sussex, which Alleyn seems to have obtained
on his marriage with Joan Woodward on the 22nd Oc-
tober, 1592. *' The writings," it is true, may not have
had any connection with this union, but may have related to
other transactions; and the name of " Mr. Langworth" is
introduced into the same account, as havii^ received from
Henslowe £27 10 and £30 ; but the date of these pay-
ments is given as 9th September, 1594. In fact, Henslowe
was so illiterate, and kept his accounts (sometimes in his
own hand-writing, but oftener in that of some person he
employed) so irregularly, that it is frec[uently impossible to
make out at all exactly what they do, or do not establish.
The dates upon the page, to which we are now referring,
extend from 1592 to 1597.

In what manner, and at what period, Henslowe became
connected with theatres nowhere appears ; but the earliest
entry in his Diary or Account-book, relating to any company
of players, is dated 19th February 1591 (or 1592, according
to our present mode of calculating the year), about eight
months prior to the marriage of Alleyn with Henslowe's
wife's daughter. By rough drafts of two bills in Chancery,
among the miscellaneous papers at Dulwich College, (with-
out dates, but addressed in the usual 'form to "Lord
Ellesmere," therefore subsequent to July, 1603, when Sir
Thomas Egerton was raised to the peerage,) we learn that
Henslowe was '* free inheritor'* of some houses in Southwark,
and that he had besides purchased what is called " the Pike
Grarden, near the Bankside, in Southwark." "A note (in

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN. 17

his Diary) of such charges as I have lay'd out about my
play-howsse/' dated 1592^ shews that he was at that period
the proprietor of the Rose Theatre. He had, in fact, been so
since 1586, when he entered into partnership with a person
of the name of Cholmley, with whose money the Rose, as it
stood in 159^, was constructed. It had, however, as has been
already stated, been used as a playhouse at a considerably
earlier date. Some new and curious particulars regarding it
will be found in the Appendix : they are derived from Alleyn's
papers. It is quite certain, from a portion of the contents of
Henslowe's Diary, that he also acted as a sort of pawnbroker,
and advanced money to any parties who were in want of it,
upon plate, rings, jewels, and wearing appareL

From the date of the marriage of AUeyn with Joan
Woodward, he and Henslowe entered into partnership in
iheir theatrical concerns ; and as far as we can learn from
extant letters (most of which appear to have remained till
now totally unexamined) the two families, until Alleyn's
house was ready, lived together, occupying the same dwell-
ing in Southwark. Upon what terms, and to what extent
Alleyn and Henslowe engaged in partnership, it is impos-
sible to ascertain from any of the accounts or documents
that have come down to us ; but it seems more than probable
that Alleyn was sole owner of the wardrobe used by himself
In the personation of various characters.

There exists in his own hand-writing at Dulwich College
an inventory of his theatrical apparel, which is much more
important and interesting than a mere list of dresses would
be supposed to be. It has no heading and no date, but it i«
unquestionably early, and it renders it quite clear that
Alleyn acted parts, if not in Shakespeare's Plays (though
that has been asserted by Oldys in his account of Alleyn,
in the Bioffr(q)kia Britannicay and after him by several
others,) in plays upon the same stories as those employed
by our greatest dramatist. Malone (Shakesp. by Bosw. iii,

€

18 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN.

331 and 335^) has shewn that in 1599, Dekker and Chetde
were employed in writing a play for Alleyn and Henslowe,
of which Troilus and Cressida were the hero and heroine ;
and that> as late as 1602, Ben Jonson had undertaken to
write a play upon the events of the reign of Richard III.
It will be seen, by what we shall presently subjoin, that
Alleyn had probably played Lear, (or Leir, as he spells
the name,) Henry VIII. Romeo and Pericles, as if the sub-
jects of those plays had been the common property of the
dramatists of the day, the only question being who could
make the best use of it. The "Leir" was perhaps that
which was licensed to Edward White, May 14th, 1594,
under the title of "the moste famous Chronicle Hystorie
of Leire, King of England, and his three Daughters.'' The
" Romeo" may have been a play written either before or
in rivalry of Shakespeare's Tragedy, which is supposed to
have been first acted in 1596 : the " Pericles" possibly
was the old play of which Shakespeare made use in 1608,
especially in the earlier portion of his drama. " The Moore
in Venis" may have been another version of " Othello."
"The Guises" mentioned in the succeeding document, was
no doubt Marlowe's "Massacre at Paris," printed without
date 5 and the " Dido," Marlowe's and Nash's celebrated
tragedy, published in 1594.* Regarding other items, such

* A good edition of Marlowe's productions is much wanted : a very im-
perfect attempt of the kind was made in 1826, 3 vols. 8vo. which is full of
blunders, some of them of the grossest kind. We will add an instance
from the tragedy above-mentioned, "Dido, Queen of Carthage," by
Marlowe and Nash. In the scene between Juno and Venus (Act III.)
after the speech of Juno, which, in the edition of 1826, ends with the line

"Then in one cave, the Queen and he shall meet,"

leaving the sense imperfect, the following three lines should have been
added ; but they are wholly omitted.

'* And interchangeably discourse their thoughts.
Whose short conclusion will seale up their hearts
Unto the purpose which we now propound."

Other errors are numerous and important, but not quite so glaring as
the preceding.

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLETN. 19

as " a cloth of silver for Har/' ** Daniel's gowne," ** Will
Somer's cote/' &c. we might indulge conjectures, but there
is every chance that they would be fruitless.

Closes.

1 A Scarlett cloke with ij brode gould laces with gould buttons of

the same downe the sids, for Leir.

2 A black velvett cloke.

3 A Scarlett cloke layd downe with silver lace and silver buttons.

4 A short velvett cape cloke embroydered with gould and gould

spangles.

5 A watched sattin cloke with v gould laces.

6 A purpell sattin welted with velvett and silver twist Romeos.

7 A black tufted cloke cloke [sic— q"* cloth cloke].

8 A damask cloke garded [def. in MS.]

9 A long blak tafata cloke.

10 A colored bugett for a boye.

11 A Scarlett with buttons of gould fact with blew velvett.

12 A Scarlett fact with black velvett.

13 A stamell cloke with gould lace.

14 Blak bugett cloke.

GOWNES.

1 Hary the VIII gowne.

2 The blak velvett gowne with wight fure.

3 A crimosin bestrypt with gould fact with ermin.

4 On of wrought cloth of gould.

5 On of red silk with gould buttons.

6 A Cardinalls gowne.

7 Wemens gowns.

8 Blak velvett embroydered with gould.

9 Cloth of gould Candish his stuf.

10 A blak velvett lact and drawne out with wight sarsnett.

11 A blak silk with red slash.

12 A cloth of silver for Har.

13 A yelow silk gowne.

14 A red silk gowne.

15 Angells sute.

16 Blew calico gownes.

c 2

SS MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN.

one circumstance, in connection with this question, that has
never been sufficiently attended to. The agreement between
Burbage and Street, the carpenter, for the original construc-
tion of the Globe Theatre, is dated 22d Dec. 1593, (Hist,
of Engl. Dram. Poetry and the Stage, iii., 296;) so that
the building could not have been commenced until 1694.
How long it took to finish it, is not known ; but, in Hens-
lowe's Diary, there is an account, beginning 3d of June, 1694,
and ending 15th Nov., 1696, by which it appears that the
Lord Admiral's players and the Lord Chamberlain's players
(to which last company Shakespeare belonged) during that
interval played together at the theatre in Newington Butts.
Whether they acted jointly on the same day«, or severally
on different days, we cannot determine; but Henslowe's
entries are of daily receipts on his part, as if he were entitled
to a share of " the takings," whatever company performed.
It is remarkable, also, that while the two associations of
actors were thus occupying the Newington Theatre, we read
the following, among the names of the plays which Henslowe
informs us were represented :

" 9 June 1694 Rd at Hamlet

11 June 1694 Rd at the Tamynge of a Shrowe

12 June 1694 Rd at Andronicus .

25 Aug' 1694 Rd at the Venesyon Comodey .
17 Sep' 1694 Rd at Palamon and Arsett

8 Nov. 1694 Rd at Seser and Pompie .
20 June 1696 Rd at Antony and Vallea

26 June 1595 Rd at the 2 pte of Seaser
28 Nov. 1695 Rd at Harry the V.

22 June 1696 Rd at Troye ....

vnj s,

vij^.

Is. vj d.

Ijs.

• • • f • • •

"J" ij ».

XX s.

XX s,
nj« vj s.
nj/t IX 8.

Thus we see that between 9th June, 1594, and 22nd June,
1596, during which period, it is very likely, the Globe theatre
was in a course of construction, no fewer than ten plays were
performed, upon the same, or similar, subjects as those which
Shakespeare adopted : this remark supposes that ''the Vene-

MEMOIRS OF BDWABD AUETN. 23

syon Comodey'* meant (as has indeed been conjectured) '* the
Merchant of Venice 5'' and that Shakespeare was concerned
in "the Two Noble Kinsmen/' It seems not impossible
that some of these may not have been different or older
productions, but the very same that proceeded from his pen ;
and it is capable of distinct proof, from Henslowe's Diary,
that five out of the ten plays were new. These are " the
Veneyyon Comodey," ** Palamon and Arsett,'' *' Seser and
Pompie,'' "Harry the V./' and " Troye/' It will be observed
that the receipts to Henslowe, as entered by him, were much
larger upon these five occasions (in consequence, no doubt,
of the greater fulness of the theatre) than when old plays
were represented ; and he inserts opposite to each of them the
usual mark, to denote that it was the first time the piece
was produced before an audience. If none of these plays
were by Shakespeare, but dramas of which he availed him-
self in the composition of his own plays, the above list
shews that he had perhaps been in some way concerned in
the representation of them, and his attention might thus
have been especially directed to them.

CHAPTER III.

Alleyn driven into the country by tbe Plague in 1593 — His Letter to
his Wife — Carting of Mrs. Alleyn — Another Letter from Alleyn to
his Wife — His fondness for Home— Letter from Henslowe and Mrs.
Alleyn to Alleyn — Lord Strange's Players — Letter to Alleyn from
Henslowe — Mrs. Henslowe and Mrs. Alleyn — Bartholomew Fair —
Letter from Henslowe and Mrs. Alleyn to Alleyn.

We have brought AUeyn's personal history down to
October, 1692, when he was married to Joan Woodward,
daughter to Henslowe's wife by her first husband. Very

84 MBMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLETN.

»oon afterwards a malignant fever, called the plague, broke
out in London, and put a stop to all dramatic performances,
which, from the congregation of persons in theatres, were
thought to promote and spread the infection. Accordingly,
Alleyn and his companions, *' Lord Strange's Players," were
obliged, as usual in such cases, to quit the metropolis, and to
take to a strolling life through the country, where they were
frequently little welcome to the inhabitants, under the fear
that the players would convey to them the pestilence which
was devastating the metropolis. He left his wife residing
with his " father," (as he was accustomed to call Henslowe)
and with her mother and sister on the Bankside in Southwark.
Among the papers at Dulwich College are preserved several
letters of about this period, swne of them written to Alleyn
While he was travelling in the provinces, and two from him to
his wife. Only the last have ever been noticed ; but they are
all highly interesting in reference to Alleyn, his connections,
occupation, and prospects. The earliest in the series is from
Alleyn to his wife (but addressed as to himself) which adverts
to a singular report which had reached him at Chelmsford,
that Mrs. Alleyn, " and all her fellowes," (meaning, perhaps,
such players as had not accompanied Alleyn into the country)
had been carted by the Lord Mayor's officers. It is difficulty
from the wording of the letter, to decide whether Alleyn was
in jest or in earnest ; but it is not impossible that his wife,
and the remnant of the company in town, had got into dis-
grace in consequence of the infringement of the order against
dramatic performances. The letter is literatim as follows : —

*' To E. Alline, on the bank side.

** My good sweet harte and loving mouse, T send the a thousand comen-
dations, wishing thee as well as well may be, and hoping thou art in good
helth, with my father, mother, and sister. I have no newes to send thee,
but I thank god we ar all well, and in helth, which I pray god to continew
with us in the contry, and with you in london. But, mouse, I littell
thought to hear that which I now bear by you, for it is well knowne.

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLETN. 28

they say, that you wear by my lorde maiors officer mad to rid in a cart,

you and all your felowes, which I ame sory to hear ; but you may thank

your ij suporters^ your stronge leges I mene, that would nott cary you

away^ but lett you fall in to the hands of such Tarmagants. But^ mouse,

when I com hom, U be revengd on them : tell when, mouse, I bid thee

fayerwell. I prethee send me word how thou doste, and do my harty

comendations to my father^ mother, and sister, and to thy own self; and

so, swett hart, the lord bless thee. From Chellmsford, the 2 of Maye,

1593.

'* thyn ever, and no bodies els, by god of heaven,

"Edwarde Alletn.
'* Farewell mecho mousin, and mouse,

and farwell bess dodipoU.*' *

€6

Bess DodipoU," in the postscript, was doubtless his wife's
syster bease/' of whom we shall see that Henslowe speaks
in a subsequent letter : Dr. DodipoU was a character in a
play of the time, and hence perhaps the nickname. When
AUeyn states above, that it was his wife's (or " mouse's")
own fault, if she had fallen into the hands of '* such Ter-
magants^ as the officers of the lord mayor, because she would
not let her " two supporters, her strong legs," carry her
away, he may mean to reproach her gently for not having
accompanied him into the country. On the 2d May, 1593,
Alleyn was at Chelmsford, but he was at Bristol when he
dispatched the next letter to his wife, on the 1st August,
1593, which Malone published (Shakesp. by Bosw. xxi. 389),
with many minute variations from the original, and with some
important errors. It is thus superscribed, with a peculiar
sparingness of capital letters :—

*' This be delyvered to m'. hinslo, on of the gromes of hir maist.
chamber, dwelling on the bank sid, right over against the clink.

*' My good sweete mouse, I comend me hartely to you And to my
father, my mother, and my sister bess, hopinge in god, though the sick-
nes be round about you, yett by his mercy itt may escape your house,

* This letter is very incorrectly printed in " Lysons* Environs," i. 88.
The Rev. Author states, that at its date Alleyn had been married " about
a year ;" but, in fact, he had been married only six months and a few days.

26 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLETN.

which by the grace of god it shall, therefor use this corse : — kepe your

house fayr and clean^ which I knowe you will, and every evening throwe

water before your dore and in your bake sid, and have in your windowes

good store of reue and herbe of grace, and witli all the grace of god,

which must be obtaynd by prayers ; and so doinge, no dout but the Lord

will mercyfully defend you. now, good mouse, I have no newse to send

you but this, thatt we have all our helth, for which the Lord be praysed.

I reseved your Letter at Bristo by richard couley, for the wich I Uiank

you. I have sent you by this berer, Thomas popes kinsman, my whit

wascote, because it is a trobell to me to cary it. reseave it with this

letter. And lay it up for me till [ com. if you send any mor Letters, send

to me by the cariers of Shrowsbury, or to Westchester, or to York, to be

kept till my Lord Stranges players com. and thus, sweett hart, with my

harty comenda. to all our frends, I sett from Bristo this Wensday after

Saynt James his day, being redy to begin the playe of hary of Cornwall.

mouse, do my harty commend, to M'^ grigs, his wife, and all his houshould,

and to my sister phillyps.

** Your Loving housband,

" E. Alleyn.

" Mouse, you send me no newes of any things : you should send of
your domestycall matters, such things as hapens att home ; as how your
distilled watter proves, or this or that, or any thing, what you will. '

" And, Jug, T pray you, lett my orayng tawny stokins of wolen be dyed
a very good blak against I com hom, to wear in the winter, you sente
me nott word of my garden, but next tym you will ; but remember this in
any case, that all that bed which was parsley in the month of September
you sowe itt with spinage, for then is the tym. I would do it my selfe,
but we shall nott com hom till allholland tyd. and so, swett mouse, far-
well, and broke our Long Jomey with patienc."

It is an excellent trait in the character of Alleyn, that he
was of so domestic a turn, and, though absent, took such a
strong interest in all that was going forward at home. He
appears to have preserved the same disposition through life,
always thinking that the happiest place in the world was his
own fireside. The strange terms of endearment of '^ mouse,"
and *^ mousin," &c., he applies to his wife, and the nickname
he gives to his sister proceed from the same amiable and affec-
tionate habit of mind. His anxiety lest they should take the
infection, and his earnest and sensible instructions to prevent

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN. 27

it, are very kindly and natural. Richard Cowley, mentioned
in the preceding as the bearer of a letter from Mrs. Alleyn
to her husband at Bristol, became one of the king's players
on the accession of James I., being the last name inserted in
the patent of 17th May, 1603. The words *< Thomas Popes
kinsman,'^ Malone misprinted " Thomas Chockes kinsman.^'
Now we know no such person as Thomas Chocke, but Tho-
mas Pope was a very eminent comedian, who, in 1596, be-
longed to the same company as that to which Shakespeare
was attached, and whose will bears date in July, 1603 (Hist,
of Engl. Dram. Poetry and the Stage, iii. 433). Griggs, as we
learn from Henslowe's Diary, was a carpenter, and a man of
some property, living on the Bankside. There was a very dis-
tinguished actor of clown's parts of the name of Phillips, and
perhaps he married another of Henslowe's wife's daughters,
who was therefore called " sister" by Alleyn.

The contents of a letter without date, written by some
scribe jointly for Philip Henslowe and Joane Alleyn* (mis-
spelling both their names), shew that it was an answer to
the preceding, and it seems to have been sent by a carrier
to Shrewsbury, Chester (then often called West-chester), or
York, as Alleyn had given directions. It is merely addressed
to him as *' one of my Lord Stranges players," without the
addition of any place where they were to be found. It runs
thus : —

" To my wealle loved Sonne Edward Allen, one of my Lord Stranges
Players, this be delyvered with spead.

" Welbeloved Sonne Edward Allen. After owr bartte comendations,
botbe I and your mother, and syster bease, all in generall doth bartiely

• The same hand-writing is to be found in many parts of " Henslowe's
Diary," and all the principal entries respecting the performance of plays,
and Henslowe's proportion of the profits, are made in it. This is a circum-
stance not hitherto observed, and Malone attributes all the specimens of
ignorance contained in the Diary to the old manager. This scribe, who-
ever he might be, seems to have acted as Henslowe's clerk.

28 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN.

comeDd us unto you ; and for your mowse^ her comendationes comes by
y t sealfe^ which^ as she sayes^ comes from her harte and her sowle, prainge
to god day and nyght for your good heallth, which trewley, to be playne^
we doe saie all, hoopinge in the lorde Jesus that we shall have agayne a
mery meting ; for I thauke god we have be fly tted with feare of the syck-
ues, but thankes be unto god^ we are all at this time in good healthe ia
owr howsse ; but rownd a bowte us y t hath bene all moste in every howsse
abowt us, and wholle howsholdes deyed, and y[e]t my friend the Baylle
doth scape, but he smealles monstrusly for feare, and dares staye no
wheare, for ther hath deyed this laste weake, in generall, 1 603, of the
which nomber ther hathe deyed of them of the plage 113, which hause
bene the greatest that came yet ; and as for other newes of this and that,
I cane tealle youe none, but that Robert Brownes wife in Shordech and
all her children and howshowld be dead, and heare dores shut upe ; and
as for your joyner he hath browght you a corte coberd and hath seat up
your portowie in the chamber, and sayes you shall have a good bead
stead ; and as for your garden yt is weall, and your spenege bead not
forgoten. Your orenge colerd stockens died, but no market in Smyth-
fylld, nether to bye your cloth, nor yet to sealle your horsse, for no man
wold ofer me a hove fower pownd for hime ; therfor I wold not sealle hime,
but have seante hime into the con trey, tylle youe retorne backe agayene.
This, licke poore peapell rejoysinge that the lorde hath in compased us
rownd, and kepeth us all in health we end, prayinge to god to send you
all good health, that yet maye pleasse god to send, that we maye all
merelye meat ; and I praye you do ower comendations unto them all,
and I wold gladley heare the licke frome them ; and thankes be to god
your poore mowsse hath not ben seack seance you weant.

" Your poore and assured frend tell death,

'' Phillippe Henslet.
" Your lovinge wife tylle deathe,

" JoNE Allen."

Philip Henslowe (as he usually signed his own name, though
his practice was not quite uniform) wrote badly and illite-
rately, and therefore employed a scribe, who did not write
much better ; but Mrs. AUeyn could not write at all, for in
witnessing a document in 1596, hereafter to be introduced,
she affixed her mark to it. At the earliest date at which we
have any information regarding Lord Strange's servants, they
exhibited feats of activity 5 but, at this period, and for some

MEMOIRS OP EDWARD ALLEYN. 29

time before, (Henslowe gives a list of plays represented by them
in 1692), they had become regular actors of the drama, like
the servants of the Lord Chamberlain, the Earl of Leicester,
the Earl of Warwick, &c. In the letter, which we shall next
subjoin, Henslowe, after referring to Alleyn's illness, and com-
plaining that he did not oftener write (apparently not making
due allowance for indisposition) adverts to the difficulty of
sending letters to him, because in London it could not be known
where Lord Strange's company was performing. He also
alludes to points touched by Alleyn in his communication of
the 1st of August, especially to the necessity of taking measures
against the infection, attending to his garden, &c. Henslowe
talks of the poverty of Alleyn's tenants, without mentioning
where the property for which rent should have been paid was
situated, and regrets that the absence of the players in the
country, and the closing of the theatres, kept him poor. The
subsequent letter was also the penmanship of the same person
who wrote the former communication, and it purports to be
the composition of Philip Henslowe, Agnes his wife (their
initials being appended), and Joane Alleyn. It is addressed

€€

For my wealbeloved busbande Mr. Edwarde Allen, on of my Lorde
Strange's players, this be delyvered with speade.

** Jesus.

" Welbeloved Sonne Edwarde Allen, I and your mother and your sister
Beasse have all in generall our hartie commendations unto you, and very
glad to heare of your good healthe, which we praye god to contenew longe
to his will and pleasur ; for we hard that you weare very sycke at Bathe,
and that one of your felowes weare fayne to playe your part for you, which
wasse no lytell greafe unto us to heare, but thanckes be to god for amend-
mente, for we feared yt much, because we had no leatter from you when
the other wifes had leatters sente ; which made your mouse not to weape a
lytell, but tooke yt very greavesly, thinckinge that you hade conseved
some unkindnes of her, because you weare ever wont to write with the
firste : and I praye ye do so stylle, for we wold all be sorey but to heare as
often frome you as others do frome ther frendes ; for we wold write oftener

30 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLETN .

to you then we doe, but we knowe not whether to sende to you, therfore I
praye you forgeat not your mouse and us : for you seant in one leatter that
we retomed not answeare wheather we receved your or no, for we receved
one which you made at seaut James tide, wherin mackes meusyou of your
whitte wascote, and your lute bockes, and other thinges which we have
receved, and now lastly a leater, which Peter browght with your horsse,
whidi I wilbe as carfull as I cane in yt. Now, sonne, althouge longejrt [is]
at the laste I remember a hundered eomendations from your mowsse, which
is very glade to heare of your healthe and prayeth daye and nyght to the
lord to contenew the same ; and lickewisse prayeth unto the lord to seace
his hand frome punyshinge us with his crosse, that she mowght have you at
home with her, bopinge then that you shold be eased of thisheaveylaboure
and toylle : and you sayd in your leater that she seant you not worde howe
your garden and all your things dothe prosper; very well, thanckes be to
god, for your beanes are growen to hey headge and well coded, and all
other thinges doth very well ; but your tenantes weax very power, for they
caiie paye no reant, nor will paye no rent while mychellmas next, and then
we shall have ytyf we cane geat yt; and lyckwisse your Joyner comendes
liime unto you and sayes he will mack you suche good stufe and suche good
peneworthes as he hoopeth shall weall licke you and contente you ; which
I hope he will do, because he sayes he will prove himseallfe ane onest man :
and for your good cownsell which you gave us in your leater we all thanck
you, which wasse for keping of our howsse cleane and watringe of our
dores, and strainge our windowes with wormwode and rewe, which I hope
all this we do and more ; for we strowe yt with hartie prayers unto the
lorde, which unto us is more avaylable then all thinges eallse in the world ;
for I praysse the lord god for yt, we are all in very good healthe, and I
praye ye, sonne, comend me harteley to all the reast of your fealowes in
generall, for I growe poore for lacke of them, therfor have no geaftes to
sende, but as good and faythfull a hart as they shall desyer to have comen
amongste them. Now, sonne, we thanck you all for your tokenes you seant
us ; and as for newes of the sycknes, I cane not seande you no juste note of
yt, because ther is comandement to the contrary ; but as I thincke doth die
within the sitteye and without of all syckneses to the number of seventen
or eyghten hundredth in one weacke : and this, prayinge to god for your
health, I ende from London the 14 of Auguste 1593.

" Your lovinge Father and Mother to our powers,

" P. H. A.

'* Your lovinge wiflfe to comande till death,

" JoHNE Allen."

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN. 31

Every letter serves to prove more and more how attached
AUeyn was to his family, with what aflFection they regarded
him, and what a deprivation it must have heen to all, for him
to be so long absent. Nevertheless, in the following letter
Henslowe again blames him for not writing more frequently.
This seems to have been only a repetition of the topic before
urged, and it will be observed that the old manager (if so
he may be called), as to several particulars, goes over the
same ground as that he had touched in preceding communi-
cations, adding, however, a good deal that is new and curious.
Among other things he reiterates what he had said about
the disappointment in the sale of Alleyn's horse, and the pur-
chase of cloth in Smithfield, observing that " the fair lasted
but three days." Stowe informs us that in 1593 " no Bar-
tholomew fair was kept at London," but we see from Henslowe
that this statement is to be received with some qualification :
there was a fair, but it continued only for three days. The
letter is imperfect near the middle of it, the paper having been
quite rotted away by damp.

'^ This be dely vered unto my welbeloved husband Mr. Edward Allen,
one of my lord Stranges players, geve with spede.

'* Righte welbe loved Sonne Edward Allen. I and your mother and your
sisster beasse have all in generall our hartie commendations unto you, and
as for your wiffe and mowse she desieres to send heare commendationes
alone, which she sayes comes frome heare very harte; but as for your well-
fare and health we do all joyne to geather in joye and rejjoysse ther att,
and do all to geather with one consent pray to god long to continew the
same. Nowe, Sonne, leate us growe to a lyttell unkindnes with you, be
causse we cane not heare frome you as we wold do, that is when others do ;
and if we cold as sertenly send to you as you maye to us, we wold not leat
to vesete you often, for we beinge with in the crosse of the lorde, you lettell
knowe howe we do but by sendinge ; for yt hath pleassed the lorde to vesette
me rownd a bowt, and almoste all my nebores dead of the plage, and not
my howsse free, for my two weancbes have hade the plage, and yet thankes
to god ar very well and ar well, and I my wiiFe and my two daughters, I
thanke god, ar very well and in good heallth. Nowe to caste a waye

8S MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLETN.

unkindnes and to come to our newes, that is that we hade a very bade
market at Smyth fylld^ for no monn wold ofer me a bove fower pownd for
your horsse^ and therfor have not sowld hime^ but to save carges I have
sent hime downe into the contrey, that be keapte tell you retorne ; and as
for your clocke^ cloth ther wasse none sowld by retaylle^ for all wasse
bowght up by the whoUe saylle in to dayes, so the fay re lasted but iij dayes :
and as for your stockings they are deyed, and your joyner hath seate up
your portotle in the chamber^ and hath brothe you a corte cobert> and sayes
he will bring the reaste very shortly, and we beare with hime becausse his
howsse is visited ; and as for your garden that is very weall, your spenege
bead and all sowed : and as for my lorde a Pembrocke's [men] which you
desier to knowe wheare they be, they ar all at home, and hauffe ben thes
V or sixe weakes, for they cane not save ther carges to travel!, as I heare>
and weare fayne to pane the parell, for the • • when I wasse in Smyth-
fell a selling of your horsse, I meate with owld • • •

• •••••••

• •••••••

To aske for yt, for yf we dead, we wold have sowght yt owt, but we never

had yt : and this I eand, praysinge god that it doth pleasse hime of his

mersey to slacke his hand frome veseting us and the sittie of London, for

ther hath abated this last two weacke of the syknes iiij hundreth thurtie

and five, and hath died in all betwext a leven and twealle hundred this last

weacke, which I hoop in the lord yt will contenew in seasynge every weacke

that we maye rejoysse agayne at our meatiug ; and this with my hartie

comendations to thy own seall, and lickewisse to all the reaste of my felowes

in generall I praye yon hartily comende me. From London the 28 of Sep-

tembr 1593.

" Your lovinge father and frend to my power tell death,

" Phillipe Henslow.
*' Your asured owne seallfe tell deathe,

JoANE Allen

comendinge to her munshen.

€€

Your wiffe prayeth you to send her word in your next leater
what goodman Hudson payes you yerley for his reante for
tbe house, the sealer and all, stille in his hand ; and as for
your tenenantes we cane geat no rent ; and as forGregesand
his wife hath ther comendations unto you, and your sister
Phillipes and her husband hath leced two or thre owt of ther
howsse, yt [yet] there in good health, and doth hartily comend
them unto you."

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN. 83

What success attended AHeyn and his fellows in the pro-
vinces it is not possible to state, but it is evident that the Earl
of Pembroke's plajers thought there was so little chance of
** saving their charges" by travelling, that they were willing
rather to run the risk of catching the plague by remaining in
London*

CHAPTER IV.

Abating of the Plague in London, and renewal of Theatrical Performances
— Petition to the Privy Council — The Thames Watermen's Petition to
the Lord Admiral — ^Permission to Lord Strange's Players to return to the
Hose Theatre — ^Alleyn's Property ; the Parsonage of Firle sold hy him to
Arthur Langworth — Commission to Hensiowe and Alleyn.

By the end of September 1693, the virulence of the infec-
tious disorder which had visited the metropolis had been con-
siderably subdued; but we do not find that the companies
were allowed to act again until the 27th of December, when
Hensiowe in his Diary records that the Earl of Sussex^s men,
in whose receipts he appears to have had a large interest,
began performing ; and, though he does not state in his entry
at what theatre on the Bankside, there can be little doubt
that it was at the Rose«

But the actors were not permitted to renew their perfor-
mances in the metropolis without special license, and a paper,
«till extant in Dulwich College, shows that the " Servants
and Players" of Lord Strange petitioned the privy council, on
this occasion, for that license. The document (a copy of the
original petition) has no date, but it speaks for itseli^ as well
as some others by which it is accompanied.

" To the right honorable our verie good Lords, the Lords of her Ma*"
moste honorable Privie Councell.

ft

Our dueties in all hunblenes remembred to your Honors. Forasmuche
^rigiite Honorable) oure Companie is greate, und tbearbie our chardge

D

84 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN.

intollerable in travellinge theCountrie, and tfaecontynuaunce thereof wilbe
a meane to bringe us to division and seperation, whearebie wee shall not
onelie be undone, but alsoe unreadie to serve her Ma"* when it shall please
her Highnes to commaund us. And for that the use of our plaiehowse on
the Banckside, by reason of the passage to and frome the same by water, is
a greate releif to the poore Watermen theare, and our dismission thenee,
nowe in this longe vacation, is to those poore men a greate hindraunce and
in manner an undoeinge, as they generallie complaine, both our and theire
humble petition and suite thearefore to your good Honnors is that you wilbe
pleased, of your speciall favour, to recall this our restrainte, and permitt
us the use of the saide Plaiehowse againe And not onelie our selves, but
alsoe a greate nomber of poore men shalbe especiallie bownden to praie for
your Honnors.

'^ Your Honors humble Suppliants
" The righte Honorable the Lord Straunge

" His servantes and Plaiers." .

The prayer contained in the preceding petition was seconded
by the subsequent address from the watermen plying on the
Thames to Lord Howard, the Lord Admiral. What follows is
from the original, but why it was returned into Henslowe's
hands does not appear. Possibly the object was accorpplished
without the intervention of the watermen.

" To the right honnorable my Lorde Hay warde, Lorde highe Admirall
of Englande, and one of her Ma"«* moste honnorable previe
Counsayle

'^ In moste humble manner complayneth and sheweth unto your good
Lordeshipp your poore suppliantes and dayly orators Phillipp Henslo and
others, the poore watermen on the bancke side: whereas your good L.
hathe derected your warrant unto hir Ma^'*^" Justices for the restraynte of
aplayehowsebelonginge unto the saide Phillipp Henslo, one of the groomes
of her Ma**" Chamber. So it is, if it please your good Lordshipp, that wee
your saide poore watermen have had muche helpe and reliefe, for us oure
poore wives and children, by meanes of the resorte of suche people as come
unto the said playe bowse. It maye therefore please your good L., for
godes sake and in the waye of charetie, to respecte us your poore watermen,
and to give leave unto the said Phillipp Henslo to have playinge in his saide
bowse duriuge suche tyme as others have, according as it hathe byne

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLETN. S5

accustomed. And in your Hbnnois so doinge, you shall not onely doe a good
and a charitable dede,. ^ut also bynde us aU, according to oure dewties^ with
oure poore wives and children, dayly to praye for your honnor in muche
liappynes longe to lyve.

" William Dowet, M' of her Majesties barge.

*' TSACK TOWELL

*' William Tuchenner, M. of her M**** mean.

^ James Russell

** Ferdinando Black

" Parker Playne

" Xpfer Topen

" Thomas Iarmonger^ on of her M*» wattermen.

'* Edward Adysson, on of her M**«» wattermen."

Five other signatures (or more properly marks, for the par-
ties could not write) are attached ; but, although Henslowe is
introduced into the body of the instrument as one of the peti-
tioners, his name is not subscribed, which renders it still more
probable that the petition, being unnecessary, was never pi^re-
sented to the Lord Admiral.

We have already referred to the account in Henslowe^s Diary
thus headed, ^^ In the name of God, beginning at Newington,
my lord admirell men, and my lord chamberlen men, as fol-
Joweth, 1594/' As soon as the Globe Theatre on the Bank-
side was ccmstructed, the Lord Chamberlain^s men (including
Shakespeare) removed there— -probably in the summer of 159&
But, besides the Earl of Nottingham's and Lord Hunsdon's
companies. Lord Strange's players had also occupied the theatre
at Newington Butts ; and we find, by another curious docia*
ment, that dramatic exhibitions there, at least by the Lord
Strange's servants, (who are not mentioned in connection wtt^
that theatre by Henslowe) had been in a manner compulsory^
They had been forbidden to perform at the Rose, 8ind ** en-
joined" to exhibit three days at Newington Butts. Perhaps
this medium course was adopted when the plague began to
abat§ its ravages, and before theatres, like the Rose, in populous
vicinities were allowed to be reopened. The date of the re^o-

1)2

S6 JIEMOIBS OF EDWARD ALLETN.

cation of the order tiiat Lord Strange*s servants should perform
at Newington is not given, but the following is a contempo-
raneous copy of the instrument by which they were permitted
to return to their old quarters : —

" Wbeareas,iiot longe since, upon some considerations, we did restrainetbe
Lorde Straungehis servanntes from playingeat the Rose on the Banckside^
and enjoyned them to plaie three daies at Newington Butts. Now, foras-
much as wee are satisfied that by reason of the tediousnesof the waie, and
that of longe tyme plaies have not there bene used on working dales, and
for that a nomber of poore watermen are therby releeved, yow shall permitt
and suffer them, or any other there, to exercise them selves in suche sorte as
they have don heretofore, and that the Rose male be at libertie, witliout any
restrainte^ so longe as yt shalbe free from infection of sicknes. Any com-
maundement from us heretofore to the contrye notwithstandinge From —

*' To the Justices, Bayliifes, Constables

and others to whome yt shall apperteyne/'

Reverting to the private affairs of AUeyn, we now come to a
very important piece of evidence, establishing that, independent
of his interest in theatres, he was, at all events in 1596, and,
perhaps, owing in a considerable degree to his marris^e, a man
of property. Money was at that time worth about five times as
much as at the present moment, and yet we find him at this
period disposing of a single estate in Sussex for i?3000, to be
paid for in twenty years at the rate o{£l50 per annum. None
of his biographers appear to have been acquainted with this
remarkable fact, and all have speculated in what way he could
have become possessed of sufficient money and land to enable
him to build and endow Dulwich College, besides his other
charitable foundations. They have supposed that he had little
or no paternal property, and that nearly his whole estate had
been derived from his profession ; but by what follows, to which
previous reference has been made, it will be seen that he held
the lease of the parsonage of Firle, near Beddingham, in Sus-
sex ; and that he sold it in 1596 to a gentleman of that county,
of the name of Langworth, for an amount equal to perhaps

MEMOIRS OF BBWARD ALLEYN. ST

£15,000 of our present money. The subsequent memorandum^
written and witnessed by Allen's '' father," Henslowe, is in^
serted in the Diary of which we have before so often spoken,
and whieh was made the reeeptacle c^ various agreements^
memoranda^ and matters of accounts

** This agremeDte and bargen betwene Edward Alleyn and Mr. Arthur
Langworth^ as folowetb, was made the 5 daye of July 1596. Yt was agreed
upon that Mr. Langworth shold geve unto Edward Alleyn for the leasse of
the parsonege of Furlle iij thowssen powndes of laffuU mony of England, t»
^e payd in xx** yeares in maner folowinge : by a hundred and fiftie pownde»
a yeare, and to be gine payment at our Ladey daye next folowinge^ and so
to paye every halfe yeare the hallfe of the bundreth. and fiJ tie powndes, or
within one moneth after, beinge xxviij^ dayes r and for the perfbrmence of
this XX yeares payment hath promesed to potte hime in »uehe asuerence, a»
by his learned cownsell be shall devise at his next cominge to towne after
the daye above written. In wittnes whereof to this I have seate to mj
luind

«* PHitUPPE Hbnslow.*'*

This agreement is wholly in the hand -writing of Henslowe^s
scribe, who made such strange confusion in the wording of it^
near the end, that we mi^t suppose Alleyn was out of town

• In the preceding year Mr. Arthur r*angworth had bought a house,,
land, and good-will,, of Henslowe, for whieh he agreed to give him ^100.
The subsequent memorandum on this subject, witnessed by AUeyn's wife
who could not write, is found in Henslowe's Diary >—

** Mdm. that M r> Arture Langworth hath promysed, the 16 daye of Maye
1696, to paye unto roe Phillipc Henslow the some of j hundreth powndes for
a howsse, and land, and goodwyll he bargened with me, with owt any con-
dicion,but absolutely to paye me samuche mony, and to take such a surence
a» I have at this time* Wittneses to this promes of payment

** E. Alleyn

** Edward + Allenes wiffes marke."

Where the house and land so bargained for were situated no where
»ppears, but probably in Sussex, where Langworth resided. Henslowe
had, perhaps, come into possession of it through his wife,, the widow Agnes
Woodward.

88 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN.

when it was signed; but Langworth (as we shall see 'here-
after) lived at a place called '* the Brill/' in Sussex, and tite
words, '^at his next coming to town/' apply *to him ^ while^
'^ as hy his learned counsel be shall devise,'^ refisrs ^to Alleyn»
who was to take counsePs opinion on the subject of securities.
At a subsequent date, viz., %di July, 1601 (as appears by the
legal instrument preserved at Dulwich), Langworth reconp-
veyed the same estate to AUeyn \ and hence we may be led to
infer, that Allejm required the money for some special purpose
in 1596, and was able to repay it in 1601.

In Henslowe's Diary, under date of 1697, is an account of
various journeys he made to court, and fees he paid there^
headed, '* Layd owt at sundry tymes of my owne readey
money, abowt the changinge of ower comyssion." This clearly
refers to the partnership between himself and Alleyn ; but
there is some confusion respecting the appointment of ^' Master
&c. of the Queen's Games,^ which had been given to John
Dorington, Esq., in 1579, but of which we find Ralph Bowes^
Esq.^ in possession in 1596.* Soon after this date, as will be
seen by a document in the Appendix, Henslowe seems to have
been in treaty with Bowes for the surrender of the office,
which, however, he did not obtain. One of the items in
Henslowe's account is for waiting upon Mr. Caesar at St.
Katherine^s. Dr. f afterwards Sir Julius) Caesar seems to have
befriended Henslowe on more occasions than one.

• In Henslowe's Diary occurs the following entry, subscribed by
Bowes ir—

*' Sir, — I praye you cause suche mony as is dew unto me for my quar-
ter's fee, dew to be pay d at our ladye daye laste past, to be dely vered unto
this bearer, and this shalbe your suficyante discharge. From Grenwiche,,
the xvij of aprell 1596.

*' Raffe Bowes.
'* To our lovinge frende M' William
Kelegraye esquyer."

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN» 89

CHAPTER V.

Alleyn's pecuniary claims upon Thomas Lodge— Some aecount of Lodge
as an Author and Actor — His contest with Stephen Gosson respecting
the Stage — His ** Fig for Momus/* 1695— Topping's Demand against
Lodge, and Henslowe's Security for him — ^Petitions by Topping and
Henslowe to the Lord Chamberlain — Extract from the Privy Council
Registers regarding Lodge— His Death.

In the papers which next fall under our observation, AUeyn
does not appear to have been personally concerned, at least
until after the death of Henslowe, when we find, from me-
moranda in AUeyn's Diary, that the celebrated Thomas Lodges
who had been an actor and dramatic poet, but was then prac-
tising as a physician, was indebted to him.* The debt had,
most likely, descended to AUeyn from Henslowe, and had
adsen out of the transaction to which the singular documents,^
we are presently about to insert, relate.

Lodge was one of the most distinguished predecessors and
contepaporaries of Shakespeare. He wrote ^ The Wounds of
Civil War, lively set forth in the true Tragedies of Marius
and Scilla" (printed in 1594) alone, and '* A Looking Glas&
for London and England" (also printed in 1594), »a play of
considerable popularity, in conjunction with Robert Greene.
He is, however, chiefly to be admired as a graceful lyrical
poet, a writer of severe satires and agreeable pastorals, and of
several romantic novels, formerly in great request, and of one
of which, as is well known, Shakespeare availed himself in
^ As you like it." Malone has shewn that Spenser applauded
him under the name of Alcon, in his '' Tears of the Muses,'^

• Two entries by Alleyu relating to Lodge run thus : —

/t. 8, d,
*' Mar. 26, 1619. Mathias arested Lodge

June 4^ 1619. For sueing Doc. Lodge's bond . 6 10"

It has been doubted whether Lodge, the dramatist, and Lodge, the
physician^ were the same person; but the information now obtained leaves
no room for dispute.

40 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN*

1591, and, in 1593, Lodge thus endeavoured^ in his ^ Phillis,^
to repay the tribute : —

*' Goe, weeping Truce-men, in your sighing weedes^

Under a great Mecsenas I have p[l]ast you ;
If so you come where learned Colin feedes

His lovely flocke, packe theuee and quickly haste you ^
You are but mistes before so- bright a sunne.
Who hath the palme for deepe invention wunne.**

We first hear of Lodge some thirteen years earlier, vias;
about 1580, as the antagonist of Stephen Gosson, who pub-
lished his attack upon the stage, under the title of ^' The
School of Abuse," in 1579. Lodge immediately wrote and
printed a Defence of Plays and Play-makers ; but he was
not allowed to publish it, because, as he stated in one of hi&
subsequent productions ('* Alarum against Usurers," 1584)>
** the godly and reverend, that had to deed in the cause, mis*
liking it, forbad the puMishing." Gosson, however, obtained
an imperfect copy of Lodgers tract, and answered it in Iii»
" Plays confuted in five Actions/* He there accuses Lodge
of being ** a vagrant person, visited by the heavy hcmd of
God;" an expression hitherto not clearly understood, inas*
much as it was not known that Lodge had ever been a player,
and by statute '^ a vagrant/' We have now, for the first
time, evidence to prove that, like many of the dramatists
of that day, he had been an actor as well as an author t
therefore it was that Gosson called him '* a vagrant person^
visited by the heavy hand of God ;'*^ but how long he con-
tinued on the stage, or what class of parts he filled, we
know not. As early as 1590, in the dedication to his *' Rosa-
lynde,^*' he informs us, that he had, " with Captain Clarke,
made a voyage to the islands of Terceras and the Canaries,'*
and that he had been educated under Sir Edward Hobby. In
1591 he was a student ** of Lincoln's Inn," and so he con-
tinued for some years ; but we have no reason to believe that
he was ever called to the bar. He was still *' of Lincoln's Inn^

MEMOIRS OP EDWABD ALLETN. 41

gent/' when he published his " Fig for Mcanns/* in \B9&,
and when, under the name of Golde (the letters of his name
misplaced), in one of his Pastorals^ he vowed to forsake
poetry, in consequence of the little ^acouragement it received.
It is a dialogue between Golde (Lodge) and a shepherd called
Wagrin^ a name, no doubt, intended to denote some person of
the time. Golde says —

** Which sound rewards, since this neglected time

Hepines to yeeld to men of high desart>
lie cease to revel out my wits ki rime.

For such who make such base account of art :
And since by wit there is no meanes to clime.

He hould the plough a while, and plie the cart ^
And if my muse to wonted course returne.
He write and judge, peruse> commend and burne.'*

To which Wagrin answers—

'' A better mind God send thee, or more meanes.

Oh, wottldst thou but converse with Charles the kind^
Or follow harvest when thy Donn^ gleanes.

These thoughts would cease ; with them they muse should ind
A sweete converse: then this conceit, which weanes

Thy pen from writing, should be soone resignd." *

Golde thua closes the conference :—

** I rest resolvd : if bountie will, I wright ;
If not, why then my muse shall flie the light.'

Who was meant by '* Charles the kind*' is very doubtful,
but Donroy was Roydon, a poet of considerable eminence,,
and in 1595 apparently prosperous (Chapman had inscribed

* I have had the less scruple in making this curious auto-btographical
quotation from the original edition of Lodge's *' Fig for Momus/' because
in the only reprint of it (from the Auchinleck press, in 1817), the line>

" A sweete converse r then this conceit, which weanes,"

is entirely omitted, making the whole passage uirintdligible. Other
prints are numerous in the same volume.

4ft MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLETN.

to'hito his *«Shad6w of Night," in 1694) ; but we shall see
by and hy that the ordinary ikte of poets and poetry followed
him, and that, some twenty years after the date to which we
are now adverting, he was glad to receive sixpence as a
charitable contribution from Alleyn. • *

The best account of Lodge, and of his numerous works in
prose and verse, is to be found in vol. viii. of the last edition
of '^ Dodsley's Old Plays ;'* but the compiler of that piece of
biography knew nothing of the transaction to which the papers
about to be inserted relate. It appears that Lodge was in-
debted to a tailor of the name of Richard Topping, carrying
on business in the Strand, and that Henslowe (in order not to
lose Lodge's services by his imprisonment in the Clink), had
become security for the money. Lodge, however, as is as-
serted, went beyond seas (not on the voyage to Terceras and
the Canaries, already mentioned), leaving Henslowe liable
for the debt and costs, which Topping could not obtain,
Henslowe pleading his privilege from arrest^ as one of the
grooms of the queen's chamber. Such seems to have been
the state of things some time prior to the death of Henry
Lord Hunsdon (which happened in 1696), ' and the following
petition was presented to him by Topping : —

*' To the right honorable the Lord Hunsdon Lord Chamberlaine ta
her Ma**^

*' Most humblie showeth to your honorable Lo. That wheare your poore
Suppl. Richard Topping of the Strand, taylor, hath hadd a debte of seaven
poundes odd monney for this viij yeares dew unto him by one Thoms
Lodge, who hath from tyme to tyme waged la we and put your Suppl. ta
extreame charges by meanes of one Phillip Inclow (as he saith) one of
the gromes of her Ma*^ Chamber ; yet in thend was forced to put your
poore Suppl. in securitie, and procured the sayd Phillipp Inclowe to be-
come bound by bond with him, either to bring in the boddye of the sayd
Thomas Lodge into theClynke in Southwarke, or to answ6re his condem-
Bation, which he hath not accordingly performed ; by meanes whereof a
judgement hath passed for twelve poundes odd money and execution
thereupon graunted forth against them. And the sayd Phillipp Inelowc>

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN. 43

having bene frindly intreated for payment thereof^ or to acquaint your
Suppl. wbear the sayd Lodge is^ that some frindly end might be takin
therein^ utterly refuseth the same, affirming that he will kepe your Suppl.
from it tliis seaven yeares. May it therefore please your Lo, in that the
sayd Inclow (as he saith) is her Ma**» servant, to graunt, with your honors
favor, leave to your Suppl. either to arrest him or to sett downe such
order therein, whereby your Suppl. may have his owne, being most willing
to referr the same to your honorable consideration and order. And he, as
most bound, shall pray for the preservation of your honorable estate."

This complaint and request having been made, the old Lord
Hunsdon required Henslowe to give his answer to Topping's
accusation, and the next document contains his defence ; which
amounted in substance to this, that Lodge having removed
the cause into the Court of King's Bench, other bail had been
put in and accepted, and Henslowe consequently discharged
from liability. Henslowe, in the subsequent representation
to the Lord Chamberlain, asserts that Topping knew where
to find Lodge, but wished, nevertheless, to compel him (Hens-
lowe) to pay the debt.

'' Righte honorable, my duetie in all humblenes remembred. Maie it
please your good Lpp. that this complainte and the contentes thereof is
in all pointes most untrue, and devised and suggested by the saied Top-
pinge, of mallice to provoke (if he might) your honnors displeasure
against me ; for in verie truth, (right honorable) as T will avouch, I never
knewe of anie debte or matter twixt Lodge and him, and thearefore could
be noe hinderer to him frome the attayneinge to his debte supposed, ai
he hath first suggested. But aboute half a yeare nowe past, Toppinge
haveing arrested Lodge to the Clincke, in Southwarke, uppon an action of
debte, att Lodge his earnest request, and for meere goodwill, beeinge
somewhat acquainted with him, I became his bayle, and before any issue
theare tried. Lodge removed the action by Habeas Corpus to the Kinges-
Benche, and theare (by the acceptaunce of the Judges) putt in newe baile.
Toppinge, mislikinge that baile, procured a procedendo to trie thaction in*
the Clinck, wheare it first began ; and theare (as it seemeth) hath pro-
ceeded, onelie of purpose to laie thexecution on me for the money he hatb
recovered, albeit he knoweth wheare Lodge, the principall, ys, and howe
he maie easelie come by him. In other sorte, then thus as baile, I never
became bounde to him. Nowe, my good Lord, I am advised by my learned

44 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN.

Counsell th»t by reasoD of tbacceptaunceof the la^ baile uppon tbe Habeas
Corpus^ I am discharged and cleere ef tbe first baile^ and in thatf respeet
^I doe confes) I liave been iniwiUinge to paie at>other mans debte> wherein
1 trust your Honnor wiU hold& me excused And thus, beeitige readie t»
make further aunsweave £ace to face with Toppinge^ yf it ahalhe yeur
Lpps pleasure,. I rest

^ Your Honnors ia all humhlenes att eomanndment^

** Phillipp Hensley.""

So the matter appears to have stood up to the tTme of the
death of Henry, Lord Hunsdon, la 159fr ; but as soon as hfe
successor came to the title, Topping renewed his complaint
and smt against Henslowe, and what succeeds is his petftioa
to George, Lord Hunsdon, who wrote his order, dated 29^ Jan.
1597, at the top of it.

M<

The humble- petittoa of Richarde Tbppii^.
** Hensley, you. are to satisfie this Petitioner ii> what shalbe
unto him ^ or otherwise he is to take his remedie by course
•f lawe against you. Cburte^ this 29th Januarie, 1597*

** G. Fdnsdok.**

^To the nght Ho^ the La Hunsdon, Lord Ghamberlayue of bis Ma***-
Howshold.

'^In all humilitre beseeheth your good Lo, your daiHe Sup. Riefaarde'
Toppin. That whereas your Sup., about Hj yeres past,, was constra3med to
prosecute sute against one Thomas Lodge for a debt of v^ and upwaidesy
principall debt, which with charges of lavve surmounteth xij", the debt tbe
first vij yeres forbcMrne before your Sup; attempted any sute^ Nowe, so it
is, Right Ho., that one Phillip Hinchlow, one of the groomes of her Ma*^
chamber, of his owae willingnes, and with intent to delaie your Supp.,.
became bayle for the sakie Lodge, and bothe uncouscianablie and very
arrogantly protesteth to spende %C^ te kepe youi Supp. from his saide-
debt ; althougbe the saide Lodge affirmeth that he bathe made Henchley full
satisfaction to thende your Sup. might be paide. Uppon those injuries
your Sup. complayned ta your late father (of Right H.. memorie) by pe-
tition, and then Henchley entreated your Sup. staie, vowinge your Sup^
should be paide ; ueverthelesse, contrarie to all honestie and equitie, yme-
diatly after procured a Writt of Error for further delaye, andinforced your
Sup. to- make his further sute to the L* Cobham, late L. Chamberlaine,,
who tooke the cause into his hearinge, and ordered the saide Henchley

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN. 45

dio«ld other paie your Sup. bis debt, or bringe in Lodge, uppoH warrant
^liich bis Lo. graunted, and Hencfaley thereof possessed ; ^ut nothinge
performed, so greatly Henchley beareth btm selfe of liis place. He there-
fore iBOst huniblie besecbeth your Hennour to extende your Lordsbip^t
releefe herein to your Sup., as to your Ho. wisdom e ^all seeme good, and
«iost agreeinge with equitie. And he shall ever praie that yoiur Ho. maie
cnost honorablie (and] happelie long iive.**

It is evident that Lord Uunsdon did not come to the deter-
mination, expressed at the commencement of the foregoing
document, without calling upon Henslowe to show cause
ugainst it; and the paper next to be inserted (which is
slightly defective in some places) was Henslowe^s statement of
the case, in which he admits that Lodge had escaped beyond
seas to avoid arrest and imprisonment. Here it is that we
find that Lodge had been *' a player.^ Lord Hunsdon thought
4:hat the merits were with Topping, or, at all events, that
Henslowe ought not to be allowed to prevent the course of
law by pleading his privilege as one of the Queen^s household,

'< To the rigbte honorable my verie good Lord the Lord of Hunsdon^
Lord Chamberlen.

^' Wheareas, righte honorable, one Richard Toppin did of late prefer unto
your honor a petition against me suggestinge therein divers untruthes, to
ihintent to bringe 3rour Lpp. into some hard conceipt of me. The truth is,
right honorable, that one Thos. Lodge beinge aboute a yeare nowe paste
arrested within the Libertie of the Clinck (wheare 1 am a dweller) att the
«uite of the said Toppin, uppon an action of debte, and haveinge some know-
ledge and acquaintaunce of him as a player, requested me to be his baile.
Before anie yssue theare tried. Lodge removed the action by Habeas Corpus
to the Kinges benche, and tbeare (by thacceptaunce of the Judges) put in
fiewe baile. Toppin misHkinge that baile, procured a procedendo to trie
thaction in the Clinck, wheare it first begon, and theare bath proceded
onelie of purpose to laie the execution on me. Nowe, forsomuche as I am
advised by my Councell that by reason of thacceptaunce of the newe baile
upon the Habeas Corpus I am cleere in lawe and that the debte (if tbeare
be anie) noe waie concerneth me, I have been unwilling frome tyme to tyme
(1 must needs confes) to yeeld satisfaction without lawfull compulsion, as
anie man elb would in like case : by means whearof Toppin hath made
oondne ^everall complaintes to your Jate honorable father, the late Lo.

46 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN.

Cobham, before whome^ in this * * * reasonable manner, I made my
excuse. But wheare Toppin affirmeth that Lodge hatfa lefte sufficient in
my bandes to paie the debt, and that I have wilfully refused to satisfie the
same with pretence to put him to chardge and trouble ; and that therefore
the Lord Cobham did enjoyne me either to paie the debt or bring forth
Lodge, my good Lo the * * * are in all points most untrue ; onelie this
was doen. For that Toppin suggested that I was privie to the place of
Lodge his hiding (which was alsoe untrue) the Lord Cobham enjoyned me
to doe my endevor to attache him, and to that end gave me his proper
warrant, which accordingly I putt in execution, but by no meanes could
attaine to him ; for that be is (as I heare) passed byond the seas ; and more
then this his Lpp. did not enjoyne me unto. Nevertheles, if it please your
Lpp. to order the cause, albeit I never had nor am tike to have any
manner of restitution, I shalbe content to submitt my self to your Honor's
judgement, with hope of your Honor's favorable consideration for the mitti-
gation of the execution, which being pryvily recorded is brought to xij^
and all [odd ?] money, the deble beeing meerly vij'^ and noe more f soe that
theare is above v^^ awarded besides the debt. And thus I rest, in all dutie,

'* Your Honors most humble

" Phillipp Henslowe,"

The preceding appears to have been Henslowe's rough
draft of his answer, which he preserved after he had sent the
fair copy to the Lord Chamberlain. What was the issue of
the affair, is not shown by any of the papers preserved at
Dulwich ; but it is most Ukely that there had been a running
account between Lodge, as dramatist and actor, and Hen$-
iowe. That Henslowe was still Lodge's creditor, when the
former died in January, 1616, there can be little doubt; and
the bond which AUeyn put in force in 1619 had very possibly
been one of the securities he had inherited from his wife's
step-father. In the Privy Council Registers, under date of
January 10, 1616, is the following memorandum.

* *' A passe for Tho. Lodge, Doctor of Physic, and Henry Sewell, gent, to
travell into the Arch Dukes Country to recover such debts as are due unto
them there, taking with them two servants and to retume agayne within
five moneths."

This was immediately after Henslowe's decease ; and it is
much more likely that Lodge quitted England to avoid process

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN. 47

on the part of Allejm, than that he went to receive debts due
to himself abroad. After his return, in March, 1619, Alleyn,
as we find by his Diary, arrested Lodge; but nothing remains
to show that he ever obtained any money from Lodge, who is
supposed to have died during the great plague of 1625.

CHAPTER VI.

Alleyn^s temporary retirement from the Stage^ and return to it->-His visit
with his Wife to the Langworths at the Brill^ Sussex — Letter to him
there — Illness of Mr. Bowes^ and Henslowe's hopes of obtaining the
place of Master of the Queen's Games — Another Letter to Alleyn at the
Brill — Ben Jonson's Duel with Gabriel Spenser, and death of the latter
— Ben Jonson's copy of Sir Henry Watton's Verses — Epigram in Bea
Johnsoa*s band-writing.

There is reason for supposing that in the autumn of 1697,
or winter of 1697-8, Alleyn, if he did not for a short time
secede entirely from the stage, quitted the company of
the Earl of Nottingham's players. Henalowe thus entitles a
short account in his Diary : — *' A not [note] of all such goods
as I have browght for playinge, sence my sonne Edward Allen
leafte playinge^ 1597 ;" and on the next page Henslowe thus
inserts the names of all the members of the dramatic associa-
tion, omitting Alleyn : — " A juste a cownt of all suche money
as I have layd owt for my lord Admeralles players, begynyng
the xi of October, whose names ar as foloweth — ^Borne, Gabrell
[Spenser] Shaw, Jonnes, Dowten, Jube, Towne, Synger, and
the ij GeflFes, 1697." The precise date when Alleyn returned
to the stage it is very difficult to ascertain ; but we find him
again a member of the same company in 1601 ; and he had
probably rejoined it, when they began to act at the new
theatre, the Fortune, of which we shall speak hereafter.

He certainly spent the summer of 1698 in Sussex, where

48 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLETN.

he owned property, as may be supposed, in right of his ¥7ife.
Two letters to him while in that part of the country have for-
tunately been preserved cunong his ps^rs at Dulwich. They
are addressed to him at the Brill, in the parish of Ringmer,
near Lewes, where Mr. Arthur Lsmgworth reskied, who, two
years before, as already mentioned, had purchased from Alleyn
the parsonage of Firle.

The Brill was a house (part of which is still standing) built
during the reign of the Tudors, formerly surrounded by a park
of 1100 acres, and occupied by the Archbishops of Canterbury.
Soon after Elizabeth came to the throne they exchanged it
for lands at Croydon. Alleyn's wife accompanied him on the
occasion, and, as far as we can now judge, it was an expe-
diticm of pleasure. His sojourn was of several months* du-
ration, and while he was absent, an important event for
Henslowe and Alleyn occurred — Mr. Bowes, the " Master, &c.
of the Queen's Games of Bulls and Bears, died ; and Mr.
(afterwards Sir John) Dorington, succeeded him. Hens-
lowe had hopes of obtaining the office through the Lord
Admiral, and made considerable interest for it, but unsuccess-
fully. The subsequent letter from him to Alleyn, then at
the Brill, is jMincipally upon this subject, and upon the disap-
pointments Henslowe had experienced in his suit. It also
adverts to *' our other matter," which is confusedly mixed up
with the question as to the succession to the Mastership of
the Games, but which, no doubt, related to a plan they con-
templated of building the Fortune theatre in the parish of
St Giles, Cripplegate, a scheme which they carried into effect
not very long afterwards, Mr. Langworth, who had been in
London, assisting Henslowe in his suit, seen>s to have been
the hearer of the letter to Alleyn,

•'This be dd. unto Mr. Edwarde Ane3ni, at Mr. Arthur Langwortlies
at ihe Grille in Sussex, d. this.

*' Sonne Edward Alleyn, I eommend me unto you and to my daughter,
and very glade to heare of your bealthes, which god oonteuewe. The

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN. 49

causse whie I writte unto you is this: Mr. Bowes liesse very sycke, and
every bodey thinckes he will not escape ; in so mucbe that I feare I shall losse
all, for Doctor Seassar hath done nothinge for me ; and as for ower other
matter betwext us, I have bene with my lord Admeralle a bowte yt, and he
promyssed me that he wold move the quene a bowte y t ; and the next daye
he rides from the corte to Winser, so that ther is nothinge ther to be hade
but good wordes, which trobelles my mynd very muche, for any losse you
knowe is very muche to me. I did move my laday Edmones in yt, and she
very onerably ussed me, for she weant presentley and moved the quene for
me; and Mr. Darsey of the previ chamber crossed her and made yt knowne
to her that the quene had geven yt all readey in reversyon to one Mr.
Dorington a pensener ; and I have talked with hime and he confesseth yt to
be trew, but as yet Mr. Bowes ly veth, and what paynes and trobell I have
tacken in yt Mr. Langworth shall macke yt knowne unto you, for [ have
had his heallpe in yt for so muche as in hime lyesse, for we have moved
other great parsonages for y t, but as yeat I knowe not howe y t shall pleasse
god we shall spead, for I ame sure my lord Admerell will do nothinge. And
thus I comitte you bothe to god, leavinge the wholle descord to be un-
folded to you by Mr. Langworth. From London, this 4 of June, 1598.

" Yours to my power

" Phillippe Henslow.
''I pray you commend me unto

Mrs. Langworth, and to all

the reast of our frendes ther."

From the expression used by Henslowe in the above letter,
*' for any loss, you know, is very much to me,'' we might be
led to conclude that his circumstances at this date were not
flourishing. His Diary shows that, in the spring of the year
1599} he had made various inventories of his theatrical pro-
perties, apparel, &c. ; but this step might have been adopted
either to ascertain their value, and thus ** to take stock," or
(which is more probable) with a view to the projected removal
of the company and their appurtenances to the Fortune Theatre
in Goulding Lane, Cripplegate, as soon as it should be ready
to receive them.

The next letter from Henslowe to his " son" is dated more
than three months after the last, at which time Alleyn and his
wife were still with Mr. Langworth at the Brill. It is a very

E

50 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN.

remarkable communication, which Malone could not even have
glanced at, or he must have seen in an instant what new light
it throws upon a dark transaction in which one of the greatest
names in our dramatic poetry was concerned.

In Ben Jonson's conversation with Drummond of Haw-
thornden (as published by Mr. D. Laing in the ArchcBohgia
Scoticoy vol. iv.) occurs the following passage : " In his service
in the Low Countries he had, in the face of both the campes,
killed ane enemie, and taken qpima spolia from him ; and, since
his coming to England, being appealed to the fields, he had
killed his adversarie, which hurt him in the arme, and whose
sword was ten inches longer than his ; for the which he was
emprisoned and almost at the gallowes.'' This story has been
related in all the biographical accounts of Ben Jonson, and
Gifford observes (Ben Jonson 's Works, i. xix.) that " the rank
or condition in life of his antagonist was not known, but that
he was commonly supposed to be a player:" the witness upon
this point is Dekker in his *' Satiromastix," printed in 1602,
where Tucca asks Horace (who was meant for Ben Jonson)
** Art not famous enough yet, my mad Horastratus, for killing
a player, but thou must eat men alive ?^ On the authority of
Aubrey, some have thought that this player was Marlowe.
The following letter (after urging Alleyn to return to London,
that he and Henslowe might combine their endeavours respect-
ing the office mentioned in the previous communication) make§
the matter regarding Ben Jonson's duel quite clear : he had
killed Gabriel, a member of Henslowe's company of players, in
Hoxton Fields. The date, be it remarked, is 1598, whereas
Gifford places the recontre in 1595.

" To my welbelovde sonne Mr. Edward AUeyne, at Mr. Arthure
Langworthes at the Brille, m Susex, give this.

*' Sonne Edward AUeyne. I have Rec. your leatter, the which yow sente
unto me by the Caryer, wher in I understand of both your good healthes,
which I praye to god to contenew ; and forthir I understand yow have con-
sidered of the wordes which yow and I bad betwene us eonsernynge the bear-

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN. 51

garden, and accordinge to your wordes yow and I and all other frendes
shall have as much as wee can do to bring yt unto a good eand : therfore I
wold willingley that yow weare at the bancate, for then with our losse I
ishold be the meryer. Therfore, yf yow thincke as [ thincke, yt weare
fytte that we weare both here to do what we mowght, and not as two
Irends, but as two joyned in one. Therfor, Ned, I love not to macke many
great glosses and protestacions to yow, as others do, but as a poore frend
yow shall comaunde me, as I honpe I shall do yow. Therfore I desyr^
rather to have your company and good wisses then your leatters. For
ower laste talke which we had abowte Mr. Pascalle, assure yow I do not for
geatte now to leat yow understand newes, that I will teall yow some, but
yt is for me harde and heavey. Sence yow weare with me I have lost one of
my company which hurteth me greatley, that is Gabrell, for he is slayen in
faogesden fylldes by the hands of bergemen Jonson, bricklayer ; therfore I
wold fayne have a littell of your cownsell, yf I cowld. Thus with hartie
comendations to you and my dawghter, and lyckwise to all the reast of our
frends, I eaude. From london the 26 of September 1598

*' Your assured frend to my power,

^ Phillippe Heglowe.*'

GiflFbrd, in his anxiety to uphold the character of Ben Jon-
son, endeavours to throw discredit on all that Dekker imputes
to him in his " Satiromastix ;*' but those who look at the
matter impartially can have little doubt that there was some
foimdation for most of the charges and insinuations in that
personal drama, even to the borrowing of a gown of Roscius
(probably AUeyn) and other trifles of the same kind; for
unless there had been a portion of truth in the stories, there
would have been no joke in their repetition, and no point in
the satire. In the preceding letter we see a confirmation of
this opinion, for Ben Jonson had killed a player, and thot
player was named Gabriel (or Gabrell, as Henslowe spells it),
and a member of the association with which Henslowe was
connected. ** I have lost,** he says, *^ one of my company,
which hurteth me greatly, that is Gabrell, for he is slain in
Hoxton Fields by the hands of Benjamin Jonson, bricklayer."

The first point that strikes us as remarkable in the para-
graph is, that Henslowe calls Ben Jonson " bricklayer'' merely,

E 2.

62 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN.

as if that were his trade, and apparently without meaning it as
any reproach. When Dekker so frequently throws bricks and
mortar in Jonson's teeth in '* Satiromastix,'' we know that he
wishes thereby to bring him into ridicule ; but Henslowe only
seems to speak of it as a matter of course. This is very
singular, because Ben Jonson, two years before the date of the
letter just quoted, had written his " Every Man in his Hu-
mour'' for Henslowe's theatre (Malone's Shakesp. by Boswell,
iii. 307 : the play is called " the Comedy of Humours/' under
date of 11th May, 1596, in Henslowe's Diary) ; and, in 1697
and 1598, he had received several sums of money on account of
dramatic productions in progress. It would almost appear as
if Henslowe, when he wrote to AUeyn, did not know that it
was the same Benjamin Jonson, who was and had been an author
in his own pay. Besides, at this date Ben Jonson was in his
twenty-fourth year ; and it has always been supposed that it
was only for a short time after he returned from Cambridge to
his step-father, and before he embarked for Flanders, that he
followed the trade of bricklaying. According to the mode in
which Henslowe speaks of him, it would be thought that Ben
Jonson was a bricklayer at the period when he killed Gabriel.

A question then arises, who was Gabriel ? It was in all pro-
bability a christian name, and we find that there were, about
this date, two Gabriels in Henslowe'*s company — Gabriel Spen-
ser and Gabriel Synger (Hist. Engl. Dram. Poetry and the
Stage, i. 350) . They are both frequently mentioned in Hens-
lowe 's Diary in and prior to 1598, but after that year we only
hear of one of them * — Gabriel Synger ; and in the same book
occurs an entry regarding him in 160^, when he produced
what was known by the name of *^ Synger's Voluntary."
Therefore the actor whom Ben Jonson killed must, in all pro-
bability, have been Gabriel Spenser.

• The latest entry in Henslowe's Diary respecting Grabriel Spenser bears
date on 24th June, 1598, up to which date the old manager received Spen-
ser's share of the galleries. The account begins on the 6th Aprils 1598.

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN. 63

Among other points in Drummond's account of his con-
versation with Ben Jonson, it is said, " Sir Edward (Henry)
Wotton's verses of a happie lyfe, he [Jonson] hath by heart.**
It so happens that among the MSS. at Dulwich College is a
copy of these very verses in Ben Jonson'*s beautiful hand-writ-
ing 5 and as his authority must be considered good, and as the
lines differ materially from the copies as printed in the vetrious
editions of " Wotton's Remains," it will be well to quote them
exactly in the form in which they stand in the manuscript Ben
Jonson left behind him, and which was very likely given by
him to Alleyn,

" How happy is he borne and taught^
That serveth not another's will I
Whose armor is his honest thought.
And silly truth his highest skill.

*' Whose passions not his Masters are.

Whose soule is still prepared for death.
Untied to the world with care
Of princes grace or vulgar breath*

** Who hath his life from humors freed.

Whose conscience is his strong retreate ;
Whose state can neyther flatterers feed.
Nor mine make accusers great.

** Who envieth none whome chance doth rayse,
Or vice ; who never understood
How swordes give sleighter wounds than prayse.
Nor rules of state, but rules of good.

((

Who Grod doth late and early pray

More of his grace, then guifts to lend ;
And entertaynes the harmlesse day
With a well-chosen booke or freind.

" This man is free from servile bandes
Of hope to rise or feare to fall ;
Lord of himselfe, though not of landes.
And having nothing, yet hath alL'

»>

54 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLETN.

It is impossible to assign the precise date to these verses, but
they seem to have fallen in with Alleyn's taste and notions, and
hence perhaps the fact that a copy of them, so well authen-
ticated, is found among his papers. There is evidence that he
himself had written them out, possibly before Ben Jonson gave
him the perfect transcript^ for a fragment remains of the first
stanza, or rather of part of it, in AUeyn's hand-writing, upon a
scrap of paper on the back of which is a memorandum respect-
ing some agricultural implements bought by him, bearing
date in 1616. The oldest known production by Sir Henry
Wotton is inserted in Davison's " Poetical Rhapsodie,'' edit.
1602. Drummond's conversation with Ben Jonson, during
which he probably recited the verses, took place, as is well
known^ in January, 1619.

On the same paper as that which contains Sir H. Wotton's
verses, and also in Ben Jonson's hand-writings is the follow-
ing:—

" Martial.

*' The things that make the happier life are these^
Most pleasant Martial ; Substance got with ease>
Not laboured for, but left thee by thy Sire ;
A soyle not barren ; a continuall fire ;
Never at Law ; seldome in office gownd ;
A quiet mind> free powers, and body sound ;
A wise simplicity ; freindes alike stated ;
Thy table without art> and easy rated :
Thy night not dronken, but from cares layd wast ;
No soure or sdlen bed-4nate, yet a cbast;
Sleepe that will make the darkest howres swift-pac*t ;
Will to be what thou art, and nothing more ;
Nor feare thy latest day, nor wish therefore."

It is very possible that these lines are also by Sir Henry
Wotton, though they read more in the terse and forcible style
of Ben Jonson. They are not contained in any edition of
'* Wottotfs Remains."

i-' K"/: - ^ /■>/./• ' / / -'' -■ '■ / ''

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN. 66

CHAPTER VIL

The Fortuue Theatre built — New Docnments relating to its origin and
construction — Alleyn*s interest in it — His return to the Stage — His
Plot of Tamar Cam — Bowes and Dorington, Masters of the Games —
Accession of James I., and the three Companies of Players— The
Plague, and cessation of playing in London — Letter of Mrs. Alleyn to
her husband in the country, in which Shakespeare is mentioned.

We now come to an important event in Alleyn's life — the
building of the Fortune Theatre in Cripplegate — from which,
until the day of his death, he seems to have received a con-
siderable income, and which ultimately formed part of the en-
dowment of Dulwich College. The ground had been purchased
not long before from a person of the name of Gill, who resided
in the Isle of Man ; and some of the documents at Dulwich
College, which it is not necessary to quote, contain various
particulars of the bargain.

Such details as were previously known, are inserted in the
" History of English Dramatic Poetry and the Stage," i. 311 ;
but the papers preserved at Dulwich present several new par-
ticulars. The earliest of these is dated 1^ January, 1599 —
1600, and is addressed by the Earl of Nottingham, on behalf
of his players, to the Justices of Middlesex, requiring them to
permit his servant, Edward Alleyn, (for Henslowe at this date
is not mentioned,) to build a new theatre near Redcross
Street ; assigning as reasons, that the situation was very con-
venient, and that the house they had hitherto occupied (the
Rose) was in a dangerous state of decay. It runs as fol-
lows : —

** Whereas my servant^ Edward Allen, in respect of the dangerous
decaye of that howse which he and his Companye have nowe on the Banck,
and for that the same standeth verie noysome for resorte of people in the
wynter tyme,hath thearfore nowe of late taken a plott of grounde neere
Redcrosse streete Loudon (verie fitt and convenient) for the buildinge of a

56 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLETN.

new howse tbeare, and hath provided tymber and other necessaries for
theffectina;e theareof, to bis greate chardge. Forasrouche as the place
standeth verie convenient for the ease of people, and that her Ma*** (in
respect of the acceptable service^ which my saide servant and bis Companie
have doen and presented before her Highenes to her greate lykeinge and
contentment^ as well this last Christmas as att sondrie other tymes) ys
gratiouslie moved towardes them^ with a speciall regarde of favor in their
proceedinges. Theis shalbe thearefore to praie and requier you, and
everie of you, to permitt and suffer my saide servant to proceede in
theffectinge and finishinge of the saide newhowse, without anie your lett
or molestation towardes him or auy of his workmen. And soe> not
doubtinge of your observation in this behalf, I bidd you right hartelie fare-
well. Att the Courte at Richmond, the xij*^ of Januarye 1699.

''NOTINGHAM.

*' To all and every her Ma"®" Justices, and
other Ministers and (officers within the^
Countye of Middx, and to every of
them. And to all others whome it
shall concerne."

It is very evident that some of the Justices of Middlesex
and others did what they could to impede the execution of
this project ; and three months afterwards, we find the autho-
rity of the Lord Admirall again employed in aid of his
servants. At this time it appears that Alleyn and his asso- •
ciates had ceased to perform at the Rose, possibly owing to
the decayed state of the house, but more probably in order to
strengthen their claim to be allowed to erect a new building
for the same purpose.

Much complaint had been made against the number of
playhouses in and near London ; and the Earl of Notting-
ham, in his second letter to the Justices of Middlesex, is
anxious to impress upon them that the Fortune was only to
supply the place of a theatre which had been pulled down.
How far such was the fact, we cannot now determine ; but it
is certain that the Rose was standing some time afterwards,
that Lord Pembroke's players acted in it, and that in 160S,
Henslowe renewed his lease of the ground on which it stood*

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN. 67

(Hist. Engl. Dram. Poetry and the Stage, iii. 818). In
April, 1600, when the subsequent document was prepared (to
give which more effect, the names of Lord Hunsdon and Sir
Robert Cecill were subscribed with that of Lord Nottingham,)
we gather that some progress had been made with *' the frame
and workmanship of the Fortune." In January, 1599—1600,
** timber and other necessaries" had been provided ; but by
the following April, considerable progress had been made in
the undertaking.

"After our hartie comendations. Whereas her Ma*** (haveinge been
well pleased heeretofere at tymes of recreation with the services of Edward
Allen and his Companie, servantes to me the Earle of Nottingham, wheareof
of late he hath made disconty nuance) hath sondrye tymes signified her
pleasuer, that he should revive the same agayne. Forasmuche as he hath
bestowed a greate some of money, not onelie for the title of a plott of
grounde scituat in a verie remote and exempt place neere Goulding Lane,
theare to erect a newe house, but alsoe is in good forwardnes aboute the
frame and warkmanshipp theareof, the conveniencie of which place for that
purpose ys testified unto us under the handes of manie of the Inhabitantes
of the Libertie of Fiuisbury, wheare it is, and recomended by some of the
Justices them selves. Wee thearfore, havinge informed her Ma*** lykewise
of the decaye of the howse wherein this Companye latelie plaied, scituate
uppon the Bancke, verie noysome for the resorte of people in the Wynter
tyme, have receaved order to requier yow to toUerate the proceedinge of
the saide newhowse neere Goulding Lane, and doe heerbye requier you, and
everie of yow, to permitte and suffer the said Edward Allen to proceede in
theffectinge and finishinge of the same newehowse, without anie your lett
or interruption towardes him or anie of his woorkmen ; the rather because
an other howse is pulled downe instead of yt. And soe, not doubtinge of
your conformitye heerin, wee comitt you to God : frome the Courte at
Richmond, the viij«» of Aprill 1600.

** Your loveinge freindes

" NOTINGHAM.

" G. Hunsdon

" Ro. Cecyll.

" To the Justices of Peace of the Countye of Middx,
especially of St. Gyles without Creplegate, and
to all others whome it shall concerne."

58 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN.

The foregoing document refers to a certain testification
" under the hands of many of the inhabitants of the Liberty of
Finsbury" in favour of the completion of the Fortune : that
instrument is also found at Dulwich, and it is indorsed '^ The
Certificate of the Inhabitants of the Lp. of Fynsburie of theire
consent to the Tolleration of the Erection of the newe Plai-
house theare ;" the principal ground of ^* consent to the tolera-
tion'' being, that the undertakers had agreed to contribute
liberally to the maintenance of the poor of the parish. It is
in the following form.

** To the righte honorable the Lordes and others of her Ma^ most
honorable privie Councell.

** In all bumblenes^ wee the Inhabitants of the Lordshipp of Fynisburye,
within the parishe of S*- Gyles without Creplegate, Ijondon^ doe certifie
unto your bonnours, that wheare the Servantes of the right honorable the
Earle of Nottingham have latelie gone aboute to erect and sett upp a newe
Playhouse within the said Lp, wee could be contented that the same
might proceede and be tollerated (soe it stande with your honnours plea-
suers) for the reasons and causes foUoweinge.

" First, because the place appoynted oute for that purpose standeth very
tollerrable, neere unto the Feildes, and soe farr distant and remote frome
any person or place of aecompt, as that none cann be annoyed thearbie.

" Secondlie, because the erectours of the saied howse are contented to
give a very liberall portion of money weekelie towards the relief of our
poore^ the nomber and necessity whereof is soe greate, that the same will
redouude to the contynuall comfort of the said poore.

** Tbirdlie and lastlie, wee are the rather contented to accept this
meanes of relief of our poore because our Parrishe is not able to releeve
them. Neither hath the Justices of the Sheire taken any order for any
supplie out of the Countye, as is enjoyned by the late Acte of Parliamente.

'* Hart Stapelforde
"Anthonie Marlowe
" WiLLM Browne Constable
"George Garlande, Overseer for

our Poore
" John Kitchens, Overseer for our

Poore
" Nicholas Warden" &c. &c.

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLBYN. 69

The Lord Admirall seems to have known nothing of Hens-
lowe in the transaction ; but it is quite certain, from the agree-
ment between AUeyn and Henslowe on the one part, and
Peter Streete, the carpenter, on the other part, for building the
Fortune, that Henslowe was from first to last concerned in it
as AUeyn's partner. According to this document, Streete's
work was to cost j6^440 ; but it appears by an existing memo-
randum in AUeyn^s hand-writing, that his sole share of the
expense was £520; but that perhaps included all the fittings-
up and ornaments. Contrary to what is said in the History
of Dramatic Poetry and the Stage, iii. 308, it seems likely that,
in making the memorandum there quoted, Alleyn was only
recording his half of the charge for rendering the Fortune fit
for theatrical performances.

We are without any means of knowing the precise date
when the new theatre, the Fortune, was opened. It waa
unquestionably anterior to October, 1602 ; for, at that date,
Henslowe records that he paid iOs. to Alleyn for his book of
Tamar Cam, which was played there, and of which *' the
plott," as it is termed, is extant, and is printed in Malone*&
Shakespeare by Boswell, iii. 866. The entry in Henslowe's.
Diary is this : —

'' Pd unto my sonne AUeyn, at the apoyntment of tbe company, for his
boocke of Tambercam, the 20 of Octobeer 1602, the some of xxxx s" •

Hence we see, that Alleyn was separately paid for what-
ever he did for the company in the way of authorship, if it

* It was probably only the revival in 1602 of a popular piece, with
additions and changes. In Henslowe's Diary we read as follows : —

s.
*' 6 of Maye 1596 ne Rd at Tambercamme xxxxvij"

The letters ne indicate that it was then a new piece, and was acted for
the first time. From another item in the same MS. we learn that the suc«
cess of it very soon led to the production of" a second part of Tambercam,'"
which was brought out on the 11 June 1696. It is the "plott of the first
parte of Tamar Cam," which was printed by Malone.

t

60 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLETN.

may be so called. It is supposed that Tanmr Cam (like
Tarlton's «^ plott*' of *' the Seven Deadly Sins," &c.) was an
entertainment made up of dumb shew, action, and extempore
performance. Alleyn was the principal actor in Tamar Cam^
as well as the contriver of the whole representation, and he
was supported in it by W. Cartwright, Towne, Jubie, Par-
sons, Singer, Marbeck, Parr, and several inferior actors. The
names of the different members of the company, Alleyn*s
immediate associates, were these, as we find them enumerated
in Harl. MS. No. 252: — Thomas Towne, Thomas Downton
(or Dowton), William Byrde (or Borne), Samuel Rowley,
Edward Jubye, Charles Massy, Humphrey Jeffes, Edward
Colbrand, William Parr, Richard Pryor, William Stratford^
Francis Grace, and John Shanke.

Henslowe, in his letter to Alleyn, at the Brill, on the 4th
June, 1598, mentions, as will be recollected, the extreme
illness of Mr. Bowes, the then '* master of the game of bulls
and bears f adding, with some disappointment, that the
place had already been granted in reversion to Mr. Dor*
ington. Dorington came into the office soon afterwards, but
he seems to have acted upon a grant made to him in reversion
in 1573 ; and on the accession of James I. a new patent was
made out to him. The date of the patent to Bowes (a copy of
which is found at Dulwich) bears date on the 8th November,
1586. In March 1600 we find Dorington writing in a very
urgent manner to Henslowe for his assistance, the queen
having suddenly required '* her majesty's games'* to be exhi-
bited at court. Henslowe was therefore to assist Dorington
in his emergency with his dogs and bears from Paris Garden.
The letter of the Master of the Game is addressed,

'' To my very good frend Mr. Henslow geve thees-

*' Mr. Henslow. I have recevid a letter to have hir Ma^^ games to be

at the court of monday next, so short a warning as 1 never knew the

lyke, and my self not well, having had a fytt of agew on Frydaye at

night ; but yf tber be no remedye, then good M' Henslow pyll up your

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEY N. 61

speryttes and Jackcobe to furnyshe yt as well as yow canne, and I have
wrytten to my sister Hide to lett hir Ma^ understand of the losse we had
in this wynter of our best beers« and to sygnyfy so much to them that exe-
cutes my Lord Chamberlins place ; and so I will leve you for this time,
hoping you will dow all your best indevors to so satisfy hir Ma*y iu this
fiervtsse. From Wigall, this {torn] of marche 1600.

'* Your very frend,

" John Dorington." •

We are unable to state what precise interest AUeyn, at
this date, had in Paris Garden; he was unquestionably a
partner in the concern, and after the death of Henslowe it
seems to have devolved entirely into his hands.

On his accession, James I. took into his pay the Lord
Qiamberlain's servants, and they were afterwards called the
King's Players : this was the company to which Shakespeare
was attached. Queen Anne adopted Lord Worcester's players
(of whom Thomas Heywood was one) as her theatrical ser-
vants ; and Prince Henry allowed AUeyn and thirteen of his
associates, who had previously belonged to the Earl of Not-
tingham, to act under his name.f Very soon afl»r this

* In Henslowe's Diary we meet with the following memorandum, which
seems to shew that Henslowe, in 1602, paid Dorington rent; which may
mean a consideration for being allowed by the Master of the Queen's
Games to bait bears, bulls, &c. at Paris Garden.

'* Received of Mr. Henslow, the xj*"* daye of aprill 1602, the some of
ten pounds, dew to me at our lady abouff wrytten, for that quarter then
dewe to me for Rent. " John Dorington."

f " Nay, see the beauty of our kinde Soveraigne : not only to the indif-
ferent of worth and the worthy of honour did he freely deale about these
causes, but to the meane gave grace; as taking to him the late Lord
Chamberlains servants, now the King's Actors ; the Queene taking to her
the Earl of Worster's servants, that are now her actors ; and the Prince,
their son, Henry Prince of Wales, full of hope, tooke to him the Earl of
Nottingham his servants, who are now his actors : so that of Lords' ser-
vants, they are now the servants of the King, Queene and Prince." —
Gilbert Dugdale's Time Triumphant, 1604, Sign. B.

62 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN.

arrangement had been made, the plague broke out in London
with so much virulence that the theatres were closed, and the
actors driven to procure subsistence as they could. AUeyn,
as usual, went with a selection from his company into the
provinces upon a strolling expedition. Of this date we have
a very interesting letter from Mrs. AUeyn to her husband,
written and subscribed by the person ordinarily employed : it
is remarkable, because it contains a mention of Shakespeare,
who is spoken of as " of the Globe ;" and though it throws no
new light upon our great dramatist's character, excepting as
it shews that he was on good terms with AUeyn's family, any
document containing merely his name must be considered
valuable* The paper on which the letter was written is in a
most decayed state, especially at the bottom, where it breaks
and drops away in dust and fragments at the slightest toucL
The notice of Shakespeare is near the commencement of a
postscript on the lower part of the page, where the paper is
most rotten, and several deficiencies occur, which it is im-
possible to supply : all that remains is extremely difficult to
be deciphered. We will insert it, and defer further remarks
until afterwards, only premising that the address has com-
pletely disappeared, so that we cannot tell where Alleyn was
at the time; nor indeed, excepting from internal evidence,
can we decide that it was sent to him. Upon this point, how-
ever, there can be no doubt.

'' Jhesiis
^* My intyre and welbeloved sweete harte, still it jojes me and longe, I
pray god^ may I joye to beare of your healthe and welfare, as of ours. All-
mighty god be thanked^ my own selfe^ your selfe and my mother, and whole
bouse are in good healthe, and about us the sycknes dothe cease and
likely more and more by gods healpe to cease. All the companyes be
<K>me home and well for ought we knowe, but that Browne of th^ Boares
head is dead, and dyed very pore. He went not into the eountrye at all,
and all of your owne company ar well at there owne houses. My father
is at the corte, but wheare the corte ys I know not. I am of your owne

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN. 63

mynde, that it is needles to meete my father at Basynge: the entertayo-
ment beinge as it is^ I comeod your discreation. It weare a sore journey
to loase your labour^ besyde expenses^ and change of ayre mighte hurte
you ; therfore you are resolved upon the best course. For your coroinge
faoame I am not to advyse you, neither will I : use your owne discreation,
yet I longe and am very desyrous to see you ; and my poore and simple
opinion is, yf it shall please you, you maye safely come hoame. Heare is
none now sycke neare us ; yet let it not be as I wyll, but at your owne
best lykynge. I am glad to heare you take delight in hauckinge, and
thoughe you have worne your appayrell to rags, the best ys you knowe
where to bav€ better, and as wellcome to me shall you be with your rags,
as yf you were in cloathe of gold or velvet Trye and see.

** I have payd fyfty shillings for your rent for the warfe, the Lordes
rent. M' Woodward, my Lordes bayly, was not in towne but poynted
his deputy who receaved all the rentes. I had witnesses with me at the
payment of the money, and have his quittance, but the quyttance eost me
a groat : they sayd it was the baylives fee. You knowe best whether you
were wont to pay€ it; yf not, they made a symple woman of me. You
shall receave a letter from the Joyner hym selfe, and a prynted bill ; and
so with my humble and harty comendations to your owne selfe, M' Cha*
loners and his wyfe, with thankes for your kynde usage, with my good
mothers kyndest comendations with the rest of your househould • •
he is well but can not speake, I ende prayinge allmighty god to blesse
you for his mercyes sake, and so sweete harte • • noe more.
Farwell till we meete, which I hope shall not be longe. This xx*** of Oc-
tober 1603.

*' Aboute a weeke a goe there came a youthe who said he was M*" Fraun*
Cis Chaloner who would have borrowed x** to have bought things for
* • • and said he was known unto you, and M*" Shakespeare of
the globe, who came • • • said he knewe hym not, onely he
herde of hym that he was a roge • • • so he was glade we did
not lend him the monney • • • Richard Johnes [went] to seeke
and inquire after the fellow, and said he had lent hym a horse; I feare
me he gulled hym, thoughe he gulled not us. The youthe was a prety
youthe, and hansom in appayrell : we knowe not what became of hym.
M*^ Benfield commendes hym ; he was heare yesterdaye. Nicke and
Jeames be well, and comend them : so doth M' Cooke and his wiefe in the
kyndest sorte, and so once more in the hartiest manner farwell.

" Your faithful! and lovinge wiefe,

" JoANE Alleyne."

64 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLETN.

We learn from this letter that Henslowe, at its date, was
absent from London, following the king and court. The
plague had somewhat abated, and most of the companies of
actors had returned to London, including AUeyn's associates,
though he himself lingered in the country (after having worn
out his clothes), to enjoy the sport of hawking. Meanwhile^
his careful and loving wife had been attentive to her duties ;
the wharf, for which she had paid the rent, Alleyn held
under Lord Montague. The young rogue, who vainly at-
tempted to borrow j£10 of her, and regarding whom Shake-
speare coming in just afterwards spoke to her, probably pre-
tended to be some relation to the ^' Mr. Chaloners and his
wife,*' mentioned near the close of the body of the letter.
Benfield, who sent his commendations in the postscript, might
be the father of the actor of that name: he died in 1619.
Cooke was, perhaps, the author of the celebrated play which
is known by the name of ^' Greene's Tu Quoque.*'

CHAPTER VIII.

Lion-baiting by Alleyn before James L in the Tower — Permission to the
Kings^ Queens, and Prince's Players to act again — Blackfriars Theatre
— Shakespeare an Actor up to the 9th of April, 1604 — Players of the
Duke of Lennox, and Henslowe's connection with them — Purchase by
Alleyn and Henslowe of the office of Master of the King's Games — ^Their
Patent and Petition to the King.

In Stowe'6 Chronicle, under date of March, 1603-4, is in-
serted a very minute and picturesque account of a barbarous
ani revolting exhibition before King James in the Tower, when
Alleyn was sent for, that he might bring his dogs from the Bear
Garden to bait a lion in his den. As this description has never
been quoted by any biographer of Alleyn, and as he personally

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD AJLLETX. 65

superintended the singular exhibition^ it will not be out of
place to insert it here.

** Whereupon the King caused Edward Allen, late servant to the Lord
Admiral], now swome the Princes man and Maister of the Beare Garden,
to fetch secretly three of the fellest dogs in the Gkirden, which being done^
the King, Queene, and Prince with 4 or 5 Lords, went to the Lions Towrei
and caused the lustiest Lion to be seperated from his mate, and put into
the Lions den one dog alone, who presently flew to the face of the Lion^
but the Lion suddenly shooke him off, and graspt him fast by the necke,
drawing the dog vp staires and downe staires. The King now perceiving
the Lion greatly to exceede the dog in strength, but nothing in noble heart
and courage, caused another dog to be put into the den, who prooved as
hotte and lusty as his fellow, and tooke the Lion by the face, but the Lion
began to deale with him as with the former ; whereupon the King com-
maoded the third dog to be put in before the second dog was spoiled,
which third dog more fierce and fell then either of the former, and in de-
spight either of clawes or strength, tooke the Lyon by the lip, but the Lion
so tore the dog by the eyes, head, and face, that he lost his hold, and then
the Lion tooke the dogs neck in his mouth, drawing him up and downe as he
did the former, but being wearied, could not bite so deadly as at the first,
now whitest the last dog was thus hand to hand with the Lion in the upper
roome, the other two dogs were fighting together in the lower roome, where-
upon the King caused the Lion to be driven downe, thinking the lion would
have parted them, but when he saw he must needs come by them, he leapt
cleane over them both, and contrary to the King's expectation, the lion
fled into an inward den, and would not by any means endure the presence
of the dogs, albeit the last dogge pursued egerly, but could not finde the
way to the Lion. You shall vnderstand the two last dogs whilst the Lion
held them both under his pawes, did bite the Lion by the belly, whereat
the Lion roared so extreamly that the earth shooke withall, and the next
Lion rampt and roared as if she would have made rescue. The Lion hath
not any peculiar or proper kind of fight, as hath thp dog, beare, or bull,
but onely a ravenous kinde of surprising for prey. The 2 first dogs dyed
within few dayes, but the last dog was well recovered of all his hurts, and
the young Prince commanded his seruant E. Allen to bring the dog to him
to S. James, where the Prince charged the said Allen to keepe him, and
make much of him, saying, he that had fought with the King of Beasts,
sliould never after fight with any inferior creature."

The plague having been checked by the winter of 1603-4,.

r

66 MEMOIBS OF EDWABD ALLEYN.

began so far to disappear in the springs that permission was
again given for the opening of the theatres in and near
London. We now come to a paper which Malone saw, and
to the general import of which he adverts in his '* Inquiry,"
p. 216, but which, as he tells us, he reserved for publication
at large in his projected life of Shakespeare, which he never
completed. He does not state where he had found it, but it
was in fact among the MSS. which he procured from Dulwich
College. It is the copy of a letter from the Council, con-
sisting of Lords Nottingham, Suffolk, Shrewsbury, Worces-
ter, &c. to the Lord Mayor of London and the magistrates
of Middlesex and Surrey, directing them not to interfere with
three companies of players, but to permit those of the King,
the Queen, and the Prince, to act at the Globe on the Bank-
side, at the Fortune in Golding Lane, and at the Curtain in
Shoreditch, notwithstanding any previous prohibition. Malone
does not seem to have been aware on what particular occasion
this order had appeared, but it was issued after the plague
had in a considerable degree abated its violence. The docu-
ment is so much damaged as to be illegible in two places at
the beginning, but the rest of it runs as follows :-—

** After our hartie • • • Wheras the Kings ma**<* Piaiers
have given ♦ • • highnes good service in ther Quallitie of
Playinge, and for as much likewise as they are at all times to be emploied
in that service, whensoever they shalbe commaunded, We thinke it therfore
iitt, the time of Lent being now past, that your L doe permitt and suffer
the three Companies of Piaiers to the King, Queene and Prince, publicklie
to exercise ther plaies in ther severall usuall bowses for that purpose and
noe other ; viz the Globe, scituate in Maiden Lane on the Banckside in the
Countie of Surrey, the Fortune, in Golding Lane, and the Curtaine, in Hol-
lywell in the (Downtie of Middlesex, without any lett or interruption in
respect of any former Letters of Prohibition heertofore written by us to
your Lop., except there happen weeklie to die of the Plague above the
number of thirtie, within the Cittie of London and the Liberties therof. Att
which time we thinke itt fitt they shall cease and forbeare any further pub-
licklie to playe, uatill the sicknes be again decreaced to the saide number.

MEMOIRS OP EDWARD ALLETN. 67

And to we bid your Lo. hartilie farewell From the Court at WhitehaUe^

the ixth of Aprill 1004.

*' Your very loving Frends,

** Nottingham

'* Suffolk

^' Gill Shrowsberie

" r worster

*' W, Knowles

" J. Stanhopp.
'* To our verie good L the Lord Maior

of theCittieof London^ and to the
Justices of the Peace of the Coun-
ties of Middlesex and Surrey."

Here we see that the Globe, the Fortune, and the Curtain,
are designated as the " several usual houses'' of the three
companies 5 and Malone would infer, from these only being
mentioned, that the King's players, of whom Shakespeare was
one, had not, in April 1604, possession of the Blackfriars
Theatre. He did not advert to the important point that the
Blackfriars, like the Whitefriars, was what was called " a
private theatre," and, therefore, did not fall within the same
regulations as a public theatre. It is much more likely that
the Blackfriars Theatre should have been in the hands of the
King's players (formerly the Lord Chamberlain's servants)
from the time it was built by James Burb£ige, the father of
Richard Burbage, in 1576, until the period of which we are
now speaking, than that the company should have purchased
it, as Malone supposes, in the winter of 1604-6. He, how-
ever, was not acquainted with the fact, since discovered, that
the Blackfriars Theatre, having been originally constructed
by James Burbage, was actually in possession of Shakespeare
and his fellows in 1596. (Hist, of Engl. Dram. Poetry and
the Stage, iii. 298.)

Malone also appears to have reserved another circumstance,

of very considerable importance in relation to Shakespeare,

for his life of the poet. To the last quoted document, but in

a different hand and in different ink, is appended a list of

the King's players. The name of Shakespeare there occurs

f3

68 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLBYN.

second 5 and as it could not be written at the bottom of the

letter of the Council to the Lord Mayor, &c. prior to the date

of that letter, it proves that up to 9th April, 1604, our great

dramatist continued to be numbered among the actors of the

company. Hitherto the last trace we have had of Shakespeare

as actually on the stage, has been as one of the performers in

Ben Jonson's " Sejanus," which was produced in 1603, We

will insert the list as it stands at the foot of the Council's

letter to the Lord Mayor, &c. —

'* Ks Comp.
'* burbidge
'* Shakspeare
'' Fletcher
" Phillips

*' CONDLE

'* Hemminges
'' Armyn
" Slye
" Cowley
*' Hostler
'' Day."

It seems doubtful whether this enumeration was made out
according to the comparative prominence and importance of
the individuals in the company. In the patent of King James
of 17th May, 1603, the order of the three first of the above
names is exactly reversed — viz., Lawrence Fletcher, William
Shakespeare, and. Richard Burbage; and there are other
variations of minor consequence. Of Hostler {or Ostler) and
Day, in connection with the King's Players, we now hear for
the first time. William Ostler was one of the children of the
Chapel in 1601, and either joined the King's company after
17th May, 1603, or was included in the general words of the
Patent, **and the rest of their associates," Precisely the
same may be said of Thomas Day, who never seems to have
attained eminence : he was possibly some relation to John
Day, the prolific dramatist. The reason why we are not fur-
nished with corresponding lists of the Queen's and Prince's
Players may be, that Alleyn and Henslowe were certainly
connected with the one body, ^nd possibly with the other.

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN- 69

On the 16th March, 1603, Alleyn, attired as Genius, delivered
a speech ta King James, as he passed through London ; and
Dekker, giving an account of the ceremony, printed in 1604,
says, " Genius by M. AUin (servant to the young Prince) his
gratulatory speech, which was delivered with excellent action,
and a well tunde audible voice.'* We do not recollect that
the quality of Alleyn's voice is elsewhere noticed.

In the autumn of 1604, we hear of another company of
actors, mentioned in no earlier authority than that we are
about to notice— the players of the Duke of Lennox. Whether
Alleyn had any interest in their performances is not stated ;
but it is quite clear from the papers at Dulwich, that Hens-
lowe had, and that his brother Francis Henslowe (several
times mentioned by Philip Henslowe in his Diary,) was at the
head of them, though probably not as a performer. Prior to
the 13th Oct, 1604, this company had been forbidden to per-
form (whether in London or elsewhere cannot now be deter-
mined,) in consequence of which the ensuing official letter was
obtained from the Duke of Lennox to all Mayors, Justices of
the Peace, &c. desiring that no obstruction might be offered
to his players,

'' To all maiors, Justeces of peas, Shreefes, Balifes, Constabells, and
all other his highnes officers and lofing subjects^ to whome it shall»
or may in any wise appertaine.

** Sir. I am given to understand that you have forbidden the Companye

of Players (that call themselves myne) the exercise of their Playes. I praie

you to forbeare any such course against them, and seeing they have my.

License to suffer them to continue the use of their Playes ; and untill you

receave other signification from me of them, to afforde them your favour

and assistance. And so I bidd you hartely farewell. From Hampton

Courte, the xiij of October 1604.

" Your loving freende,

" Lenox."

The above seems to have come into Henslowe's possession in
consequence of the pecuniary interest he had in the company,
which possibly performed for a short time at one of his

70 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLBTN.

theatres. They continued in existence in March folbwing^
the date of the foregoing letter; for on the 17th of that
month Francis Henslowe entered into a bond to his brother,
with the penalty of £60, ^' well and trulie to holde^ performe,
fulfill and keepe all such agreementes matters and things^ as
are conteyned and specified in certen Articles of Agreemente,
bearing date with theis presentes, made and agreed uppon by
and betweene the said Francis Henslowe and John Garland
and Abraham Saverie, his fellowes, servantes to the most noble
Prince^ the Duke of Linnox, and subscribed with all theire
handes.^

Garland and Saverie are both names new in our dramatic
history ;^ and after this date, we hear no more of the Players
of the Duke of Lennox, or of the connection of either of the
Henslowes with them. Whether they were put down by au-
thority of the Council (which not long before had restricted
theatrical performances in public theatres to the three compa-
nies of the King, Queen, and Prince) nowhere appears : pos-
sibly the speculation did not answer, and they therefore re-
linquished their performances.

Sir John Dorington, as we have seen, was ill of an ague in
March, 1600 : f he died soon after James I. came to the
throne, and Sir William Stuart was appointed to the vacant
office of ^^ Master, &c. of the King's Games of Bears, Bulls, and
Dogs/' and Henslowe and Alleyn, not having a license for

• To this period is probably to be assigned the following undated entry
in Henslowe's Diary or Account-book : —

'^ Lent unto Frances Henslow to goyne with owld Grarland and Sym-
cockes and Savery, when they played in the Dukes name at the h&te
goinge owt, the some of vij" : I saye lent, vij"* **

f The writer has in his possession the original appointment of John
Dorington, Esq., to '' the room or ofl5ce of Cheif Master, Overseer and
Ruler of all and singular our game, pastimes and sports, that is to say of
all and every our bears, bulls and mastiff dogs, meet for the purpose/' It
bears date at Westminster, 2d June, A^ 15. Eliz. 1573w Doringtoo, as
appears by the same instrument, succoeded Cathbert Vattgh»»» Esq.

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN. 71

the purpose^ were, as they afterwards alleged^ unable to
employ Paris Garden for the chief purpose to which it had for
many years been applied. They then offered to sell their
house, bears, and dogs to Sir William Stuart, but he
refused to buy them, and thus compelled Henslowe and
Alleyn* to purchase the office he held for c£450j which they
insisted was a very bad bargain on their part. The follow-
ing is a copy of the " acquittance** Sir William Stuart
gave for the £450. It will be observed that one of the wit-
nesses subscribes his name John AUeyn 5 and Edward had
an elder brother John, who was entered in the pedigree fur-
nished at the visitation of Surrey in 1624 ; John Allen had
died, and this was perhaps his son.

*' Be it knowne unto all men by theis presents, that I, Sir William
Steward, Knight, have receaved and had the day of the date hereof, of
Phillip Henslowe and Edward Allen of the parishe of S'* Saviours in South-
warke in the County of Surrey, Esquiers, the somme of four hundreth and
fifty e poundes of lawfull money of England, in fall satbfaction payment and
discharge for the absolute bargayne, sale and assignement of a certen
Patent to me made and graunted by our soveraigne Lord the Kinges Ma^
that now is, of the Mastership of his Ma^^ games of Beeres Bulls and dogges,
and the fees proffitts and appurtenances whatsoever to the same place or
ofBce belonginge or appertayninge, the receipte of which foure hundreth
and fiftye poundes, in forme aforesaid receaved, I doe acknowledge by thek
presents, and thereof and of every parcell thereof I clerelye acquite and
discharge the said Phillip Hendowe and Edward Allen and either of them,
their executors and administrators for by theis presents. And further I the
said Sir William Steward, Knight, have remised, released and altogeather
for me my executors and administrators for ever quite claymed, unto the said
Phillip Henslowe and Edward Allen and either of them, their executors and
administrators, all and all manner of actions sutes, debts accompts reccon-

• After 1617, but at what precise date does not appear, AUeyn presented
a petition to James I. in '' the Court of Requests," alleging his partnership
with Henslowe, and claiming, as such partner, a sum of £13. 5. (the balance
of an account) from a person of the name of Hobday, upon whose credit
bears and dogs had been furnished to one Starkey, who conveyed them to
France, in order to amuse the King in Paris with the sport of bear-baiting*
Alleyn in hi« own hand indorsed the petition, '^ satisfied and payd."

7a MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN.

iDgs somme and somtnes of money claymes dutyes and demaunds whatso-
ever, which againste the said Phillip Hensiowe and Edward Allen or either
of them ever I have had, now have, or hereafter shall or may move or
have, by reason or force of anye matter, cause, bargaine, contract or thing
whatsoever, from the beginnioge of the worlde untill the day of the date
hereof. In witnes whereof I have hereunto sett my hand and seale, dated
the eight and twentieth daye of November 1604, and in the second yere of
the Raigne of our soveraigne Lorde Kinge James &c.

*' William Steuart (L, S.)

** Sealed and delivered in the

presence of us

" Edw. Taylor servant to

" Tyarman Davies Notar. Public.

" John Allen

*' Jacinthe Bradshawghe."

It 18 somewhat remarkable, that the Patent to Hensiowe
and Alleyn, constituting them jointly and severally Masters
of the King's Games, should be dated four days anterior to
the instrument we have just quoted ; so that they^were, in
fact, appointed before they paid the ^450 to Sir William
Stuart. It is very possible that the sum stipulated had
previously been deposited in the hands of some third party ;
and Hensiowe had seen too much of the world to be likely to
part with his money beyond controul, until he was sure of
the office. Originally there must have been a complete and
perfect copy of the patent to Hensiowe and Alleyn at Dulwich
College on four sheets, but only the three last of these now
remain. They are indorsed in a strange hand, " Mr. Hens-
iowe bergarden,*' and by Alleyn "a draft of the patent :'* in
fact, they contain all that is material, and are as follow, the
absent introduction being of course mere matter of form.

— — " and advantages whatsoever to the said oflSce of Cheefe Mr.
Overseer and Ruler of our Beares, Bulls and Mastiffe Dogges in any wise
belonginge, in as large and ample manner as Sir William Steward, Knight,
or before him Sir John Darrington, Knight, deceased, or as Raphe Bowes, or
any other at any tyme ever had, used, perceaved or enjoyed, in for or by
reason of the same office. Givinge by these presentes, for us our heires and

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN. 78

successors^ unto the said Phillip Hensiow and Edward Allen, and to either
of them, jo3mtly and severally e, and to the deputie or deputies of them or
either of them^ during the naturalle lives of the said Phillipe Henslowe and
Edward Allen^ and the life of the longer liver of them^ full power comissioa
and authorities not onlie to take up and kepe for our service pasty me and
sporte any mastife dogge or dogges and mastife bitches, beares, bulls and
other meete and convenient for our said service and pastymes, or any of
them, beinge within this our realme or other our dominions, at and for such
reasonable prices as our said servauntes or either of them, there deputie or
deputies, or the deputie or deputies of either of them, can agree with the
owner or owners of the beares and bulls ; but also to staye, or cause to be
stayed at theire or either of theire discretions all and every such mastiOTe
dogges and bitches as the said Phillip Hensiow and Edward Allen, or either
of them, or there assignes or the assignes of either of them, shall fortune at
any tyme hereafter to take or fynde goinge, passinge or conveyinge, or to
be conveyed in any v^ise into any partes of beyond the seas without our
special warrant and commission for conveyinge of the same. Willinge and
straightly charging and commaundinge, that as well all our officers, ministers
and subjects and every of them, from henceforth doe ayde from tyme to tyme^
assiste strengthen and helpe the said Phillip Henslowe and Edward Alien*
or either •f them, in exercisinge of the same office and other the premisses,
as also other our officers and ministers in any wise appertayninge to our
said games shall diligently obey, be attendinge and do any thing and
thinges reasonable that the said Phillip Hensiow and Edward Allen, joyntly
and either of them severally, as masters and cheefe rulers of our said games
shall comaunde for our better service therein. And further, we doe give
and graunt full power and authoritie by these presentes to the said Phillip
Hensiow and Edward Allen, and to either of them, to bayte or cause to be
bayted our said beares and others beinge of our saide games, in all and
every convenient place and places at altymes meete, at there and either of
there discretions, and that no other officer or under officer belonginge, or
any manner of waies appertayninge to our said beares and games for the
tyme being, nor any of them, shall from henceforth baite or cause to be
baited any of our said beares, or others of our games aforesaid, in any
yarde or place or places without the speciall lycence and appoyntment of
the said Phillip Hensiow and Edward Allen, or one of them ; nor that any
of them shall from henceforth take up any beare or beares, or any other
appertayninge to our said games, or for any service and commoditie, with-
out the like appointment of the said Phillipe Henslowe and Edward Allen
or of one of them as is aforesaide, any manner of graunt or ly cense here-
tofore made, or hereafter to be made to any of them for the same to the

74 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLBYN.

contrarie hereof in any wise notwithstanding. And of our further grace
certaine knowledge and meere motion^ we doe by these presentes^ for us
our heires and successors, give and graunt to the said Phillip Henslow and
Edward Allen, joyntly and severally, the office and roome of Keeper of our
Bandoggs, Mastiffes and Mastiffe Bitches, and the said Phillipe Henslow
and Edward Allen and either of them Kepper and Ruler of our Mastiffes
and Bandoggs and of the Mastiffes and Bandoggs of us our heirs and
successors, we do ordaine and make by these presentes. To have and to
holde, occupie and injoye the saide roome to the saide Phillip Henslow and
Edwarde Allen joyntly and severallie, aswell by them selves as by there
sufficient deputie or deputies, or by the sufficient deputie or deputies of
either of them, duringe theire lives and the longer longer lives of them.
Moreover, we do by these presentes for us our heires and successors give
and graunt to the saide Phillipe Henslowe and Edwarde Allen, for occupy-
inge and exercisinge of the saide office and keppinge of twentie mastiffe
bitches, the fee and wages of tenn pence sterlinge by the daie, and for
there deputie for exercisinge of the saide roome under them the fee and
wages of fower pence by the daie. To have and enjoye the saide severall
fees and either of them by the saide Phillip Henslow and Edward Allen
and theire assignes, duringe theire lives and the liffe of the longer liver of
them ; and the saide fee to be had and yerelie receaved out of the trea-
sure of our Chamber, and of our heires and successors, by the hands of our
Treasurer of the saide Chamber for the tyme beinge, quarterly by even
portions, together with all fees advantages profitts and comodities there-
unto belonginge, in as large and ample manner as the said Sir William
Steward, or as before him the saide Sir John Dorrington, Knight, deceased,
or as the saide Ralphe Bowes, or any other person or persons heretofore
have had and enjoyed, in and for thexercisinge of the same ; althoughe
expresse mention of the true yerely valew, or of any other valew or cer-
tentie of the premisses, or any of them, or of any other guiftes or graunts
by us or any of our progenitors made befcnre this tyme to the aforesaid
Philhp Henslow and Edwarde Allen in these presentet is not made, or any
other statute acte, ordinance provision, proclamation or restrainte to the
contrarie hereof, before this tyme had made sett forth, ordayned or provided,
or any other thinge matter or cause whatsoever in any wise notwithstand-
inge. In witnes whereof we have caused theise our letters to be made
pattents. Witnes our selfe at Westminster, the fower and twentith daie of
November, in the yere of our raigne of England Fraunce and Ireland the
seoonde, and of Scotlande the ei«ht and thirteeth."

The date of the document we shall next quote is not
given, and perhaps cannot now be ascertained with precision,

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLETN. 76

but it must have been subsequent to the preceding patent.
It is a petition from Henslowe and Alleyn to the King, in
their joint capacity of Masters of his Majesty's (James, by
purchase from Sir William Stuart ; and we may conjecture
that it was presented not very long after they became so in
1604, and when they found that their fees and emoluments
were insufficient. They complain of the " high rate'* at which
they had been obliged to buy the office, of not being per-
mitted to bait bears on Sunday, and of the injury done to
them by vagrants going about the country with bears and
dogs without their licence. They also ask, that the old daily
fee of \8. M. should be increased by the addition of 28. 8d,
The original is in Henslowe's illiterate writing.

*' To the Kinges moste exsellent magestie.

" The humble pettition of Phillipe Henslow and Edward Alleyn,
your Ma^** servantes.

" Wheras it pleassed your moste exselent Ma**«, after the death of Sir
John Dorington, to grant the o0e8 of M*" of your game of beares^ bullet
and doges, with the fee of xvj* per dium, unto Sir W". Steward, knight, at
which tyme the hbwse and beares being your Ma"«» pettitioners, but we
not licensed to bayte them, and Sir W" Steward refusynge to tacke them
at our handes upon any resonable termes, we weare therfore inforsed to bye
of hime the said office pastime and fee at a very highe ratte.

" And wheras in respecte of the great charge that the kepinge of the
saide game contenewally requirethe, and also the smalnes of the fee, in the
late quenes tyme fre libertie was permited with owt restrainte to bayght
them, which now is tacken away frome us, especiallye one the sondayes in
the after none after devine service, which was the cheffest meanes and
benyfite to the place ; and in the tyme of the sicknes we have bene re-
trayned many tymes one the workey dayes. Thes hinderances in gene-
ralle, with the losse of divers of thes beastes, as before the Kinge of Den-
marke> which loste a goodlye beare called Gorge Stone ; and at our laste
beinge before your Ma"« weare kylled iiij of our beaste beares, which in
your kingdom are not the licke to be hade, all which weare in valley worth
30" ; and also our ordenary charges amounteth yearly unto ijC" and beatter :
thes losses and charges are so heavey upon your pettitioners, that wheras
formerly we cowld have leatten it forth for 100" a yeare, now none will

76 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN.

tacke it gratis to beare the charges, which is your pore servantes undo-
inge, unles your M*** of your gratious clemensey have consideration of us.

*' Thes cawsses do iu forse us moste humblie to be come sewters to your
Ma*** in respecte of the premisies, and for that we have, ever sence your
gratious enterance into this kingdom, done your Ma*** service with all
dewtie and observance, it wold pleasse your Ma*** in your moste rialle
bowntie now so to releve us, as we maye be able to contenew our service
unto your Ma**® as hereto fore we have done, and to that eand to grant
unto us free libertie, as hath byun geaven us in the late quenes iyme, and
also in respecte *of our great and dayle charge, to ade unto our sayd fee
ij* viij<^, beinge never as yet incresed sence the firste fowndation of the
office.

'' And wheras ther ar divers vagrantes, and persones of losse and idell
liffe, that usalley wandreth throwgh the contreyes with beares and bulles
with owt any lycence, and for owght we know servinge no man, spoyl-
liiige and kyllinge doges for that game, so that your Ma*^ cane not be
served but by great charges to us, fetchinge them very fare, which is di-
rectly contrary to a statute made in that behallfe : for the restrayninge of
suche your Ma*** wold be pleassed, in your moste gratious favor, to renew
unto your pettitioners our pattyne, and to grant us and our deputies power
and atoritie to apprehend suche vagrantes, and to convent them before the
next Justice of pece, therto be bownd with suerties to forfet his said
beares and bulles to your Ma**** usse, yf he shalbe tacken to go a bowt
with any suche game, contrary to the lawes of this your Ma**** Realme,
and your pore servantes will dayle praye for your Ma***" longe and hapey
Rayne.

Another less authentic copy, in the hand- writing of some
scrivener, is also preserved at Dulwich, and it is printed in
*• Lysons* Environs," vol. i. p. 92. How far the petition was
successful on other points, we are without the means of know-
ing ; but from AUeyn's Diary we find, that he never received
more than iJ24 ^. Gd. per annum as his fee, after the death
of Henslowe, and when the office devolved into his sole hands.
While Henslowe was living, if they paid the £450 to Sir W-
Stuart in equal proportions, only half of this yearly fee would
belong to AUeyn.

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN. 77

CHAPTER IX.

AUeyn's Skill on the Lute — His Residence — Rebuilding of Paris Garden
in 1606 — Agreement with Peter Streete — Alleyn's first Acquisition of
Property at Dulwich — Bear-baiting in the Country — ^Annuity to Thomas
Towne, the Actor — Indenture between Heoslowe and Alleyn, and
Thomas Downton, as a Sharer at the Fortune.

Peoficiency in music, both vocal and instrumental, was
much more usual in the time of Elizabeth and James I., than
at present. The lute was commonly played upon, and one
proof, among many, is, that at that period and earlier, a lute,
a gittem, or a cittern, were ordinarily part of the furniture of
every barber's shop, in order that the customers, who were
waiting for their turn, might amuse themselves with it.
Alleyn was a performer upon the lute, (his " lute-books " are
mentioned in Henslowe's Letter, the 14th of August, 1593>
p. 30) and while in Sussex he, perhaps, became acquainted
with some members of the Pointz family, one of whom, from
the subsequent note, seems to have employed him when in
London, either to repair a lute, or to get it repaired. At the
conclusion it gives Alleyn's then address very particularly : —

" Good Mr Allen, delevir my lute unto this bearer, whoe will convaye it

unto me^ and looke what it comes two the mendinge, I shall not be longe

from London and then, god wilHuge, I will defraye it, with manie thanks,

and soe in bast doe rest.

" Your verie loveinge freinde,

" Jo. POYNTZ.

*' Woodhatche this

vjth. of marche 1605.

•' Mr. Allen dwells harde by the Clynke by the bank syde, neere Wyn-
chesterhowse, where you must deliver this note." •

• In AUeyn's Diary, from 1617 to 1622, are several entries of money
paid for lute-strings : when he died he left behind him " a lute, a pandora,
a cythern, and six vyols." He was fond of music, entertained singers at
his table, bought an organ for his chapel, and went to a considerable ex-
pense for a " music room.**

78 MEMOIRS OF EDWABD ALLETN.

The house in which AUeyn at this time resided was, pro-
bably, the same, for the extensive repair or construction of
which there is an account in Philip Henslowe's Diary. He
seems to have occupied it without intermission until he finally
removed to Dulwich, though there is some trace of his having
for a short time resided at Kensington.

How long prior to 1606 the building at Paris Garden had
been standing it is impossible now to decide; but it is not un-
likely that it was in great part reconstructed after the accident
on January 18th, 1583^ when five men and two women were
killed by the falling of the ^^old and underpropped** scaffolds.
(Hist, of Engl. Dram. Poetry and the Stage, iii., 882) . In
the three-and-twenty years between that catitstrophe and
1606, as the structure was principally of wood, no doubt it
would have become much decayed, and in 1606 (according
to the original instrument still existing at Dulwich College)
Henslowe and Alleyn entered into an agreement with Peter
Streete, the carpenter (who had built the Globe in 1598, and
the Fortune in 1699) for the rebuilding of Paris Garden. It
gives so minute and so particular an account of all that Streete
was to perform, that a most accurate notion may easily be
formed of the size, convenience, and even general appearance
of the fabric. Any artist of moderate skill could with facility
make drawings from it of the whole frontage towards the
Thames, as well as of most parts of the interior. The car-
penter's work was to cost only £65, or about £300 of our pre-
sent money, so that it could hardly be of the most finished kind,
nor in such a place and for such a purpose would it be required.
Though somewhat long, we cannot refrain from quoting the
whole of this curious document :-—

" Indorsed ' Peter Streetes covraaateb and bbnd fbr the buOdiDg of
the bearegarden.'

" This Indenture made the second day of June 1606, and in the yeres
of the raigne of our Soveraigne Lord, James by the grace of god Kinge of

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN. 79

England Fraunce and Ireland^ defender of the faithe &c the fowerth^ and of
Scotland the nyne and thirteth. Betwene Peter Streete^ cittizen and
carpenter of London on thone party, and Phillipp Henslowe and Edward
Alleyn^ of the parishe of St. Saviors in Southwark in the County of Surrey,
Esquiers, on thother party. Witnessethe that it is covenanted^ graunted
concluded and agreed by and betweene the said parties to theis presentes,
and the said Peter Streete (for the consideration hereunder specified) for
him and his executors and administrators covenanteth and graunteth to
and with the said Phillipp Henslowe and Edward Alley n and either of
them, their executors and assignes, by their presentes in manner and forme
following, as hereunder from article to article is specified and declared ; that
is to say : — That he the said Peter Streete, his executors administrators or
assignes, before the thirde day of September next comynge after the date
hereof, shall at his owne or their owne proper costes and charges, not only
take and pull downe for and to the use of the said Phillipp Henslowe and
Edward AUeyn their executors or assignes, so much of the tymber or
carpenters worke of the foreside of the messuage or tenemente called the
Beare garden, next the river of Thames in the parishe of St. Saviors afore-
saide, as conteyneth in lengthe from outside to outside fiftye and sixe feete
of assize, and in bridth from outside to outside sixeteene feete of assize ;
but also in steade and place thereof, before the saide thirde day of Sep-
tember, ait his or their like costes and charges, shall well sufficiently, and
workemanlike, make or erect sett up and Tully finishe one new frame for a
bowse, to conteyne in length from outside to outside fyftie and sixe feete of
assize, and in bridth from outside to outside sixteene foote of assize, which
frame shalbe made of good, new sufficient and sounde Tymber of oke, to be
fynished in all thinges as hereunder is mentioned ; that is to say : that the
saide frame shall conteyne in height two storyes and a halfe, the two whole
storyes of the same frame to be in height from flower to flower ten foote of
assize a peece, and the halfe story to be in height fower foote of assize, and
all the principall rafters of the same frame to be framed with crooked postea
and bolted with iron boltes thorough the rafters, which iron boltes are to be
provided at the costes and charges of the saide Peter Streete his executors
or assignes. And also shall make in the same frame throughout two flowers
with good and sufficient Joystes, the same flowers to be boarded throughout
with good and sounde deale boardes to be plained and closely laid and
shott All the principall looge upright postes of the saide frame to be nyne
ynches broade and seaven ynches thicke : and shall make in the same frame
three maine summers, that is to say in the uppermost story twoe summers,
and in the lower story one summer, every summer to be one foote square ;
all the brest summers to be eight ynches broade and seaven ynches thick.

80 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN.

The same frame to jetty over towardes the Thames one foote of assize.

And also shall make on the south side of the saide frame a sufficient staire

case^ with staires convenient to leade up into the uppermost romes of the

saide frame, with convenient dores out of the same staire case into every of

the romes adjoyninge thereunto, and in every rome of the same frame one

sufficient dore ; and also by the same staire case shall make and frame one

studdy, with a little rome over the same, which studdy is to jetty out from

the same frame fower foote of assize, and to extend in lengthe from the

saide staire case unto the place where the chimneyes are appoynted to be

sett, with a sufficient dore into either of the romes of the same studdy. And

the nether story of the same frame shall seperate and devide into fower

romes : that is to say, the first towardes the east to be for a tenemente, and

to conteyne in length from wall to wall thirteene foote of assize ; the next

rome to be for a gate rome, and to conteyne in length ten foote of assize ;

the third rome twenty foote of assize, and the fowerth westward thirteene

foote of assize. And the second story shall seperate into three romes, the

first, over the rome appoynted for a tenemente on the east end of the

said frame, to conteyne in length thirteene foote of assize, the midle rome

thirty foote of assize, and the third rome westward thirteene foote likewise

of assize. And the halfe story above to be divided into two romes, namely

over the said tenement thirteene foote, to be seperated from the rest of the

said frame, and the residue to be open in one rome only. And out of the

said frame towardes the Thames shall make twoe dores, and one faire paire

of gates with twoe wickettes proportionable. And also att either end of

the lower story of the same frame shall make one clere story windowe [to]

either of the same clere storyes, to be in height three foote of assize, and sixe

foote in length, and the middle rome of the same frame, conteyninge twenty

foote, to have a clere story windowe throughout of the height of the saide

former clere storyes : and in the second story of the same frame shall make

three splay windowes, every windowe to be sixe foote betweene the postes ;

and in the same second story shall make seaven clere story windowes,

every clere story to be three foote wide a peece, with one muUion in the

midest of every clere story ; and every of the same clere storyes to be three

foote and a halfe in depth. And over the foresaid gate shall make one

greete square windowe, to be in length ten foote of assize and to jetty over

from the said frame three foote of assize, standinge upon twoe carved

Satyres, the same windowe to be in wheight accordinge to the depth of the

story, and the same windowe to be framed with twoe endes with mullions

convenient ; and over the same windowe one piramen with three piramides,

the same frame to have fower gable endes towards the Thames, ,and upon

the top of every gable end one piramide^ and betweene every gable end ta

.' \

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLETN. 81

be left three foote for the fallinge of the water^ and in every gable end one
clere story» and backward over the gate of the same frame towardes the
south one gable end with a clere story therein^ and under the same gable
end backward in the second story one clere story windowe. And also in
that parcell of the saide frame as is appoynted for a tenement shall make
twoe paires of staires^ one over an other by the place where the chimneyes
are appoynted to be sett. And that he the saide PeterStreete^ his executors
administrators or assignes^ shall before the saide thirde day of September
next comynge after the date hereof fully fynishe the saide frame in and by
all thinges as aforesaid, and all other carpenters worke specified in a plott
made of the said frame^ subscribed by the saide Peter and by him delivered
to the said Phillipp Henslowe and Edward AUeyn, in such comely and
convenient manner and sorte as by the same plott is figured, without fraude
or covyn, and at his or their owne charges shall fynd all nayles to be used
in and aboute the carpenters worke of the same frame. For and in consi-
deration of which frame and worke to be made performed and fynisbed in
forme aforesaide, the saide Phillipp Henslowe and Edward Alleyn for them
and either of them, their executors and administrators, doe coveuaunte and
graunte to and with the saide Peter Streete, his executors and assignes, by
theis presentes, that they the saide Phillipp Henslowe and Edward Alleyn
or either of them, their executors or assignes, shall and will well and truly
paie or cause to be paide to the saide Peter Streete, his executors or as-
signes, at the now dwellinge bowse of the said Phillipp Henslowe in the
parishe of S** Saviors aforesaide, the some of threeskore and five powndes
of lawfull mony of England in manner and forme foUowinge, that is to say .
in hand at thensealinge hereof the some of (en powndes of lawfull mony of
England, the receipte whereof the saide Peter Streete doth acknowledge by
theis presentes ; upon the delivery of the saide frame at the Beare

garden aforesaid other ten powndes thereof, and when the same frame
shalbe fully and wholly raised twenty powndes thereof, and upon the full
fynishinge of the same frame in forme aforesaid twenty and five powndes
residue, and in full paymente of the saide some of threeskore and five
powndes. In witness whereof the saide parteis to theis present Indentures
interchaungeably have sett their handes and scales. Yeoven the day and

yeres first abo e written.

" Signum P. S.

'* Petri Streete.
'* Sealed and delivered in the pre-
sence of me Thomas Bolton Scr.
'* John Allyn."

By indorsements upon this agreement, we find that the first

payment of £10 was made on the day after its date ; and

6

8S MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN.

various other sums are subsequently entered, in Henslowe's hand-
writing, amounting, in the whole, to £50 10* ,8d. For the
remainder, we may conclude that a separate receipt was given
by Streete. The work was not completed until 9th January,
1606 — 7 ; but it included finishing the stables, sheds, a dormer,
and a kitchen. If it be true that, before 1602, when Dekker
in his *' Satiromastix" asserts that Ben Jonson had played
Zulziman at Paris Garden, dramatic performances had been
given there, it is singular that in the preceding document
nothing is said about adapting the building in some way to
such exhibitions. At a not long subsequent date Paris Garden
was re-modelled for the purpose.

Nobody has yet been able to fix the time when Alleyn first
began to acquire property in Dulwich, which property he after-
wards kept constantly increasing. It is, however, a fact esta-
blished by a bond, given jointly by himself and Henslowe,
dated as early as the 18th October, 1606, that he was then
*' Lord of the Manor of Dulwich ;" and he is therein so styled.
An unexecuted deed of sale of the manor, from Sir Francis
Calton to Alleyn, is preserved in the College, bearing date 2d
June, 1606; and doubtless the purchase was completed by
Alleyn in the autumn of that year. On the 4!th August, 1607,
we find him adding to his property there, by buying, for
j6410 10*., three tenements and twenty- two acres of land,
copyhold of the manor of Dulwich, and four acres and one
rood of freehold ground, from Ellis Parry, '^ citizen and
weaver." Parry had become possessed of them, by purchase,
from Sir Francis Calton, who was also Lord of the Manor of
Lewisham, which Alleyn subsequently acquired. The sub-
joined memorandum of agreement contains all the circum-
stances of the bargain with Parry.

"Vicesimo quarto die Augusti, 1607, Annoque R. Regis Jacobi
Anglie, &c quinto, et Scotie quadragisimo prime.

'* Memorandum the day and yere above written Ellis Parrey, citizen and
weaver of London, (for the consideration hereunder written) hath bargained

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN. 88

and solde unto Edward AUeyn Esquier three tenementes^ scituate and beinge
in Dulwich in the parishe of Camerwell in the County of Surrey^ now in the

severall tenures or occupations of John Lewes Kitchen and widdow

Ambler with all bames stables orchards^ gardens backsides and twoe and
twenty acres of land and pasture^ to the same three tenementes belonginge
or apperteyninge^ beinge coppy hold land holden of the mannor of Dulwich
aforesaide ; and also fower acres and one rood of land and pasture, beinge
freehould^ which the saide Ellis Parrey late purchased to him and his heires

of Sir Frauncis Calton now in the tenure of the saide Kitchen. Which

tenementes landes sfnd premisses the saide Ellis Parrey and his heires are
to surrender, convey and assure unto the said Edward Alleyn his heires
and assignes when and in such sorte and manner as he the saide Edward
or his heires shall devise and require, either at the nexte Courte to be
holden for the mannor of Dulwich, or sooner if it shall seeme good to the
saide Edward AUeyn his heires or assignes : for and in consideration of
which bargaine and sale, and assurance to be made thereof as aforesaid,
the said Edward Alleyn is to pay to the said Ellis Parrey the somme of
fower hundreth and ten powndes and ten shillinges in forme foUowinge,
that is to say ; two hundreth powndes on the nyne and twentith day of Sep-
tember next, ten powndes and ten shillinges thereof one moneth after,
which ten powndes and ten shillinges the said Edward is to receave of the
tennantes, viz of widdowe Ambler one whole yere att michaelmas next, and
of Lewes and Kitchen one halfe yeres rent : then, on the five and twentith
day of March next one hundredth powndes more, and on the xxiiij^ day of
June next one other hundreth powndes, residue and in full payment of the
said somme of CCCCX" x"* In witnes whereof the saide parties have here-
unto subscribed their names the day and yere above written.

" Signum E P Ellicij R Alleyn

Parrey
*' Subscribed in the presence of us

" Thomas Bolton Scr.

"Isaac. Thorp

i' Peter Reynolds

*' Mathias Allen."

The last witness to the preceding agreement, Mathias
Alleyn, was nephew to Edward Alleyn, and succeeded him as
Master of God's Gift or Dulwich College.

On a previous page it has been shewn, that Henslowe and
Alleyn, in their petition to the King, remonstrated against

62

84 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLETN.

the invasion of their exclusive privileges, as Masters of the Royal
Games, by unlicensed vagrants, who went about the country
with bears and dogs. The Masters claimed the right of
sending bearwards into the provinces, who accounted to them
for their receipts and expenditure j and among the MSS. at
Dulwich is a small memorandum book, kept by one of these
itinerant exhibitors in the summer of 1608, the blank leaves
at the end of which AUeyn subsequently applied to a diflFerent
purpose. At the commencement is written " Auguste 1608.
The be ginninge of the book ;" and it is kept most irregularly,
and obviously by a very ignorant accountant. The earliest
entry is this : —

*' Satterday the 27 of Auguste

8. d,

H. at Keinsintonn as wee went . . . x x "

By which we are to understand, that at starting they were
paid 10^. lOrf., probably by Alleyn himself; for there is
reason to suppose that at this date he had a temporary re-
sidence at Kensington. The bearwards. Borne and Bryant,
(for more than one man was employed to take charge of
the bears and dogs) from thence proceeded westward, and
it appears that on Sunday, at Colnbrook, they received 23*.,
and on Monday, at Maidenhead, 10*. Their expenses were
only " for breade for the beares 1«. 6rf.," and 2*. which they
were charged for lodging and for '' the yard," where doubt-
less the animals were exhibited. They '^ lay still" at Read-
ing, and at Salisbury spent 1*. 2rf. for ^' oil for the blynd
bare." They sometimes stopped at the houses of the nobility
and gentry, and one item runs as follows : —

** Tuesday at Sir John Traces.

s, d.
Some, gave us for bating before bim . . 7 4"

from which was to be deducted 7rf., which the bearwards
paid '' to the drummer for his drum." It is very difficult.

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN. 85

from the confused and illiterate manner in which the account
is kept^ to make out the balance upon these journeys ^ but in
one instance it is clearly stated as follows : —

" R. in the wboUe -

16 9

9

And dd. him to goe

6

16 14

9

liajdowt .

13 14

9

3

f>

the difference being the balance of profit to Henslowe and
Alley n on the expedition.

At the end of these accounts we come to a part of the book
where entries of a different kind are made. They relate to
an annuity of £12 per annum to a person of the name of
Thomas Towne (who had been a player with Alleyn in 1697),
the quarterly payments of which began on the 28th October,
1608, and were regularly continued until his death, which
must have happened befwe November 6th, 1612, when " the
widow Towne" received 20j. This annuity had been pur-
chased by Towne from Alleyn, as we find by the extant deed,
on the 20th October, 1608, for c£90 in money, and the sur-
render of some copyhold lands belonging to Towne. The
earliest receipt is this : —

" xxviij « die Octobris, 1608
'* Rd by me Thomas Towne, the day and yere abovewritten, of "1
Edward Alleyn Esquer, the somme of Three powndes of lawfall [
money of England for one quarters payment of the yerely Annuity i; ,„^
of Twelve powndes^ to me to be due att the feast of the birth of our f
Lord God now next ensuinge, according to a deed by him, the said I

Edward, made to me. I say receved J

** Thomas Towne."

This entry appears to have been drawn up by some scri-
vener, but later in the book, the receipts are written by
Alleyn, and subscribed by Towne.

86 MEMOIRS OF EDWABD ALLEYN.

The name of Downton (or Dowton^ as it is sometimes
written) first occurs as a player at the time when Henry
Prince of Wales adopted the theatrical servants of the Earl
of Nottingham, in 1603.* AUeyn was undoubtedly looked
upon as the leader and master of the company, and, as has
been observed, he is not in the list of the members contained in
Prince Henry 's Household Book (MS. Harl. 262) 5 but Down-
ton's name there immediately follows that of Towne, so that
we may infer that they were both distinguished performers.
In 1608 Henslowe and Alleyn appear to have been anxious
to secure Downton's services permanently at the Fortune,
and for that purpose an '' indenture" was drawn up, which
is the oldest precedent of the kind on record. A copy of it,
ready for execution, is among Alleyn's papers; but excepting
the year it has no date, and is without signatures. We may
suppose, therefore, that for some reason, not explained, the
design of the parties was never accomplished. It stipulates
that Downton was to receive a thirty-second share of the
profits of all dramatic representations at the Fortune for thir-
teen years, on condition that he paid £9!] 10*. down, and 10*.
annually 5 and he, on his part, agreed to perform constantiy
at the Fortune, and in no other '* common playhouse,"
erected or to be erected in London, or within two miles of
it. In fact, he thus became a considerable sharer in the
theatre, and we insert the document at length, on account
of the light it throws upon the relations of manager and
actor at the time.

** This Indenture made the day of 1608, and in the

yere of the raigne of our soveraigne Lord, James, by the grace of God

* Although Downton's name does not occur in any list of players ante-
rior to 1603, there is every probability that he had been an actor under
Henslowe and Aileyn in 1599, if not earlier. In that year also we find
him joining with William Bird and William Juby, two other actors, to
write a play, called '* The lamentable Tragedy of Page of Pljrmouth," or
^' Peg of Plymouth," as Malone misprints it. (Shakesp. by Bosw. iii. 323.)

MEMOIRS OF EDWABD ALLBYN. 87

king of England^ Fraunce and Ireland^ defender of the faith &c. the sixt
and of Scotland the two and fortith. Betweene Phillipp Henslowe and
Edward Alleyn of the parishe of S'. Saviors in Southwark m the County
of Surrey, Esquiors, on Ihone party e, and Thomas Downton of the parishe
of S^ Gyles without Criplegate London, gentleman, on th'other partye.
Witnesseth that the said Phillipp Henslowe and Edward Alleyn (for and
ineonsideration of the somme of twenty and seaven pownds and ten shil-
linges of lawfuU mony of England to them in hand, att or before thenseal-
inge hereof, by the saide Thomas Downton paid, whereof and wherewith
they the saide Phillipp Henslowe and Edward Alleyn doe acknowledge
themselves well and truly contented satisfied and paid^) by theis pre-
sentes have demised, leased and to farme letten, and by these presentes
doe demise lease and to farme lett unto the saide Thomas Downton^ one
eight parte of a fowerth parte of all such clere gaynes in mony as shall
hereafter, duringe the terme hereunder demised, arrise growe accrew or
become due or properly belong unto the saide Phillipp Henslowe and Ed-
ward Alleyn or either of them, their or either of their executors or assignes,
for or by reason of any stage play inge or other exercise comoditie or use
whatsoever, used or to be used or exercised within the play bowse of the
saide Phillipp Henslow and Edward Alleyn commonly called the Fortune,
scituate and beinge betweene Whitcrosse streete and Golding lane in the
parishe of S' Gyles without Criplegate, London, in the county of Midd.
And the saide eighte parte of a fowerth parte of all the saide clere-
gaynes properly belouginge to the saide Phillipp Henslowe and Edward
Alleyn, to be paid by the saide Phillipp Henslowe and Edward Alleyn or
one of them, their or one of their executors or assignes, unto the said
Thomas Downton or his assignes every day that any play or other exercise
shall be acted or exercised in the play bowse aforesaide, upon the sharinge
of the raonyes gathered and gotten att every of the same playes and exer-
cises, as heretofore hath byn used and accustomed. To have and to houlde
and receave the saide eight parte of a fowerth parte of the saide clere
gaynes to be gotten by playinge or by any other exercise whatsoever, and
to be paide in manner and forme aforesaid unto the saide Thomas Downton^
his executors and assignes, from the feast of SK Michaell Tharchangell last
past before the date hereof, unto thend and terme of thirteene yeres from
thence next ensuinge and fully to be compleate and ended, in as full large
ample and beneficiall manner and forme to all intentes, constructions and
purposes as they the saide Phillipp Henslowe and Edward Alleyn, or either
of them or the executors or assignes of them or either of them, might should
or ought to have had held and enjoyed received and taken the same as
aforesaide, if this present Indenture had never beene had nor made. Yeald-

88 MEMOIRS OP EDWARD ALLETN.

iflge and prayinge therefore yerely duringe the said terme unto the saide
Phillipp Henslow and Edward Alleyn, their heires executors or assignee,
att the saide playe howse called the Fortune, ten shillinges of lawfull raony
of England att fower feastes or termes of tbe yere (that is to say) att the
feastes of the hirth of our lord god, thannunciation of our lady, the nativity
of St. John Baptist and St. Michaell Tharchangell, or within fowerteene
dtiyes next easuinge every of the same feast dayes, by even portions. And
the saide Thomas Downton for him his executors and administrators doth
eovenante and graunte taand with the saide Phillipp Henslowe and Edward
Alleyn and either of them, their and either of their heires executors and
assignes^by theis.presentes in manner and forme followinge (that is to say)
I'hat the saide Thomas Downton, his executors administrators or assignee,
shall att bis or their owne )>roper costes and charges beare and discharge
one equall eigbte parte of a fowerth parte of all such necessary and needfuH
charges as shalbe bestowed or layed forth in the new bnildinge or repairinge of
the saide play bowse duringe the saide terme of thirteene yeres without any
fraud or covyn. And that he the saide Thomas Downton shall not att any
tyme hereafter duringe the saide terme give over the faculty or quality of
playinge, but shall in his owne person exercise the same to the best and
most benefitt he can within the play bowse aforesaide^ duringe the tyme
aforesaide^ unles he shalbe come unhable, by reason of sicknes or any other
infirmity^ or unles it be with the eonsent of the saide Phillipp Henslowe and
Edward Alleyn or either of them, their executors or assignes. And that he
the saide Thomas Downton shall not att any tyme hereafter, duringe the
saide terme of thirteene yeres, play or exercise the facultye of stage play-
inge in any common play bowse now erected or hereafter to be erected
within the saide cittye of London or twoe myles compasse thereof, other
then in the saide play bowse called the Fortune, without the speciall Kcence
will consent and agreement of the saide Phillipp Henslowe and Edward
Alleyn or one of them, their or one of their heires executors or assignes, first
therefore had and obteyned in wrytinge under their handes and scales.
And that the saide Thon^is Downton shall not att any tyme hereafter
duringe the saide terme give graunte bargaiue sell or otherwise doe away
or departe with the saide eight parte of a fowerth parte of the saide clere
gaynes before demised, nor any parcell thereof, to any person or persons
whatsoever without the consent licence will and agreement of them the said
Phillipp Henslowe and Edward Alleyn or either of them^ their or either of
their heires executors administrators or assignes, first therefore had and
obteyned in wrytinge under their handes and scales for the same as afore-
saide • • • • Phillipp Henslowe and Edward Alleyn for
them and either of them, their and either of their heires executors and

MEMOIBS OF EDWARD ALLETN. 89

admhiistratcH's, doe coTenante atid graunte to and with the saide Thomas
DowntoD^ his executors and assignes^ by theis presentes that he the saide
Thomas Downton, his executors and assignes (payinge the saide yerely
rent of ten shillinges in forme aforesaide^ and performinge all other the
covenantes^ grauntes articles and agreementes abovesaide on his and their
partes performed) shall or may^ duringe the saide terme of thirteene yeres
have hold receave and injoye the saide eight parte of a fowerth parte of all
the saide clere gaynes to be gotten by playinge or any other exercise as
aforesaide^ in manner and forme aforesaide, accordiuge to the true intent
and meaninge of theis presentes without the lette, trouble^ molestation,
deniall, or interruption of the saide Philiipp Henslowe and Edward Aileyn
or either of them, their or either of their heires or assignes, or of any other
person or persons by their either or any of their meanes righte tytle interest
or procuremente. Provided alwaies that if it shall happen the saide yerely
rent of ten shillinges or any parcell thereof to be bebinde and unpaide, in
parte or in all, by the saide space of fowerteene dayes next over or after
any feast day of paymente thereof above saide, in which the same ought to
be paide (beinge lawfully demaunded at the place aforesaide) or if the saide
Thomas Downton, his executors adminbtrators or assignes or any of them,
doe infrindge or breake any of the covenantes, grauntes articles or agree-
mentes abovesaide on his or their partes to be performed, contrary to the
tennore and true meaninge of theis presentes, that then and frcMn thence-
forth this present lease demise and graunt, and every covenante graunt and
article herein conteyned on the parte and behalfe of the said Philiipp and
Edward or either of them, their or either of their heires executors or assignes,
from henceforth to be performed, shalbe utterly void frustrate and of none
effect to all intentes constructions and purposes, any thinge herein eon-
teyned to the contrary thereof in any wise notwitbstanding& In witnes
whereof the said partyes to theis present Indentures sunderly have sett
their bandes and seales. Yeoven the day and yere first above written.*'

Downton's value might be increased by the feiet, that he
could upon occasion put pen to paper for the production of a
play. He continued on the stage, at all events, until 1615^
when he was summoned befwe the privy council (Hist, of
Engh Dram. Poetry and the Stage, i. 896), so that his pre-
mature death did not prevent the execution of the agreement
above inserted.

90 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN.

CHAPTER X.

Shakespeare an Inhabitant of South wark in 1609, and rated to the Poor —
Alleyn Churchwarden for the Liberty of the Clink in 1610 — Immorality
of the Liberty — Alley ne*s Loans to Sir Francis Calton — Letter to him
from Sir Francis Calton — Alley n's final Retirement from the Stage —
Disputes with Country Magistrates respecting Bear-wards — Letters
from the Earl of Suffolk, Thomas Dutton, Thomas Brooke, and Sir
Anthony Cooke, on the same subject.

In his " Inquiry/' (p. 215), Malone observes : ** From a
paper now before me, which formerly belonged to Edward
Alleyn, the player, our poet (Shakespeare) appears to have
lived in Southwark, near the Bear Garden, in 1596. Another
curious document in my possession, which will be produced in
the History of his Life, aflFords the strongest presumptive evi-
dence that he continued to reside in Southwark to the year
1608." The papers at Dulwich go farther than this : they
may be scud to establish that Shakespeare was living in South-
wark in 1609, * for in a document indorsed, " 1609. The
Estate of the poores booke, the 8 of Aprill, for the Clinke,'* it
is stated that he was rated as an *' inhabitant" at 6rf. per week.
Thus we also see that he then resided within what was called
the Liberty of the Clink, Henslowe being in that year church-
warden, and receiving the *' brief note" of assessments from
Francis Carter, one of the late overseers. The account is
divided into three compartments, the names in each compart-
ment, most likely, being those of the inhabitants of a particular
district of the Liberty. *' Mr, Shakespeare" stands at the head
of the list to which he belongs, and as he is rated at the

* It is not unlikely that Malone may have erred in the date he has
^ven, 1608, and that he in fact alluded to the document now under con-
sideration, which belongs to the year 1609. It was one of the miscel-
laneous documents restored to Dulwich College by Mr. Boswell after the
sale of Malone's books.

MKMOIBS OF EDWARD ALLETN.

91

highest sum paid by any body, we are warranted in con-
cluding that he lived at that time in as good a house as any of
his neighbours : Henslowe, AUeyn, Shakespeare, Collins, and
Burrett, are the only persons rated as high as 6d. The paper
is in this form : —

4e

A breif noat taken out of the poores booke, contayning the names of
all thenhabitantes of this Liberty w9!* arre rated and assesed to a
weekely paimUowardes the relief of the poore. As it standes now
encreased, this 6th day of Aprill 1609. Delivered up to Phillip
Henslowe Esquior, churchwarden, by Francis Carter, one of the
late Ovreseers of the same Liberty.

€€

Phillip Henslowe esquior assesed at weekel

y

Tjrf

Ed AUeyn assesed at weekely

vjJ

The Ladye Buckley, weekly

Mij d

Mr Cole ....

• ••• «

luja

Mr Lee

* • 1

mja

Mrs Cannon

u]d

Mrs White

iija

Mr Langworthe

11} d

Mr BenBeld

11} d

Mr Corden

ii}d

Mr Chauncye

iija

Mrs Sparrowhauke

ijrf

Mr Mason

ijrf

Mr Watfoord

ijrf

Mr Badger

ijrf

Mr Heynes

ijrf

Mr Dauson

ijrf

Mr Hovell

ijrf

Mr Griffin

ijJ

Mr Toppin

ijrf

Mr Cevis .

ijrf

Mr Lyman

ijrf

Mr Louens

ijrf

Mr Simpson

ijrf

Mr Maynard

ijrf

Mr Burkett

ijrf

Francis Carter

ijrf

Mr Stock for halfe the park

e

ijrf

92

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYX.

Huigke RobbinsoQ for halfe the parke

ijV

Mr Carre ..*•••

ijd

Gilbert Catheren* . . • .

ijcf

Mr Shakespeare ......

V}d

Mr Edw. Ck)llin8 .....

yjd

John Burrett ......

\]d

Roger Johnes ......

ijfi^ob

Mychaell Elsmoore • . . . .

ijdoh

Mr Toune ......

ij d ob

Mr Jubye ......

jrfob

Mr Mansfeild ......

jrfob

John DodsoD ......

jrfob

Richard Smith ......

}doh

Richard Hnnt . . .

ydoh

Simon Bird ......

jrfob

Peter Nasam ......

jrfob

Jeames Kiddon ......

jrfob

ThoStoakes ......

jdoh

John Facye ......

j Job

Phillip Phflcoks

id oh

Wm Stevens ......

}doh

Mr Grodfrey Richards for the long slip of ground

ydoh

Mr Coggen weekly ....

}d

Ferdynando Moses ....

jrf

Edw. NevcU ......

jrf

John Bacon .....

id

Mrs DarisoD • .

id

Rafe Trott .....

id

John Judkin .....

i rf."

Of the preceding names Alleyn, Lee, Benfield, Louens (or
Lowins), Towne, Jubye, Hunt, and Bird, were players, not
including Shakespeare, who had then quitted the stage, nor
Henslowe, who, as far as we know, had never trodden it.
Considering that so many inhabitants are enumerated^ and
that the Globe, Rose, Hope, and Swan Theatres, and Paris
Garden were so near, it is perhaps strange that so few actors
are contained in this list; but several of those mentioned

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN« 9S

were rated at only a penny per week, and others of a still
lower grade in the profession were, no doubt, not rated at all.
Besides, many might live in parts of Southwark beyond the
limits of the Liberty of the Clink, or indeed in other parts of
the metropolis ; R. Burbage, for instance, lived in Shoreditch,
In the next year, 1610, Alleyn was churchwarden; and
John Lee, the sideman, seems to have been very sedulous in
bringing under his notice the disorderly persons and houses
within the district. These steps may have been taken at
Alleyn's instigation ; for, player as he was, or had been, he
always seems to have borne the best private character, and
to have given no encouragement to the immorality which
prevailed in the vicinity of theatres, and for which the Bank-
side had been long notorious. * Among his papers is found
the subsequent presentment to him, with a view that in his
official capacity of churchwarden he should institute ulterior
proceedings to punish the delinquents, and to correct the evil.

The 29th of May 1610
I John Lee, being Sklman of the liberty of the Clinke, present
theise persons unto the Church warden, Mr Allenn Esquire.

** Imprimis. In Robert Tukes house was found one Elizabeth Ayliefe,
supposed to be with child, and is reported to live there at her own
handes.

One Henery Jones and his wife was dwelling in father Powell's
house, whoe weare thought to live losely together before mariage.
And alsoe for receving one Elizabeth Williams into his house, whoe
was there brought a bed.

■ kepinge a common house of dicing and bouling,and for
suffering of the same in time of devine service, and is forwarned of
the same

John Noble, for disorder in his bouling Ally, is in like sort for
warned of the same.

• See note to p. 12 of William Rowley's ** Search for Money," reprinted
by the Percy Society, where a curious passage is quoted from " Cock
Lorells Bote," printed by Wynkyn de Worde about 1606.

94 HBMOIBS OF EDWARD ALLEYN.

William King and Sisly his wife are thought fitt to be presented
for kepinge of a house suspected for bauderies^ and allsoe for
keping Margrett Tomkins and Elizabeth Gaunt^ the first a suspi-
tious person.

John Roades and Agnes his wife suspected for baudery.

Hall Watty and his wife for harboring of Isabell Lawes^ a woeman
big with [def. in MS.] and for keping Alise Blackden and Susan
Darking • • maides at theire owne handes."

Upon the back of this paper AUeyn made various memo-
randa, not at all relating to the subject, but to the purchase or
sale of hay, straw, wheat, barley, &e. ; for we are to recollect
that he had been for some time lord of the manor of Dulwich,
and a considerable landed proprietor there. The extant letters
and notes from Sir Francis Calton to AUeyn requesting loans
of money are numerous, and year after year the knight seems
to have grown poorer and more importunate, until at last he
was obhged to sell his estate, and the lordships of both his
manors of Dulwich and Lewisham. Wliat follows is one of
the communications of Sir Francis Calton ; but it is evident,
from the tenor of it, that it was by no means the first of its
kind. In the present instance he had a design of advanta-
geously marrying his daughter, if AUeyn would consent to ad-
vance him £950y required by his intended son-in-law, who^had
hopes of being appointed one of the Physicians to the Queen.

** To ray very good frend Edward Allen Esqr. these be dd.

'* Mr Allen, there is one Doctor Mollyers, a phisition with whom for
good reasons I have a purpose to match my seconde daughter, and the
reason why it hath not yet taken effecte is bycause his demaundes did still
exceede my habilitie, howebeit hes is now contente to accepte of my offer,
so as he maye be assured to have 250 li against the 24 of this presente
monethe, meanes to doe which yow knowe 1 have none yet, but by your
selfe, whom I very hartelye requeste to stedde me herein. The cause both
of this my shorte warninge to yow and his sodaine agreemente with
mee is for that he bathe a very good confidence to have [def. in MS.]
Doctor Martins place, who died sodainlye the laste Sondaye nighte : hee
was Phisition to the Queene. Wherefore nowe presentlye to fumishe him

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD 4LLETN. 95

coavenientlye as wilbe fittinge^ and happelye to bestowe som gratuities, for
both yow and I knowe that places in Courte fall not into mens mouthes for
gapinge, he is contente to abate 100 li of what he hathe hitherto insisted
upon. Nowe, for somuch as the matter fallethe oute bothe to my ease of
charge and the hopefull preferment of my childe, I make no doubte but that
yow will advaunce your best meanes to fulBU my desyre ; and the rather
for that before that daye, the fyve yeares wilbe fuUye accomplished for your
securities which wilbe even as good as Bfteene. Thus hopinge yow will
have a due consideration hereof^ with a disposition awnswerable to them-
portance of the busines^ I harteiye commende me to yow and your good
wyfe, expectinge your resolution in wrytinge either by this bearer or som
other> for the which I comitte yow to God. In haste this 9 of Maye 1611.

*^ Your verye frend,

*' Fran. Calton."

What is here said about AUeyn's ** security," and the '* five
years" which were to expire, is not very intelligible, but it
cannot be doubted that in May 1611 he was considerably in
advance to Sir Francis Calton beyond the price AUeyn paid
for the manor of Dulwich, which we find from other documents
had been in possession of Caltotfs family since the reign of
Henry VIII. and the dissolution of the monasteries.

There is one point upon which we are without distinct evi-
dence derived from any quarter : the MSS. at Dulwich, in-
cluding Henslowe's Diary, are all silent regarding it — we mean
the date when Alleyn finally quitted the stage. He had be-
come lord of the manor of Dulwich in 1606, and we might
be led to conjecture that he had retired from the profession,
as an actor, even at that comparatively early date. Sup--
posing him to have commenced in 1580, when he would
be in his fourteenth year (and Fuller says that he was bred
to the stage) he would have been more than a quarter of
a century on the boards in 1606. Shakespeare had seceded
entirely as a performer for about two years, and Alleyn might
wish to follow his example, as soon as he could do so with
a due regard to his interests. He had always been an ap-
plauded and popular actor; and independently of his own

96 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLETN.

disposition, Henslowe had constantly been a pattern to him of
worldly prudence, so that Alleyn had no doubt made consider-
able savings even before James I. ascended the throne. Though
generous and charitable, * he was careful and frugal, and seems
to have indulged in no luxuries for mere selfish gratification.
In these views he was seconded by his excellent wife, who, as
fieur as we have the means of judging, was watchful and eco-
nomical, and was always regarded by her husband with respect
and affection.

From the year 159^, to the date to which we are now
adverting, Alleyn had been joint owner with Henslowe at least
in two theatres, the Rose and the Fortune ; and the exhibitions
at Paris Garden, notwithstanding what may occasionally appear

* His fellow-actors constantly made appeals to him, and not in vain.
Malone found and printed, though, as usual, far from accurately, the sub-
sequent letter from an actor of the name of Richard Jones to Alleyn : it is
without date, hut it was no doubt prior to 1600. There was another actor
of the name of Richard Jones in 1633, and possibly he was the son of the
writer of the following.

*' Mr Allen I commend my love and humble duty to you, geving you
ihankes for your great bounty bestned upon me in my sicknes, when I was
in great want : god blese you for it. Sir, this it is : I am to go over beyond
the seas with Mr browne and the company, but not by his meanes, for he is
put to half a shaer, and to stay hear^ for they a r all against his going: now,
good Sir, as you have ever byne my worthie frend, so helpe me nowe. I
have a sut of clothes and a cloke at pane for three pound, and if it shall
pleas you to lend me so much to release them, I shall be bound to pray for
you so longe as I leve ; for if I go over and have no clothes, I shall not be
esteemed of, and by gods help the first mony that T get I will send it over
unto you, for hear I get nothinge: some tymes T have a shillinge a day,
and some tymes nothinge, so that I leve in great poverty hear, and so
humbly take my leave praeinge to god, I and my wiffe, for your health and
mistris allenes, which god continew.

^ Your poor frend to command

" Richard Jones."

[t would be easy to multiply proofs of the same kind, and some of them
will necessarily be noticed hereafter.

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN. 97

to the contrary, must have been to both a productive source of
emolument.

It may be doubted whethdf^AUeyn ever really liked his pro-
fession, and, as has already been remarked^ Henslowe^s Letters,
as well as his Diary, show that in 1598 he withdrew, for a
time, at least, from its more ostensible and public duties. The
question is^ how long he continued them after he had been
prevailed upon to resume them, and it is a question which we
have no means of determining satisfactorily. The later portion
of his life presents a singular contrast to the earlier portion of
it, and there is every ground for believing that after he with-
drew from public life, he gave way to the natural bent of his
disposition. On the death of Henslowe (which, we shall find,
occurred in the beginning of 1616) and of Agnes Henslowe, his
widow, in the year following, AUeyn succeeded, if not to the
whole, to the greater part of the property in the Rose, the
Fortune, and Paris Garden.^ Besides the houses, &c. he had
derived from his own father, he had also acquired other
valuable theatrical property, (of which we shall speak in its
place) and, although this acquisition did not occur until 1612,
there is good ground for concluding that for some years
before that date he was in such easy circumstances as to
require no addition to his income from his own personal ap-
pearance and exertions on the stage.

Whatever date we may be disposed to assign to Alleyn's
retirement, there is proof that in 1611 he ceased in a con-

• The following receipt, dated about the period of which we are now
speaking, relates to his leasehold property on the Bankside, which he held
under Lord Montague.

"R. the XXV***. day of October 1611 of Mr. Edwarde Allen Esquier, for
one halfe yeares rent of bis bowse and wharfe within the Cloose of St.
Maryoveries, dewe to the Ryghte Honnorable Antony Lorde Viscounte
Monntague, att the feast of S^ Mycbaell Tbarcbaungell last past, the some
of fiftye shillings of lawfull Englisbe money : I say R. 1. s.

" Per me Mathewe Woodwarde."

H

98 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLETN.

siderable degree to interfere with the management of the
theatres, in which he had with Henslowe a pecuniary interest.
Henceforward we shall see that he left the control of the com-
pany or companies very much to Henslowe, and the earliest
piece of evidence on the point is the following bond entered
into between Henslowe and the players of Prince Henry, for
the fulfilment of certain articles which have not survived.
Nothing is said in it of Alleyn, although, at a posterior date
and in one instance, he was called upon by the association to
interpose in their favour against a person of whose proceedings
they had reason to complain. The date of the subjoined in-
strument is ascertained from the Latin form by which it is
preceded to be the 29th of August, 1611 : —

" The condition of this obligation is suche that if the within bound John
Townsend, William Barksted, Joseph Taylor, Giles Cary« Robert
Hamlytt, Thomas Hunte, Joseph Moore, John Rice, William Carpenter,
Thomas Basse, and Alexander Foster, their executors administrators and
assignes, and each and every of them, doe for their and every of their partes
well and trulie hould obserye, paie, performe, fulfill and keepe all and every
the covenantes, grauntes, articles, paymentes and agreementes which on
their and each and every of their partes are or ought to be houlden,
observed, perfourmed, paid, fulfilled and kepte, mentioned and contayned in
certen Articles indented bearinge the date within written, made betweene
the within named Phillipp Henslowe on thone parte, and the parties above-
mentioned on thother partes, and that in and by all thioges according to
the tenor effect purport and true meaning of the same Articles in every
respect, that then this present obligation to be void and of none effect, or
elles to remayne in full force and vertue.

'* John Townsend

'* Will. Barksted

" Joseph Taylor

" William Eccleston

*' GiLLES Gary

" Thomas Hdnt

'* John Rice

" RoBT. Hamlett

" Will. Carpenter

"Thomas Basse

*' Joseph Moore

" Alexander Foster."

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN. 99

But although AUeyn might cease to take a prominent part
in the management of the companies of players in whose
receipts he still had an interest, he was compelled by virtue of
the office of Master of the Games, which he filled jointly with
Henslowe, to superintend the affairs of the Bear Garden. We
have seen that under the patent to Henslowe and AUeyn, after
they had bought the office of Sir W. Stuart, they were autho-
rized " to take up '* any bears, bulls, or dogs, in any part of
the kingdom for the service of his majesty, on payment of
what might be considered a reasonable price. For this purpose
they had granted a license to a person of the name of Bryan
Bradley, but, as he was unable to discharge the duty alone,
Henslowe and Alleyn, by the following instrument dated the
18th of April, 161S, under their hands . and seals, sent two
others named Morgan and Tyler to his assistance. Why
assistance in this particular instance became necessary we shall
see presently : —

" Whereas .wee Phillipp Henslowe Esquier^ one of the Sewers of his
highnes Chamber^ and Edward Alleyn Esquier^ servant to the highe and
mightie Prince of Wales^ Cheif M*^. Rulers and Overseers of his Mau<» game
of Beares Bulls and dogges^ have deputed lycensed and authorised our
servant Bryan Bradley to take upp and provide for his highnes Beares,
Bulls and Dogges^ whersoever the same shall or may be founds as by our
deputation to that effect made at larg appeareth. And forasmuch as our
saide servant is not of him self able and suflScient to take upp keepe and
provide suche dogges as shalbe taken and thought fitt for his Ma**^ saide
game, wee have therefore sent our servantes John Morgan and Richard
Tyler, the Bearers hereof, to be aiding and asisting unto him in the execu-
tion of the premisses, that by their asistance his highnes said service may
be the better effected. Wherefore wee, the said Phillipp Henslowe and
Edward Alleyn, according to the tenor of his highnes Letters Pattents to
us graunted, and by force and vertue of the power and authority therby to
us given, doe will and requier all his Ma^' officers and loving subjectes
to be aiding and asisting unto our saide servantes in the execution of the
premisses, and to permitt and suffer them quietly to passe and repasse to
and from any place or places whatsoever about his Ma^«* saide service
without any your lett or interruption, behaving them selves well and
honestly as wee trust they will. In witnes whereof wee the said Phillipp

H 2

100 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN.

Henslowe and Edward Alleyn have hereunto sett our handes and seales.
Yeoven the Eighteenth dale of Aprill 1612^ and in the tenth yeare of the
Raigne of our soveraigne Lord King James &c.

"Phillippe Henslowe " Ed. Alleyn

(L.S.) CL.S.)

'' Sealed and siihscribed by the above
named Phillipp Henslowe and
Edward Alleyn in the presence of

*' Thomas Mason Scrivener."

We can have no hesitation in believing that persons like
Bradley, Morgan, and Tyler, sent down from the Bear Garden
into distant parts of the country, to seize upon any dogs they
pleased, under pretext that they were required for the king's
service, often exercised the power entrusted to them in a most
arbitrary and unwarrantable manner. We cannot wonder,
therefore, that they sometimes met with strong resistance, and
it was owing to some opposition of the kind, particularly in
appropriating to themselves a dog belonging to a Mr. Venables,
a gentleman of Cheshire, that the assistance of Morgan and
Tyler was considered necessary by Henslowe and Alleyn.
Even then the dog-deputies from Paris Garden were unable to
accomplish their object, and it appears from the subsequent
communication, that Henslowe solicited the interposition of the
Lord Chamberlain, the Earl of SuflFolk, in his behalf : —

" To my lovinge freindes Thomas Dutton, John Ireland, Thomas Brooke,
Edward Stanley, Thomas Marbery, and John Ashton esquiers. Justices of
the peace in the Counties of Chester and Lancaster, or to any fower or two
of them, these.

'' After my hartie eomendations. I have bene informed by Mr. Phillipp
Henslowe, one of the Maisters of the game of Beares Bulls and Mastiffe
dogges by pattent from his Ma^, that his deputies and servants have bene
very much abused in the execution of his Comission for taking up of dogges
in Lancashire and Cheshire. Forasmuch as he is an officer under my
chardge, and his place under my direction for his Ma^ sport, so long as his
servants do not misbehave themselves I most and will see their wronges
redressed ; and at this tyme did purpose, though the waye be farr, to send
for the offendors by pursevant and to punishe them here above ; but under-

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN. 101

standing that you are gent, judicious and discreete in the admynistration

of Justice in those places you hold^ I have thought good to recomend the

examination^ punishement of the offendors^ and redresse of the wronges

comitted unto yow, as in your discretions yow shall thinke fitt and finde

cause. The names of the principalis that have repugned the comission^ and

abused and beaten the servants^ as I understand^ were theis:— ^One

Lathome, Richard Penketh of Penketh^ Richard Massy his servant, and

Raph Barnes of Warrington. By thexamination of these yow shall finde

the rest^ and I pray you take such a corse as to equitie and justice shall

apperteyne^ that there may be no further cause of complaint in that behalf.

And so I rest

*' Your loving freind^

** T. SUFFOLEE.

" Whitehall xiij*^ of July 1613."

The delivery of the above was entrusted to Bryan Bradley
and Thomas Bradford (whose name now appears for the first
time in the transaction), as deputies to Henslowe and Alleyn:
they placed it in the hands of the magistrates to whom it
was addressed, and the reply of the magistrates, which is
subjoined from the original, evinces no great willingness on
their part to support the authority of the agents of the Mas-
ters of the King's Games ; particularly as Mr. Venables, in
spite of the Great Seal which was appended to the deputation
of Bradley and Bradford, had charged them with felony in
stealing his dog, and had threatened to prosecute them at
the assizes for the theft.

" To the Right Ho. our verie good Lord, the Earle of Suffolke, Lord
Chamberlayn to his Ma^^-

** Right Ho : having seen your Lpp lettre by the delyverie of Bryan
Bradley and Thoms Bradford, deputies, as appeires unto us, under M'
Henslow and M' Allen, Maisters of the game for Beares, Bulls and
Dogges, wee shall endeavour our selves to accomplish your Honors request,
although hitherto wee have not much delt therin, for that all the parties
offendors named in your Lps lettre dwell in Lankashire, and must be pro-
ceaded withall before we can well deale with anie other. And withall we
have been hindered by accydent of taking a dog from M' John Venables
of Agdon in this county, who hath brought the takers (the said deputies)
before us and will, as he aflSrmeth, prosecute them for felonie for taking

lOS MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN.

bis dog, and did importune us to have bound them over to aunswere at our
next assizes for Chester, which doth comenee the xx^ of September next.
But wee^ seeing the greate Seale of England and their deputations^ nei*
ther of which wee are willing to ^qnestyon or withstand, have only taken
thexamination of some witnesses produced vppon M'Venables behalfe,
whereof wee have sent your Ho. true copies, and (to our understandings
conceiving noe such misdemeanour) have gyven our promis that the par-
ties shalbe readie at thassizes to aunswere what M' Yenables shall then
object against them : wherein wee humbly pray your Honors consideration,
and that they may be presente with their deputation and lettres patentes
already shewed unto us (with your Lps further directions if so it seeme
good to yow) to justifie before the Judges of thassizes what they have
donne. And soe wee shalbe excused for our proceadings herin. Thus
craving pardon for our boldnes, we take leave and rest

*' Your Honors ever ready,

** Tho. Dutton
*' Dutton 17* Auguste 1613;" ** Tho« Brooke.

The following letter from Sir Anthony Cooke appears to
refer to a somewhat similar transaction in a different part of
the kingdom. It is, like the others, preserved at Dulwieh
College, and, doubtless, came into Alleyn's hands from the
Lord Chamberlain : —

*' To the right hon. the Earle of Suffolke, Lorde Chamberlayne
to his Ma**% and one of his Highnesse moste honorable
pryvey Counsayle att Coitfte, give these.

*' Righte Honorable and my verye good Lorde &e.
'* Your Honors letter, sente me this presente morninge by one John
Skales, keeper of the beere garden, 1 have receyved, whereby I perceyve
your Honor hath receyved a verye synister and unjust information agajrnst
me, conseminge the staye of certeyne persones, who have sundrye wayes
mysbehaved them selves within this place, both in the manner and in th6
matter, as also in particular abuse to my selfe (which I doe least respecte) ;
but when your honorable Lordshipp shalbe trewelye informed that what I
have done is onelie juste, and what in this place I houlde here I am
bounde in dewetye unto, I nothinge dowght but that your Honor will in
your nexte lett me here from you in a more myelde manner, then theise
your foremer lyenes nowe receyved. For first, my honorable Lord, I have
not made staye of the dogges in graerall taken by them elles where, but
onelye of (me dogge taken by them in this ]^e of pryvyledge, wherein

MEMOIRS OF EDWABD ALLEYS* 103

no dogge can be taken^ as more at lardge I shall make knowen unto your
Honor^ when it shall please your Honor to commaunde mee. Next, that
they have taken anye dogges at all by your Honors authoretye hath not
yett appeared to me in auie thinge that they ever shewed me, but that I
understande soe muche now by your Honors letter. But I doe nothinge
dowghte, but that they whoe have so badelye behaved them selves heere,
will alsoe as unhonestlye proceede in abusing your honorable Lordship
with untrewe informations. For conclusion, pleaseth yt your hcmorable Lord*
shipp to understande, the dogges I have all sente awaye by this messenger
that came with your Honors letter, which for anye staye I made of them
might have beene theire sooner yf theye woulde them selves^ onely I doo
make staye of that dogge taken by them heere, which I maye not parte
withall, without breache of our Lybertyes and pry vyledges, graunted by the
Kinges Ma*^^ under his greate seale. Thus nothinge dowghtinge but that
your Honor will conceyve of me, both in this and in all thinges els, as of a
man that bath beene bredd to knowe better manners then to give the least
suspecte of forgettinge the dewetye I owe to a persone of your dignytie
and place^ my humbleste dewetye remembred, I cease your Honors farther
trouble^ restinge now and alwayes,

'* Your Honors poore kynseman

^* and servaunte to commaunde,

"Antho: Cooke."

What was the result in either case we have now no means
of knowing. We have inserted these documents, not merely
because Alleyn was inmiediately concerned in the transactions
to which they relate, but because we are not aware of the
existence of any others of a similar description.

CHAPTER XI.

Shakespeare's Retirement from London to Stratford-upon-Avon — ^His Pur*
chase and Mortgage of the Tenement in the Blackfriars — Facts tending
to prove that Alleyn became the Purchaser of Shakespeare's Property
in the Blackfriars Theatre— Alleyn interested in the Receipts at the
Red Bull Theatre— Charles Massy 's (the Actor) Letter to Alleyn for a
Loan of £50 — ^Massy's intimacy with Alleyn.

It may almost be taken for granted^ that about the time
Shakespeare finally quitted London for his native town^

104 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN.

Stratford-upon-Avon, he was possessed of a large interest in
the two houses at which his plays had been usually per-
formed — the public theatre, called the Globe, on the Bank-
side, and the private theatre, called, after the name of the
precinct in which it stood, the Blackfriars. In settling the
question at what date Shakespeare permanently left the me-
tropolis, nobody seems to have adverted sufficiently to the fact,
that in both the latest documents (excepting his will) yet dis-
covered, in which his name occurs, he is called " William
Shakespeare of Stratford upon Avon, in the Countie of War-
wick, Gentleman." This was in March 1612-13, and, taken
by itself, it really seems to decide the question ; for if he had
been living in Southwark at the time he executed the convey-
ance and the mortgage (Malone's Shakesp. by Bosw. ii. 585
and 59^) in London, why should he have been described as
'^ of Stratford-upon-Avon ?" No answer can be made to this
inquiry, and the truth, no doubt, is, that in March 1613 he
had for some time retired to the place of his birth. He pro-
bably went there not very long after the production of his
last play, which may have come out in 1611, and was perhaps
a Roman or a Greek drama, Coriolanus or Timon. The
Tempest and the Winter's Tale would both seem (for reasons
not necessary to be detailed here) to have been earlier, al-
though hitherto placed last by the best authorities ; therefore
we should be disposed to fix the date of his departure per-
haps a year prior to March 1618 — the spring of 1612 — when
the country was beginning to present its natural invitation to
its admirers.

Why Shakespeare returned to the metropolis for the pur-
pose of purchasing, and on the next day mortgaging the
tenement in the Blackfriars, is a question that does not ap-
pear to have occurred to his biographers. One of the parties
named in both the deeds was John Hemming (or Hemyng,
as it is there spelt), who was a principal manager of the
King's Company occupying the Globe and the Blackfriars

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLETN. 105

theatres ; and it is very possible that both the purchase and
the mortgage were in some way, not now easily explained,
connected with the sale of Shakespeare^s theatrical property,
of which, of course, he was desirous to dispose, with a view
to his undisturbed residence at Stratford. What then became
of that property, and into whose hands did it devolve ?

Shakespeare's property in the Globe might be sold to some
principal members of the company, before that theatre was
burned down on the 29th June, 1613 (Hist, of Engl. Dram.
Poetry and the Stage, iii. 298); but it seems very likely,
from evidence now for the first time to be adduced, that
AUeyn became the purchaser of our great dramatist's interest
in the theatre, properties, wardrobe, and stock of the Black-
friars. Among the miscellaneous scraps of paper at Dulwich
College is one which appears to be a rough memorandiun, in
AUeyn's hand-writing, of various sums paid by him in April,
1612, for the Blackfriars; and though the theatre is not there
expressly named, it will be rendered evident hereafter that it
was the " play-house/' The paper is precisely in this form : —

" April 1612
Money paid by me E. A. for the Blackfryers . 160/t
More for the Blackfryers . . . 126/t

More againe for the Leasse . . . dlO/t

The writinges for the same and other small charges 3/t. 6^. 8d.*'

The whole sum is £599 6s. 8d,, which woxild be equal to
nearly ^63,000 of our present money ; and would, no doubt,
entitle him to a very considerable share of the property. To
whom the money was paid, is nowhere stated ; but, for aught
we know, it was to Shakespeare himself, and just anterior to
his departure from London.

The preceding memorandiun is not unlike several others
existing at Dulwich ; and it was, perhaps, made with a view
to an entry of the total amount in a book, which AUeyn may
have kept for the purpose. One of these is still preserved,
with religious care, at the College ; but it applies (and we

106 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN.

shall have occasion to advert to it frequently hereafter) to a
date considerably posterior to this transaction, beginning in
1617, and ending in 1622. However, during those years it
is kept so regularly and systematically, that any person
inspecting its contents can feel no hesitation in believing
that Alleyn had long previously been in the habit of minutely
recording his daily payments and expenses. It is to be pre-
sumed that the other books of the same kind have unfortu-
nately been lost or destroyed ; but this, which is still extant,
affords strong confirmation, indeed, indisputable proof, that
Alleyn was a considerable owner of leasehold property in the
Blackfryers : the only question here is whether it included the
theatre. The following are some of the entries, which are
here given, out of their place, in point of date, but not of
subject : the first item occurs regularly, though not precisely
in the same words, every quarter.

" Oct. 22. [1617.] Pd Mr. Travise rcDt for the Blackfryars .

Aug. 27. [1618.] Pole brought me word that the building

would be puld downe, so I went to
London — first water to the Strond to
Coronell Cussell . • • •

He being gone I followed to Chelsey
From the Fryers to La. Clarks att Supper .

Sep. 28. [1618.] More disbursed for the building of the

Blackfryars for thisyeare, and in anno
1617 when itt first begane with the
200/t first disbursed by my father buy-
eng in off leases : charges in lawe :
and the building itt selfe^ with making
meanes to kepe them from being puld
downe is . . . • 1105 2

Oct. 9. [1620.] Bere at the Fryers . . . .006

Sep. 24. [1621.] Disbursed 2 years att the Fryars, last

ending at Mic. . . . . 23 6 6

July 23. [1622.] Jones and I mett at the Fryers on our

scytation by Mr. Hicks, Mr. Place^
andMr.Traviss: the dinner coast Ss. 6d,
I spent 6«. 6d. and was paid, so .072'

^'

8.

d.

40

6

3

2

MEMOIRS OF BDWABD ALLETH. 107

Hence we learn that the rent paid by AUeyn to m Mr.
Travise^ was ^160 per annum^ a large sum in those times ;
that some buildings or the repair of some buildings was com*
menced in 1617 5 that in the next year AUeyn received infor-
mation that it would be pulled down^ perhaps because it had
been left in a dangerous conditicm ; that a very large amount
was expended upon it in 1618 ; that in this sum Allejm in«
eluded £200 which his "father^' — (meaning, in all proba*
bility, Henslowe)— had spent in buying in of leases ; and that
Alleyn and a person of the name of Jones (perhaps Iniga
Jones, employed by Alleyn as his architect,) in July, 1622,
received what Alleyn calls '* a citation'' from three persons,
one of them, Mr. Travise, (to whom he regularly paid rent),
most likely in reference to the same property. It seems
evident, therefore, that Alleyn's *' father,*' Henslowe, had
become possessed of some portion of the Blackfriars property,
and that, in April, 1612, Alleyn increased it, by expending
nearly £600 in the purchase of additions ; which additions
may have been the share Shakespeare owned in the Black-
friars Theatre and its appurtenances, which he disposed oi
before he withdrew from London to Stratford. The coinci*
dences of time and place are, at all events, remarkaUe.

In fact, Allejm seems to have been a general owner of
theatrical property in different parts of the town 5 and, in h»
Account-book of disbursements, quoted above, two of the
earliest entries establish that he had some interest in ihe
receipts at the Bed Bull Theatre, which was situated at the
upper end of St. John Street, Smithfield. Under the dates
of October, 1st and drd, 1617 (the book b^ns on the 29th
September in that year,) we read as follows :—

'* Oct. 1. 1617. I came to London in the Coach and went

to the red Bull . . . • 0. 0. 2

Oct. 3. I went to the red bull and R [i e received]

for the younger brother but d/t. 69. 4kd,
water . 0. 0. 4"

108 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN.

What expense was covered by two-pence in the first entry,
it is difficult to say : — ^the price of admission to some parts of
the house was that sum ; but we must suppose that Alleyn
was free, considering the share of the receipts to which
the second entry shews he was entitled. "Water," in the
second entry, refers to the cost of conveying him, probably,
from Southwark to the landing-place nearest to the Red
Bull Theatre. The play performed was "The Younger
Brother ;" and such a drama was entered at Stationers' Hall
for publication in 1653, about which date several plays were
printed that had long remained in manuscript. The
theatres at that time were closed by authority 5 and the
poor actors and booksellers thus sought to raise a little
money, as well as to gratify the public curiosity. Alleyn
records that he received but ^3 6s. 4rf., as if he were greatly
disappointed in the cunount he expected to obtain. It is to
be remarked that, subsequent to this date, we find no entries
in AUeyn's Account-book regarding the Red Bull 5 and we
may be tempted from this circumstance to conjecture that,
as the concern proved unprofitable, he soon afterwards sold
such shares as he held in it.

We have already had evidence that when any member of
the profession was in pecuniary difficulty, resort was sometimes
had to Alleyn and to his known liberality. Among the mem-
bers of the theatrical association which Prince Henry took into
his service in 1603, was Charles Massye (Hist. Engl. Dram.
Poetry and the Stage i. 351,) who continued long afterwards
a performer ; and finally, as we shall see, became one of Al-
leyn's tenants at the Fortune in 1617, and on its re-construc-
tion after the fire of 1621. About 1612 he was embarrassed
in his affairs^ and applied to Alleyn for an advance of ^50.
The letter containing his urgent request is extant at Dul-
wich, but in a most mutilated state from damp : it is without
date, but we can ascertain the time when it was written pretty
exactly, because Alleyn made some memoranda on the back

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN. 109

of it in July, 1613 ; and the letter itself speaks of Mrs.
Towne as a widow, and her husband died before November,
1612. It was written, therefore, in the following supplicatory
form (as far as that form can be made out, in consequence of
the decay of the paper) to Alleyn, between November, 1612,
and July, 1613.

''To his worshipful! good frende Mr. Edwarde Allen, at his house at
DuUedg, give these.

" Ser. I beseche your pardon in that I make boulde to wry te to yow
wordes coDsem3nage my selfe, and it may be distastfuU to yow, but nece-
sete hath no lawe, and therfore I hope the contrarye. Ser, diverse ocasions
before the Prynces • • man • crosses sense hath brought
me in tow debt • • • and danger • • • if yow woulde
please to helpe me • • • • not withstandinge I ever shall
rest ever to be com • • • ^jth the world I desire yow should
hasard the • • • • by me • • •by such for, ser,
I know you understand * * * * compositions betwene oure com-
penie that if • • • • • ever with consent of his fellowes
he is to paye the * * score and ten pounds aulony Jeffes hath paid
so much * * if any one dye his wife or frends whome he appoyntes it
tow reseve fyfte pounds. M'**. Pavye and M'". Toune hath had the lyke,
be sides that lyke moste I have in the play housses, which I would willingly
pas over unto you by dede of gifte, or any course you would set doune for
your securete, and that you should be shure I do it not withoute my wiffes
consent, she wilbe willinge to set her hand to any thinge that might secure
it to you. Ser, fifte pouudes would pay my detes, which for one hole twelve*
month I would take up and pay the intreste, and that I might the better
pay it in at the yeares ende, I would get Mr. Jube to reserve my gallery
mony, and my quarter of the housse mony for a yeare to pay it in with al^
and if in • * monthes, I say, the gallery mony would not dowble

• • • the other six monthes he should reserve • • •
share, only reservinge a marke a weke • • •my house with all
the eyghtenth of this • • • pay to Mr. Bankes thurte pounds
and other • • ♦ other dettes I owe, if ether you serve • •

* the monye or any other whome yow shall appoynt, for I know wher
you will you may. I shall ever reste your poore servant to perform any
offyse you shall comand me. Ther is one Mr. Mathers, at the bell in new-
gate market, that six wekes agoe did offer me fifte poundes for a twelf-

110 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN.

moDth grates but be desird good securete. Ser, I beseche howsoever
pardon me in that bouldly I have presumd to wryte unto you« Thus not
darynge to troble you any longer^ I comyt you to god^ to home I will ever
pray to blese you.

" Ever to be comded by you,

« Charles Massye."

Alleyn most likely complied with this urgent request, and
Msuwye fulfilled his engagement with respect to repayment,
for they continued friends ever afterwards f and from
AUeyn's Diary we learn that Massye was not unfrequently
a guest at his table, from 1617 to 1622. As before stated,
he became one of AUeyn's tenants for the Fortune.

We may take it for granted, although Paris Garden was
not originally built for the purpose of theatrical represen-
tations, that plays had been occasionally acted there from an
early date. The Globe Theatre in its vicinity was burnt
down on the 29th June, 1613 ; and, in less than a month
afterwards, Henslowe and a person of the name of Jacob
Meade, taking advantage of the opportimity, entered into
an agreement with Gilbert Katherens, a carpenter, to con-
vert Paris Garden into "a play-house,'* as well as " a game
place.'' All the particulars are inserted in the EList. of
Engl. Dram. Poetry and the Stage, iii. 284 ; and it is not
necessary here to state more than the fact. How Meade
came into the concern, we know not ; but, perhaps, as Alleyn
(though still called the Prince's servant m 1612) had at this
date withdrawn from all that related to theatrical manage-
ment, and Henslowe had grown old and infirm, he took
Meade into partnership to assist him, and Meade's name will
henceforwards frequently occur. Paris Garden thus became
a theatre, as wdl as a place for the baiting of animals.

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN. Ill

CHAPTER XIL

The Building of Dulwich College — Sutton's Hospital — Original Contract
for Building Dulwich College — College of St. Saviour's — Letter to
Alleyn from Samuel Jeynans, on behalf of Chelsea College — Agreement
between Henslowe^ Meade^ and Nathaniel Field, the Actor, for Paris
Garden — Bond given in 1615 by Daiborne and Massinger to Henslowe,
for a Loan of £3.

The building of God'^s Gifl College at Dulwich, and the
endowment of it with the greater part of his property, was un-
questionably the most important event of AUeyn's life.

We now arrive at the period when he seems to have taken
the first step to carry this great and benevolent project into
execution. How long anterior to this date he had contem-
plated the possibility of such an undertaking, we cannot
determine ; but, having considerable estates and no family,
it was natural that in his 47th year, which he had now
attained, he should take into consideration the best and most
beneficial mode of disposing of his possessions. The story
told by credulous Aubrey, that Alleyn was worked upon by
having seen the apparition of the Devil, while playing a
deemon in one of Shakespeare's plays, is merely ridiculous :
first of all, Alleyn had left off playing before he appears
to have entertained the intention of devoting his affluence to
purposes of charity : next, he would not have condescended
to play such a part as that of a daemon ; and, thirdly, we
have no direct evidence to establish that he ever played in
any of Shakespeare's plays, though there is little doubt he
represented the hero in dramas founded upon some of the
same stories or events. It is possible that the absurd report
originated in an event recorded in " The Blacke Booke," by
Middleton, printed in 1604, where it is s€dd (Sign. B. 4,) that
on one occasion '' the old theatre*' (the Rose) '' cracked and
frighted the audience," while a devil was upon the stage in

112 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN.

Marlowe's "Faustus," the hero of which, there is no doubt,
Alleyn sustained. *

This incident may have been exaggerated and distorted
into Aubrey's tradition ; and we may be quite sure that
when Alleyn avowed his purpose of establishing his College,
the Puritans, and the other enemies of theatrical perform-
ances, did not fail to impute it to remorse for his long career
of wickedness and profanity.

It has been said that he took his first notion of Dulwich
College from Sutton's Hospital, the Charterhouse; but the
only hint to that eflFect was furnished by himself, when he had
nearly completed his design. It is to be found in his own Diary,
which begins at Michaelmas, 1617: at the very opening, he
makes the following note.

" 29th Sep. My wife, Mr. Austin, Mr. Young and my self

went to see Sutton Hospital! — water . . . 0. 1 0."

From the terms used in this entry, we might be led to con-
clude that Sutton's Hospital was then a novelty to Alleyn, and
that he had never seen it before. But there is no need to
suppose that he was governed or influenced by any particular
precedent in his undertaking, or that he would not have ex-
pended his money upon the College, if he had not previously
witnessed what others had done elsewhere in a similar bene-
volent spirit.

We are told in the ** General Biographical Dictionary,*'
(ii. 13) that Alleyn *^ began the foundation of the College
under the direction of Inigo Jones in 1614." The fact is,
that he began the foundation of the College in the summer
of 1613, as appears upon the unquestionable evidence of the
original indenture for the brick-work between Alleyn and

* This passage from '^ The Blacke Booke*' has been cited and commented
upon by Oldys, in his Life of Alleyn, in the Biographia Britannica : ^' The
Blacke Booke " has been reprinted by Mr. Dyce, in his edition of Mid-
dleton, from the only known copy in the possession of the writer of the
present memoir.

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN, 118

John Benson, a bricklayer of Westminster, which bears date
on the 17th of May, 1613. This document still exists at Dul-
wich College, and it is stipulated in it that Benson was to
commence his work on or before the last day of May : that he
did so we need not doubt, as Alleyn paid Benson £^ on the
19th of June, on account of work already done, Alleyn having
agreed to pay d6*10 for every five rods as the imdertaking pro-
ceeded. Therefore, we may conclude that ten rods of work
had been finished by the 19th of June, 1613. Alleyn was to
dig the foundation^ to find materials and scaffolding, and to
allow Benson fi>rty shillings for every rod of brickwork. The
indenture is extremely minute in its specifications, so as to
give an exact notion of the whole edifice as originally con-
structed, consisting of a chapel, a school-house, a kitchen,
offices, and twelve alms-houses. It will be found in the
Appendix, being somewhat too long for insertion here, and it
includes a number of curious details. At the back are eleven
endorsements in Alleyn's hand-writing (subscribed by Benson)
of sums paid as the work went on ; and, as they show exactly
the progress towards the completion of the College between the
19th of June, 1613, and the 22nd of April, 1614, we shall not
hesitate to quote them : —

*' Received this 19^ of June 1613 of Ed. Alleyn in part of payment 20*

" John Benson"

'' Receved more this 14 of August 1613 . . . . 10*

" John Benson"

" Receved more this TSfi" of August 1613 . . . 10*

" John Benson"

"Receavedmore this 11 **• of September 1713 . . .10

*' John Benson"

" Receaved more this 18**»of September 1613 . . . 10*

" John Benson"
*' Receaved more this 9^ of October 1613, the sum of . . 20i

" John Benson"
*' Receaved more this 30*** of November 1613, the sum of . . 20*

"John Benson"
I

114 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN.

** Receaved more this 15*^ of December IGIS, the sum of . . 05^

" John Benson"

*' Receaved more this 24 of December 1613» the sum of ^ . 05i

"John Benson"

^ Receaved more this 10^ of Jannuarie 1613^ the sum off • . lO^

*' John Benson"

^'Beceavedmorethis22ofaprill 1614, the some of . . • 7*
'^ Receaved from the Kostermonger."

■»>

. The last item is not receipted by Benson, but the money
appears to have been sent to him ; and perhaps it was the
balance of the account between the founder of God's Gift Col-
lie and the bricklayer he employed. The whole sum paid by
AUeyn was £\9!1 ; and it is to be recollected that this was for
workmanship only, and it does not include the account of the
plasterer, the carpenter, the plumber, or the glazier. With
regard to the statement that the building was erected under
the direction of Inigo Jones, we are without any documentary
evidence of the fact : on the contrary, it appears by the con-
tract between AUeyn and Benson, that ^^the plott'' of the
building had been " made and drawn" by the latter*

In March 1613-14, shortly before the completion of the
brickwork of the College, AUeyn, perhaps with a view to his
own Patent, procured that of the Hospital of the Poor of St.
Saviour's parish to be delivered into his hands.

" ix<» Marcij 1613
** Memorand : there was delivered, the daye and yeare aforesaid, to
M' Edward AUin in the vestrye the letters Patentes of the Corporation of
tlie CoUedge or Hospitall of the pore of St Savioures in Southwark, and
also the copie of the booke of order for the Colledge.

*' Edward Alleyn."

This was ten months after the signature of the contract with
Benson, and if Alleyn were incited to this splendid act of
charity by any thing but the naturaUy benevolent and generous
impulses of his own mind, it was, probably, by observing what
had been done for the assistance of those who required it in
the very parish, for a liberty of which he had been church-
warden only three years before.

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLBYN, 115

It is pretty clear, from the contents of the following undated
letter, preserved at Dtdwich, that when it was written AUeyn
had not distinctly promulgated his intention as to the appro-
priation of his known fortune. That he entertained some
charitable purpose seems to have been understood, and he was
therefore earnestly applied to by the writer, Samuel Jeynens,
who was probably a zealous divine, to contribute a sum towsurd
the completion of Chelsea College, which had been founded
in 1610 for the maintenance of polemical clergymen, bound
to advocate the doctrines of the church against the Roman
Catholics. About the date of which we are now speaking
the design languished for want of funds. Dr. Sutcliffe, the
originator of the scheme, having expended upon it a very
large sum out of his own private purse. It will be seen that
Jeynens also makes other suggestions to Alleyn, respecting
the application of his money to religious purposes.

*' To tJie worshipfull and well affected to all good purposes, M' Allen,
all health and happines in this life and in another.

** Blessed be god who hath stirred up your hart to do so many gracious
and good deedes to gods glory, the relief of many which ar bound to pray
for you, and the good example of many which may do good and do not ;
and to your owne comfort at the latter day, when it shalbe said. Come ye
blessed of my father, inherit ye the kingdome prepared for you ; for when
I was hungry ye fed me, naked ye clothed me, sick and in prison and ye
visited me, and so forth. Beside, this is a thing more acceptable to god
and more comfortable to you, that in your life tyme you se this worke per-
fourmed, which many deferre till after deth, which some devines do hold to
be no deedes of theres, being left to others, nor so acceptable to god,
rathar regarding the good deedes of the living, then of the dead. Againe,
ether there executours do very slowly perfourme that which they would
have done, or do it not at all.

** Among all which deedes of almes, though all be good, yet in my con-
ceit those are most to be thought on as ar most necessary, that is, which
ar most lot god's glory, the good of the church, and common weale.
Wherein, yf it might stand with your good liking and it might please you
so to accept it and thinke of it, I would gladly move yon to a worke of
charity toward Chelsey Ck>lledge, neere London, which was founded, though
not yet finished, to this intent, that learned men might there have main-

I 2

116 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN.

tenance to aunswere all the adversaries of religion. M' Doctor Sutcliffe^
that spent all his meanes about it^ coming short of the full perfourmance^
got the Kings letter to the Maior of London that then was : he told me he
could not obtaine so much as on denier. I framed petitions of my oune
accord and privat motion (the worke being so profitable and commend-
able) to the liOrd Maior^ Recorder and others^ yet fearing that little or no
good would come to passe^ I did forbeare to exhibit them. What may
fall out hereafter I kno not.

*' Since M' Doctor hath got leave to make a collection in the countries
and shires for the effecting of this busines^ and the contribution being
brought into the Bishops hands is yet kept back^that he cannot go forward
with the worke^ as he himself told me^ although the bishops themselves
were the meanes to set him on to build. So^ because it goes not forward
as it begun^ the Papists in derision gave it the name of an Alehouse. But
yet he saith^ yf I could be a meanes to helpe him to a hundred pounds^ a
hundred pounds he hath of his owne, he saith he would establish main-
tenance for 4 learned men. In which worke I would humbly beseech you
to helpe him.

" Or yf I might move another project to your self, that it would please
you to build some half a score lodging roomes^ more or lesse neere unto
you^ yf it be no more but to give lodging to divers scbollers that come
from the University. Some would be ministers and some schoolemasters,
and for want of meanes to staye heere about London till they could be
provided^ they are forced to go away againe and to looce all opportunities
that might fall out. Yf they had chamber roome^ which heere in London
is hard and costly^ diet would be more easy^ and so ether by preaching
they might put forth themselves^ or by barkening how they might place
themselves to tech scbollers^ they might have helpe till some preferment
might be obtained.

" Amongst those lodgings, yf it pleased you, you might build a library
and furnish it with some bookes, now some, then some, as you saw cause,
as might be very beneficiall, not only for strangers, but for those that ar
maintained by you.

" To all theis good workes I pray god incline your hart, and I pray you
give me leave to be a petitioner for them and a remembrancer to you, as
King Phillip had every morning on to call at his chamber doore and to tell
him he was but a mortall man. Which is a good memorandum to put all
of us in minde to do all the good we can in our life, for as our Saviour
Christ saith. The night cometh wherein no man can worke.

'' Yours in his devotion, and to be
" comaunded at your pleasure,

*' Samuel Jeynens."

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN. 117

There is no reason to believe that AUeyn lent a favourable
ear to this request : it is much more likely that having already
matured his plan, he resolved to complete his undertaking at
Dulwich.

At about the date of which we are now speaking, we meet
with the following memorandum, the whole of which, excepting
the signatures, is in AUeyn's hand-writing : it seems to be
the final settlement of all accounts between him and the
Calton family, in respect of the property he had purchased of
them in the vicinity of the spot he had selected for the site of
his college of God's Gift : —

*' Md. that this 9^^. of november, 1614, all reckinings, debts and de-
maundes what so ever, from the begining of the world to this present daye,
due unto me, Thomas Calton, from Edw. AUeyn, is in all threeskore powndes,
wheroff receved this 9'^ afore sayd xxx" : rest dew to me more in all 30".

'' By me Tho. Calton."

" Receved more this 18"*. of november, 1614, the sum of twentye powndes,

I say R. xx".

" By me Tho. Calton."

" Receved this 26*'' of november, 1614, in full payment and satisfaction,
the sum of tenn powndes of lawfull money off England, 1 say R. x".

" By me Thomas Calton."

Before we proceed farther upon this subject, it is necessary
to revert to theatrical aflFairs, the long prosperity of which had
enabled Alleyn to indulge his favourite design in the village of
which at this time he was, no doubt, the chief proprietor. We
have noticed the conversion of Paris Garden into a regular
theatre under Henslowe and Meade in the summer of 1613.
At this date the actors who had been the players of Prince
Henry (who died on the 6th of November 1612) had become
the theatrical servants of the Palatine of the Rhine, who had
married the daughter of James I. The company continued "**^x

to perform at the Fortune ; and Henslowe and Meade, wanting \\

a company for Paris Garden, after it was altered so as to
answer the double purpose, seem to have entered into an

118 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN.

engagement with Nathaniel Field, a very celebrated actor,
(whose portrait still hangs in Dulwich College) who, as the
leader of the association, came to terms with Henslowe and
Meade on behalf of himself and his fellows. Field is first
heard of in 1600, when he played in Ben Jonson's " Cynthia's
Revels,*' but in 1609 he had become one of the children of the
Queen's Revels, occupying the Whitefriars theatre, where he
continued, perhaps, until Henslowe and Meade proposed to
him to perform with others at Paris Garden. The following
is a copy of the instrument, in the title of which it is stated
that Henslowe and Meade had lately raised a ccwnpany of
players : in fact they were only raising a company.

'* Articles of Agreement made concluded and agreed uppon, and
which are on the part and behalfe of Phillip Henslowe Esq»«. and
Jacob Meade, Waterman, to be performed touching and con-
cerning the Company of Players which tbey have latelie raised
viz;

'^ Imprimis the said Phillip Henslowe and Jacob Meade doe for them
their executors, and administrators covenante promise and graunt by
these presentes, to and with Nathan Feilde Grent, that they the saide
Phillip Henslowe and Jacob Meade^ or one of them, shall and will during
the space of three yeares at all times (when noe restraynte of playinge
shall be) at there or some of there owne proper costes and charges fynde
and provide a sufficient house or houses for the saide company to play in :
and also shall and will at all tymes duringe the said tearme disburse
and lay out all suche some and somes of money as fower or five sharers of
the same company, chosen by the said Phillip and Jacob, shall thynk
fittinge for the furnishhige of the said oompany with playinge apparell
towardes the setting out of their newe playes. And further, that the saide
Phillipe Henslowe and Jacob Meade shall and will at all tymes during the
saide terme, when the said company shall play in or near the cittie of London,
furnish the saide oompany of players, as well with such stock of apparell and
other properties as the said Phillip Henslowe hath already bought, as also
with such other stock of apparell as the saide Phillip Henslowe and Jacob
Meade shall hereafter provide and buy for the same company during the
saide tearme. And further, shall and will, at such tyme and tymes dnriog
the saide tearme as the saide company of players shall by meanes of any
restraynte or sicknes go into the country, deliver and fumisbe the saide

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN. 119

company with fitting apparell out of both the saide stockes of apparelL
And further^ the saide Phillip Henslow and Jacob Meade doe> for them their
executors and administrators^ covenant and graunt to and with the saide
Nathan Feilde by theis presentes in manner and forme fc^lowinge, that is
to saye : that they the saide Phillip Henslowe and Jacob Meade or one of
them shall and will^ from tyme to tyme during the said tearme^ disburse and
lay out such somme or sommes of money as shalbe thought iittinge by fewer
or five of the sharers of the saide company^ to be paide for any play which
they shall buy or condition or agree for^ so alwaies as the said company doe
and shall truly repay unto the said Phillip and Jacob, their executors or
assignes, all such somme or sommes of money as they shall disburse for any
play, uppon the second or third daie whereon the same plaie shalbe plaide
by the saide company, without fraud or longer delay. And further, they
the said Phillip Henslowe and Jacob Meade shall and will at all tjrraes,
uppon request made by the major parte of the sharers of the saide company,
• • • remove and putt out of the said company any of the
saide company of players of the said PhUlip Henslowe and Jacob Meade
shall fynde saide requests to be just, and there be no hope of conformity in
the partie complayned of. And further, that they the saide I^illip Henslowe
and Jacob Meade shall and will at all tymes, u{^n request made by the
saide company or major parte thereof, pay unto them all such sommes of
money as shall come unto their hands • • • of any forfeitures
for rehearsals or such like paymentes. And also shall and will, uppon the
request of the said company or the major parte of them, • • •
the persons by whom such forfeiture shalbe made as aforesaid, and after or
uppon the recovery and receipt thereof (their charges disbursed about the
recovery of the same being first deducted and allowed) shall and will make
satisfaction of the remaynder thereof unto the said company without fraud
or guile. And further, that they the saide Phillip Henslowe and Jacdb
Meade doe covenant and agree that there shalbe a due accdmpt given ev«ry
night to any one that shall by the said company be appointed thereunto
• • • • • halfe of the galleries allowed toward the pay*
ment of the said sum of one hundred twenty and four pounds," &c. *

This document, as the asterisks imply, is in a yery imper-
fect state, and the conclusion of it has entirely disappeared.

^ To this date, or somewhat earlier, may be assigned the interesting
letter tripartite, which Malone found at Dulwich College, addressed by
Field, Dabome, and Massinger to Henslowe for a loan of money. It has
been printed in vol. iii. p. 337, of Bosvell's edition of Malooe's Shakespeare,
and in Giffbrd's Introduction to Massinger's Works, copied from Malone,
but in both instances with so many variations (though some of them minute)

120 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN.

It establishes that Henslowe was ostensibly proceeding
without the interference of AUeyn. Whether he had any
share in the new theatrical speculation by Henslowe and
Meade at Paris Garden may, therefore, be doubted, but he
certainly retained his interest in the exhibitions of baiting
bears, bulls, &c. at that place.

What was the age of Henslowe we have no means of
ascertaining, but we shall see presently that he died in the
very commencement of 1616, according to our present mode

that it may be worth while here to insert it accurately from the cnriginaL
It b addressed by Field : —

" To our most loving frend Mr Phillipp Hinchlow Esquire these.?

And at the back, below the direction, is written the subsequent receipt : —
" Rec. by mee Robert Dauison of Mr Hiushloe for y* use of Mf
Dauboern Mr Feeld Mr Messenger the some of v*^

*' Robert Dauison.**
The body of the letter runs literatim as follows : —

*^ Mr Hinchlow.
^' You vnderstand o'^ vnfortunate extremitie, and I doe not thineke you
so void of christianitie, but that you would throw so much money into the
Thames as wee request now of you ; rather then endanger so many innocent
lines ; you know there is ximore at least to be receaued of you for the play,
wee desire you to lend vs v* of that, w^i* shall be allowed to you wK)wt w***
wee cannot be bayled, nor I play any more till this be dispatch'd, it will
loose you xx^ ere the end of the next weeke, beside the hinderance of the
next new play, pray S' Consider our Cases w^ bumanitie, and now giue vs
cause to acknowledge you our true freind in time of neede; wee haue
entreated Mr Dauison to deliver this note, as well to wktnesse yo^ loue, as
o*^ promises, and allwayes acknowledgment to be ever

*' Yof most thanckfuU ; and louing freinds

" Nat : Field
'* The mony shall be abated out of the mony

remayns for the play of Mr Fletcher & ours

*^ Rob. Daborne

** I have ever founde you a true lovinge

freinde to mee & in soe small a suite

it beeing honest I hope yow will not

fiaile vs

*' Philip MAssiNeER/'

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN. 121

of computing the year ; and one of his latest known acts was
to take a bond from Robert Dabome and Philip Massinger,
for the advance of only £S. It was lent to them, we
may conclude, on the day the bond bears date, 4th July,
1615, and they stipulated to repay it on or before the 1st
August, at Henslowe^s house on the Bankside. If Malone
saw this document, he passed it over without notice, and
Gifford knew nothing of the Dulwich papers but from Ma-
lone. Malone, indeed, discovered and transcribed many
notes from Daborne, Rowley, Shaw, Day, and other dra-
matists 'y but they were printed with marvellous inaccuracy
in vol. xxi. of Boswell's edition of Malone's Shakespeare.
The copies vary from the originals, still extant, in hundreds
of instances, and sometimes the errors are important.* None
of them are posterior to 31st December, 1613; whereas
the following shews that Massinger was in pecuniary distress
two years and a half subsequent to that date : —

Noverint Universi, &c. 4® die Julij 1615.

" The condition of this obligation is such, that if the above bownden
Robert Dabom and Phillip Massinger, or eather of them, shuld pay or
cause to be payd unto the above named Phillip Henehlow, bis exors admi-
nistrators or assignes, the full and intier somm of three powndes of lawful!
mony of England, at or upon the first day of August next insuing the date
of these presents, at the now dwellinge bowse of the said Phillip Heneh-
low, scituate one the Banksyde, without fraude or farther delay, then and
from thencforth this present obligation to be voyd and of noe effect, or ells
to remayn and abide in full power strength and virtue

" Rob : Daborne (L. S.)

" Philip Massinger (L. S.)
" Sealed and delivered in the

presence of us

" Walter Hopkins"

• The following may be taken as a specimen. On p. 393, of vol. xxi.,
is a note, without date, though marked by Malone as of November, 1599,
from Robert Shaw (or Shaa, as he spells his own name) to Henslowe, respect-
ing the price of a play ; and at the back is a singular memorandum, clearly
referring to some projected drama on the reign of Richard IIL Faithfully

122 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN.

CHAPTER XIIL

Death of Philip Henslowe — Bill filed by John Henslowe against Agnes
Heoslowe^ Alley n, and Roger Cole — The Answer, with Particulars of
Henslowe's Death and Property — Depositions of Witnesses— -Alleyn's
Liberality to the Prince Palatine's Players — ^Agreement of AJleyn with
them, signed by the whole Company.

The bond with which the preceding chapter concludes
was the last act of the life of Henslowe, in relation to thea-
tres, of which we have any information. He was afflicted
with the palsy before his death,* and perhaps it rendered
him for some months incapable of attending to business.
He must have died about the 9th January, 1615-16, for a bill
was filed in Chancery on the 23d January of that year, in
which it is stated that he had then been dead " about four-
teen days.** This bill was filed by John Henslowe against
Agnes Henslowe, Alleyn, and a person of the name of Roger
Cole, executrix and overseers of the last will and testament
of Philip Henslowe, and it is asserted in it that he died
worth about £10,000 or ^£12,000; but, according to the
answer of Agnes Henslowe, Alleyn, and Cole, the precise
value of Henslowe's property at the time of his death was

csopied it runs thus, and the remarkable differences may be seen on com-
parison.

'* 1 See. W^. Wor. and Ansill, and to them the plowghmeo.

" 2 See. Richard and Q. Eliza. Catesbie, Lovell, Rice ap Tho., Blunt,
Banester.

*' 3 See. Ansell, Daug*. Denys, Hen. Oxf. Courtney, Bouchier and
Grace. To them Rice ap Tho. and his Souldiers.

" 4 See. Milton, Ban. his wyfe and children.

" 5 See. K. Rich. Catesb, Lovell, Norf. Northumb. Percye."

Besides other mistakes, Malone omitted the whole of the characters who
were to be engaged in the fourth scene. The above was probably the
scheme of an entire act, drawn up by concert, and as a guide, between two
or more dramatists engaged on the same play.

* It appears from Henslowe's Diary that he had a sister who died of the
same disorder.

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN. 123

£1700 12«. 8d. Two brief sheets of paper (the last un-
luckily imperfect), entitled,

** The Breviat of the Cause depending in Chancery between

t Edward Allin "J
" John Henchlow PI. < Agnes Henchlow > Deff/'

{, Roger Cole J

are preserved at Dulwich. They contain the whole of the
Bill, and apparently all that was very material of the An-
swer ; and as they throw much light upon the relations of
the parties, and shew precisely how and under what circum-
stances Henslowe disposed of his property, they are here
inserted.

'' The Bill exhibited 23 Januari 1615.

*' Bill.

" That Phillip Henchlow, one of the Sewers to the Einge, having taken
to wif the deff. Agnes, widdow to one Woodward, by whome she had one
onely daughter named Joan married to the Deff. Edward Allin, being
seized in fee of divers lands and tenements and possessed of divers leases
goods and chattells to the valew of ten or twelv tbowsand pownds about
14 days last past deceased without issue ; after whose death the sayd
estate ought to descend to the PL as his heyr at the common law, to which
purpose the sayd Phillip Henchlow had made a former will in the tyme of
his health and perfect memory.

^^ That the Deff Edward Allin did confederate and practise with the
defendants Agnes and Roger Cole to draw the sayd Phillip Henchlow to
alter the sayd former will, and to setle his estate by a new will upon the
sayd Agnes, an old decrepit woman, unable to governe such an estate,
whearby all the estate of the sayd Phillip Henchlow might by this means
come to the defend^ Allen, as the man that having married hir dat^hter
should have the governing of the sayd Agnes during hir lif, and after bir
decease the possession of all in right of his wif.

'* That to this purpose the sayd Allin and Cole cawsed a draught of a
will to be made, whearin they made the sayd Agnes his sole executrix and
them selves his overseers, conveing thearby the estate of his freehold lands
to the sayd Agnes for term of her lif, as all the rest of his estate whatso-
ever, and brought the sayd will, so made betwixt them, to the sayd Phillip
Hinchlow 2 or 3 howrs before his death, being pa}<t all sence and under-
standing ; in soe much that the deff Allin put a pen into bis hand, and would

124 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN.

bav guided the same to the subscrihtng of his name, but that he was other-
ways advised, in so much that the sayd Phillip Hinchlow made onely some
mark, like a dash with the penn, whoe in his perfect health was well able
to write his name.

" That the sayd Phillip Hinchlow, being demaunded, wheather it wear
his will or noe> made a pawse, not being able to speak, and at last cried, noe
will, noe will.

'* That to prov the confederacy, the deff AUin of his own devise eawsed
the deff Cole to insert a clawse to his own advantage, of the legacy of such
a one as should refuse to be orderd by the overseers, in case thear rose
any question amongst any of them.

" That the deff Allin eawsed the will to be proved the next morning
after the decease of the sayd Phillip Hinchlow, although it wear sabaoth
day.

"AWNSWER.

"The effect of the Awnswere.

*' That the PI being a man of an ill carriadge towards Phillip Hinchlow,
his unkle deceased, the sayd Phillip had in his lif tyme often sayd he, the
sayd R, should never have penny of his goods.*

" That Phillip Henchlow maried Agnes at such tyme as she was his
M" and he hir servant, being wholy advanced by hir, whoe ever acknow-
ledged the same and promised, if he died before hir, to make hir amends.

" That the goods and leases of the sayd Phillip wear, by sworn praysers
and the neighbors, prised and valewd only at 17 W xijs Sd whearof 400' was
desperat debts ; and as for the fee simple, the PI sonn is to hav the greatest
part thearof, after the decease of the sayd Agnes.

** That there never was any confederacy betwixt them, neither did any
of them ever perswade the sayd Phillip Hinchlow to alter any former will ;
only the deff Cole sayth, that being sent for to the sayd Phillip Hinchlow in
the tyme of sicknes, as a frynd and neighbor he advised him to settle his
estate and make his will, upon whose motion the sayd Phillip Henchlow
did willingly prepare himself, and named what legacies he would giv, which
the deff Cole set down in wrightinge ; as also nominated the deff Agnes for
his sole exor, and the deff Allin and Cole for twoe of his overseers, without
any provocation or ordging of the deff, the sayd Phillip being of perfect
memory.

" That the deff Cole, reading the will after it was drawn up accordinge to
the former dyrections of the sayd Phillip, excepted at twoo things : one was

• In Henslowe's Diary at different dates are entries for money paid for
John Henslowe's clothes, &c. One account is for law expenses, when
John Henslowe disputed his father's will.

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN. 125

at the setting down only of 20 gownes for 20 poor men^ saying he would be
buried like the kings servant^ and cawsed 40 to be sett downe. The
2 exception was, that whearas the overseers and others advised to put in a
clawse into the will, that in case any question should arise about legaees,
such a one as should refuse to be orderd by the overseers should forfeyt
his or hir legacy, and the deff Agnes should hav the same. Now, the sayd
Phillip altered the same and would have such legacy so for fey ted come to
the deff Alley n, alleadging this reason, that Agnes was old and unable
to curbe them that should be turbulent in this case.

" That the deff Allin cawsed the will to be proved the next morning,
though it wear Sunday, bycawse the deff Agnes was so sick and weak, that
he dispayredof hir iif till the next day.

_ •

'^ That the sayd Phillip Hinchlow was stroken sick with the palsy, and
could not write his name by reason of the violent shaking of his hand, which
maide the deff. Allin offer to guide him, after the sayd Phillip had of him
self called for pen and ink to subscribe his sayd last will * ♦ •."

What we have inserted above obviously formed a portion of
the brief given to Alleyn's counsel, who made some notes on a
blank space, from which we gather that proceedings had been
directed by the Lord Chancellor to try the validity of Hen-
slowe's will. Among other notes are what appear to be
memoranda of the depositions of witnesses on both sides, and,
though they are incomplete, it may be well to quote them just
as they stand in the hand- writing of the counsel, whoever he
might be : —

" 1 PI not prejudiced by the obtaining of the will, for there is no devise
to him.

" 2 The guifte of the land not ad honum of Allen.

*' 3 landes and leases during her life : the residue to the wife.

*• 4 Not of memorie in the forenoone.

*' 5 A will precedent suppressed.

"Robert Moore (a kinsman) had no legacie. He hath heard that the PI
is heere.

*' 6 The Thursday before he died he said he had made a will, written with
his owne hand, but not finished, but he would doe it.

" 7 Uppon the Saterday Allen tolde him that he and Mr Cole had gotten
him to make his will. The will being brought he made a scratch. P, H.
beinge asked if it were his will, sayd yea : if he lived it was noe will : he
setto his name, not as a witnesse, but to knowe it agayne.

€<
ft

126 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN.

^'9 To the 1^. interr : he was not of perfitt memorie to his understand-
inge.

" Mich Sbepd. 6. he knoweth not» but hath heard of a former will : he
hath heard that Allen and Cole perswaded P. H. to make a will.

*' He sealed and subscribed the will in his presence : he ingrossed the
will^ but -had not his instructions from the testator.

The will read by Mr. Cole the aftemoone next before his death.
Ph. Hen. pulled of the seale^ his understandinge reasonable good.
40 gownes, the question how many gownes.

Noe thinge leafte out nor added^ except the devise of his sowle. and the
power to the overseers.

« W". Gooden 6. he was with him the morninge befwe his death.
** 22. Uppon Saterday teominge^ at 8 of the clocke^ Mr Allen sayd he
was sicke and not fitt to receive money : he is perswaded he was not fitt at
that tyme to have disposed of his estate.

" Edw. Griffin. 22. he was but once with him^ one the Saterday at 3 of
the clocke : he questioned with him to trye his memorie. He knewe him^
and called him by his name.

** He beinge asked if he heard them pray for him^ he answered noe."

«

The result probably was to establish the will, but upon this
question we have little better than conjecture for our guide :
no other documents regarding the suit are extant ; but Alleyn,
after the death of his wife's mother in 1617, (as esta-
blished by other papers at Dulwich), seems to have come into
most of Henslowe's property, which was added to his own *
while the College was in a course of construction.

The death of Henslowe necessarily re-involved Alleyn in
theatrical affairs, and led to some painful and expensive dis-
putes. His first act was one of liberality and generosity.
The company of the Prince Palatine's players had be-
come indebted to Henslowe to the extent of £4Q0 ; and, on
the 20th of March, 1615-16, about three months after the

* It appears by the original lease preserved at Dulwich College, that on
the 19th of June, 1615, Alleyn let to Henry Harris two dwelling-houses,
together with " Pye Alley*' and garden, ** standing next the mansion,
place, or house, called Fisher's Folly," in the parish of St. Botolph, for £S0
per annum. These he had derived from his father.

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLBYN. 127

death of Henslowe, we find AUeyn forgiving them at once
d£200 of what they owed, and accepting from the company an
undertaking to pay the reduced sum by degrees, by allowing
him one-fourth of the receipts of the galleries until the
debt was liquidated. Jacob Meade was also a party to the
deed, as far as related to the observance of certain articles
previously entered into by the company with him and Hens-
lowe; for at the time of Henslowe's demise he appears to
have been in partnership with Meade, not only in Paris Garden,
but in the Hope Theatre on the Bankside. The instrument
itself, with all the original signatures of the players, is pre-
served at Dulwich, and the subsequent is a copy of it.

*' Articles of Agreement indented, had, made, concluded and agreed
uppon the twentith daye of Marche, Anno Dom 1615, betwene
Edward Allen Esqr. and Jacob Meade of the one partie, and Wil-
liam Rowley, Robt. Pallant, Joseph Taylor, Robt. Hamlett, John
Newton, Hugh Attewell, William Barksted, Thomas Hobbs, An-
tony Smyth and William Penn, gents, of thother partie, as fol-
loweth viz.

*<

Wheare the said William Rowley Robt. Pallant, Joseph Taylor, Robert
Hamlett, John Newton, Hugh Attewell, William Barksted, Thomas Hobbs,
Antony Smyth and William Penn, together with others, as well for divers
sommes of monnye lent them by Phillip Henchlowe Esqr deceassed, as for a
stock of apparell used for playinge apparell to the valewe of 400 u pounds,
heretofore delivered unto them by the said Phillip, are and doe stand
joyntlye and severally bound unto the said Phillip and to the said Jacob
Meade or one of them, in and by divers and sundry obligations of great
sommes of monnye, to the somme of 400 " and upwards, as also for per-
formance of certen Articles of Agreement on their the said William Rowley,
Robert PaUant, Joseph Taylor, Robert Hamlett, John Newton, Hugh
Attewell, William Barksted, Thomas Hobbs, Antony Smyth and William
Penn and others their parts and behalfe to be observed performed and kept,
as in and by the same obligations and Articles of Agreement more at large
it doth and may appeare : Item wheare there is at the speciall intreaty of
them the said William Rowley, Robt Pallant, Joseph Taylor, Robert Ham-
lett, John Newton, Hugh Attewell, William Barksted, Thomas Hobbs, An-
tony Smyth and William Penn, the daie of the date hereof, a quiet and
peaceable agreement had and made by and betwene all the said parties to

128 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN.

these presents^ and that he the said Edward Allen is contented and pleased
to take of them the said William Rowley, Robert Pallant, Joseph Taylor,
Robert Hamlett, John Newton and other the parties to these presents the
somme of twoe hundred pound only, to be paid in manner and forme herein
after mentioned. First the said William Rowley, Robert Fallant, Joseph
Taylor, Robt Hamlett, John Newton, Hugh Attewell, William Barksted,
Thomas Hobbs, Antony Smyth, and William Penn for themselves joyntlye,
and everye of them severallye their severall executors, and administrators,
doe covenant promis and agree to and with the said Edward Allen and
Jacob Meade, their executors and administrators, by these presentes that
they the said William Rowley, Robert Fallant, Joseph Taylor, Robert Ham-
lett, John Newton, Hugh Atteweil, William Barksted, Thomas Hobbs, An-
tony Smyth and William Penn, their executors and administrators, shall and
will dayly and everye daye well and truly satisfye content and paye unto
the said Edward Allen his executors, administrators and assignes, the
fowerth parte of all suche somme and sommes of monnye, proffit and gayne
shalbe gathered or taken, by playinge or otherwise, out and for the whole
galleryes of the Playe House comonly called the Hope, scituate in the
parishe of St. Savior in the countye of Surrey, or in anye other house,
private or publique, wherein they shall playe, as the same shalbe dayly
gathered or taken, accordinge to the full rate and proportion of the gayne
and proffitt of the fowerth parte of the said galleryes, untill the said somme
of 200'* shalbe there with fully satisfied and paid. And that they shall
and will at all tymes from and after the sealinge hereof, well and truly
observe performe, fullfill and kepe all and every the said Articles of Agree-
ment heretofore made with the said Phillipp and Jacob or eyther of them,
on their or any of their partes hereafter to be observed performed or kept.
And that they the said William Rowley, Robert Pallant, Joseph Taylor,
Robt. Hamlett, John Newton, Hugh Attewell, William Barksted, Thomas
Hobbs, Antony Smyth and William Penn shall and will playe at the
said House called the Hope, or elswheare with the likinge of the said
Edward and Jacob, accordinge to the former Articles of Agreement
had and made with the said Phillipp and Jacob or eyther of them,
and their late promis synce in that behalfe made with the said Edward
and Jacob. Item the said Edward and Jacob, for them their executors
and administrators, doe promis and agree to and with them the said
William Rowley, Rob'. Pallant, Joseph Taylor, Rob*. Hamlett, John
Newton, Hugh Attewell, William Barksted, Thomas Hobbs, Antony
Smyth and William Penn, their executors and administrators, by these
presentes that all and everye the bonds writings obligations and
articles of agreement wherein and whereby they or anye of them stand

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN. 199

bounds or by ^bich they doe owe to them^ the said Pbillipp or Jacob or
eyther of them^ anye somme of monney (except suche bonds bills and
writings by which they or anye of them stand bound to the said Phillipp
and Jacob or eyther of them for anye private dett borrowed of the said
Phillipp^ to or for his or their owne particuler use) shall from and after the
full payment of the said somme of 200" in forme aforesaid^ and performance
of the said articles of agreement^ aswell heretofore made as herein and
hereby promised to be kept hereafter on their parts to be observed performed
and kept, be utterly voide frustrate and of none effect, only against them
the said William Rowley, Rob* Pallant, Joseph Taylor, Robert Hamlett,
John Newton, Hugh Attewell, William Barksted, Tho" Hobbs, Antony
Smyth and William Penn, their executors and administrators. And that
then they shall or may have to their own use all such stock of apparell as
they or anye of them had or receaved of or from the said Phillip, Edward
and Jacob or anye of them. Provided that yf the said William Rowley,
Rob'. Pallant, Joseph Taylor, Robert Hamlett, John Newton, Hugh Atte-
well, William Barksted, Thomas Hobbs, Antony Smyth and William Penn,
their executors and administrators and everye of them, shall not well and
trulye paie the said somme of 200", as before the same is herein lymitted
tobe paid, and performe the said articles of agreement, as well heretofore
as by these presents promised tobe performed as aforesaid, that then the
said Edward and Jacob their executors and administrators shalbe at free
liber tye to have and take all advantage in lawe against them the said Wilr
liam Rowley, Rob' Pallant, Joseph Taylor, Rob' Hamlett, John Newton
and all other the said parties, their executors and administrators, and everye
or anye of them, uppon all and every such bonds writings obligations and
articles of agreement, and everye or anye of them, by which they or anye of
them, by themselves or with others, are and doe stand bound or doe owe
unto the said Phillip and Jacob, or either of them, anye somme of monnye.
And also have full power and lawful! authoritye to take and seize into
their, or some or one of their hands and possession all such stocke of
playinge apparrell as they or anye of them now have or shall have, and the
samedetayne and keepe for and towards the payment of the sommes of
monnye in the said bonds and obligations and every or anye of them men-
tioned, untill they shalbe thereof fully satisfied and paid, as if this present
agreement had never byn had nor made.

*' Lastlye, it is agreed betweene all the said parties to these presents that
they the said Edward and Jacob, their executors and administrators, shall
and maye at all tymes hereafter have and take to their owne use all ad-
vantage and benefitt uppon the said bonds, obligations and articles of
agreement, and every or anye of them, against anye person or persons, their

K

180 MBMOIBS OF EDWARD ALLEYN.

executors and administrators, named in the said bonds obligations and

writings of agreement or anye of them, not beinge parties to these presents

In witnes whereof the said parties aforesaid to these presents enterchange-

ablye have sett their hands and seales, the daye and yeare first above

written.

'* William Rowley Rob* Pallant

" Joseph Taylor

'* Rob* Hamlett John Newton

" Will Barksted

" Anthony T. Hobbs

" Smith

" William Penn Hugh Atwell

'' Sealed and delivered in the

presence of

*' Robert Daborne

"Tho. Foster Edw. Knight."

Thus we see, in this instance as in many others, a strong
desire on the part of Alleyn to remain on the best terms with
the parties with whom he was connected, and to make consi-
derable pecuniary sacrifices for the sake of promoting peace
and good- will. By this agreement he at once relinquished a
sum equal to about j£1000 of our present money.

CHAPTER XIV.

Progress and near completion of Dulwich College— Letter from Thomas
Dekker to Alleyn— The Earl of Arundel's Letter to Alleyn on behalf
of an Orphan— Stephen Grosson's (Rector of St. Botolph) early Attacks
upon Theatrical Performances — His Letter to Alleyn respecting proper
objects of his Charity — Second Letter from Gosson and certain Inha-
bitants of St. Botolph — ^Alleyn's Letter to Serjeant Greene respecting
the Claim of a Person of the name of Burnett.

By the autumn of 1616, the construction of Dulwich Col-
lege, which Alleyn named *' The College of God's Gift," must
have been considerably advanced, and it must have been then
ready for the reception of some of the objects of the founder's

MEMOIRS 07 EDWARD ALLEYN. 181

bounty. At this date Alleyn received a letter from one of
Shakespeare's most popular and distinguished contemporaries,
whose name will be very familiar to the ears of all who are
only slightly acquainted with our ancient drama and its poets
—Thomas Dekker. He was a playwright of great celebrity
some years before the death of Queen Elizabeth, and had
written most of his pieces for companies with which Allejm
and Henslowe were connected. like many of his class^ he
seems to have been a man of careless habits, as regarded his
pecuniary affairs, living from hand to mouth, by turns affluent
and needy, and supplying his pressing wants by the produce
of his prolific pen. At the date of the following communica-
tion he was a prisoner in the King's Bench ; and it was, no
doubt, intended to induce Alleyn to make Dekker a present in
return for some inclosed verses " in praise of charity," and in
celebration of the benevolent work which was now approaching
completion. The verses themselves have not survived, but the
letter containing them was this : —

«' To my worthy and wor** freind Edvr . Allin Esquier^ at his house at
DuUidge."

'* Out of that respect w*** I ever caryed to yo' Worth (now heightned
by a Pillar of yo' owne erecting) doe I send theis poore testimonies of a
more rich Affection. 1 am glad {yi I bee the First) that I am the first ta
Consecrate to Memory (yf at least you so embrace it) So noble and pious
a Work^ as This^ yo' last and worthiest is. A passionate desire of expressing
gladnes to See Gk)odne8 so well delivered having bin long in labour in the
world made mee thus far to venture. And it best becomes mee to Sing any
thing in praise of Charity^ because^ albeit I have felt few handes warme
thorough that complexion^ yett imprisonment may make me long for them.
Yf any thing in my Eiilogium (or Praise) of yo" and yo' noble Act bee
offensive^ lettit bee excused because I live amongst the Gothes and Van-
dalism where Barbarousnes is predominant. Accept my will howsoever
And mee

" Ready to doe yo" any service

" Tho. Dekker

"King's Bench Sept 12. 1616."

K 2

1S2 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN.

Dekker was a poet of ability, and a prose writer of
great variety : he always " scribbled for bread,*' and has left
behind him much that is utterly worthless in point of literary
merit, but much also that well deserves preservation. It is to
be regretted that his tribute to Alleyn has shared the fate of
many things he and his contemporaries composed. We need
entertain little doubt that Alleyn took steps to relieve his old
friend's necessities, and, as it is stated that Dekker was
released from prison in the very year his letter bears date, *
it may not be too much to suppose that Alleyn had a hand in
his liberation.

Another proof that the establishment of Dulwich College
was so far completed as to be in a state for the reception of
those for whom it was erected, is to be found in the subsequent
note from the Earl of Arundell to Alleyn. This worthy noble-
man had, doubtless, a great respect for Alleyn's sterling
character, and subscribes himself " your loving friend,'* a
style not very usual at that time for a peer to adopt towards a
person who had been an actor, and in point of station so
much his inferior. The intimacy was long kept up between
them, and Alleyn mentions in his Diary, that he was at
Arundell House in 16^1, and that he had taken his lordship's
opinion on the plan for rebuilding the Fortune theatre.

"To my loving frend, Mr. Allay ne Esquire, these.

" Mr Allayne ; wheras I am given to understand that you are in hand

with an hospitall for the succouring of poore old people and the maintey-

nance and education of yong, and have now almost perfected your charitable

worke : I am, at the instant request of this bearer, to desire you to accept

of a poore fatherles boy to be one of your number, of whose case and

necessitie this saed bearer will better iuforme you, which if yow shall doe

at my request I shall take it kindely at your hands, and uppon occasion

requite it, and rest

Your loving frend

f€

" T : Arundell.
Arundell house, the xvij* of

September 1616."

* By Oldys iu his MS. notes to Langbaine.

MEMOIRS OP EDWARD ALLEYN. 188

The poor of the parish in which AUeyn was born, St. Bo-
tolph, BishopsgatCy were objects of his earliest attention and
regard, and in deciding upon fit persons to receive the benefit
of his charity, he called to his aid the rector, whose advice
would of course be valuable. Singularly enough the incum-
bent of the living in 1616, and for some years afterwards,
was Stephen Gosson, who, having written plays himself,
which were publicly acted, became as early as 1579 the bitter
enemy of theatrical representations. He then printed his
*' School of Abuse, containing a pleasant Invective against
Poets, Pipers, Players, Jesters," &c. which he followed up at
a later date by other, attacks. He subsequently entered the
Church 5 and, in 1598, when he printed a sermon called ** The
Trumpet of War," he called himself ** Parson of Great Wig-
borow in Essex.*'

By what means, or in what year, he obtained the living of
St. Botolph, is not knovm ; but, as far as we can learn, he was
conscientious and zealous in the discharge of his sacred duties.
It is a strange coincidence, that this violent and vigorous ad-
versary of the stage should, in the end, become a willing
witness of the christian piety and humanity of one of its
greatest ornaments, who derived much of his wealth from
theatres, and who was anxious to apply it to such an admirable
purpose. Gosson must have rejoiced in being an instrument
towards its accomplishment, and in bearing testimony to the
private virtues of a man who had belonged to a class which
he had formerly so vehemently maligned. The earliest letter
from him to AUeyn is in these terms : —

" To the worsliipfull Edward Allen Esquire, at his howse at Dulwich,
give theis with speed."
'* Salutem in Christo.

" Sir, I have now sente you a personale view of those three poore
persons whose names were presented unto yow from the Churche uppoa
Sunday laste. -MawdeLee, a very poore widow and a pensior of our parish,
a^ed threescore yeares, and upward : Henrie Pbilippen, an almes man also
of owers, uppon the point of three score yeares ; and John Muggieton of the

134 MEMOIRS OP EDWARD ALLEYN.

lyke age, trusting that uppon this entervievr yow will give them their di-
rection when they shall be admitted unto your hospitale of poore folkes,
which are the pledges Christ hath lefte with yow in his absence^ whoe hath
told us longe agoe that the poore you shall alwayes haue amonge yow
corporally present, untill he come agayne in body to judge the world and
give recompence to those that have for his sake shewed any mercy heere
to his images, and needy members heere. Thus recommendinge to the grace

of ower good god, I rest,

" Your verie lovinge and ancient freend,

" Steph : GossON Rect.
" At my howse in St.

Botolphes withowte

Bishopsgate, 2 Octb.

1616."

Hence we find that on the Sunday preceding the date of
the above letter Alleyn had visited St. Botolph's Church,
when the names of the poor candidates for his bounty, whom
he afterwards saw personally at Dulwich, were given to him.
We may conclude that they were admitted to the benefit of
the cheurity ; but another letter from the rector, the church-
wardens, and five of the parishioners, dated nearly a year
afterwards, shews that John Muggleton, one of the persons
previously recommended, had been, for some unexplained
cause, removed.^ A successor was, therefore, recommended
in the person of Edward Cullen, who was a single man ; for,
at this date, (1st September, 1617,) Allejm had come to the
determination that no poor man who was encmnbered with a
wife should be entitled to the advantages afibrded by the Col-
lege. The testimonials of the churchwardens and inhabitants
were added to the recommendation of the rector, possibly
because, in the case of Muggleton, the latter only had not
been found sufficient.

• On the 21st July, 1620, the subsequent entry was made by Alle3ni,
shewing that the *' removal" of Muggleton was not a solitary case : —
*' Pd the pore ther pension, all but one man who was expulsed, and Boane
that was drounk — 7". 0«. O**.*' When paid without any deduction the
monthly pension of the poor brothers and sisters was £8 Ss, Boane was
again fined 12d, for drunkenness on the 14th October, 1621.

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN. 185

To the worshipful! Edward Allin Esquire.

Our very harty Commendations beinge Rendered. Whereas the Last
weeke (upon the Removall of Mugleston) wee did commend unto yow one
John Woodhouse^ who^ for that hee hath a wife, could not obtayne your
acceptance to bee one of your Beadsmen. Wee have therfore made
Choyce of one Edward Cullen, the bearer heerof^ who is a Single man and
hath longe time bin one of our pentioners : and for hee is aged and ther-
fore past his labour/and withall knowne to us to bee of good Conversation,
wee are the more Imbouldened to Commend him to yow, desireinge that
yow would be pleased to admit of him to bee a participator of your deedes
of Charitye, not doubtinge but hee will bee a very thankful! man both to
god and yow, and so with our best wishes for your wellfare, we take our
Leave, this first of September 1617.

" Your worships very Loveinge frendes,

" Steph : GossoN Rect.
(and seven others.)

Alleyn seems to liave had a readier and abler use of Iiis
pen than might have been expected from his want of educa-
tion, and from the active nature of liis early life. He some-
times liept copies of his letters, or rather he made rough drafts
of them, when they were upon any matter of importance, and
did not destroy the drafts after he had sent away the fair copies.
Several of these rough drafts are still in being, but until
now they appear to have escaped all observation, and it cer-
tainly was no easy taslt to decipher them. Not long after
the death of Henslowe, Alleyn was pestered for money by a
person of the name of Burnett, who formerly was a man of
property, and had expectations of getting into parliament.
Elizabeth had been dead about five years, when a negociation
was entered into between Burnett and Henslowe for the pur-
chase of the Sewers' Office, which the latter had long held 5 ♦

• At Dulwich College is preserved a bond given by Henslowe (wit-
nessed by Alleyn and others), stipulating that he would relinquish his
office of Sewer of the King's Chamber to Thomas Burnett, in consi-
deration of the sum of £120. Alleyn is therein said to be '^ of the parish
of S* Saviour's Southwark ;" but the money was to be paid to him at the
house of Henslowe, as if he had himself no residence there in 1607.

136 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN.

but as the bargain was not completed, a sum of money, which
Burnett had paid in anticipation, was returned. Subse-
quently, Burnet having consumed his estate applied to Hens-
lowe twice for pecuniary assistance, and twice obtained it, not
as a matter of right, but of compassion. When Burnett could
procure no further supplies by entreaty, he appealed to a
nobleman (most probably the Duke of Lennox), who heard
the claim and Henslowe's answer to it, and decided against
Burnett. Nevertheless, at the instance of Alleyn, Henslowe
afterwards consented to make Burnett a present of an additional
sum, taking, as he had done before, an acquittance against
all future demands. After the death of Henslowe, in January
1615-16, Burnett resorted to Alleyn, and failing by solicita-
tion had recourse to threats; upon which occasion Alleyn
wrote the following letter (transcribed from his own rough
draft) to Mr. Serjeant Greene (who is named in it) and
another individual, not named (for no address is given), ex-
plaining exactly and clearly how the case stood : it will be
found a very manly and straightforward statement, consistent
with the plain dealing, plain sense, and plain language of the
writer. It has no date, but it evidently belongs to the period
at which we have now arrived.

*' Sir, att the first sight of the Letter you sent me, I was driven into an
admiration to consider the bouldness of that audacius persone, whome
nether tyme nor trouble can stop the swift current of his false and unde-
served clamour; and although I have man3'e tymes sufficiently satisfied both
hym and his frends concerning this matter, yett one more I ame contented to
deliver you the naked trueth of this busines.

** About the first coming in of the King ther wase som contrackt between
my father Hensloe and Tho. Burnett for his place of a Sewer, my selfe
being but only a stander by and a wittnes to the bargayne ; and for bis
money I never had itt one nigh in my custody, for itt aperteyned nott unto
me, but only to my father Hensloe, as will apere by a great mans letter
whoe writt to my father about the staying off the same money, for nott
doing the which he purchast no small hate of the said party.

"Afterwards I wase a wittnes that my father dd. and payd to the said
Tho. Burnett, and to his use, all the said n^oneys back againe as the said

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN. 187

Tho. Burnett in theys wordes or the like dd. to me ; I asking hym whether
they 2 wear agreed^ and he answered me yea, and that all matters wase
fully satisfied and ended between them ; and so itt aperd, for they conti-
newed lovers and frendes a great while after that. But when the said Tho.
Burnett had consumed his estat and living in great want, his witts began to
wrest his honesty, and looking back to the former agreement would needes
pick a quarrell with the trewth, yett never so bowldly as in this fashion he
now doth, for he entreated me to move my father to consyder of his estat, in
regard off the acquaintance was had with hym, which I faythfuUy did and
procured a some of money tobe then given hym ; but my father, verie wisely
understanding by his letters in this busines his clamors nature, att the dely-
verie off* the said some recevd off* hym a generall release and acquitance,
which I have to show. Some 3 or 4 yeere after that, having nothing to
work on but his witts, [he] begon againe to harpe on the owld string, com-
playnd to my Lord Duke off supposed wrong don to hym by my father
Hensloe, wher they often mett and wher, to the great disgrace of the said
Burnett, my father verie sufficiently clerd hym selfe.

'* Yett after this, in a verie mean fashion I was againe sowght by hym
selfe and some frends off his, one Mr. Hindson Josin of S^ EUings and others,
to move my father, that allthough ther did acrew to hym nothin off right, or
dwty, yett in regard off his poverty he would doe some thing for gods [sake],
which I did so effectually, that allthough I found hym extreamly unwilling,
by the reson he had charged hym so unjustly before my Lord Duke, I pro-
cured him once more to give hym an other som of money, he pretending itt
wase for his so great good as possible could be, or to furnish hym into the
Parlmt, and that he would, if god ever made hym able, requitt with all thank-
fullnes. And uppon the rec of the moneys the said Tho. Burnett made
hym another aquittance and release. Nowe in all this progress he never
demaunded any off me, but still made me the meane to move my father ;
but now my father Hensloe is gone, belike he thinkes to work on me for
soome spending money : if he do, he wilbe much deceaved. For the terrors
of complaynt, which he would make me stand in fear off, he knowes is to no
purpose, for the last tyme he spoke to me in the Strond, about a yeare and a
half sine, I then bid hym doe his worst, and so I do and will, for I fear no
complaynt wher I haue made no offenc. And for a full conclusion to all his
demaunds in breef thus : — I never delt with hym for on farthing, and there-
fore owe hym nott a farthing, but if I or my father had, I haue 2 sufficient
releases that will aquitt all his demaunds. And so much for the law : for
conscienc, which is the Chancellor in every mans brest, iff that could tell
roe I ever ought hym on mitte, I would give hym 2 for itt, for, I thank god
off his bounty, I am both able and willing to paye every man his owne. Thus

1S8 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLETN.

much have I thoght good to wright unto your self and Mr Sergiant Greene,
that you might not be carried away with the stream of slander, and with all
to give you some information of the matter of his demaund, resting my self
contented that they and such like false aclamations, being the theames of
envie, hapen to me and others, ar rewards for hum[ility] and to cut of our
love to earthly ambition, springing our desiers forward to the harbor of
peac. And so, with my love and kind remembranc to you both, I comitt
you to God, and shall alwayes continue your trewe frend

'* E. A."

AUeyn seems to have been governed by a praiseworthy
economy in all his domestic arrangements^ and he made the
rough copies of his letters upon paper which had previously
been applied to some other purpose, and was then of no appa-
rent value. Thus the preceding letter was scribbled upon the
back of an old bond given by Francis Henslowe to his relative
Philip, dated the 16th of March, 1604.

CHAPTER XV.

AUeyn 's Diary in his own Hand-writing — Cost of the Patent for Dulwich
College, and Difficulties in obtaining it — Lord Bacon's Opposition —
Completion of the College celebrated by a Banquet — ^Alleyn's Letter to
Sir Francis Calton, respecting the Purchase of the Manor of Dulwich —
Letter from the Rev. John Harrison, Alleyn's Chaplain, proposing to
marry his Niece.

It will have been observed that the last document we have
inserted, with a date, is Stephen Gosson's letter to Allejm, of
the 1st of September, 1617. Alley n's Diary commences on
the S9th of that month, and from it we shall now glean some
particulars not yet touched upon. To'a few points established
by this very curious and authentic record,* we have abeady
adverted in the course of our narrative.

• It is a long, narrow folio, bound in parchment, the cover being made
of an old lease which had been cancelled.

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN.

139

On the SOth of September, when AUeyn went to Croydon
to dine with ** the borough men,*' as he calls them, he paid
Gilpin, the mace-bearer to the Archbishop of Canterbury, *^ his
fee of the consecration," that is, of the consecration of the
chapel of the college, which was then, of course, finished.
We may infer that this ceremony was performed by the arch-
bishop himself. Dr. Abbott, with whom Alleyn was upon
intimate terms, for he not unfrequently registers that he went
to dine with his grace. On the 6th of August, 1619) Alleyn
says, " I dind with my Lo. of Canterbury, and red to hym tte
Corporation and the foundation,'* meaning the Patent under
the Great Seal, which he had obtained on the 16th of July
preceding, and for which under that date he enters the fol-
lowing charges : —

€f

July 16, Mathias [Alleyn] fetcht the Great Sealle —

water ....

•

. 0. 0. 6 \

" The charge for the Great Scale.

1

TheSeale ....

8.

13.

0-1 1

The Dockett and rec.

0.

3.

The inrowlment

2.

0.

\

The divident

2.

0.

The officers fee .

2.

13.

4

'

For drawing, ingrossing and 'k
entering the dockett /
Vellome and Strings

0.

3.

4

0.

17.

6

^ 18". 16*. 10^'

The clarck . .

1.

0.

1

17.

10.

2

For vellome and ingrossing of the

first patent . . .

1.

6.

8

/

Alleyn did not accomplish this great object of his life without
much difficulty, for he had to encounter and overcome the
opposition of Lord Chancellor Bacon, to which we shall advert
more particularly presently. On the 8th of July, 1617,
Alleyn informs us that he had gone to the Attorney General

140 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN.

''about my foundation," and on the 11th he received it from
him, who liberally refused to accept any fee ; but to Mr. Beale
and other officers AUeyn paid £6 17s. 6d. for it. At this
time the royal signature was wanting, and on the 14th of
July Alleyn '^ rode to Wanstead, where the Marquis of Buck-
ingham undertook the king's hand^' to it. He left it with
the Marquis, and sent Mathias Alleyn for it two days after-
wards, but he came back without it, and AUejm went to London
several times, being still unable to procure it. On the 16th
of August he paid Mr. Anthony £S '* for the Patent, and for
putting the signet and privy seal," and on the next day he
*' went to London to the Lord Chancellor's about staying the
Patent.*'

Lord Bacon's letter to the Marquis of Buckingham, ex-
plaining why he had " stayed the Patent at the Great Seal,*'
bears date on the 18th of August, the very day after he had
seen Alleyn. He tells the Marquis, *' I now write to give the
King an account of a Patent I have stayed at the Seal : it is of
license to give in mortmain i?800 land, though it be of tenure
in chief, to Allen that was the player, for an hospital. I like
well that Alleyn playeth the last act of his life so well ; but if
his Majesty give way thus to amortize his tenures, the Court
of Wards will decay, which I had well hoped should improve.
But that which moved me chiefly is, that his Majesty now
lately did absolutely deny Sir Henry Sayille for £200, and Sir
Edward Sandys for d^lOO to the perpetuating of two lectures,
the one in Oxford, the other in Cambridge, foundations of
singular honour to his Majesty, and of which there is great
want ; whereas hospitals abound^ and beggars abound never a
whit less. If his Majesty do like to pass the book at all, yet
if he would be pleased to abridge the ^800 to ^500, and then
give way to the other two books for the universities^ it were a
princely work, and I would make an humble suit to the King,
and desire your Lordship to join in it, that it might be so.'*

On the 18th of September, Alleyn paid a shilling " for

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN. 141

iiigrossing a particular of the lands in capite to shew the Lord
Chancellor :'* on the 13th and 26th of October he took " wine
with Lord Chancellor's gentlemen,^' and thus the matter rested
until the 14th of January, when he had another interview
with the Lord Chancellor, but no result is stated. On the S6th
of May he again saw the Attorney General, when Allen
records, "after that I received my Patent once more of
Mr. Attorney, who as before refused to accept any fee." On
the next day he says, "I rode to Greenwich, and got the
King's hand.*' On the 7th of June he "paid once more
for the signet and privy seal'* £5; on the 16th of July he
waited upon the Lord Chancellor respecting the Great Seal,
and on the next day, as has been already shown, Mathias
AUeyn brought it to Dulwich. Such, with five shillings '^ paid
to Tomsone for a box to keep the Great Seal in,'* is the his-
tory of the tedious process by which AUeyn at length accom-
plished his benevolent design. It seems more than probable
that the impediments which so long stood in his way were
removed by the kind instrumentality of the Duke (then Mar-
quis) of Buckingham. *

* In Alley n's Diary, under date of 26th May, 1620, we read as fol-
lows : —

€€

My wife and I acknowledge the fyne att the Cumon Pleas barre of all
my landes to the CoUedge. Blessd be God that hath lent us lyfie to doe
itt."

His wife Joane, there is every reason to suppose, was a willing party to
the whole arrangement ; at least Alleyn gives no hint to the contrary. The
subsequent entries precede that above quoted : —

^' May 15. Pd for inrowlling the College deed in the

Chauncerie . . . . 2. 2.

Water to Westminster to acknowledge it in
the Comon Pleas . . . 0. 0. 4

23. Pd my fyne being rated, all the landes att 65",
the Howses within Biahopsgate at 20", the
Fortune att 20". I pd the x*^ per c. which
came to . , . . 10. 10. 0."

142 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN.

The deed of foundation of " God*s Gift Collie," which was
enrolled on the 15th May, 1619^ bears date on the 13th April
preceding, and the Patent on the 21st June, though Alleyn
did not get possession of it until the 16th July. The 13th
September was a day of signal triumph to him, for tiiien it
was that the foundation and completion of the great work of
charity and munificence were celebrated. The following entry
is copied from his autograph Diary :—

" This daye was the fowndation off the CoUedge finisht, and there were
present, the Lord Chancellor ; the Lo. of Arondell ; Lo. Coronell Ciecell ;
Sir Jo. Howland, High Shreve; Sir Edward Bowyare; Sir Tbo. Grymes;
Sir Jo. Bodley ; Sir Jo. Tunstall ; Inigo Jones, the K. Surveyor; Jo. Fiuob,
Councillor ; Ric. Tayleboyce ; Ric. Jones ; Jo. Anthony. They first herde a
Sermond, and after the Instrument of Creacion was by me read^ and after
an Anthem they went to dinner."

To this is appended a list of the viands, with their quan*-
tities and prices, the whole expense having been £S0. 9^. S«f.^
more than iElOO of our money at its present value.

We thus see the founder in ftiU possession of the manc^
of Dulwich and other lands for the endowment of his Col^
lege, now nearly completed, and sanctioned by a royal Patent
under the Great Seal of England. We may therefore take
this opportunity of inserting a letter which throws a great
deal of light upon the particular mode in which the manor of
Dulwich devolved into AUeyn's hands. It is from Alleyn
in reply to Sir Francis Calton, who, after he had parted with
the estate, seems to have repented that he had sold it, and to
have reproached Alleyn with some undue proceeding in ob-
taining it. Alleyn repels the imputation with beconoing in-
dignation. Our transcript is from Alleyn's rough copy,
without date and much mutilated, but still enough can be

* The details of the banquet may be seen extracted at large, by such as
have curiosity in matters of the kind, in Lysons* '• Environs," i. 98. The
reverend author also made other quotations from Alleyn's Diary, but with
frequent errors of transcription.

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN. 1 48

made out to render the reply in most of its parts sufficiently
intelligible, and to show how much the better Alleyn had of
the argument, treating the subject as he does in his usual
distinct, manly, and straightforward way, and without ** much
schollership/' He asserts that Dulwich had^ost him £5000,
that he had purchased it when no other buyer could be found,
and that he had been compelled to pay 800 marks for the
patronage, which ought in fact to have gone with the rest.

Sir Francis Calton in his letters (which cannot be found) had
taimted Alleyn, among other things, with having been origi-
nally a player, a point which the latter seems, in the first
instance, to have intended to have passed over in silence ; but
he added a slip at the end, in which he makes a retort that
could not have been very grateful to the feelings of the
knight, who had evidently foolishly squandered the property
left him by his father. The details of the transaction are not
always clear for want of the epistles to which what follows
is the answer ; but Alleyn, as we learn from other sources,
had exchanged some property at Kennington with Sir Francis
Calton, in completing the bargain for Dulwich. This, too,
it appears the knight afterwards sold, and complained that he
had been deceived about its value. Mention is also made of
a house at Greenwich with which Sir Francis Calton was not
contented, no doubt referring to the assignment by Alleyn to
the knight of the lease of a dwelling at Greenwich, " near the
Park,'* on the 8th Feb. 1615, which lease Alleyn had pur-
chased on the 26th May, 1608, as appears by original evi-
dences.

*^ Sir Fr. I have received your strange letter. Itt beres no date, and
therefore I can nott conjecture howe long you have bene in this mind ; for
as I take itt at our last parting all was [def. in MS.] at least on your side,
for you reseivd your right, but I nott myne, which long er this I expected
would have bene performed. Nowe to answer your severell rashe un-
firendly letters for these 3 [def. in MS.] bear, though nott with so much
schollership, for I have none at all, as you, yett with a great deal more

144 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN.

trewth, I thus begin. First you complayne of 16** [def. in MS.] in Ke-
ningtone as a great some^ and thereby I knowe you have well studied the
art of multiplication. I answer that my selfe hard you att our first meet-
ing with [def. in MS.] Carey 1800" which you refusing, so it coust you
2050** and you would not [def. in MS.] fiftye. What after bargaine you
made with hym I know nott : so iff you had [def. in MS.] itt, your loss
had ben but 200**, but had you sould itt for 500** or given itt for nothing,
what is this to me, no more then my giving awaye [def. in MS.] ing all
Dull, as iff you had bene for lack of a good tytle. Unkind by lawe [def.
in MS.] wear some thing [def. in MS.] and yett is that to me nothing, for
I well remember and well [def. in MS.] any tyme be dep [def. in MS.] one
first person about itt, you asked roe of the tytle, and I answerd itt [def. in
MS.] you disliking. I further said in theys wordes, Whie, Sir Fr. you
have now asked me no further in the sute of Dull, for that which for my
evidence I have but the Gr. Seal of England, and so have you for Kening-
ton, and iff the state should be at Siny tyme pleased to returne all Abey
landes to ther former use, I must lose Dull, for which I have paid now
5000". So likewise iff all such leases made by queen Eliz. should by the
king or prince be cald in and made frustrate, you must indure the losse
of Kenington which you paid 2000** [for] ; to which you answered and said.
In trewth all thinges in this world is uncertayn, and so you concluded
to receave it most willingly without any pressing you to itt once, or
proving itt on your show, for it wase your earnest desier. Nether was I so
willing to leave itt as you suppose, for then I could have accepted the offer
of 2 persones, which would have given me as much for itt as you paid.

'^ And whereas you touch on my disposition in the dedycating of that mite
which god hath given me (and bleast itt with me) bringing example from
Kanut, David and Selymus, all in despight and derogatory of my sincere
and well meaning act, wherein I confess you have shewen much reading, and
with all much envie. You say you forbere to make aplycation : you may very
well, you have proved itt so playnly ; but judge no man least you be judged.
My hart in that action is best knowne to god that gave itt me. Yf I have
don itt for worldly glorye or vayne ostentation, god knowes and will reward
accordingly. All the sons off Adam are full off sin : ther is none that doth
good, no nott one ; and I confess my selfe to be the most sinfuUest of all,
and how then can I attribut to my selfe any action of goodnes ? You de-
maund what hope I justly could have that god would blesse or prosper the
purchase which I had procured by so unjust and so indirect meanes? I
must withstand your murmur and harshe phrases, protesting I never in-
tended to deal so unjustly with you, as you dyd by me in making me paye
800 markes more then I bargained for the patronage, then I should hare

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN. 145

done« affinninjv untrewly it was sowld to Sir E. Duke and divers such like
thinges which I can call to memorie when tyme shall serve ; and for the
prosperity of the purchase^ I thank god of his goodoes he hath blest itt
better to me then eather to your father or your selfe ; and, I give hym
prayse» not only Dull, and Kennington, but all the thinges that ever I
mett with all hath bene most prosperous and behoofefull unto me, where
contrary wise all that ever you delt with all, so farre as my knowledge
will goe, hath bene unfortunat to your great losse : for having Dull, you
wear still at law with the tenauntes, in so much that your self towld me
that you never sawe itt but with a heavie hart (wher, 1 thank god, I look
uppon itt with joy). Your pencioners place you cowld nott kepe: Green-
wich howes could nott content you ; nor many other places. Kennington
itt self had you kept [def. in MS] M' Alexsander had bene a bargayn
good enough^ but wher your [def. in MS.] ing of god is not all thinges
turned to the worse, as gayne to losse, wisdome to folly, rest to contest,
peace to discontent ; and whilst a man thinkes to avoyd this fate by shift-
ing many places, he doth but lyke the [def. in MS.] diseased, who hopes
by changing beddes and chambers to leave his greef behind [def. in MS.]
when he bears your envie in his brest.

** I Wright nott theys thinges to greve you, but wishe you to look back
upon your self before you judge another : nether will I any waye judge
you, nor my self, but lett god be the judge between you and I. All this is
but a short and rude answer to your discontent. More, lett me shewe you
a little of my owne. First for the purchase of Dull. Sir, you made me
pay more for itt then any other man should have done : witnes Sir Hugh
Browninges own wordes, which many tymes he affirmed : next, when we had
agreed, you towld me the patronage was gone to your brother Duke, and
so gleand the Coll. of my bargayne ; but when I towld you twas parte of
your bargaine and a thing fitt for me, being allwayes belonging to Dull,
then you wrested me to paye you 800 markes more, being in all above
10001* more then any man would give for itt ; for a skrivener in London
towld me you ofired him 40" to gett you a chapman for it, being 7 year
upon sale and refused by all men. Next, when I requierd to see your evi-
dence, to shewe itt my councell, you towld me you had nothing but a
greate seale and that the title was playne : your grand father bought itt
of the K, your father had itt from hym, and you of your father ; but before
I could have and se the greate seale I was fayne to pay 1700^* for redemp-
tion out off mortgage, on which I disbursed to your soK. 300^ more, and
made up the somme 2000''. Then coming to councell you could not pro-
duce the manor evidence that showld derive the land to you, and your
father being the yongest brother, and so nott heyr to your grand father,

L

146 MEMOIES OF EDWAED ALLETN.

the purchaser ; which made my counceller saye, you went about to cheat
me and wisht me nott to deal with itt at any termes, unless that wrighting
weare brought forth. Therupon you stayd 6 months, and I resolved nott
to deale with itt ; but you continually importuned me to receave itt, saying
you were utterly undon unless £ went forward with itt I offred you to
pass itt to any other man, and to lett you have the use of my 2000*^ for
nothing, but you replyd itt wase for no man if not for me^ So in a maner
you forst me to take itt, and for my better security 3000" showld rest in
my handes 6 yeares tyll all fynes and reconizances were perfyted by
la we, you receaving annually for the forbearance 213" 6'. S^ which duly
was performed on my parte.* But you, still discontented, as nowe you
are, never willing to receave the paymentes according to the agreementes,
but must have your quartredge before itt was due, and many tymes 2 q".
to geather. Then I wase importuned to disburse parte of the principall
for the purchase of Greenwich howse, and more to serve your occasions in
building or otherwise, so the 1000>* of the 3 was receaved and out of osy
handes longe before itt showld : the other 2000" in my handes wase still a
great eye sore with you, so that continually I was importuned to lett you
have that also, to which I answered that att your daye you showld
have itt."

On a loose slip, marked with an asterisk : —

'* • And where you tell me of my poore originall and of my quality as a
Player. What is that? If I am richer then my auncesters, I hope I maye
be able to doe more good with my riches then ever your auncesters did with
their riches. You must now beare povertye and if you beare it more
paciently then 1, your desert wilbe the gretter. That I was a player I
can not deny, and I am sure I will not. My meanes of living were honest,
and with the poore abilytyes wherewith god blesst me I was able to doe
something for my selfe, my relatives and my frendes, many of them nowe
lyving at this daye will not refuse to owne what they owght me. Therfore
am I not ashamed."

The whole letter is very difficult to be read ; but it has
few erasures, and it is written as an indorsement on a brief
sheet, of what seems to have been originally intended by
Alleyn as part of his will. At the back, and meant probably

* This passage refers to transactions as far back as the year 1606. A
deed is preserved at Dulwich, thus indorsed by Alleyn : *' Bargaine and
sale of the Mannor of Dulwich, from Sir Fra. Calton and hit Ladie to me,

Ed. Alleyn."

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLETN. 147

as portion of the same letter, we read as follows, but there
is no indication of the place where the passage ought to be
inserted : —

*' Howe 80 ever you handled the matter I know nott, but had I kept itt,
still I would nott have lost oue peny by itt ; for I knowe the Prince, at the
tyme my most excellent M'., whose love to all his servantes wase suche,
that I knowe he would have protected me in my right ; and iff I had not
gayned, yett he would nott have sene me sustayne losse in his servis."

It has been shewn, that Alleyn, long before he finally ob-
tained his Patent for endowing Dulwich College with lands
to the amount of iC800 a year, had admitted and maintained
various objects of charity. On Christmas Day, 1617, he and
his wife '* received and dined the poor people, and they did
so again on the 4th January. On the 24th March, 1617-18,
we meet with the following memoranda : —

** Pd M' Young, my chapline and Schoolm'., for his

q". wages . . . . . 6. 0.

Pd M' Harrisone,* my chapline and Usher, for his

q". wages . . . . 3. 6. 8"

So that he had two chaplains, who were employed to teach
the children whom he charitably maintained, considerably
more than a year before he finally procured his Patent.

There is extant at Dulwich a long and formal letter,
without date, from the Rev. Mr. Harrison, the chaplain and

* Under date of January 22, 1618-19, we read the subsequent memo-
randum :-^

" Bought between me and Jo Harrison, my Chap-
line, M' Minchawes dictionarie, being ij lan-
guages, the price was 22«. whereof I gave . 0. 11. 0"

He does not, however, seem to have purchased many books. In different

parts of his Diary we read of the following added to his stock: — " The

general Practice of Physic ;" " A book of the Bishop of Spalates ;" " Fall

of Shabot;" *' A booke of Articles;" " Two bookes of Googes Husbandry;"

" Rules of Lyfe;" " The Black Prince;" «Anof BuUen;" "The Cur-

rant of News."

l2

148 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN.

usher above mentioned^ which has no address, but was doubt-
less sent to AUeyn. It contains an avowal by the writer,
that he had secretly married Alleyn's niece, who lived in the
College in the capacity of a servant. The rev. gentleman
very elaborately argues the matter, presenting the case in all
its bearings 5 and we may presume that he succeeded in re-
conciling the founder, as he left ** the wife of John Harrison,
clerk," a legacy in his will. It nms thus : —

« Wor" Sir. Not unfitlye is it spoken of the Poett, (Dicere quae puduit,
scribere jussit Amor) what shamefastnes forbids to speake, love commandes
to write, like another alured about a match, not with Spaine but mine
owne. Whereas, whether to your knowledge or without your knowledge,
there hath bene affections bred and combined betwixt your kinswoman and
me, and now united in a more sure maner then I presume yow know of :
though many and sundry causes, and of them not a few, to me have seemed
somewhat more serious then peradventure in other mens judgements they
are, caused me to conceale this matter even from )'our self, to whom I
confesse it ought to have bene first imparted, which though it come now
a day after the faire, yet I hope not after the acceptance, nor after the
desire of your best wishes upon it. To implead any mediate cause in this
or that kinde were to l)e reputed rather like Eves defect, a crime then ar-
gument of this conclusion, and therefore not humane, much lesse schoUer-
like : onely, I appeale to the everliving god who (I do verily beleve) had
an extraordinary hand in it, as is best knowne to my selfe by the passages
thereof betwixt us, and I hope he hath ordeined it to both our good, to
meward I verily beleve, if it please god to doe so much by me to herward.
To satisfye then your self, whom I know noue ought more to expect it
then your self (settinge aside both our parents if extant) the conclusions
were so hasty betwixt us (which I confesse argues want of judgement in
me) that I did undergoe this concealed course for diverse reasons : viz* if
the worlde had noted my supposed folly in so affectinge, it might happly
have prevented my fortune (the question is better or worse) — 2^*' She was
under the name of your servant. I know no other, and it would have bene
thought unfitt in my poore judgement that a Ministers wife should have
served tables, especially the wife of one (be it spoken without arrogancye)
that hath taken the degree of M'. of Artes. Yf concent on all sides had
bene graunted, and the marriage more publicly celebrated, there might
have bene more adooe then needed, and expences greater then I am sure
there are, and I lesse contented, lovinge plainenes. 4****' The nature of

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN. 149

this place moved me much to this silent course, by cause 1 am and was
alwayes loath to be a prejudice to any future statute which I have con-
ceived to have extended by yow, howsoever I thought it would be lesse
offensive or prejudiciall to your self, whom in this case I confess I onely
respect. Be it so, thes reasons may be reputed no reasons, blamed I may
be, shamed I cannot be in this action because honest and godly. Other
reasons I could alledge as likely consequences of the former. As in re-
spect of the inconveniences which might have happened upon it, as ap-
peared evidently at the not to be mentioned distast yow bad of me not
longe since, and other occasions in the like nature I could instance in.
2^y The now breedinge estate of your schole, which if it be intercepted
before it come to a fuller growth, a greater inconvenience may happly
arise then yow expect and others suggest unto yow, though I confess I not
so worthy as I could wish. Other occasions in another nature which I
leave to your mature judgement and consideration without my advise or
declaration. If there be any other error (as far as I see) it is to my self,
that I prepared myself like an Atlas, or an asse, to beare as questionlesse
the worlde, so soone as it comes to light, may repute me, consideringe
what matches I might have had, if carefull of my self, though now through
my inconsideratenes I seeme to stand at^the hazardes mouth: yet two
thiuges my comfort, my hope and love ; the first to god an allsufficient
father, who will not suffer me to fall, though I know some fat buls may
thrust sore at me to make me fall, nor to want, seinge I have often prayed
and in part learned to be content with what estate soever, kuowinge that
godlines is the onely true gaine : the second my love reciprocall betwixt
her and me, in that truest conceut that (I protest) in respect of my
assurance that god hath bestowed on me a virtuous and well disposed
maide. I would not (1 once againe protest) exchange, observing the
course of the worlde, for the revenue of the best man in this parishe,
(which for ought I know is your self) so much I esteme an honest and
godly mind beyond riches ; yea though I should not acquire one farthinge
by her, yet 1 hope to be happy with her. You may impose rashnes by
cause, not bitt with the worlde, J impute beleefe the basis of a lively hope.
Thus (with many others) casting myself on your (I must confess) fore-
tasted curtesye, I doubt not that you will thinke me unworthy of your
kinswoman by cause the tbinge hath preceded from the Lord who hath
thought me worthy, nor my freeindes thinke me too worthy of one so well
qualifyed ; but with your favours and their furtherance we may love and
live to gods glory, your good likinge, our freendes comfort and our own
soules health and happines. And though I cannot add to your happines
which (god be thanked) god hath so largely bestowed on yow, yet perad-

150 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYS.

venture somewhat to your use^ and I rather brave a free dismisse then be
any prejudice^ which I thinke cannot be Durante vita vestra, which I pray
god longe to continue to. your endles happines and the comfort of many
to whom god hath made yow a fosterfather ; or els^ rather then I should
admitt any disgrace^ which may many wayes happen in respect of my self
or my wife^ I pray god direct yow aright herein to his farther glory and
the mutuall love of yow and us. Thus daly prayinge for your welfare and
your bedfellowes^ I rest ever

'* Yours not so much in tongue as affection

** Jo. Harrison."

The commencement would lead us to suppose, that the
letter was written while the match with the Infanta of Spain
was on the tapis ; but it is clear that Alleyn had not yet
come to the resolution, afterwards embodied in one of his
laws for the College, that none of the fellows should be
married men.

CHAPTER XVI,

AUeyn's Diary continued — His Birth-day and Wedding-day celebrated —
His Guests and Friends at Dulwich — Jack Wilson, the Singer — Mar-
ston*s Play of Columbus — Mathew Roydon's Poverty — A Play per-
formed by the Boys at Dulwich College — AUeyn's Fee at Court, and
discharge of the Duties of his Office — Hymn in his hand- writing —
Alleyn's health — Petition from Alleyn against Jacob Meade — ^Arbitra-
tion of their dispute.

Those objects of Alleyn's bounty and benevolence whom
he called, in his Diary and elsewhere, ** the poor brothers
and sisters/' were accustomed to dine with the foimder and
his wife and family on particular occasions. One of these
was the birthday of Alleyn, and, on the 1st Sept. 1618, he
made an entry in his Diary in the following terms : —

" 1618 Sept. 1. This day the pore people dind with us, it being my
birth daye and my 52 year owld : blessed be the Lord God, the
giver of liffe. Amen."

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN. 161

There is a similar note on the same day next year j and, on
Sept. 1st, 1620, we have the additional information, that on
that day '' the 12 brothers and sisters had their gowns," for
he furnished them with part of their clothing, as well as with
food and lodging. In 1621 he ** celebrated" his birthday,
for some reason, on the 2d Sept. ; and the last entry of the
kind is Sept. 1st, 1622, which nms thus : —

** Wee took the communion, feasted the pore, and gave the 12 ther
newe gownes ; and this being my birth day I am full 56 years
owld : blessed be the Lord God, the giver of lyfie. Amen."

The Diary ends at Michaelmas, 1622, in the following
manner : —

'^ This Booke contaynes the account of 5 years, viz from Michellmass
1617, to Michellmass 1622.

The generall disbursed for theys years is

Wheroff in particuler as foUoweth.
Howshowld charge

TheCoUedge ....
Rentes ....

Debtes, building and reparing
Lav^e . . , »

A par ell . . . .^

Some of theys particulers

Other Expenses
In theys 5 years hath bene disbursed about
building or reparing the Colledg
" Praysed be the name off our good Grod, both now and ever, through
Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen."

Thus it is evident, as the building and repairing of the
College only cost £802 7«. 9^. in five years, that the greater
part of the money expended upon the structure, &c. had
been disbursed before Alleyn kept this book, * and was,
doubtless, entered in one of a preceding date, which is un-

* Yet he enters various sums at different dates for alterations, additions,
and improvements, as well as for ornaments. One of the most remarkable
of the latter was the erection of a chimney-piece in " the great chamber,"
made out of the ** upper part of the Queene's barge," which Alleyn bought

8504.

04.

8J

09ir.

11.

2

1316.

04.

2

1647.

19.

2

3373.

17.

7

0207.

8.

li

0078.

18.

84

7440.

19.

1063.

6.

84

0802.

07.

9

162 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN.

fortunately not now in existence. The latest entry in his
extant Diary relates to money expended upon the College,
&c. and it runs thus : —

" 30 Sept. 1622. Disbursed for building this yeare, since the 1 of January
1621 to this 28 off September 1622^ in repairing Baxtors bowse about 8":
the rest for the Colledg, as finishing the gates and walls off the cloysters,
chymneyes and foundation^ tilling the cloysters, the Mast. hows» the outer
porch, tlie great Garden hows, and reparing all the other roofes and leaden
spouts, with cestron and pipes, with cocks, paving the great kitchen, with
other things 163/i. 2s. 2d."

On the 13th of July, 1620, he says : '' I laid the first brick
of the fowndation of the Almes houses in Finsburie }" and on
the 23d June 1621 he paid jE4 " for five chaldron of coale for
the 10 members in St. Giles Parish."

He mentions his wife on the 24th Sept. 1622, and she lived
about nine months after the Diary closed. We have seen
that, according to the memorandum in Henslowe's account-
book, Alleyn was married to Joane Woodward on the 22d
Oct. 1592. The twenty-fifth anniversary would, therefore,
have fallen on the 22d Oct. 1617 ; but, in Alleyn's Diary, we
meet with the subsequent note, dated the 19th Oct. : —

** Our wedding daye : there dind with us Doc. Nott, ould Best, his wife.
Canterburie, his wiffe. Jo. Boane, Mr Harris and his frend Ro. Joace."

for £2. 2*. 6d, on 19th Dec. 1618. On the 16th July, 1619, he paid
£1. 17 s, 6fl?.for the joiner's work in putting it up; and, without the original
cost of the materials, the whole expense was £2» 9s, 6d, This is no doubt
the same *' chimney-piece" which is now in the Library, and the columns
there used probably originally supported the roof of the Queen's barge.
Much praise cannot be given to the founder's taste in the affair : the paint-
ings, we presume, were executed for him, and they are not certainly
favourable specimens of the arts in his time. They were possibly by the
same hand that furnished his fourteen heads of the Kings of England, which
he bought on the 29th Sept. and 8th Oct. 1618, and his '' 14 heads of
Christ, our La. and the 12 Apostels," which he procured from Mr. Gibkin
at '^ a noble a pece." In Aug. 1620 he paid J^l. 4s, for carvings of the
Four Seasons, which, on the 4th Sept., were put up as ornaments to
chimney-pieces.

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLETK. 153

In the next year, AUeyn tells us that the 25th Oct, was his
wedding-day, but possibly he kept it then instead of on the
22d Oct., because on that day he had to ride to London to
meet Sir Francis Calton on business. No noiemorandum re-
lating to it is found in 1619, but, in 1620, the celebration is
noted under the date originally given by Henslowe : —

" Oct. 22. This daye was our weding daye, and ther dind with us Mr
Kuight, Mr Maund, and his wife, Mr Mylyor, Mr Jeffes, and 2 frendes
with them, a precher and his frend, Mr Wilson the singer,* with others."

Therefore, there is no doubt that Henslowe was correct,
though for some cause, not explained, AUeyn's wedding-day
was twice kept on other days. The Diary is silent as to 1621,
and it does not come down so low as Oct. 1622.

Much proof is given in the Diary of AUeyn's hospitality,
especially to persons who continued in the profession of which
he was formerly so great an ornament. The first name that
we meet with among his guests of this description is that of
William Cartwright, probably the father of him who in 1687
bequeathed to Dulwich College his books and pictures ; and
who, in his edition of Heywood's " Apology for Actors,"
(first printed in 1612) under the title of '* The Actor's Vin-
dication," (without date, but during the suppression of
theatrical representations), thus speaks of Alleyn : —

*' In his life time he erected a College at Dulwich for poor people, and
for education of youth : when this College was finished this famous man
was so equally mingled with humility and charity, that he became his own
pensioner^ humbly submitting himself to that proportion of diet and clothes
which he had bestowed on others, and afterwards was interred in the same

CoUege/'t

• It seems highly probable that this *' Mr. Wilson, the singer," was no
other than *' Jacke Wilson," who personated Bathazar in ** Much ado about
Nothing," and whose name is inserted in the first folio of Shakespeare,
instead of that of the character he represented. Malone's ^akespeare by
Bos well, vii. 59.

f In the General Biographical Dictionary, it is absurdly enough stated
that Heywood, writing in 1612, had given this eulogium upon Alleyn, who

ISi MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLETN.

Besides that of Cartwright we meet with the names of
Lowin, Gminell, Parr, Dunston, Juby, Massye, Taylor,
Hobbs, Jeffes, Price, Borne, Grace, Himt, and others, as
having dined at Dulwich, sometimes with their wives, sons,
and daughters ; while entries, that ** 5 of the Fortune Com-
pany," " four of the Princes men," *' the King of Bohemes
men," were present on similar occasions, are not unfrequent.*

Considering that dramatic poets were so numerous about
this period, and a little earlier, and that AUeyn must neces-
sarily have been acquainted with many of them, we are sur-
prised not to see such men as Jonson, Chapman, Dekker,
Hey wood, Webster, Marston,t Middleton, &c. among the
persons occasionally entertained at Dulwich ; but we find
none such, and AUeyn does not seem, in this respect, to have
kept up his connection with the stage. In one instance we

had not then built his College, and who died 14 years afterwards. The
error arose from thinking Cartwright's re-publication of Heywood's " Apo-
logy for Actors" a mere reprint ; whereas, he made several changes and
additions, of which the passage above quoted is one.

• On the 26th October, 1619, AUeyn attended " the buriall of Mr. Ben-
field," who had been an actor, and was one of AUejm's most intimate
friends.

f The following undated note from Marston to Henslowe may not be
unfitly introduced here : it refers to a play by Marston on the subject of
Columbus, of which we hear on no other authority. It is one of the scraps
of correspondence between Henslowe and the poets in his employ, existing
at Dulwich College, of the major part of which Malone has given copies,
but omitting the subsequent, which is certainly one of the most interesting
of the whole collection.

" Mr. Hensloe, at the rose on the Bankside.
'^If you Hke my play of Columbus, it is verie well and you shall give me
noe more then twentie poundes for it, but If nott, lett mee have it by this
Bearer againe, as I knowe the kinges Men will freeUe give mee asmuch for
it, and the profitts of the third daye moreover.

" Soe I rest yours

''John Marston."
Marston had written for Henslowe in 1602«

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN. 165

read that ** Goodman poet dind here," and a ** Mr. Mondy"
(perhaps Anthony Munday) was also received by Alleyn.
With the date of 25th May, 1620, we read ** Mr. Myddleton
browght me a booke,'* for which Alleyn presented him with
5*. ; and on 12th December, 1618, he gave '* Jo Taylor, the
poett, for his jomey into Scotland," 4^ ; meaning, probably,
that he purchased of Taylor a copy of the book containing
a narrative of his journey ; but, in general, Alleyn seems
to have had little to do with authors of any class after his
retirement to Dulwich. One of the earliest items in the
book is, however, " S**. given to Mr. Roydon ;" and in one
of the last the same name again occurs : — *' Aug. 1 6th, 1622,
Given to Matthew Roydon, 6**. j" which shews that it was no
other than the poet, who wrote an elegy on Sir P. Sidney
about 1586. Roydon must have been very old and very poor
in 1622, when Alleyn relieved his wants by the gift of six-
pence.

Alleyn appears to have frequented theatres very little, if
at all, as places of amusement, after he became settled at
Dulwich, or rather, after the date when his Diary commences.
He visited the Red Bull, as has been already noticed, on Oc-
tober 3d, 1617, and he went " to the Fortune" on 9th April ;
but it is probable that it was for the purpose of collecting his
rents, as he speaks at the same time of '* the tenants," * On
the 15th November, he gave a shilling "to the boyes of

* This opportunity may be taken for stating that if Alleyn at this date
(April, 1618,} kept the Fortune Theatre in his own hands, he very soon
afterwards let it to the Company there, consisting of Edward Jubye, William
Birde (alias Bourne) Frank Grace, Richard Gunnell, Charles Massye, Wil-
liam Stratford, William Cartwright, Richard Price, William Parre, and
Richard Fowler. The counterpart of the lease, subscribed by the players,
is extant at Dulwich College. It bears date 31st October, 1618, and is for
31 years, at a rent of £200 per annum, and ** two roundlets of wine, one
of sack, and the other of claret," of the value of lOs* each, to be delivered
every Christmas. The fire at the Fortune, of which we shall speak by-
and-by, probably again brought the theatre into the possession of Alleyn.

156 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN.

Powles ;'' but the " Children of Pauls/' as they were origi-
nally called, were not then actors. On the 6th January,
1621-2, twelfth day, he had some friends to supper, " Mr.
Steele, Mr. Fowler, and their wives, and Tho. Allen and his
wife ;" and he adds, " the boyes play'd a playe," which is a
solitary item of the kind. Most likely it was a dramatic
entertainment acted by the poor boys taught in the school at
Dulwich College.*

He received his fee from the Court, as Master of the King's
Games, quarterly ; and he usually enters it in the following
form.

"Mar 20. 1617. Pd at rec. of my fee at Courte, H s. d.

beeing . . . . . 6. 6. 4

for the M'. of the office . . 2. 6

Given to the Clearks . . , 1.

The Chamberkeeper . . . 1.

y 0. 4. 6.

He was naturally anxious to stand well with the Lord
Chamberlain 5 and, on New-year's day, 1617-18, he made
Lady Suffolk a present of a book (the contents of it are not
stated) which cost him £15. He gives the items of this
present thus : —

" Water to Suflfolk House . . •• 0. 1.

Given my La. with my silver booke
Pd for wrighting the verses . . . 0. 10.

To Burkett for lyming it

To Mr. Bramheel for the glass work . . 1. 2.

The whole valewe was IS"*"

On the 21st November, 1618, he gave Burkett 6s. *'for
paynting a smalle tytle to a booke, which I gave to my Ladye
of Suffolke/'

* It is difficult to explam the following entry, '* Feby 6, 1617—18. Pd
Mr. Pyd for my babe in the Counter at Lee sute — 2s. 8e?." ** My babe"
looks like some term of endearment bestowed upon a near friend^ who had
unluckily been arrested.''

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN. 157

He continued to discharge the duties of his office^ as far as
we can now ascertain, to the very last, and some of the latest
memoranda in his Diary refer to them. Thus, on 22d May,
1621, he says, ^'Ibayted before the King at Greenwich:"
again, on the 10th Jime, 1622, the following droll mixture of
discordant topics is inserted, ** Baighted before the King, and
my man washd my shepe : pd 2^, a skore." As we have
already observed, he bestowed minute attention on rural
affairs, and he himself sometimes bought or sold the produce
and stock of his land. On the 24th June, 1622, he tells us,
" I went to Croydon fayer, wher I sould my browne mare :
sowlt to Ingram for 41*. and I bowght a baye mare of Tho,
Denny of Kingston for 44*. And I bowght of Rych, the Con-
stable of Eltham, 12 steres 4 year owld, and j of a year owled
for 5li. 16*. oar

The accounts he gives, regarding his agricultural opera-
tions, the expenses of fanning utensils, hay, straw, com, &c.
are extremely particular, but often hardly legible, from the
small space into which he crowded his details. Every quarter
terminates with a general summary, wound up with the words,
'^ Blessed be the Lorde Gode everlasting, the gever of all.
Amen," which he used, not as a mere form, but with unaffected
piety. Among his scattered papers is the subsequent hymn,
in his own hand- writing, and possibly of his own composition.
It would seem to have been intended for the congregation of
the College, and very likely was sung to the "pair of
organes," which, on the 27th of April, 1618, he bought of
'* Mr. Gibbs of Powles,** for JB8. 2*., and which were put up
in the chapel.*

* Alleyn had engaged an organist a month before he bought his organ,
as the following memorandum proves.

"Memd. One Thursday the 26 off Marche (1617-18) Jo Hopkins the
organist came to me*

A year afterwards Alleyn had '* a diapason stop" put to the organ by a
person of the name of Barett, and ^^ other alterations" cost 5«. lOd,

158 MEMOIRS OF EDWABP ALLEYN.

O prayse the Lord, y* servantes all,

Prayse y« bis holly name ;
Bless hym from East to West, henceforth

For ever doe the same.

The Lord is great above all kings.

Then Heven bis glorie bier,
Wbo*s like to hym ? dwelling so bighe

Yett bumbles bis desier.

To see y® things y* ar in Heaven,

And on the Earth be lowe ;
Taking the pore and simple out

Of dust and myre, we know ;

That he may seat hym for to sitt

W princes of the land.
Even w' the princes of his people.

His lawes to understand.

He make [s] a baren woman bear.

And keep her House with joye ;
To cheer her Hart he cbilldren gives

To gard bir from annoye.

All this and more our god doth send

To us, yt gid of peace :
For w*** to prayse his holy name

My Hart shall never seasse.

The chief recommendation of these stanzas is, certainly,
their piety and simplicity. On the 16th of December, 1620,
Alleyn registers that he had ** bought five song bookes for the
boyes" for fourpence. *

During the five years covered by his Diary Alleyn appears
to have enjoyed excellent health, which is, perhaps, in part to
be attributed to his temperate diet, and to the exercise he took
on horseback : he usually rode to London, and that not unfre-

♦ On the 16th April, 1620, the subsequent entry occurs. '* Easter daye.
We received the Comunion with M*^ Robinsone and bis wife and all the
pore. This daye the Chappie was furnished with basone and candell-
stickes : the children with 10 surplices, and the fellowes alsoe."

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN. 169

quently.* There are, however, two occasions on which he
appears to have been unwell : one of them was on the 26th of
April, 1618, when he says, *'This morning, blessed be God,
I sickend att my La Clarks. Water for Watt. Sent Doc.
Lister my water/' He was unable to return home, and next
day "my wife came to me;" and on the 28th of April, he
was visited by Dr. Lister, and paid him eleven shillings for his
fee. AUeyn was not able to return to the college until the 9th
of May : — " this day, blessed be God, I came home.'' The
second instance of indisposition was in March, 1619^ on the
13th of which month he sent his water to Dr. GuUson, and on
the 27th of April '^paid the Apothecaries bill for my last
sicknes/' amounting to only four shillings.

The autograph manuscript which has afforded us so much
information, contains frequent mention of Jacob Meade, who
had been taken into partnership by Henslowe in his shares of
Paris Garden and the Hope theatre not very long before his
death. How long after that event Alleyn and Meade pro-
ceeded harmoniously it is not possible to state ; but it appears
that they had disputes, and that Alleyn, who always disliked
law, was willing to have the matters in difference settled by
arbitration. On the 26th of April, 1619, he informs us, " I
rode to London to meete with Jacob : spent at dinner with the
arbytrators 0^. 7*. 0^. The following documents have no dates,
but they seem to belong to this period, and the first refers to a
petition which had been presented some time before by Alleyn
to the Lord Chamberlain, while Lord Pembroke was attending
King James in Scotland. It is at least likely that the points
in question between Alleyn and Meade, which were arbitrated

• His journeys were generally confined to travelling from Dulwich to
London, Windsor, Greenwich, or wherever the court might be ; but, on one
occasion, in August, 1617, he states that he went to Winchester, and slept
at the house of a Mr. Allen, (perhaps some relation) on his way thither.
He started on the 3rd of August, and was back again by the 10th ; therefore
he probably went upon business, and not for his health or pleasure.

160 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN.

in the spring of 1619, are contained in the subsequent peti-
tion : —

" To the right hble William Earle of Pembrooke, L. Chamberleine to
the Kinges Ma^% and one of hishigbnes right bble privie councellf

^' The hnmble petition of Edward AUen^ Esquire.

''Whereas there was a petition preferred to your Honor att Eden-
boroughe, in Scotland, one the behallfe of Jacobbe Meede, touchinge some
interruptions by him pretended to be made by the petitioner^ touchinge the
baytinge of beares and bulls and the keepinge of that game, the ^hich
petition remaineth with your honors secretarie. The petitioner bumblie
desireth your honor to take consideration of his aunswer to the said petition^
which is as followeth.

*' First, the petitioner hath not made anie assignment of the pattent men-
tioned in the said Jacobbe Meedes petition, but T)nlie from tyme to tyme, as
occasion serveth, doth make to him, or such as he shall appoynte, deputa-
tions of the said pattent, and that for no tyme certaine but duringe your
petitioners pleasure.

" Secondlie, that he hath not since the tyme that the house and game^
mentioned in the said Meedes petition, weare in his custodie received out of
thexchequer, neither the wages and fees dewe by the Patent, nor the
4« per diem for the Leopard and other beastes mentioned in the said Meedes
petition.

*' Thirdlie, the said Meede hath covenaunted with your petitioner, that if
the wages and fees doe not amounte to 60' per Ann, then the said Meede to
allowe to your petitioner yerelie so much as the same want of 60* per
Ann.

*' Fowerthlie, the said Meede doth not paye your petitioner the rent of
100" per Ann for the house, but refuseth to paye it, and combineth with
those [who] oppose your petitioners title, to defeate your petitioner of the
possession of the said house and his interest therein.

" Fifthlie, the said Jacobbe Meede, not payenge his rent nor performinge
the articles made betweene your petitioner and the said Meede, your peti-
tioner warnd the said Meede to forbeare to baite the said beares, but the
said Meede continewed baytinge, notwithstandinge which the petitioner
did not hinder."

It may be doubted whether this is the termination of the
paper, as it concludes abruptly, but no more is extant. It is
not in Alleyn's hand-writing, but it was wrapped up in the

MEMOIRS OF EPWABD ALLEYN. 161

annexed statement^ which was written by the founder, and
contains particularities of grievance in themselves curious.

** Imprim. 1 demaund the rentes dwe unto ipe since mj mothers de-
cease.

*^ 2 The stock of beares^ bnlls^ doggs and other things apertayning to
the personall estate of Phillip Henslowe^ nott by hym bequeathed.

*' 3 60' per Ann"* for the use of my Comission for so longe as the said
Jacob hath used the same [' 3 yeeres ' in the margin.]

" The rentes accrew by 2 Leases, the one from Phill. Henslowe, the other
from Annis Henslowe and my selfe: the rentes dwe by bothe these leases
att mydsomer next is 200^.

** Now Jacobs answer to this can be but that he paid the said rented
where he thought in his conscienc they were dwe ; but the trueth is for to
gayne to hym self a firme leas for 21 yeares, for that booth the other leases
went with conditions and lymitations, and Jacob entred into on bond of
300' for performance of the covei^aatcii, and an other bond of 200' to stand
to an arbitrement

*' For the stocky that is playnly sett downe in a sedule which Jacob is to
make good in his first lease, and when my mother lett hym the other moyety,
we were about to frame a new sedule ; but after considering that by the
first lease and sedule he was charged with such a stock, and now in th^
second lease the whole state demised unto hym, we forbore to make any
new seduU, the first being still in force. But some small cubbs which weare
bread up betwixt my father and hym as a surplusage of the stock, I rec.
mony for my mothers part, and so likewise of some hoggs.

^' Nowe his answer wilbe for the stock that they wear all dead before
my father dyed, or that he hath already paid for them or some such like.

** For the 60' per Ann™ for my Comission he will saye ther is more then
that owing me off the Court in fees and rewardes, according to his cove-
naunt.

■ . • • •

'' Lett that apere, and I shalbe satisfied allthough I never receive itt.

^' But that allowances must amount to above 60' per Ann, besides M*^ fee
of 14<> per diem, in respeckt ther was 60' all way es paid and allowed for the
Comission by the farmer theroff many years agoe, who never had any thing
to doe with the fe 14«* per dyem."

Whether the preceding papers did or did not relate to
the arbitration, referred to in Alleyn's Diary under date of
25th April, 1619, there is good reason to believe that the

•M

les

MEMOIRS OF EDWABD AIXETI9.

points in difference were settled, though not till after the lapse^
of some months. On the 22nd September, 1619, Alleyn tfaua
congratulated himself : — *' I went to town to meet with Jacob.
1 dind with Jacob, M' Adys and M^ Foster, and wee concluded
our matters, both witii him and Xho. Angell : blessed be the
Godofpeac."*

CHAPTER XVII.

I

AUeyn's Accumulation of Property — ^His Purchase of the Manor of Lewis-
ham — Grod's Gift College also a Boarding-school— -Mrs. Henslowe's
Death — Burning of the Fortune Theatre — ^Its Reconstruction ; and the
mode in which the Money for the purpose was raised — Alleyn*s Leases
of various Shares to his Tenants — Charles Massy e's Counterpart — Date
of the Completion of the New Theatre.

NoTwiTHSTAi^niNa Alleyn's heavy outlay for the College,
he seems stiU to have gone on accumulating, and his pur*
chases, whether leasehold or freehold, as he told Sir F. Cal-
ton, prospered in his hands. On the 21st April, 1621, he thus
enumerates the rents he paid quarterly.

" The K's Matt* f^ the Bancksyde

M' Billson

M' Luntley

M' Travis

M' Danson

MJ" Cuxsone

The K's rent for Lewshame

To M' Watsons rent

M*" Sedley for Lewshame

* Several entries respecting Jacoh Meade, of a subsequent date, look at
if AUeyne and he had been engaged in some common cause, defending
their rights with respect to Paris Garden ; but the expressions are general
and ambiguous.

f This was the same amount of rent as he had paid on 22nd Oct., 1617f
« Pd the Kings rent for the Banckej 13" 17*. 5**."— Diary.

13 17

6t

i

3 10

40

2 10

7 10

14 14

6

9 17

6

76

0"

MEMOIRS OF EDWJLED ALLEYN. 168

It is to be remarked that we have no means of knowing
what AUeyn received, only what he paid ; so that we cannot
tell to what advantage he sub-let any part of the property.
Lewisham appears here for the first time, for he had com-
pleted the pm'chase of the manor and parsonage rather more
than three months before. On the 11th December, 1620, he
records, '^ I was in London with Sir Jo. Wildgosse about the
maner of Lewishame ;" and on the 15th of the same month
he says, " This daye I paid for the maner and parsonage of
Lewisham «£1000."* This was in itself a large sum. and we
have just seen that he had besides to pay rent to the king to
the extent of £^ 18s. per annum for one part of the manor,
and of c£300 per annum to Mr. Sedley for another part. The
rent of £160 per annum to Mr. Travis was for the Black-
friars, and no doubt he sub-let the theatre and other tene^
ments at a considerably improved rent. Had the book <^
Alleyn's receipts, as well as of his payments, been recovered,
we should have seen at once what proportion of his income vmk
derived from these various sources. He makes a memoran-
dum that, as lord of the manor, he ** kept the first Court at
Lewisham" on the 16th April, 1621. He had some copyhold
property also in Lambeth Marsh, and for this he regularly
enters the payment of quit-rent.t He also paid quit-rent and
tithes fi)r the Fortune, or for part of the ground on which it
6tood.|

Besides the poor children who were gratuitously fed, taught,

* Amonc^ the miscellaneous papers at Dulwich is a list, dated 20tU
March, 1622, of persons to be fined for non-attendance upon juries, &c., in
which Alleyn is termed *^ his Majesty's farmer of the maner of Lewis-
bam."

f On October 2Qd, 1621, the fdlowing memorandum was made by
Alleyn. '' This daye att a Court held in Keniogton I was admitted
tenaunt;*' but of what he does not any where mention : probably of some
copyhold houses or lands.

I In his will Alleyn mentions " all my lands in Yorkshire, lately pur-
chased of Greorge Cole." Of this acquisition we have no other notice.

M 2

164 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN.

and clothed, boys were also taken in to be boarded and edu-
cated 5 but whether the sums paid on this account went to the
master and usher of the school, or to increase the general funds
of the College, must be left to conjecture. On the 15th June,
1620, we read the following — " Mem : that M' Rogers sent
this daye his three sones att boord and scholing, for 12^ per
Ann. a peece ;" and on the 12th September of the same year
occurs the subsiequent entry : " This day M' Woodwards
sone came to sojome and be taught here, at 20^ per Ann."

Agnes Henslowe, the mother of Alleyn's wife, having died
shortly before the conunencement of the Diary from which so
many of the preceding particulars are taken, on the 6th Fci-
bruary, 1617-18, Alleyn paid two shillings for *' bringing in
the inventorie of my mother,'' as he always called her. On
the 28th June, 1618, he enters, " This daye was Judith
Alleyn, the daughter of Mathias Alleyn, buried.'*

The statutes of the College evince the founder's partiality
to the name of Alleyn, or Allen, since they require that the
master and warden shall bear it ; and he seems always to have
given a preference to persons who were called Allen, whether
they did or did not belong to his family. Thus on one occa-
sion he invited an Irish preacher to dine with him because he
was an Allen. He was also on terms of intimacy with Sheriff
Allen, and '* Allen the Goldsmith." On the 27th January,
1621-2, he makes the subsequent memorandum. " This day
I took a pore fatherless child, Ed. Alleyn ;" and, on the 22nd
August, 1622, he states that another " Nedd Alleyn" came
to reside at the College.

During the five years to which this record applies the
founder was much invited out to the houses of the nobility
and gentry. He dined with the Lord Treasurer, the Arch-
bishop of Canterbury, the Bishops of London and Winchester,
the Speaker of the House of Commons, the Master of the
Rolls, Sir Richard Smith, Count Gondomar the Spanish Am-
bassador, Sir T. Grymes, the Countess pf Kildare, the Dean of

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN; 166

St. Paulas, the Lord Mayor of London, &c. In the sanae way
various persons of distinction came to partake of Alleyn's
hospitality at his College.

When he went to London he not unfrequently dined, as he
states, at Lady Clark's 5 but most commonly, when he was
upon business, he resorted with his friends to houses of public
entertainment. He was accustomed to go to Young's ordi-
nary, and to Hart's ordinary near the Fortune ; to the Bear,
the Horn, the Mermaid, the Cardinal's Hat, the Bell (in
Westminster), the Dancing Bears (near Paris Garden), the
Paul's Head, the Bull's Head, the King's Arms, the Red
Cross, the Three Tuns (in Southwark), the Hart (in Smith-
field), and a place he calls '^ Dolls, '^ which seems to have been
near the Rose theafreu

By a letter from John Chamberlain to Sir Dudley Carleton
we learn, that the Fbrti|D6 Theatre was consumed by fire oh
the Sunday night preoBduig ^he 15th of December (Hist, of
Engl. Dram. Poetrr and the Stagey- ni. 809) ; but Alleyn in
his Diary fumishet the pradtd dUte of this calamity in the
subsequent entry :— -^

'' W 1621. Dec. 9. Md. this night att 1^ of the CSock the FortuDe
was burnt."

The loss to him must have been oeoaiderflj^ bqt be makes
not the slightest observation in g e fcr tii po to it; and not
long afterwards, as appears by^ofiier sotd^.he let abbot the
reconstruction of the theatre, lliua Wieoidy ^^Dinoer ait'lhe
Hart in Smithfeild, with the builders cl/the Fortune :" '* I
went to Westminster to meet the workmen of the Fortune :'*
'* I met the workmen at Ric : Qunnc^ils.'* &c. On the ISth
May, 16S2, he made the first pi^ni^nt of £96 tipon it. On
the ISth June he went to Lord Arandell's, and shewed him
the ground-plot of the new edifice, which was a large round
brick building, and not a square wooden house, as before.
(Hist, of Engl Dram. Poetry and the Stage, iii. 309.) On

106 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLETK*

the 19tfa July Allen informs us that he ^'sold the lease of tM
Fortune,'' by which he means that he sold the lease of a port
of it before it was reconstructed ; for, as we shall presently
see, he divided it into twenty^four shares, and at various dates
disposed of separate leases of each share to different parties.
Thus he had many tenants^ and a divided responsibility as to
payment, which was a very prudent course for him to adopt*
These leasei were not all sold or sealed on 6th September,
162S, when Alleyn adds as follows to one of his memo*
randa :^-^' From thence to the Fortune, and dind with M'
A>:ell and gave his wife for M' Houghton SO*.^ I gave his
man G^ and her mayd 6'. So I sealled att Underwoods f the
Fortune Leases, and so came home." This is the last we hear
of the Fortune upon the same authority.

However, he left behind him quite as indisputable evidence
to shew what he did with this property, and how he contrived
to have it rebuilt without drawing on his own purse*

He divided it^ as has been remarked, into twenty-four
shares, letting each share upon a lease for fifty-one years, at a
rent of £5 6s. llrf., requiring the tenant of every share to
pay down, in the first instance, the sum of ^^41 18*. 4rf.
towards the rebuilding. Thus he raised a capital of ilOOO
for completing the neW structure, and secured to himself an
income of £1^ JSr. a year afterwards. These facts are esta-

• There wa«^% player of the name of Robert Axell, or Axen, and this^
ite4<yMbt, was be with whom Alleyn dined. Mr. Houghton was very likely
the M 'play-poet^ tVilliam Houghton, or Haughton, whose name often
occurs in Henslowe's Kiary. H6 was, perhaps, at this time old, and
necessitous. There was also a ** young Haughton."

t Henry Underwood was probably a scrivener, but there was an artor
named John Underwood, of wl|om we first hear in 1601, when he was one
of the children of the chapel. In 16^ he was one of the King*s Servantfl»
and so he seems to have continued in !623; but, perhaps, he was also a
speculator in the Fortune theatre on the recommencement of performances
after the fire. Actors were often interested in the receipts of more than
on6 playhouse.

ȣEMOIES OF EDWARD ALLETN; 167

Uished by the existence at Dulwich College of the counter^*
parts (or ** counterpanes,*' as they are called in the indorse^
ments) of two leases to Charles Massye* and Richard Price
(both actors), which are exact copies of each other, and one of
which is subjoined. It bears date on the 20th May» 1622^
but it was, probably, one of those executed at Underwood's,
on the 6th September, having been prepared ready for gig*
nature some time before.

** This Indenture made the twentith day of May Anno Dom. 1622, aiyi
in the yeeres of the raigM of int Soveraigne Lord James by the grace of
god kin^ of England, Btithfi, Fraunce and Ireland, Defendor of the
Faith &c. That is to say of Bnglsmd Fraunoe and Ireland the twentitb>
and of Scotland the five and fiflith. Betweene Edward Alleyn of Dulwich
in the County of Surrey, K^uqiM, of tkone part, and Charles Massy of
London, gent, of thotber ^part Wifaieweth, that whereas the said Edward
Alleyn the day of the date ai tktM fMMHtes is seized in his desmeane as
of fee of and in all tbAl part or pmmHk «l gmmd upon part whereof lately
stood a Playhouse or taiMiiig, calledlit Fwllg, with a Taphouse belongs
ing to the same, at«ttdjpjill|n the occttpilM^lfirke Briggum, one other
tenement heretofore <Miil|j|d to one John SanA '^M other tenement in
the occupation of Wflkm £ird^ alias Bourne, ind mm odter tenement in
the occupation of J^ffaP a nt Py Conteyning in bmfllll ham East to West
one hundred andrdwiy-iidto^V'tbd in length one hundred and thirty one
foote and eight inches or tk^nftbout, abutting on the East West North
and South as is specified in a plottforme. And is also seized of and in one
other messuage or tenement <iontayning a shopp, a chamber and a garrett
towards the streete, and two roomes and a garrett behinde the same, and

* Alleyn seems to have been very kind to Massye, and possibly the loan
to him of j£50, solicited in a letter already inserted, enabled him after-
wards to save money enough to pay down ^41 13«. 4d. towards the recon*
struction of the Fortune, and to yield Alleyn a yearly rent of £5 6s, lid.
An item in the founder's Diary, dated 19th November, 1622, would seem
to shew that Massye had then taken a benefit at the Fortune theatre, and
that Alleyn had presented him with 5«. : it is, '' Given Charles Massye at
his playe 0. 5. 0," and it is the only entry of the kind. This was about
three weeks before the Fortune was consumed, at which date it was in
possession of the company called ** The Palsgrave's Servants," who, as
has been shewn, were formerly the players of Prince Henry.

166 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLfiTN.

one yard thereto belonging, late in the tenure of William Gkrrell, and noi^
HI the occupation of Henry Smith, scituate on the North side of the way
leading to the said Playhouse, all scituate lying and being betweene
Whitecrosse streete and Golding lane, in the parish of S^. Giles without
Cripplegate in the county of Midd. upon part of which said ground therte
is intended to be erected and sett upp a new Playhouse. Now this Inden-
ture witnesseth, that the said Edward Alleyn, as well for and in conndera-
tion of the rentes hereunder reserved, as also for that the said Charks
Massy is to pay or cause to be paid unto Anthony Jarman and Thomas
Wigpitt for the new building and erecting of a Playhouse in Golding lane
aforesaid, according to the plottformeby them allready drawne,for his part
the somme of forty one pounds thirteene shillings and fourpence, propor-
tionally according to the foure and twentith part thereof, and according to
such dayes and tymes as in one paire of indentures of Articles of Agree>
ment, indented bearing date with these presentes,nade betweene Thomas
Wigpitt Cittizen and Bricklayer of London .*>9d Anthony Jarman Cittizen
and Carpinter of London of thone part, and Thomas Sparkes, Cittizen and
Merchanttaylor of London, WiUiam Gwalter Cittizen and Innholder of
London, Richard Gunnell of London, gent, Charle^B Massy of London, geot^
Hichard Price of London, gent, Adam Islipp of London, Stationer, John
Fisher of London, Barber Chirurgeon, Edward Jactkson of London, gent,
and Frauncis Juby of Southwark in the County W Surrey widowe of
thother part, him, the said Edward Alleyn hereun^ especially moving,
hath demised graunted and to ferme letten, and by these presentes doth
demise graunt and to ferme lett unto the said Charles Massy one part of
the said ground and premisses, in foure and twenty equal! partes to be
devided, with all easements wayes and passages, proffits and commodities
thereunto belonging or in any wise appertaining, to have and to hold the
said one part of the said ground and premisses, in foure and twenty equall
partes to be devided as is aforesaid, with all and every thappurtenances„
unto the said Charles Massy his executors administrators and assignes,
from the feast day of the Nativity of S'. John Baptist next ensuing the
date hereof unto the full end and tearme of fiftie and one yeares from
thence next ensuing and fully to be compleate and ended, yeilding and
paying therefore, yeerely and every yeere during the said terme, unto the
said Edward Alleyn his heires or assignes, five pounds six shillings and
eleaven pence of lawfuU English money at foure most usuall feastes or
termes in the yeere, that is to say S^ Michaell tharchangell, the Birth of
our Lord god, thannunciation of our blessed Lady S*. Mary the virgin, and
the Nativity of S'. John Baptist, by even and equall portions at or in the
Collen;e called Godsgifte in Diilwich aforesaid. And the said Charles

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYK. 169

Massy for him his executors administrators and assignes doth oovenant
promise and graunt to and with the said Edward Alleyn his heires and
■assignes by these presentes^ that he the said Charles Massy bis executors
administrators and assignes^ the said one part of the said ground and pre-
misses^ in foure and twenty equali partes to be devided^ and likewise one
part of foure and twenty equali partes to be devided of all buildings and
edifices which shall hereafter be erected and sett upp upon the said plott of
ground or upon any part or parcell thereof^ or of any the premisses, in by and
with all manner of needful and necessary reparations whatsoever well and
sufficiently for and concemyng the said foure and twentith part, shall re-
payre, uphold, susteyne, fence, maintaine and keepe, and the pavementes,
wayes and passages leading to the said plott of groimd and premisses shall
well and sufficiently pave, repayre, amend, rateably according to the foure
and twentith part thereof as is aforesaid, from tyme to tyme when and as
often as neede shall require during the said terme. And in the end of the
said terme, or other sooner determination of this present lease, the said foure
and twentith part of ground and premisses so demised as aforesaid and the
buildings thereupon to be erected as aforesaid, soe well and sufficiently re-
payred upholden, susteyned maintayned kept paved and amended, shall
leave surrender and yeild up unto the said Edward AUeyn his heires or
assignes. And further, that it shall and may be lawful! to and for the said
Edward AUeyn his heires and assignes, with workemen and others at his
and their willes and pleasures, twice in every yeere yeerely or oftener during
the said terme, at convenient tymes to enter and come into all the said
buildings and premisses, there to view search and see the state of the repa-
rations of the same, and if any default or want of reparations then and
there be upon any such view found thereof to give or leave notice or warne-
ing in writing to or for the said Charles Massy or to his executors adminis-
trators or assignes to repayre and amend all and every such decayes, de-
faultes, or wantes of reparations according to the rateable proportion of the
foure and twentith part thereof as is aforesaid, within sixe monthes next
ensueing such warneing given. And further, the said Charles Massy for
him his executors administrators and assignes doth covenant promise and
graunt to and with the said Edward Alleyn his heires and assignes by these
presentes, that he the said Charles Massy his executors administrators or
assignes shall not «t any tyme hereafter devide part, alter, transport or
otherwise convert the said one part of the said ground and premisses, in
foure and twenty equali partes to be devided, or any the edifices and build*
ings that now are or shalbe hereafter erected and sett upp as is aforesaid,
to any other use or uses then as a Playhouse for recreatiou of his Majesty's
subjectes his heires and successors. Provided alwayes^, and it is covenanted

170 MEMOIRS OF EDWABD ALLEYN.

coodiscented, concluded and fully agreed upon by and betweene the nid
parties to these presentes^ that if it shall happen the said yeerely rent of
five poundes sixe shillings and eleaven pence, or any part or parcell thereof,
to be behinde and unpaide by the space of eight and twenty dayes next
after any feaste or tenne of payment thereof in which the same ought to
be paid at the place aforesaid, or if the said Charles Massy, his executors
administrators or assigues, doe not for his and their partes pay or cause to
be paid unto the aforesaid Anthony Jarman and Thomas Wigpitt severally
such sommes of money, for their part and proportion of the said Playhouse
according to the lymitation of the aforesaid Articles of Agreement, or if
the said reparations be not well and sufficiently done within the tyme and
lymitation above said, and all and every other the covenantes, promises, and
agreementes abovesaid, which on the part and behalfe of the said Charles
Massy his executors, administrators and assignes are and ought to be per*
formed and kept, be not well and sufficiently observed, performed, fulfilled
and kept according to the intent and true meaning of these presentes, that
then and at all tymes after, it shall and may be lawfuU to and for the said
Edward AUeyn his heires and assignes into all and singular the said de-
mised premisses wholly to reenter, and the same to have againe, repossesse
and enjoy as in his and their former estate, and the occupiers thereof from
thence utterly to expell, putt out and amove, anything herein contayned to
the contrary hereof in any wise notwithstanding. In witnes whereof the
parties first above named to these present Indentures their seales, either to
other, interchangably have putt. Yeoven the day and yeere first above

written.

^' Charles Massye.

*' Sealed and delivered in the presence of

« Henr. Underwood.

" Mathias Alleyn."

How long it occupied to build the new theatre we have
no precise information, Alleyn's Diary not coming down to
so late a date ; but it was certainly finished by the 29th
January, 1623, because on that day Alleyn granted a lease
to Margaret Gray of two twenty-fourth (or one twelfth,^
as it is called in the instrument) shares of the Fortune, at a
yearly rent of £^0 13«. lOrf., with the same covenants as in
the lease to Massye, with a difference in the description of
the property, inasmuch as it is stated in Margaret Gray's
lease that the edifice was '* one new Play-house or building

\

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD AILBTK. 171

called the Fortune^ with a Tap-house belonging to the same^
being a tenenaent now in the occupation of one Robert Hart/'
On the 20th February following, Alleyn granted a similar
lease of a twenty-fourth share to George Bosgrave^ which is
likewise extant. At this date, therefore, the house was finished,
and ready for the performance of dramatic entertainments.
We have the evidence of Thomas Heywood, whose *' English
Traveller'* was printed in 1633, having been acted, in all
probability, at the Fortune after its reconstruction, that " the
picture of Dame Fortune" was exposed on the outside of the
house as its sign. No doubt such had been the case from the
period when it was first opened by Henslowe and Alleyn in
the very commencement of the seventeenth century.

CHAPTER XVni.

Death of Afleyn's first Wife — Her Character — Alleyn's Courtship of his
second Wife — Alleyn's Letter to Dr. Donne after having married his
Daughter — ^Alleyn's desire to obtain a Knighthood — Letter to him from
Henry Gibb upon the subject — Alleyn's acquaintance with Sir W. Alex-
ander — Original Stanzas addressed by the latter to the former.

Thb inscription on the flat stone over the grave in the chapel
in Dulwich College states that Alleyn's first wife, Joane
Woodward, whom he had married in October, 1592, died on
the ^th of June, 16^. This was only ahout nine months
after the close of Alleyn's autograph diary or account-book at
Michaelmas, 1622, and she seems to have enjoyed good health
during the whole of the five years to which that MS. relates.
Her husband never hints at any indisposition on her part, and
there is not a single entry of any payment for medicine or at-
tendance for her. They seem to have lived together for more
than thirty years in uninterrupted comfort and harmony:
Alleyn was a man of a quiet and contented temper, and his

172 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN;

wife most likely possessed an amiable and complying disposi-^
tdon, looking up with respect and admiration to her husband,
and happy to second his plans and purposes. When he went
out to visit his friends she usually accompanied him, and one of
the very latest entries is of this kind : — '«Sep. 24 [1622] I
and my wife dined at Sir Tho. Grymes ;" and there is not a
syllable in any of the papers at Dulwich to show that they
ever had the slightest disagreement.

ITie taking of a second wife has been held by some a tribute
to the first, or^ at all events, to the matrimonial state : if so>
Alleyn appears to have paid that tribute early; since we
have it upon his own admission, that on the 23rd of Octo-
ber, 1623, less than four months after the death of his wife
Joane, he was in treaty with the father of his second wife,
whose christian name appears to have been Constance. What
was her surname has been questioned : the General Biogra-
phical Dictionary asserts broadly that it was Kinchtoe, and
that Alleyn married her "about two years '^ after the death of
his first wife. This is clearly an error, and the documents pre-
served at Dulwich strongly support the tradition that she was
a daughter of Dr. Donne. Alleyn's Diary shows that he was
acquainted with Donne, for he records under date of the 28rd
of May, 1620, " Mr. Donne preached here," meaning in the
College Chapel ; and on the 20th of July, in the following
year, it appears that Dr. Donne visited Alleyn. The memo^
randum is this: '*I herd Dr. Done at Camberwell, and after
dind with Sir Tliomas Grymes. They and Mr. Angell came
to Dull, in the after none.*' Now, Sir Thomas Grymes appears
to have been a person very much concerned in the negotiation
for the marriage of Alleyn with his second wife Constance, and
we find, under Alleyn's own hand, that his father-in-law was
of a " reverend calling.*' This fact, and other particulars of a
highly interesting nature in relation to the biographies both
of Alleyn and Donne, are contained in the copy of a letter found
at Dulwich, which has no date, but must have been written

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN, 173

after the 24jth of January, 1624-5^ because it is scribbled very
illegibly by Alleyn on the spare spaces of a letter to him of
that date from William Becher the elder, recommending a poor
man for reception into the College. Alleyn was then married,
and he enters into a variety of curious details respecting the
whole affair, alleging that the union had been hastened by Dr*
Donne's illness, and showing that serious disputes had sub-
sequently arisen between him and Dr. Donne on the subject of
money, in the course of which the latter had even gone so far
as to give the lie to the former. Here, also, we find it dis-
tinctly stated by Alleyn, that a portion of his property was
" the playhouse" in the Blackfriars, which was worth JC120 a
year, exclusive, we suppose^ of the other tenements. This is
the interest which in a former part of the present memoir it
has been conjectured he purchased from Shakespeare, The
whole of what follows will be read with great curiosity : as
already mentioned, it is from the original in AUeyn's hand-
writing, and in some places it is penned so illegibly as to be
deciphered with considerable difficulty,

** Sir. Your unkind, unexpected and undeserved^deniall off the common
curtesie afforded to a frend asking the loane off unusefuU money, which
yourselfe som few dayes before, I making you acquainted with all my pro-
ceedings, did then so lovingly grant unto, besides voluntary offer of
500" more then I entreated, and your after repetition off it to Sir Tho.
Grymes, made me wonder what so strangely altered your mind at the very
pointe of my occasion : and trewly. Sir, I can nott dwell in quiett till I bee
in som sort resolved herin, and to that end I have examined my selfe, in
all my proceedinges towching you and yours, to see if I cowld find any such
eawse of oflenc in me to move you to this bad dealing ; and surly I can
find none. Yet it seems you conceive it wholy to bee in me, but I hope I
shall allwayes be able before god and the world well and trewly to cleer my
selfe off the least breach of any jott of that promise I first made, and for
your better remembranc, I pray you, look backe and revert to the whole
process off the business, which as farre as I can remember I will here trewly-
sett downe.

" Then thus : after motion made by Sir Tho. Grymes on both ^ides, I.
was envited to your house the 21 of October 1623, wher after dinner in your
parlor you declard your inteutiou to bestow with your daughter Con. ail

174 IIEMOIRS OF EDWARD AIJ«ETN.

the benefitt of your pryme Leet which^as you said, you knew would i^ortly be
received, and that you were assured iff I stayd tillmichaellmass^next to bee
worth 500^ att the least, and when so ever it showld rise to more it showld
wholy be hirs. My offer was to doe as much for her as your selfe, and add
to that at my death 500" more, and so her estat should be a lOOO". This
gave you content ; and Sir Tho. perswaded me to doe some what more which

1 did, and promis'd to leave her at my death 2000 markes. This was ac-
cepted and security demanded. I then towld you all my landes were stated
on the Coll. 3 leases I had, one of them was given to the Coll. the other

2 being the manor and recktory of Lewsham worth 120u a year, and divers
tenementes in the Black -friars, as the plaie bowse theare, worth 120'' the
year, booth which cost me 2500** : iff nowe my statute or recognisance would
serve, those 2 leases should be past over to somepers<5ne in trust that after
ny death,, shee surviving, should be leaft 2000 markes. This was accepted
on all sides, and your selfe being calld away by the coming of some Ladyes,
you tooke your leave of Sir Tho., and referd the aecomplishiug of these
businesses to his direction.

** I presently returned to Peekham, and coming then to Con. towld her
what had past; and more, to show my love to her, off my owne voluntary, I
towld her before Sir Tho. I would make it upp 1500", which was then by
your selfe and Sir Tho. extraordinary contented with« All this wliile there
was no 200* a yeere spoken off nor any other jo)aiter, but so muche mony
at my death : tis trew itt wase thought more convenient for her to have
200" a yeere then 1500" in money, and as I sayd divers tymes iff god ena-
bled me, 1 shalbe more willing to doe itt, and soe it was a desire rather then
a promise.* Thus past itt on till the begining of your sicknesse, and then
you desire our maryag should be performd with as much speed as might
bee ; for as you sayd the world tooke surer knowledge of itt, and for what
wase promisd on your part, iff god lent you lyfe should be really performd.f
I directly went on, urging you to nothing, but rested wholy on your bare
word (which I then thowght 10 tymes the valew could not make you breake).
Itt is now allmoste 3 quarters sine our maryag : I have all this tyme loved
her, kept her and maynteyned her, and never thought to have so great a
cause off discontent as your selfe now gave.

* £n his will Alleyn left his wife £1500, secured upon his prc^erty in
Southwark, consisting of the '^ capital messuage and Inn " called the Uni-
com, and three other houses with the signs of the Barge, the Bell, and the
Cock. He also gave her £100 in money for " present use." Sir Nicholas
Carew of Beddington,and Sir Thomas Grymes of Peekham, were trustees
for Mrs. Alleyn under the will.

t It is known that Dr. Donne had so severe an iUness about ihb period,
that his life was oonsidefed in danger^

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN. 176

'' Thus I may lafljr take god and the world to witness I have with trew/
love and affection performd all that ought to he don on my part to you and
yours. My conscience knowing made me angred att your soudeyn deniall
of that which before you had graunted^ and delever those passionat wordes.
you tooke so hanously, seeing thereby I must be branded either for a foole
or a knave in the business I had undergone ; but itt seems itt wase your
desire to drive me into that defene^ els you would never eontinew me in
hope till very late^ and then forste me uppon all termes; but the Lord
judge this caus beetwen you and me^ and so the Lord deale with me,
either in mercie or judgment^ as I had a trew intention to doe good to those
pore men^ and no wrong to you nor yours. My language you tooke so harsh
was this — that I now perceived you esteemd 500^ befor my honesty^ yea^
my reputation^ or your daughters good. You presently being enflamd sayd,
that it was false^ and a lye, wordes in my mynd fitting you 30 years ago,
when you might be questiood for them, then now under so revereut a call-
ing as you are. But as fals as you suppos them, I wish they prove not sXL
trew, for some off them, I am to well assurd off before this violene brake
forth. You calld me a playu man : I desire alwayes so to be, for I thank
god I never could deceive in my lyfe, and I am to owld now to turne [and]
wear it off, the cursedst felow in Christendom. My hart and tong must goe
to gather, and allthough this be thought great folly in the world, yett I
hope [it] will easely forgive the fault, iff it be one. Therefore, sine I xm,
willing to be so as your knowledg long held of me, I pray you pardon such
faultes as my hart in its playness conmiittes.

** And now in playne termes give me leave to enquire what faultes of
myne hath caused so manie unkind passages in you? as first after our
mariage, before Sir Tho. Grymes upon your recovery, the people all giving
joy, you then promised to send my wyfe her mothers embroiderd l3mnen for
new years guift. After that my wyfe had a great desire to a little nagg off
yours, for her owne selfe to use for her health to take the ayre, and hearing
you many t3nnes saye it did you no servis, caused her brother George to
move you for itt on her be half, which she making no doubt of was very
much hurt in, but to prevent her of the comfort, the nagg was suddeynly
sent away to Oxenford. Again, she having but 2 dyamond ringes you
wisht me to tell her you were importund for your owne, and if she would
send yon itt, you would return her the ring with the stone you received in
lew thereof. I brought you your owne, but the other you have still. Again ;
one tyme you towld me in the great Chamber you had 9^" for the Leet, but
Con. should have but 500", when as you allways promised the uttermost
valew. Agayn, you were very fond to wish me to [be] as bowld in your
house as in my owne, and to take a lodging at any tyme when I pleasd ;
but when I towld you this term my occasion would have me in town, and

176 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN.

that I was willing to accept your former loving offer^ you aunswerd^ noe
with favour, and so I took itt. Many tymes have I moved you for matters
of indifference belonging to your place, but they were eather put by to
circumstance, or flattly denyed.

*' All these backward favors, was it for some fault in me or your judge*»
ment ? but you can not find itt, unless it be to much commodyty to trust
wordes in sted off deedes. For my wyfe's mony I should receave, you may
conceave I desire itt owt of covetousness : itt is coveting that to make itt
better for her, and iff you can imploy itt more for her good then I intend, of
your own discretion : for the enlarging of my own estate I never desired
itt, for I thank my good god I have enough for my selfe and others, but
my care in this was onely for her, which, I thank you, you now took
from me. ^

** In this little tyme of our so nere aquaintanc iff ever you had found m^
as a man alltogether unfitt to receave any frendly curtesie off your handes,
for I here you profess it largly to severall persons, then for a conclusion lett
me entreat you, as I find you no waye willing to my furtberanc, so be not
any ways a meane of my hindranc ; and as your daughter Luce is good
companie for my wife, so your ability is better able to bear her charge then,
myn. And thus, beeing a playn man, I hope you will pardon me in deliver-
ing my mind in playn termes, yet ever ready with my best love to your
daughter, and my best servis to you, I &c."

The whole contents of this singular and valuable relie
serve to illustrate very forcibly the character which we have
seen Alleyn from the first so consistently sustain.

Alleyn's second marriage had taken place ^* almost three-
quarters" of a year before the preceding letter was written.
In July 1624, Alleyn entertained some ambitious views with
tegard to rank, not hinted at by any of his biographers.
He was lord of the manors of Dulwich and Lewisham, the
owner of much land and several houses in those manors, the
chief proprietor, as far as we can now learn, of the Black-
friars Theatre, and the sole owner of the Fortune, besides
having lands in Yorkshire, estates in Bishopgate, and in the
parish of Lambeth. The former possessor of much of the
property which had devolved into his hands, as well as the
holder of the office he filled, had been knighted, and Alleyn
seems to have entertained the hope of himself enjoying the

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN. 177

same distinction. Such is the interpretation which, we ap*
prehend, must be put upon the following letter, obviously
written by some Scotch gentleman about the person of the
king, to whom Alleyn had resorted for advice and assist-
ance, in return, perhaps, for having received a poor boy upon
his charitable foundation at Dulwich.

** To my much respected and loveinge friend, Mr Alleyn, at his hous at
Dulwith, thes dd.

" Sir

*' I receavd your letter wherby I understand that you have now

receavd the boy I virett unto you for, and of your cair towardes him, wherof

I doubt not, and for the which I kyndly thank yow. I understand by it also

your desire to have sum further dignetie conferd uppou you, accordinge to

the qualetie of the place wherin you serve, wherof I should be very glad^

and will not only advise, but assist with all willingnes. But for the present

I can not satisfie yow so weill as I wold, in regaird yow know that now we

ar in prograsse and still staieinge ; but if yow will be pleased, my opinion is

that yow defer a litell, untill sutch tyme as the K be cumminge homward

nere Windsor forrest, against when I shall speik with all these mien that Mr

Holliburton speiks of, and see how I find them affected towards him ; and

do all I can for your advantage, alwayes reservinge to my self who the

party is : and shall not faill to send you adverteisment by a lyne or twoo,

what I shall learne. - And in the meane tyme if I can any way^ ather in

that or to any other of your desirs, be usfull, latt me butt know, and gif

your self the assurance that non shall be reddier to satisfie them, then

" Your loveinge freind in what I cane,

" Westminster this " Henry Gibb.

23d of July 1624."

If the inference we have drawn from the preceding com-
munication be correct, it supplies an incident not by any
means in keeping with the general tenor of Alleyn's tranquil
and retiring character. It is very possible that his second
wife had induced him to make the application, and that he
rather sought to gratify her wishes than his own. James I.
had rendered knighthood cheap, in every sense of the word, and
if money alone had been necessary, Alleyn could have found
no difficulty in accomplishing the object ; but it is very likely

178 KBMOIBS OF EDWARD ALLETN.

that his origin and early occupation stood materially in his
WBJ, and we certainly have no evidence that his friend Gibb.
was ever able to obtain what was desired. The expressions in
the preceding letter of " some further dignity/' ** according
to the quality of the place wherein you serve/* may be said
to be a little equivocal, but the commimication does not read
as if Alleyn's wish were merely to procure some higher situa-
tion at court.

At about this period, and earlier, AUeyn appears to have
been upon terms of friendship with Sir William Alexander, the
distinguished poet, (afterwards Earl of Stirling,) now high in
flavour with King James, We do not find that he was in any
way applied to to forward AUeyn's design in procuring " some
further dignity;'* and among the "miscellaneous papers atDul-
wich are four stanzas, addressed by Sir William Alexander to
AUeyn, which are not of a complexion to lead us to suppose
that he suspected any such ambitious disposition in the founder
of Dulwich College. The lines were probably written some
years anterior to the date to which we are now adverting ; and
they suiHciently intelligibly allude to the profession to which
AUeyn had been bred, and in which ^' he far exceeded both
ancients and modems :" they also notice the " better state*' tp
which AUeyn had risen, but justly speak of his great work of
charity, as if he had had no worldly purpose in commencing
and completing it. We may take this opportunity of inserting
them as an addition to the poetical remains of so distinguished
an author.

"To his deservedlie honored frend Mr. Edward Allane, the first
founder and Master of the CoUeige of Grod's Gift.

" Some greate by birth or chance, whom fortune blindes.
Where (if it were) trew vertue wold burst forth.
They, since not haveing, can afford no worth.
And by their meanes doe but condemne their myndes.
To honour such I should disgrace my penne.
Who might prove more, I count them lesae thm men*

S€

€t

3(^MOIR3 OF EDWABD ALLEYN. 179

But thee to praise I dare be bould indeede^
By fortunes strictnesse whilst at first suppress'd^
Who at the height of that which thou profess'd
Both ancients^ modems^ all didst farr exceede ;

Thus vertue many ways may use to pow'r ;

The Bees draw honnie out of evrie flow'r.

And when they state was to a better chang'd^

That thou enabled wast for doing goode^

To clothe the naked, give the hungrie foode.

As one that was from avarice estranged :
Then what was fitt thou scom'd to seeke for more.
Whilst bent to doe ^hat ^as designed before.^

Then prosecute this noble course of thyne
As prince or priest for state, in charge though none.
For acting this brave part, when thou art gone.
Thy fame more bright then somes' more high shall shyne.
Since thou turnd great, who this worlds stage doe trace.
With whom it seemes thou hast exchangd thy place.

'* W. Alexander."

CHAPTER XIX.

AUeyn only twice married — ^His Will and Last Illness— George CoW
Letter to Alleyn— The Day of Alleyn's Death — Alms-houses built by
him in Cripplegate, and ordered by his Will in St. Botolph and St.
Saviour — Fragments of a former Will — Plays in which Alleyn was
particularly concerned — Second Letter to him from T. Dekker —
Conclusion.

We are now rapidly drawing towards the close of the most
useful, honourable, and benevolent career of Edward AUeyn.
He adds one more proof to the many already existing, that
life is generally much shortened, when a man, considerably past
the prime and strength of his years, marries a comparatively
young woman. How much younger the second Mrs. Alleyn was
than her husband we have no means of deciding, as we know

M 3

]i80 MEMOIRS OF ED WARD ALLEYN.

not when Constance Donne (as we suppose her to have been)
was born ; but, in 16^^ when their union took place, Alleyn
was in his fifty-eighth year. There is a tradition in Dulwich
College, and it has been mentioned by some of the biographers
of Alleyn^ that he was married three times ; but not a particle
of evidence to support it has been discovered. He lived with
Joane Woodward (to whom he was united in 159S) until
1623^ and then married Constance, who survived him, as
appears by his will. It is true^ he might have been a widower
in 159S ; but no hint of the kind is given in any of the extant
papers, and we may therefore conclude, pretty confidently,
that he was only twice married.

His will, wliich bears date 13th November, 16S6, states
that he was then '* sick in body,*' and how long he had been
ill before he made this final disposition of his property can
only be conjectured : it appears that he had executed former
wills, which were revoked by that which was proved by his
executors, Thomas and Matliias Alleyn, whom the testator
calls his *' kinsmen," without mentioning the degree of their
relationship. One letter is extant at Dulwich, which seems to
shew that Alleyn was in his usual health in the middle of Fe-
bruary, preceding his death in November ; for it speaks of his
coming to London upon business, and other matters, as if
there were no infirmity to prevent him. It also mentions the
claims of two persons of the name of Wright and Boyer, one
Tor £50^ and the other for jE20, which Alleyn, for some un-
explained cause, had not settled. Of course it could not arise
from want of money, for Alleyn was afiluent The^ writer,
Mr. George Cole, who had sold Alleyn some ** lands in York-
shire,*' was probably a barrister, and Alleyn*s legal adviser
upon a case which he had drawn, and upon which he had
given his opinion. The nature of it does not appear ; but we
gather from it that Alleyn, almost to the last, was annoyed by
the necessity of proceedings at law. He had evidently a strong
dislike of contention, especially when it involved him in suits

MEMOIRS OP EDWARD ALLBYN. 181

and actions ; and on one occasion, when stating in his Diary
his quarterly expenses he put down a sum for "law,** he
added to the entry that it was the '* worst of all" his charges.
Cole's letter runs thus :

''To the woi. his very loving frind^ Edward Allen Esq^ give thease att
Dulledge.

" Sir, the bearer hearof, Mr. Henry Wright, hath ben with me for the 50"
due unto him^aud saith that he was comming to you about it. I have ther-
fore made a reconing with him^ and given him satisfaction for the intrest
till the end of Micaelmas terme last ; and so there wilbe about 20' for you
to pay unto him, besides the 50' uppon the vacating of the recognizance,
which shalbe don when you come to London.

''I do entrete you to send Mr Allen to Mr Boyer in the Poultry, to give
him content for his 20' ; and of the use we shal speake at your comming
to London.

'' I have drawne your Case, and set downe myne owne opinion, and you
may have it written againe, and see the variety of opinions, if any be,
uppon your Case, and then resolve what course you will take uppon them.

*' Thus in hast, remembring my love to your wife, and referrmg divers
conferences till your comming to London, I rest

" Your very lov; frind

" 16 Febr. 1625." *' Geo Cole.

This is the latest extant document, with a date, we have
been able to find at Dulwich : << 16 Febr. 1626,*' was, of
course, (according to the then mode of calculating the begin-
ning of the year from Lady-day,) 16th Febr. 1626. Alleyn
died on Saturday the 25th November following.

The precise day has hitherto been doubted, or mis-stated.
Aubrey (as quoted in Lysons* " Environs,'' i. 96,) gives it '*the
twenty-first day of November 1626 ;" and an existing in-
scription on the flat stone in the chapel of the College, where
he was buried, states that " the worthy founder departed this
life Nov. 26 a.d. 1626, iEtat. 61." Both are wrong; and
Aubrey probably misread ^' twenty-first" for " twenty-fift," as
it was then commonly spelt ; for, as we have said, the correct
date is Saturday the twenty-fifth of November 1626. Before

18S HEMOIUS OF EDWARD ALLITYN.

the death of the founder^ Thomas Alleyn became IMTasti^r^
and Mathias Alleyn Warden of the College^ and it was thd
business of the latter to keep the accounts of the institution ':
his original book preserved at Dulwich commences thuls^ aind
ascertains the point in dispute beyond contradiction.

'* The accompt of Mr Mathias Alleyn^ Warden of the College of Gods-
guift^ in Dulwich in the Countie of Surrey, from the death of the Fownder
of the said College^ viz the xxvtb of November 1626^ being Satterds^y^ to
Satterday the third day of November 1627."

The error in this particular has arisen, as in many otiher
cases, from not consulting original and authentic dckmm^ts.
Alleyn's burial took place, as appears by the College Re-
gister, on the Monday immediately subsequent to his de-
cease; and he especially charged his executors that his
funeral should be plain and imostentatious, and that he
should be buried in " Christ's Chapel," the name which
tiie reHgious edifice, forming part of the CoUege, had received
at its consecration.

One of the provisions in Alleyn's will was, that his exe-
cutors, Thomas and Mathias Alleyn, should build twenty
Alms-houses, ten in the parish of St. Botolph, Bishopgate,
and ten more in the parish 6f St. Saviour, Southwark. From
his autograph Diary we have learned that he had liinas^tf
superintended the constructiodfi 6f Alms-houses in the Lib€ttiy
of Pinsbuty, near the Fortune Theatre, having *' laid tihe irf«t
brick" on the 13th July, 1620. On the 29th April foDow-
ing, he placed " three men and seven women" in tiiem j and
on the 23d June, he paid £4l for five chaldrons of coals iofr
the inhabitants of them. Therefore, as far as the parish of
Cripplegate was concerned, the charitable work was accom*
plished in Alleyn's life-time ; but he left it to his executors
to fulfil the injunctions of his will in the parishes of St. Bo«-
tolph and St. Saviour. At Dulwich is preserved a single
sheet of what was obviously a former, and therefore a revoked
will by Alleyn : his last will consisted of two sheets, but this

MEMOIRS OF EDWABD ALLBYN. 183

is clearly only a fragment, and injury to the paper has ren-
dered it in some places illegible : it probably was the middle
sheet of three, and the two outside sheets have been lost, or
have perished ; but it is in Alleyn's hand — is written in a
very large clear character, and was signed by him at the
conclusion. It was prepared before he had built the Alms-
houses in Finsbury, for in it he states his desire that such
accommodation for the poor should be provided at the ex-
pence of his estate in three parishes ; whereas, in his last
will he names only two. As a particular declaration of his
wishes and intentions, before the year 1620, it is worth pre-
serving, and it begins abruptly as follows : —

'' in theyr upper coates and] capps, which I will shalbe black and off the
same prisse and goodenes as the brothers and sisters are. And I will my
Cosen Thomas Allen, barber surgion of London aforesayd, and his sone
Edward Alleyn, my godson, and the survivor off them, in consideration off
the legacie before given them, to be during theyr lyfe surgions to the Gol-
ledge, or to find and alowe a sufficient and skilfuU persone for the per-
formance theroff. And further more, for that I see the number of pore daly
to encrease in and about the Cittye off London, being in theyr youth
brought up to a faculty [def. in MS.] theyr age nott able to labore, recev-
ing pensions of ther parishe which will scarce find them bread, sitting att
great rentes and nott able to pay, according to that tallent which god hath
lent me I am desirus to resarve [def. in MS.] in the most needfuU things
viz House rent, fuell [def. in MS.] Therfor my will is to have in the d
parishes in or nere London [def. in MS.] Almes Howses built ; vid^ 10 in
each parish, contayning one roome apece, and on such wast grownd as the
said parishes will alowe for that, purpose, which said howses [def. in MS.]
30 of the most aged and porest penciouers off the said parishes, and to
those 30 persones I give unto everie one of them a gowne off the same
goodnes, and att the same tyme the brothers and sisters shall receave
thejrra, being one in 2 years, and on the 1 daye of September, and more I
give to the said 30 persons on the same daye yearly to each off them, halfe
a challdron off sea Coales, and tenn shillings a piece in money, to be paid
and delevered unto each of them eather quarterly, or yearly upon the said
first daye of September for ever : which 30 persones aforesaid shalbe taken
and reputed as members of gods guift Colledge aforesaid for ever, and

upon the death or departuer off any brother or sister off— —

" E. Alleyn."

184 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLETN.

There can be no doubt that this will was cancelled by
Alleyn some time before his death, as he used the back of
the sheet for the rough draft of his letter to Sir Francis
Calton, already inserted. The subsequent is a document of
a similar kind, also in the hand-writing of the founder:
it is at the back of a deed, which precedes the Statutes of
the College, and it refers to his " will," but in all proba-
bility to a former will, revoked by that of the 13th Novem-*
ber, 1626 : —

" Item I orde3m and for ever establish^ that wheras I have given in my
will to the Churchwardens off the parishe of s^ butholphe without beshopps
gate London, and to theyr successors for ever, a tenement in Dullwich
called the blew Howse, with the purtenances ther unto beelonging, now
in the tenur of Edm. Kipping, for the only benefitt of the pore of the sd
parish, shalbe thus disposed on and distrybuted, in maner and form follow-
ing and no otherwise ; that is to say, every year yearly for ^ver, on the
first sonday in September after morning prayer, the whol years rent shalby
sd Churchwardens [be] given to the most nedest pore off the sd parishe,»
12* apece, wherof the 10 members in the sd parish shalbe first payd
12« apece, and after to as many more as the sd rent will rech unto."

Having corrected the date of the day of AUeyn's death, it
may be necessary to give his age with exactness. The inscrip-
tion on the stone over his tomb is, that he was *' i£tat. 61."
As he was bom on September 1st, 1566, he was precisely
sixty years, two months, and twenty-five days old when he
died on the 25th November, 1626. There can be ilo pos-
sible doubt upon this point, because, as we have seen, Alleyn
records his age very distinctly in his autograph Diary several
times over.

There is one point of AUeyn's character upon which we
have not touched in the course of the present memoir. It
might be supposed, from certain memoranda in Henslowe's
accoimt-book, that Alleyn was an author : in August, 1602,
he received £4: for '* two books," " Philip of Spain," and
" Longshanks ;" in October of the same year he was paid

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLETN. 185

forty shillings for " his booke of Tambercame ;'* and on an-
other occasion he was similarly remunerated for ** a book **
called ** Machomett." Nevertheless, it is not to be supposed
that he was concerned in the writing, though he very Ukely
was instrumental in the getting up of those pieces, the unnamed
poets having entrusted their productions to him in conse-^
quence of his interest in the theatre. " The plott of the first
parte of Tamar Cam" was formerly preserved at Dulwich,
and is printed in Malone's Shakespeare by Boswell, iii,, 3(^.
What was the precise nature of this species of performance
we can only conjecture, but much of it appears to have con-
sisted of dumb shew, accompanied by an explanatory chorus.
Alleyn was an actor in it, and doubtless lent his assistance in
preparing it for the stage ; and in this way, possibly, he en-
titled himself to the forty shillings paid to him by Henslowe
'* at the appointment of the company." He might, how-
ever, only receive it in trust for those who were engaged with
him in bringing it before the public.

Another production of the same description is *' the Plott
of Frederick and Basilea," in which the prologue and epi-
logue were spoken by Richard Alleyn, whom Steevens con-
founded with Edward Alleyn, observing that '* as manager he
took both prologue and epilogue to his own share." Edward
Alleyn is throughout the piece called *' Mr. Allen ;" and
Richard Alleyn, who delivered the prologue and epilogue, we
know, entered the company on 25th March, 1598, as '^ a
hired seryant" to Henslowe. (Hist. Engl. Dram. Poetry
and the Stage, iii., 431.) He might be some relation to
Edward Alleyn, or he might be retained by Alleyn's influence
merely on account of his name ; for throughout life the
founder of Dulwich College was fond of collecting round him
persons who bore the same appellation. Of this various
proofs have been already adduced, and the subsequent im-
dated letter from Thomas Dekker to Alleyn, existing among
the hitherto unnoticed papers at Dulwich, may be added to
them.

186 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLETK.

^ I gi?e you thanks for the last remembranoe of your love. I

write nowe, not poetically, but as an orrator, not by waye of declamation^

but by petition, that you would be pleased, upon my lovinge lynes, to re-

ceave a yong man (sonn to a worthie yeoman of Kent here prisoner) able

by his owne meanes to mayntayne himselfe, whose fortunes will answere

itt. Hee is a yonge man lovinge you, beinge of your name, and desires nf>

greater happines than to depend upon [you] You shall doe mee much

honor if you thinke him fitt to serve you as 'a servant, and him much love^

because of your name, to receave. The yonge man is of good parts, both

of bodie and mynd. I knowe you respect such a one, and I would not

(upon that reputation I hold with you) offer a servant to bee unworthie of

your attendance. If you please to receave him upon my commendatioB

and your owne tryall, I shall thinck my selfe beholden to you, and you, as

I hope, no waye repent the receavinge of such a servant of your owne

name. Soe I rest

" Your lovinge freind,

'' Tho. Dekker."

The emphasis with which Dekker repeatedly dwells upon
the circumstance, that the party he recommended was of
Alleyn's name, of itself seems to shew that any body possess-
ing it had a prior and peculiar claim to the founder's favour.
The letter above quoted is remarkable on other accounts.
When Dekker before made an appeal to Alleyn's known
liberality (see p. 131), and sent him some laudatory verses,
Dekker was in confinement in the King's Bench, and we see
that he was again a prisoner when he introduced a young
man to Alleyn's notice as a servant : the expression, '' I give
you thanks for the last remembrance of your love," warrants
the conclusion that Alleyn had sent pecuniary assistance to
Dekker on more than one previous occasion. Bespecting
the date of the letter we can give no information, and the
back of the sheet having been torn off, the address has been
lost ; but, considering its contents, and the place where it
was found, we cannot entertain a doubt that it was sent to
the benevolent man who had devoted all the later portion
of his life to deeds of disinterested kindness and chajrity.

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN. 187

and, besides amply providing for his wife and for other re-
lations, had built ''God's Gift College," had endowed it to
the extent of £800 a year, and had provided thirty alms-
houses for the poor, in the three parishes of St. Giles,
Cripplegate, St. Botolph, Bishopgate, and St. Saviour,
Southwark.

It deserves notice, in conclusion, that, notwithstanding
his disputes with Sir Francis Calton, and the abuse he had
received from the knight. Alley n left him £100 as a legacy,
besides forgiving him £20 which had been long owing. The
will makes no mention of his wife's father, whom we have
supposed to be Dr. Donne, and who survived Alleyn several
years. It is somewhat remarkable, also, that Izaac Walton,
in his Life of Donne, does not allude to an incident so im-
portant as the marriage of his daughter to the founder of
Dulwich College. This fact ought, perhaps, to induce
caution in receiving the tradition upon the point, even sup-
ported as it is by various confirmatory circumstances noticed
in the preceding pages.

NOTES AND CORRECTIONS.

Page 5, line 15. By a deed^ preserved at Dulwich College, (dis-
covered since the passage relating to the building of the Rose Theatre
was written) it appears that in the 6th Edw. VI. Thomasin Sy-
mondes of London, widow, late wife of Raphe S3rmondes, citizen and
fishmonger, solde '* her messuage or tenement, called the Little
Rose, with two gardens to the same adjoining," in the parish of St.
Saviour, Southwark, to Ambrose Nicholas and others. On the
17th Nov., 17th Eliz., Nicholas and others let the same to William
Griffin, citizen and vintner, for thirty-one years at £7 per annum.
This lease was assigned, on 11th Dec. 1579, to Robert Withens. On
24th March, 1584, Withens assigned his right in the same premises,
*' in consideration of a certain competent sum of lawful money," to
Philip Hinchley, citizen and dyer, of London.

Thus we see exactly in what way, and at what date, Henslowe (or
Hinchley, as his name was often spelt) came into possession of a lease
of the Rose. From another deed (also existing at Dulwich) between
FhOip Hinshley, citizen and dyer, of the one part, and John Cholm-
ley, citizen and grocer, of the other part, we learn that Henslowe
and Cholmley agreed to enter into partnership for eight years and
three months, in " all that parcel of ground or garden plot, containing
in length and breadth square every way four score and fourteen foot
of assize, little more or less, as also to and of the havings takings
and receivage of all the benefit, sums of money, profits and advan-
tage of a playrhouse now in framing, and shortly to be erected and
set up, upon the same ground or garden plot." Cholmley was to
have half the receipts, in consideration of the sum of £81 6, to be
paid quarterly, at the rate of £25 per quarter, for the eight years and
three months. Cholmley was also to be allowed to " hold and occupy

190 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLETN.

a small tenement or dwelling honse in Maiden Lane and Rose
Alley," at the end of the ground, for the purpose of keeping '* vic-
tualling in, or to put to any other use." Henslowe, on his part»
covenanted to complete the playhouse hy the aid of John Grigges, a
carpenter^ with all convenient speed* Cholmley and Henslowe were
" jointly to appoint and permit such person and persons, players, to
use, exercise and play in the said play house :" and Henslowe under-
took to keep the premises in repair, together with " all the hridges
and wharfe, belonging to the said parcel of ground." Further, Hen-
slowe covenanted not to permit any other person but Cholmley, or
those by him appointed, '* to utter sell or put to sale, in or about the
said parcel of ground play house or garden," &c. " any bread or
drink, other than such as shall be sold to and for the use and behoof
of the said John Cholmley."

Page 15, line 26. The parsonage of Firle, in Sussex, has not been
" before mentioned."

Page 17, line 9. These particulars are not inserted in tiie Ap-
pendix, but among the Notes and Corrections.

Page 38, line 10. The documents at Dalwich do not elucidate the
following additional extract from Henslowe's Diary. No names are
subscribed to it, and, perhaps, the money was not paid. The entry
is in a strange hand, most likely that of some scrivener.

. '* Md. that the xxix*^ daye of September 1596, being Michaelmas dajre,
the some of one hundered and xxvj'* was tendered and redye to be payd yi|
the house of Mr Phillippe Henslowe, the daye and year aforesayd, which
sayd some was to be payd by Edward AUene, as aforesayd, before the set-
tinge of the sunne of the same daye, yn the presentes of those whose names
are herunder wryten unto Artbure Langworthe gent."

Page 46, line ^. In the last number of the *' New Monthly Maga*
zine" for Jan. 1 84 1 , is a very interesting letter from W. J. Thorns, Esq.,
F.S.A., to Thomas Amyot, Esq., Treasurer S» A., ou the snbje^ ot
the performance of English actors in Germany early in the seven*
teeath century. Js it possible that the journey of Lodge and Sewell
" into the Arch Dukes Country" had any connection with this
enterprise ?

Page 50, line 29. For '^ reccmtre" read rencontre.

Page 51, line 19. For '* Heglowe" read Henslowe.

NOTES AND CORRECTIONS. 191

Page 52» line 8. This statement requires some qualification, be-
cause it is not at all certain that " the Comedy of Homonrs" (or,
as it is spelt in Henslowe's Diary, ** the comodey of Umers"), was
the same as Ben Jonson's ** Every man in his Humour," more par-
ticularly as that play was certainly acted by the Lord Chamberlain's
servants in 1598. It may have been first played by the Lord Admi-
ral's servants, and Ben Jonson may have taken it away from them
to the association playing at the Globe and at the Blackfriars.
Possibly this gave offence to Henslowe, and he might, therefore, in
the letter of the 26th September, 1598, call Ben JoaoBon '' brick-
layer" in derision.

Page 59, b'ne 16. At the back cf Streete's agreement for building
the Fortune, dated the 8th January, 1599^ are entered receipts of
money, by Streete, for the work as it proceeded. The last of these
is dated 11th June, 1600. How nearly finished the building then was
is not stated.

Page 60, line 23. For " the date of the Patent to Bowes bears
date/' &c., read, the Patent to Bowes hears date, &c.

Page 82, line 22. The oldest document in Dulwich College, re-
specting the purchase of the manor by Alleyn, is dated 3d October,
1605. It is indorsed '* Sir Fran. Calton's livery. The eictent and
value of the land," and runs as follows :

** Md it is agreed betweene S^ FraDcis Calton, knight, and Edward
Alleyn, gent, this third daie of October 1605, That the said S^ Frauncis
Calton shall bargaine, sell, and assure to the said Edward Alle3m and bis
heires the Mannor of Dulwich in the Countie of Surrey, with all the Roial-
ties and appurtenances thereof, all his landes in the parisbe of Camber-
well, except onelie the Advowson of the vicaridge of Camberwell, and
shall passe the same as the learned Councell of the said Edward Alleyn shall
reasonablie devise, with warrantie against the said S' Frauncis and his
heirs, and all that shall clayme by, frome, or under his father or his grand-
father, and with warrantie that the said Mannor with the appurtenances
is worth, as it is nowe letten, the cleare yearlie value of Cv** at the leistj
besides all chardges and reprises, and besides the wooddes and wood-
landes, which are noe parcell of the demeanes. And that the said S^
Frauncis shall procure the Ladie Dorothie, his wife, to joyne with him in
a fine, for the better conveyance of the said estate. All which assurances
are to be doen and perfected before thend of the next tearme, with a sta-

192 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLBTX.

tute of viij M** frome S» Frauncis for performance of the bargaine. In
consideration of which bargaine and conveyance the said Edward Aileyn
ys to paie to the said Si^ Frauncis Calton the some of fower thowsan4 and
nyne hundred poundes in this manner ; viz^ uppon thensealinge of the In-
denture of bargaine and sale, one thowsand and eight hundred poundes*
and uppon the acknowledginge of the fine one hundred poundes, and,
uppon thensealinge of the said Indenture of bargaine and sale the said
Edward Alleyn shall enter into statute to the said S^^ Frauncis in the
some of V M", that either he shall paie to S' Frauncis twoe thowsand
poundes att thend of vj monethes next after the date of the said Inden-
ture, or ells paie the said S^^ Frauncis vij C" att thend of the same dixe
monethes, and Cxx" by yeare for forbearance of the xiij C" for iij yeares
•then following ; and then att thend of the same three yeares to paie the
said S^^ Frauncis the said xiij C in money, or ells in satisfaction thereof to
assure to S' Frauncis Calton the Lease of the parsonadge of Firles in the
Countie of Sussex, with such landes theare which the said Edward Allen
latelie purchased, att the choice and election of the said & Frauncis. Soe
as six monethes before thend of the said three yeares the said Sir Frauncis
Calton geve to the said Edward Alleyn direct notice which he will accept.'
And alsoe the said Edward Alleyn by the said statute shall stande bound
for paiement of the other thowsand poundes residue of the purchase, att
thend of one yeare and a half next after the date of the said Indenture!
Of which some of iiij M ix C" the said Edward Allen hath paid to the said
S^ Frauncis in earnest of the bargaine the some of v" which is to be ae>
cepted as in parte of the first payment. In witnes whereof the said parties

have hereunto sett their handes.

*' Fran : Calton

" Ed. Alleyn"

Page 83, line 36. Mathias Alleyn was warden of the College,
and Thomas Alleyn master, in 1619, seven years before the death of
Alleyn, as he himself records in the Register.

Page 95, line 16. This point is made clear by a subsequent letter
from Alleyn, by which it appears that part of the purchase money of
Dulwich was to remain in Alleyn's hands for a certain time, he
allowing Sir F. Calton interest for it.

Page 95, line 25. Malone, (Shaksp. by Boswell, iii., 222) ex-
pressed his belief that Alleyn did not quit the stage until 1616, and
on the next page in a note asserts, on the authority of Lord Bacon's
Letter to the Marquis of Buckingham, that Alleyn quitted the stage
in 1618. It is quite clear that neither date is the correct one. (Vide

NOTES AND CORRECTIONS. 19*

Hist, of Engl. Dram. Poetry and the Stage, iii., 312) and that Alleyn
ceased to be connected with theatres as an actor much earlier.

Page 98, line 4. In vol. zxi., p. 416, of Malone's Shakespeare by
Bos well, will be found certain " Articles of grievance against Mr.
Henchlowe," which, probably, were found at Dulwich College,
though not now extant there. They must have come into Alleyn 's
hands, when the players appealed to him on some occasion against
tlie " oppression " of Henslowe.

Page 99, line 5. Alle3m*s connection with the Bear Grarden no
doubt brought the following curious document into his hands. He
probably bought the lion, which Morris and Grove sold to Peadle.
It is indorsed by Alle}^, " Sale of a Lyon to Pedle."

" Be it knowen unto all men by these presentes, that we Thomas Morris
of London, gentleman, and William Grove of London, fustian dresser, for
and in consideration of the somme of twelve poundes of lawfull monny of
England to us in hand, att or before thensealling and delivery of these
presentes by William Peadle of London, citizen and armorer, truly
paid, whereof and wherewith we doe acknowledge our selves fully satisfied
and paid, and thereof and of every part and parcell thereof we doe clearly
acquite and dischardge the said William Peadle, his executors and admi-
nistrators and every of them by these presentes, have bargained, sold and
delivered, and by these presentes doe fully clearly and absolutely bargaine,
sell and deliver unto the said William Peadle one male Lyon, to have,
holde, use, possess and enjoye the said Lyon unto the said William Peadle,
his executors, administrators and assignes, to his and their owne proper use
and behouff, and as his and their owne proper goodes and cattails for ever.
And we the said Thomas Morris and William Grove, for us and eyther of
us, our executors and administrators, doe covenaunte and graunte to and
with the said William Peadle, his executors administrators and assignes,
by these presentes to warrante and defende the sale of the said Lyon
against all people for ever by these presentes. In witnesse whereof we
have hereunto sett our handes and scales. Dated the thirtenth daye of
Aprill in the tenth yeere of the raigue of our Soveraigne Lord James, by
the grace of God, Kinge of England Fraunce and Ireland, defender of the
Faith &c. And of Scotland the fyve and fortith. 1612.

" Thomas Morrys (L S)
" per me William Grove (L S)

** Sigillat. et deliberat. in prtia mei

"Henrici Doughty
" et RoGERt Doughty."

194 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLETN.

Page 104, line 9. Yet in a note on p. 135, it appears that AUeyn
was said to be ''of the parish of St. Saviour's Southwark/' when
he might have no residence there in 1607. It is, however, very
doubtful whether at this early date he did not still occupy a house
near that of Henslowe. The time of his final and entire removal to
Dulwich is quite uncertain.

Page 107 » line 33. The entry respecting the receipts on this occa-
sion at the Red Bull Theatre is quoted by Malone. (Shakesp. by
BoswelJ. iii., 223). In Tatham's " Fancies Theatre," 1640, is " a
Prologue on the removing of the late Fortune Players to the BuU,^'
but this must have been considerably after Alleyn's death. The
same performers might be interested in both houses, and remove to
the Ball, because it was in a more populous vicinity, or because the
theatre was better liked. Tatham informs us that the appointments
at the Bull were superior to those at the Fortune ; at least, they had
a silk curtain at the former, and only a worsted one at the latter.

Page 110, line 12. Charles Massye did not long survive Allejni ;
and in Dulwich College account books, kept by Mathias Alleyn,^
" the widow Massye" is entered as the tenant paying rent for her
share of the Fortune. " Old Massye" is also introduced as another
tenant at the same time.

Page 117, line 11. It may be worth while to insert the following
though of a somewhat earlier date, than that at which we have now
arrived. The precise degree of relationship between Thomas Calton
and Sir Francis Calton does not appear.

'' Md. that Thomas Calton, gent, hath bargained, this present ix*^ of
Novembr 1611, to convey to Edw**. Alley n Esquier all that nowe dwelling
house of the said The. Calton in Dulwich with the appurtenances, and all
theis landes there^ viz the three acres next the house, Addingtons meadowes.
Carters hall, and great Brownings, as by the Councell of the said Ed. AUeyn
shalbe advised, in consideration of fyve hundred poundes for the full pur-
chase thereof; and hereupon yt is agreed that three hundred poundes of this
money shall remayne in M"" Aliens handes untill M"^ Caltons wief do levy a
fyne of this land, and in the mean tyme M"" AUeyn is to have for the mony
partely disbursed after the rate of the purchase, and M' Calton is to hold
his house and land untill Michmas next rent free, and M"^ Calton is to have
x" given at the delivery of the fyne as above.

" Thomas Calton. Ed. Alleyn

"Teste me Johannes Ewen.

NOTES AND CORRECTIONS. 196

** Rd this 15^ of november bye me Thomas Calton of Edward Allen^ in
parte payement of the concideratioQ above sayde^ the sum of 116' of good
and lawful! mony of Ingland^in wittnesse where of I the sayd Thomas have
sett too my hand.

" By me Thomas Calton

*' Rd more this xxix* of november xxij""

Page 121, line 15. Many of the notes are without dates, and may
have been written subsequent to 31st December, 1613, but that is
the latest paper marked with the day, month, and year.

Page 147, line 32. Could the " Fall of Shabot," here mentioned,
be an earlier edition of Chapman's and Shirley's play of " Chabot,
Admiral of France," which, as far as we now know, was first printed
in 1639? It was licensed in 1635; but that might possibly have
been its second appearance before the Master of the Revels. Perhaps
the '' Fall of Shabot" was a tract or narrative, which Chapman and
Shirley subsequently used in the composition of their tragedy.

Page 153, line 28. The statement of Cartwright, that Alleyn
'' submitted himself to that proportion of diet and clothes" which he
bestowed on others, hardly seems borne out by Alleyn's Diary,
from which we find that he was somewhat particular as to his dress.
Thus we meet with the following memoranda there.

'* Pd Booth for dressing my bever hatt . . . 0. 2. 6

Lyning itt with Tafikta in the head . . . . 0. 1. 6
M" Fludd sent me a night cap and my wife a pair of rich

gloves — ^given . • . . . 0. 2.

Bought a sattin embroydered hatt band . . . 0. 3.
Orang tawney silke for a night cap • . . . 0. 0. 4
M' Calton sent a pair of gloves of cordivaunt for me> and

a pair of rich furd for my wife" ....

At the end of the book is the following :

'' A noat of silk stockins which hath beene knitt for me.
A p' of watshed
A p«f of rose collerd
A p' of popingay

ashe colord

decoy

Se water green."

o2

196 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLETN.

The founder's portrait in Dalwich College is not that of a man
"who appeared to be inattentive to dress.

Page 155, line 6. Taylor's " Pennyless Pilgrimage" from London
to Edinburgh was printed in 1618.

Page 182, line 19. AUeyn himself commenced the Register of the
College, in 161 6, in the following terms, whence it is certain that the
chapel was consecrated by Archbishop Abbott.

** A Register book for this CoUedge of Gods guift in Dullwich in the
Countie off Surrey, wherin is contayued first of all the names of the Col-
ledgiaiites. Then all Christenings Burialls or mariages, which hath bene
since the Chappie of the sd CoUedge wase consecrated, and dedicated to the
Honor off Christ, by the most Reverent father in god, George Abbot Arch-
bishopp of Canterbury bis grace, on Sundaye the first of September, and in
the yeare off our Lord 1616."

APPENDIX.

No. T.

The Will of Edward Alletn, Senior.

In the name of God amen. The xV* daye of September in the yeare
of our Lord god 1570. I Edward Allen^ Cittizen and Inholder of
London, and of the parishe of St.Botolphe without Bushoppes gate of
London^ sicke in body but in good and perfect remembrance, I hartely
thanke Allmightie god therefore, do make my laste will and testa-
ment in manner and forme followinge &c. Fyrst and principally I
gyve and commend my soule to Allmightie god my only Creator,
Saviour, redemer and sanctifier, and I will my body to be buried at
the discretion of my Executrix and Overseer herunder named, and
gyve all my landes and tenementes to my welbeloved wife Margaret,
to have and to enjoy e £dl the same duringe her lyfe tyme only, and
after her decease I gyve all the same landes and tenementes to all
my children and theire heires, equally to be devided amonge them.
And as touchinge all my goodes, leases and redy mony (my funerall
charges and debtes, and also this my will proved and paied) I will to
be devided into two partes, thone parte my said wife to have, and the
other parte I will to be devided amonge my children by even por-
cions, parte and parte like. And of this my laste will and testament
I do appoynte and make the said Margaret, my said wife, my sole
Executrix, and I hartely desire my neighbour and fellowe to be over-
seer of this the same my laste will and testament, whose name is
Hewgh Walker of the same parishe, brasier, whome I will my Exe-
cutrix honestly to content and pave for his paines. Theis persons
followinge beinge witnesses Peter Maria, John Buffin, the minister,
and Willm Reave the clerke of the same parishe, Margaret Hopkins,
Rose Somers, and Margaret Hardee and others. Per me Johem

198 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN.

Buffdm ministrnm dictse ecclesise. Hugh Walkers marke . this
marke is Margaret Hardee . this marke is Peter Maria . By roe
William Reve parishe clarke . this marke is Rose Somers.

No. II.
Agreement between Allbtn and R. Jonbs.

Be it knowen unto all men by theis presentes that I Richard Jones
of London, yoman, for and in consideration of the somme of Thirtie
Seaven ponndes and Tenne shillinges of lawfull mony of Englande to
me by Edward Allen of London, gent, well and tralie paid, have
bargayned, and solde, and in playne and open market, within the citie
of London, have delivered to the said Edwarde Allen all and singular
suche share, parte and portion of playing apparalles, playe bookes>
Instramentes, and other commodities whatsoever belonginge to the
same, as I the said Richard Jones nowe have or of right ought to
have, joyntly with the said Edward Allen^ John Allen, citizen and
Inholder, of London, and Robert Browne, yoman. To have and
enjoy e £dl and singular my said share of playinge apparell, playe
bookes, instrumentes and other commodities whatsoever, above bar-
gained and solde to the said Edward Allen, his executors adminis*
trators and assignes, as his and theire owne goodes, freelie, peaceablee
and quyetlie for evermore, without let, clayme or disturbaunce of
me the said Richard Jones, my executors, administrators* or assignes
or any of us, or of any other person or persons by our meanes con-
sent or procurement. In witnes whereof I the said Richard Jones
to this my present writinge have set my hande and scale, the thirde
daie of Januarye a® dni 1588 And in the one and thirtiethe yeare of
the raigne of our soveraigne Ladie Elizabeth, by the grace of god
Queue of England, Fraunce and Irelande, defender of the Faithe &c.

By me Richard Jones L. S.

Sigillat. et delebat. in presentia mei Johannis
Harnbt apprentic. Tho. Wrightson Scr.

No. III.

Allbtn*s Part in R. Grbbnb's ** Orlando Furioso."

* * * * gloriouse waine
* * * viewe of Daphnes excellence ;

APPENDIX. 199

* * * mom, fftire bewty of the even,

* * * Orlando languishing in love

* • • groves, wheare the nimphes

* * pleasance laugh to see the Satyres pla3re,

* * Orlandos fiaith unto his love

* she thes lawndes, sweet flora, host thy flowers
seek she for shade, spred cedars for her sake.
Kinde Flora, make her couch fair cristall springes :
washe you her Roses, yf she long to drink.

oh thought my heaven, oh heaven y* knowes my thought !
Smyle joy in hir that my content hath wrought.

• dwell.

Orlando, what contrarious thoughts are those

that flock with doutfull motion in thy minde ?

heavens smile, thes trees doe boast ther somer pride ;

Venus hath graven hir triumphes here beside.

-———-——--—-———--—— shall ensewe.

Angelica ! . ah, sweet and blessed name

life to my life, an essence to my ioye !

this gordyon knott together counites

ah medor, partner in hir peerlesse love.

unkind, and will she bend hir thoughts to chaunge ?

hir name, hir writing ! foolishe and unkind !

no name of hirs, unlesse the brokes relent

to hear hir name, and Rhodanus vouchsafe

to rayse his moystened lockes from out the Reedes,

and flowe with calme along his turning bowndes.

no name of hirs, unlesse the zephire blowe

hir dignityes along the desert woodes

of Arden, wher the world for wonders waightes.

and yet hir name ! for why, Angelica ?

but mixt with Medor, then not Angelica.

only by me was loved Angelica ;

only for me must live Angelica.

I fynd hir drift ; perhappes the modest pledg

of my content hath w*^ a privy thought,

and sweet disguise, restrayned hir fancy thus.

800 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN.

shadowing Orlando under Medors name :
fyne drift, faire n3anphe, Orlando hopes no lesse.
yet more ! are muses maskine in these trees,
forming ther dittyes in conceited lynes,
making a goddesse in despight of me,
that have no godde&s but Angelica ?

: ! sorowes dwell.

dare Medor court my yenus ? can hir eyes
bayte any lookes but suche as must admyre ?

• • • what may Orlando deeme ?
Etna, forsake the bowndes of Sicelye,
for why, in me thy restlesse flames appere.
refiisd, contemd, disdaynd, what not, then thus.
* * * * angry brest.
Argalio. . my Lord,
come hether, Argalio : vilayne, behold these lynes ;
see all these trees carved w"* true love knottes,
wherin are figurd Medor and Angelica,
what thinkst thou of it ?

IS a woeman

and what then ? some newes.

what messenger hath Ate sent abrode
w*** Idle lookes to listen my lament ?
Sirha, who wronged happy nature thus,
to spoyle thes trees w^ this Angelica ?
yet in hir name, Orlando, they are blest.

'. folow love.

As follow love ! darest thou disprayse my heaven ?

offer disgrace, and preiudice hir name ?

is not Angelica the queene of love,

deckt w*** the compound wreath of Adons flowers ?

she is : then speak, thou pesant, what he is

that dare attempt, or court my queue of love,

or I wiU send thy soule to Charons charge.

■ and Medors love.

Nought but Angelica, and Medors love !
shall Medor, then, possesse Orlandos love ?

APPENDIX. 201

danty and gladsome beames of my delight,

why feast your gleames on others lustfull thoughtes ?

delicious browes, why smile your heaven for those,

that woundring you prove poor Orlandos foes r

Lend me your playntes, you sweet Arcadian nimphes,

that wont to sing your late departed loves.

thou weeping floud, leave Orplieus wayle for me.

proude Titans neces, gather all in one

those fluent springes of your lamenting eyes,

and let them streame along my faintfull lookes.

of S [def. in MS.]

Argalio, seek me out Medor, seek out that same,
that dare inchase him with Angelica.
be [def. in MS.]

O feminile ingegno, di tutti mali sede,

come ti vuolgi et muti facilmente

contrario oggetto proprio de la fede

O inf • • • • credi

• • portune super ♦ ♦ •

prive di amor, di fede, et di Consiglio ;

temerarie, crudeli, inique, ingrate,

per pestilenza etema all mundo natae.

vilayne, Argalio, where medor ? medor is, medor a knave ; what,
lyes he here,

and braves me to my face ? by heaven. He tear
[dragges him tit]

him pecemeale in dispight of these.
[enters with a mans legg]

villayns, provide me straight a lions skynne.

---^^----—^--------— -—---—— —— on his neck.

for I, thou seest, am mighty Hercules.

see whers my massy clubb upon my neck.

I must to hell to fight w*** Cerberus,

and find out Medor ther^ you vilaynes^ or He dye.

shall I doe ?

203 MEMOIRS OF BDWARD ALLEYN.

ah, ahy ah, 8irha, Argalio !

He weare the speare framd oat of * * *

• • • • • . • •

• ••••••

Orlando.

Solus,

Woodes, trees, leaves^ leaves, trees, woodes : tria sequuntur tria,
ergo optimus vir non est optimus magistratus. a peny for a pott
of beer and sixe pence for a peec of beife ? wounds ! what am I
the worse ? o minerva ! salve ; god morrow ; how doe you to
day ? sweet goddesse, now I see thou lovest thy ulisses. lovely
Minerva, tell thy ulisses, will Jove send Mercury to Calipso to
lett me goe ?

Here he harkens^l will he ? why then he is a good fellow ; nay more,
he is a gentleman, every haire of the head of him. tell him I
have bread and beife for him : lett him put his arme into my
bag thus deep, yf he wiQ eate. goddesse, he shall have it. thre
blew beans [def. in MS.] a blewe bladder, rattle bladder [def. in
MS.] Lantome and candle light ; child [def. in MS.] children,
a god when

He walketh up and dovme'] but soft you, minerva, whats a clock ? [def.
in MS.] hye tree.

He singes."] I am Orlando [def. in MS.] so braggi [def. in MS.]
who • • Jupiters brayne when you were

He whistles for him,] begotten. Argalio, Argalio !

farewell, good Minerva ; have me recommended to vulcan, and
tell him I would fayne see him dance a galyard.

my lord.

I pray the^ tell me one thing : dost thou

not know wherfore I cald the * * * ?

neither.

Why knowest thou not ? nay nothing, thou
mayst be gone, stay, stay, viUajme, I tell
thee, Angelica is dead, nay she is in deed.

lord.

but my Angelica is dead.
my lord.

APPENDIX. ifOS

He beats] and canst thou not weepe

Lord.

Why then begin, but first lett me geve

[def. in MS.]
A begins to weepe] your watchword^ Argalio.

Argalio, stay.

• • • • .

• • • •

That the belydes. youle fetch me hir, sir.

l^pare no cost, run me to Charlemagne,

and say Orlando sent for Angelica. away« villayne !

your humor.

Oh, oh ! as though y^ Sagitar in all his pride

could take faire Leda from stout Jupiter ;

and yet, forsooth, Medor durst enterprise

to reave Orlando of Angelica.

syrha, you that are the messenger to Jove,

you that can sweep it through the milke white pathe

that leades unto the sjoiode howse of Mars«

fetch me my helme, tempred of azure Steele,

my sheild, forged by the ciclopps for Anchises sonne,

and see yf I dare combat for Angelica.

heaven, and hell, godes and devylls I whers Argalio ?

Angelica.

Ah, my dear Angelica !

syrha, fetch me the harping starr from heaven,
Lyra, the pleasant mynstrell of the spheares,
that I may dance a galyard w*^. Angelica,
ride me to Pan ; bidd all his waternimphes
come w*^. ther bagpypes and ther tamberins.
-—-— --^--— — — for a woeman.
howe fares my sweet Angelica ?
—--——————— for his honesty.

art thou not fayre Angelica,

w***. browes as faire as faire Ibythia,

that darks Canopus w^. her silver hewe ?

— . art Angelica.

Why are not these those ruddy coulered cheekes,

204 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN.

Wher both the lillye and the blushing rose
syttes equall suted with a natyve redd.

a ballad.

Are not, my sweet, thes eyes, these sparkling lampes,
Wherout proud Phebus flasheth fourth his lights ?

i- w***. an othe.

but tell me, false Angelica,

stmmpett, worse then the whorish love of Mars,

traytresse, surpassing trothlese Cresida,

that so inchast his name w^in that grove,

wheres medor ? say me for truth wher medor is.

yf Jupiter hath shutt him w*^ young Ganymede,

by heaven. He fetch him from the heles of Jove.

inconstant, base, injurious and untrue !

such strumpetts shall not scape away w^. life.

god be w***. you

[def. in MS.] wher are my souldiours ? whers all
the campe, the captayns, leutenantes, sargeantes,
[def. in MS ] of the band, corporalles, and, ancpresades,
gentlemen and mercenaries ? seest thou not, medor
standes braving me at the gates of Rome ?
—-—-— ^— — — — — ■^— — to much wages,
follow me ! I may goe seek my captaynes out,
that Medor may not have Angelica.

Exit,']

Enter.

Sirha, is she not like those purple coulered swannes,

y* gallopp by the coache of Cinthya ?

her face silvered like to the milkwhite shape

y' Jove came dauncing in to Semele }

tell me, Argalio, what sayes Charlemagne ?

his nephew Orlando, palantyne of fraunce,

is poet laureat for geometry.

Orlando.

in the w [def. in MS.]

base mynded traytors ! yf you dare but say
Thetis is fayrer then Angelica,

APPENDIX. 205

He place a peal of rysing rivers in your throates
[def. in MS.] VirgiU, Lucian, Ovide, Ennios,

Sirha> were not these poettes ? yes, my lord.

Then Jove, trotting upon proud Ek>lus,

shall not gaytiesay, but maugre all his boultes

He try w*^ vulcane cracking of a launce,

Yf any of the godes mislikes my rondelayes.

Argalio, these be the lockes Apollo turnd to bowes,

when crimson daphne ran away for love.

love ! whats love, vilayne, but the bastard of Mars,

the poyson of penns^ and yet thou seest I wear

badges of a poet laureat the world.

Clyme up the cloudes to Galaxsy straight.
And tell Apollo that orlando sittes
making of verses for Angelica.
Yf he denye to send me downe the shirt
that Deianyra sent to. Hercules,
to make me brave upon my wedding day.
He up the Alpes and post to M«'oe, the
watry lakishe hill, and pull the harper
from out the ministrilla handes and pawne.
[def. in MS.] to lovely Proserpine, y' she
may fetch me fayre Angelica,
vilayne, will he not send me it ?

no answerr.

So, Orlando must become a poet.

No, the palatyne is sent champion unto y® warrs.

take the Laurell, Latonas bastard sonne :

I will to flora, sirha, downe upon the ground,

for I must talke in secrett to the starres.

doth lye.

when Jove rent all the welkin w***. a crake.

fye, fye ! tis a false verse. — penylesse.

how, fellow, wher is the Artick bear, late baighted
from his poel ? scurvy poetry ! a litell to long.

by force.

Oh, my sweet Angelica, braver then Juno was.
but, vilayne, she converst with Medor.

206 MEMOIRS OP EDWARD ALLEYN.

I ^ve.

drownd be Canopos child in those arcadTan twins,
is not that sweet» Argalio ?

confesse it.

stabb the old whore, and send her soule to the divell.
liende me the nett that vnlcan trapt for Mars,
[def. in MS.] felows, vilaynes, whats there adoe ?
the court is cald, an nere a Senator.
Argalio, geve me the cha3^e ; I will be jndg
my selfe ' sooldioures.

So, sirs, what sayes Cassias ? why stabbd he Caesar
in the senate howse ?

. his furye.

Why speakes not, vilayne, thou peasannt !
Yf thou beest a wandring knight, say who

hath crackt a Launce with the ? to him.

what sayest ? Is it for the armonr of
Achilles thou doest strive ? yf be Ajax
shall trott away to troy, geve me thy
hand ulisses, it is thine. — — Armorer.
And you, fair virgin, what say yoa^?
Argalio, make her confesse all —

Orlando.
have relet.

[def. in MS.] the flowes of Ilium.
Fear not Achilles, overmadding boy :
Pyrrhus shall not. Argalio, why sufferest
this olde trott to come so nere me.
away with thes rages !
fetch me the Robe that proud Apollo wears,
that I may Jett it in the capytoll.
Argalio, is Medor here ? say whidhe of
these is he. courage ! for why, the palatyne
of fraunce straight will make slaughter
of these daring foes. cummt.

APPENDIX. 207

are all the troyans fledd ? then geve me

some diynke, some drink. my lord.

els will I sett my mouth to Tigris streames,

and drink up overflowing Euphrates.

' my lord.

This is the gesey shepherdes bottle, that Darius

quaft. so, so, so, oh so. ■

Inchaunt]

What heavenly sightes of pleasaunce filles my eyes,

that feed the pride with view of such regard ?

[def. in MS.] admyres to se the slombring dreams.

skyes are fuUfild w*^ lampes of lasting joye,

that boste the pride of haught Latonas sonne,

who lightneth all the candells of the night.

nemosene had kist the kingly Jove,

and entertayn a feast w*** in my braynes,

making her daughters solace on my browes.

Methinkes I feel how Cinthias tyms conceipts

of sad repent, and meloweth those desires

that frenzy scarse had ripened in my braynes.

Ate, lie kise thy restlesse cheek awhile,

and suffer fhiitlesse passion byde controle.

Recumbiti

What sightes, what shapes, what strange conceipted dreams !

more dreadfull then apperd to Hecuba,

when fall of troy was figured in her sleeps.

Juno, methought, sent from the heaven by Jove,

cam sweping swiftly thorow the glomye ayre,

and calling Iris, sent her straight abrode

to sommon fawnes, the satires and the nimphes,

the dryades and all the demygodes

to secret consayle, [def. in MS.] parle past,

she gave them [def. in MS.] full of heavenly dew.

with that, mounted upon hir party coulered coach,

she slipt with Iris to the sphear of Jove.

what thoughts arise upon this fearfuU showe !

wher ? in what woodes ? what uncouth grove is this ?

how thus disguysd ? where is Argalio ? Argalio !

208 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN.

mad humores.

say me, sir boy, how cam I thus disguysd,
like mad Orestes quaintly thus att3rred ?

you are.

As I am ! villayne, termest me lunaticke ?
tell me what furye hath inchaunted me ?

what art thou some sibill, or some godes,
or what ? frely say on.

Orlando.
batt [def. in MS.]

Hath then the [def. in MS.] of Alcumenas child

ledd fourth my thoughts, w***. for more egar rage

then wrastled in the brayne of Phillips sonne,

when madd w*^. wyne he practised Clytus fall.

break from the cloudes, yon burning brandes of Ire,

that stvrr w'^^in the thunderers wrathfull fistes,

and fixe your hideous fyers on Sacrapant.

from out your fatall tresoryes of wrath,

you wastfull furyes, draw those eben bowles,

that hosted lukewarme bloud at Centaures feast,

to choak with bloud the thirsty Sacrapant,

thorough whom my Cl3rmene and hebe fell,

thorow whom my sprittes w*** fury wer supprest.

my fancyes, post you unto Pindus topp :

ther midst the sacred troupes of nimphes inquire,

seek for my Venus nere Erycinne,

or in the vale of [def. in MS.] yf she sleep.

tell her Orlando [def. in MS.] second Mars,

hath robd the burning hill of Cicelye

of all the Ciclops treasurs ther bestowed,

to venge hir wronges. and stoupe those haught conceiptes,

that sought my Jelowsye and hir disgrace.

Ride, Nemesis, upon this angry steel

that thretneth those that hate Angelica,

who is the sonne of glory that consumes

Orlando, even the phenix of affect. [Exit.

APPENDIX. 209

slave as he.

Prynces, for shame ! anto your rojM campes.
base not your selves to combatt such a dogg.
follow the chase, mount on your coursers strong ;
manage your spears, and iett your slaughtering swordes
be taynted with the bloud of them that flee,
from him passe ye ; he shalbe combated.

withine.

I am, thou seest, a cuntry servile swayne,

homely attired, but of so hawty thoughtes

as nought can serve to quench the aspiring flames,

that scorch as doe the fiers of Cicelye,

unlesse I win that princly diademe

that semes so ill upon thy cowardes head.

— a king.

Then mayst thou deme some second mars from heaven

is sent, as was Amphitrios foster sonne,

to vale thy plumes and heave the from a crowne.

prove what thoa art, I wreke not of thy gree :

as Lampethusas brother from his coach,

prauncing and visor open, went his course

and tombled from Apollo's chariott,

so shall thy forUmes and thy honor falL

to prove it. He have the guerdon of my sword

w*^. is the glory of thy diademe.

t hy name ?
first thine. ———----———----—--—-———

Orlando^
Sacrapant.

Then lett me at thy dying day intreat,

by that same sphear wherin thy soule shall rest,

yf Joue deny not passage to thy ghost,

then tell me, yf thou wrongst Angelica or no ?

thy name.

Extinguish, proud tesyphone, those brandes :
fetch dark Alecto from black phlegeton.

210 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN.

or Lethe water to appease those flames,

that wrathfull Nemesis hath sett on fire*

dead is the fatall author of my yll.

vassall ! base vilayne ! worthlesse of a crowne,

knowe that the man that stabd the dismall stroke

is Orlando, the palatyne of fraunce,

whom fortune sent to quittance all thy wrong.

thou foyld and slaine, it now behoves me, dogg,

to hye me fast to massacre thy men — exit

hir love.

French man, for so thy quaint aray importes,

beest thou a peer, or beest thou Charlemayne,

or hadst thou hectors or Achilles hartes,

or never daunted thoughtes of hercules,

the infusd metemsichosis of them all,

I tell the, sir, thou liest w**^ in thy throate,

the gretest brave Cis alpine fraunce can brook,

in saing y^ sacred Angelica

did offer wrong unto the palatyne.

I am a slavishe Indian mercenary,

yet for I see the princesse is abusd

by newcome straglers from an uncooth coast,

I dare the proudest of the westerne Lordes

to crack a blade in tryall of hir right.

: foyld.

Twelve peres of fraunce, twelve divylles, whats y' ?
what I have spoke, ther I pawne my sword
to seale it on the helme of him that dare,
Malgrado of his honor, combatt me.

Lords of India.

You that so proudly bid him fight,

out w* your blade, for why, your turne is next.

tis not this champion can discorage me.

Pugnant M, victus]

You, sir, that braved your heraldry,

wher is the honor of the howse of fraunce ?

APPENDIX. 811

to doe«

faire princesse, what I may belonges to the :
wittnes, I well have hanseled yet my sword,
now, sir, you that wDl chastyce when you meet,
bestirr you, french man, for He taske you hard.

Oliver victtts]

Provide you, lordes ; determyne who is next :

pick out the stoutest champion of you all.

they wer but striplinges : call you those the peers ?

Hold, madam, and yf my life but last it out.

He gard your person with the peires of fraunce.

by my side.

So, sir, you have made a godly oracion,
but use your sword better, lest I well
beswinge you.

Pugnant]

by my faith, you have done pretily well ; but
sirha, french man, thinck you to breath ? come,
fall to this geer close : dispatch, for we must
have no parle.

O. victus] Orlando.

Ogier, sweet cuss, geve me thy hand, my lord,
and say thast found the county Palatyne.

Lunacy e.

So was I, Lordes ; but geve me leave a while,

humbly as mars did to his paramour

when as his god head wrongd hir w*** suspect,

so to submitt to faire Angelica,

upon whose lovly Roseat cheekes, me semes,

the cristall of hir morne more clerly spredes,

then doth y® dew upon Adonis flower.

faire niraphe, about whose browes sittes floras pride,

Elisian bewty trappes about thy lookes,

pardon thy Lord, who, perst w"*. Jelowsie,

darkned thy vertues w'** a great ecclipse.

pardon thy Lord, faire saynt Angelica,

whose love, stealing by steppes into extremes,

p2

212 MEMOIRS OF EDWARP ALLETN.

grew by aaspitioa to canslesse Lunacye*

' in his.
Thankes, sweet Angelica,
but why standes th^ prince of AMca,
and Mandrycard^ the King of mexico,
so deep in dompes, when all rejoyse besides ?

Palatyne.

And that, my leig, durandall hath averd
agaynst my kinsmen and the peires of fraunce,
next know, my lord, I. slaughtered Sacrapant.
I am the man y' did the slave to death,
who falsely wrongd Angelica and me ;
for when I stabd the traytor to the hart,
and he lay breathing in his latest gaspe,
he frankly made confession at his death
that he ingravd the Rondelays on the trees,
and hung the scedule of poor Medors love,
entending by suspect to bred debate
deeply twixt me and fair Ajigelica.
his hope had happ, but we had all the harme.
and now revendg, leaping from out the seat
of him that can commaund steme Nemesis,
hath heapd his treasons justly on his head.

honor the.

Thankes, Angelica, for her.

but nowe, my Lordes of fraunce, frolick, my frendes,

and welcome to the courts of Africa.

courage, companyons, y' have past the seas

furrowing the playnes of neptune w* your keles

to seeke your frend the county Palatyne.

you thre, my Lordes, I welcome with my sword,

the rest, brave gentlemen, my hart and hand.

what welth w"*in the clime of Africa,

what pleasure longst the costes of mexico,

Lordinges commaund, I dare be bold so far

with Mandrycard and prince Marsilius.

the pretious shrubbles, the * '^ of mirh,

APPENDIX. 213

the founts as riche as Eden did aford,

whatso ever is faire and pleasing, Lordinges, use,

and welcome to the county Palat3aie.

or none. ^

Thankes» Affirike vicroye, for the Lordes of fraunce.

and, fellow mates, be merry, we wiD home

as sone as pleaseth King Marsilius

to lett his doughter passe w'^ us to fraunce.

meane while wele richly rigg up all our fleet

more brave then wer the [def. in MS.] keles.

No. IV.

Hbnslowb and the Mastership of the Games.

Elizabeth, by the grace of God Queene of England, France and
Ireland Defendor of the Faith &c. To all to whome their presents
shall come greetinge. Wee lett youwitt that wee, of our speciall
grace, certen knowledge and meere motion uppon surrender to us of
a former Patent or Comission heretofore by us and

graunted to our welbeloved servant Raphe Bowes Esquire, have
geven and graunted, to and by theis presents doe geve and graunte,
unto our welbeloved servante Phillipp Hensley, for and in considera-
tion of his faithfull service heretofore doen unto us, the roome or
oflice of Cheife Mr., Overseer and Ruler of all and singular our games
pastymes and sportes, that is to saye, of all and everie our Beares,
Bulls and Mastiff Dogges meete for that purpose, and the same
Phillipp Hensley, cheif Mr, Ruler and Overseer of all and every our
games sportes and pastymes aforesaid, wee doe make, ordaine and
constitute by theis presentes. To have and to hould the same roome
or office to the said Phillipp Hensley, by himselfe or his sufficient De-
putie or Deputies, for and duringe his naturall liefe with all and al
manner rewardes, preheminence, liberties, proffitts, comodities and
advantages whatsoever to the same office or roome in any wise
belonging or apperte3ming, in as large and ample manner and form
as Cuthbert Vaughan or Sir Richard Longe, knighte, deceased, or
the said Raphe Bowes, or any other havinge and exercising the same
office att any tyme in his or their lief or lyves, ever had, used, per-
ceaved and enjoyed in, for, and by reson of the same roome or office.

214 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLBYN.

And of our further speciall grace wee doe geve and graunt by theis
presentes unto the said PhiUipp Hendey, and to his said Deputie or
Deputies, duering his said lief, full power, comission and authoretie,
not onelie to take upp ^d lead for our service, pastyme and sporte
any Mastiff Dogg or Dogges and Mastiff Bitches, Beares, Bulls and
other lyke, meete and convenient for our said service and pastyme,
any of them beeinge within this our Realme, or other our domynions,
att and for suche reasonable price and prizes as our said servant can
agree with the owner or owners for the same Beares and Bulls ; but
alsoe to staie, or cause to be staied, att his discretion, all and every
or any suche Mastiff dogges or bitches as the said Phillipp Hensley or
his assignes shall fortune at any tyme hereafter to take and finde
goinge, passinge or conveighinge, or to be conveyed in any wise
unto any parte of beyond the seas, without our speciall lycense war-
rant and comission for conveighinge of the same. Willinge, and
streightlie charginge and comandinge by theis presentes^ that as well
all our officers, Mynisters and subjectes and everie of them, from
henceforth from time to time, to aide, assiste^ strengthen and helpe
the SEud Phillipp Hensley in exercisinge of his said office and other the
said premisses, but alsoe other our officers and mynisters in any wise
apperte3niinge to our said games shall dilligentlie obeie and bee at-
tendinge^ and doe every thing and things reasonable that the said
Phillipp, as Mr. and cheef Ruler of our said games, shall commaunde
for our better service therein. And alsoe of our further speciall grace,
for the consideration aforesaid, wee doe geve and graunt full power and
authoretie by theis presentes to the said Phillipp Hensley to bayte or
cause to be bay ted our said Beares and others, beinge of our said games,
in all and everie convenient place and places, and att any tymea and
att his discretion, and that noe other officer or under officer belonginge
or in any manner apperteyninge to our said Beares and [illegible]
for the tyme beeinge, ne any of them, shall from henceforth bayte or
cause to be bayted any of our said Beares or others of our games
aforesaid, in any yarde or other place or places, without the speciall
lycence and appointment of the said Phillipp ; nor that any of them
shall from henceforth take upp any beare or beares^ or any other ap-
perteyninge to our said games, or for our service and comoditie
without the [illegible] appointment of our said servant as is aforesaid.

APPENDIX. « 216

Any manner of grannte or lycense, heretofore made or hereafter to
he made to any of them for the same, to the contrarie hereof in any
wise notwithstandinge. In witnes &ۥ

[The ahove seems to have been drawn up by Henslowe's orders,
when he had some expectation of obtaining the office to which it re-
fers before the death of EUizabeth. The copy from which it is taken
was subsequently altered by him in his own hand, to suit the reign
of James I., when Henslowe hoped to be made Master of the King's
Games, in preference^ probably^ to Sir John Dorington.]

No. V.
The Building of Dulwicb Collegb.

This Indenture, made the seaventeenth day of May, 1613, and in
the yeres of the raigne of our soveraigne Lorde James, by the grace
of God, Kinge of England, Fraunce and Ireland, defender of the
faethe &c the eleaventh, and of Scotland the sixe and forteth,
Betweene Edward Alleyn of Dulwich in the parishe of Camerwell in
the County of Surrey, Esquier, on th*one partye, and John Benson of
Westminster in the County of Midd, bricklayer, on th'other party.
Witnessethe, that it is covenanted, graunted, concluded, conde-
scended and agreed by and betwene the saide partees to thees pre-
sentes^ and the said John Benson for him selfe covenanteth and
graunteth to and with the saide Edward Alleyn his executors and
assignes by thees presentes in manner and forme as hereunder from
article to article is expressed, that is to say ; That the saide John
Benson or his assignes shall and will (for the consideration hereunder
written and specified) builde erect and sett up, upon a certen parcell
of ground appoynted and layde out for that purpose upon Dulwich
Greene in the parishe of Camerwell aforesaide, the trench for the
foundation to be digged and made fitt by the saide Edward Alleyn,
his executors or assignes, a certaine buildinge of brick, of and with
such brickes, lyme, sand, or other stuff belonginge to brickeworke, as
shalbe provided and delivered to him att the place aforesaide by the
saide Edward Alleyn his executors or assignes, which buildinge
shalbe for a Chappell, a Schoole howse, and twelve Almeshowses,

216 MEMOIRS OF E]>WARD ALLEYN.

proportionably accordinge to a plott thereof made and drawes by the

saide John Benson and sabscribed by the saide parties ; the saide

Chappell and Schoolehowse tobe in lengthe from east to west fower*

skore and fyfteene foote of assize, and in bredthe from out side to out

side twenty and nyne foote of assize, and in height from the upper

parte of the foundation even from the groimde to the raysinge peece

thertye foote of assize, and upon the head or topp of the same height

sixe foote of assize of finishinge worke. And in the middle of the

forefront of the said Chappell shall erect and build one faire porche^

to conteyne in length eighteene foote of assize and in bredthe from

the other buildinge forward nyne foote of assize, the same porche to

be bewtifyed and fynished as hereunder is mentioned. And behinde

on the backe parte of the saide buildinge, directly against the saide

porche, shall erect and sett upp one Tower of bricke to be eighteene

foote of assize square from out to outside, and in height to be threeskore

foote of assize, with decent and comely fyneshinge, and at each corner

of the same Tower one pynacle of brick : and in the midest of the

same Chappell and scholehowse, fcM* a partition betweene them, shall

make one partition wall to be in thecknes one brick and a halfe. To

sett out the rome appoynted for the parlor of the saide Schole-howse

backward by way of inlargement ten foote of assize, and under the

same parlor and rome before the same appoynted for an entree and

staire case, shall make one cellar of brick to be in bredthe thirteene

foote of assize and in lengthe thirty fower foote of assize, and seven

foote of assize deepe. And in the same Scholehowse shall make and

erect sixe chimneyes sufficiently and substancially to be made and

wrought, with arched mantle trees of brick, and to carry and avoide

smoke cleane thorough the tonnels of the same chimneyes ; that is to

say, one chimney in the parlor, one in the chamber over the parlor,

one in the chamber or garrett over the same parlor chamber, one in

the kitchen, one in the chamber over the kitchen, and one in the

chamber over the Scholehowse. The foundation of the Chappell

walls within the grounde to be in thicknes sixe brickes, and so racled

of untill at the upper parte of the grounde it be brought to fower

brickes in thicknes ; and from the grounde to the watertable to be

three brickes and a halfe in thicknes ; and from the watertable to the

raysinge peece the walls to be three brickes in thicknes. The foun-

APPENDIX. 217

di^on of the Tower and the walls thereof to be of the same thicknes
as the Chappell is within the grounde, and the walls from the gromid6
nppward to the covering of the same Tower to be three brickes in
thicknes, and even with the ridge of the Chappell the same Tower to
have a decent watertable, and from the watertable upward the same
Tower to have forward twoe pillasters, and suche other bewtifyinge
and fynishinge as the forfront of the saide porch is to have, as here-
under is mentioned. And that the forefront of the said Chappell and
Scholehowse shalbe bewtifyed with sixe Dorick piUasters with petty-
stalls, bases, capitalls and comishe, to reach from the lowest part of
the foundation within the grounde unto the raysinge peece, and twoe
pillasters to bewtifie the same porche, and the saide sixe foote of
fynishinge worke on the hedd or topp before mentioned, to rise and
be made with a small pillaster on the heade of every greate piUaster,
with three kinde of tafferells on the forefront ; that is to say, one over
the porche, and on either side of the porch one ; and in the same fore-
front fower halfe roundes for the bewtefyinge, and betweene every
tafierreU and halfe rounde one piramides. And in the forefront of
the same Chappell, Scholehowse and porche shall make fowerteene
windowes, viz ; in the Chappell sixe, in the Scholehowse sixe, and
over the saide porch twoe, every windowe to have fower lightes with
a transsam, each light to be arched or turned over with brick, and
every light to be twoe foote wide, besides the monyon, which mo-
nion is to be nyne ynches thick. And att the east end of the saide
Chappell shall make one faire windowe, wherein shalbe ten arched
lightes with a transam in the middle thereof, all the lightes and mo*
nyons thereof to be of the proportion of the saide former windowes,
and on the back parte of the saide Chappell, towardes the south, shall
make one dore rome and butteres and sixe arched windowes in the
same Chappell, proportionable to the windowes in the forefront. The
walls of the Scholehowse, and romes thereunto appoynted as afore-
saide, to be in thicknes as hereafter foUoweth, viz ; from the lowest
parte of the foundation within the grounde to the watertable twoe
brickes and a halfe in thicknes ; from the watertable to the first story
twoe brickes in thicknes, and from the first story to the topp a brick
and a halfe in thicknes, with sufficient windowes in every of the saide
romes, as the same romes and storyes will conveniently beare and

S18 MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLETN.

require. And in the kitchen chimney of the same Scholehowse shall
make twoe meete and sufficient ovens ; one greater and th'other lesser.
And that sixe of the saide Almes'howses shalhe made and erected
from the east comer of the saide Chappell northwardes, and th'other
sixe Almeshowses from the west comer of the saide Scholehowse
northwardes, as by the said plott is prescribed and prefigured, every
of the same Almeshowses to be twelve foote square within the walls :
and in the same Almeshowses shall make twelve severall chimneyes
viz ; to each Almeshowse one^ the mantle trees of the same chimneyes
to be arched or turned over with brick, and to be made to carry and
avoid smoke cleane through the tonnells of the same : and in every of
the same Almeshowses shall make one windowe with twoe lightes, and
under the eves of the same Almeshouses small make a slight comishe,
tmd to each Almeshowse one dore rome to be arched or turned over
with brick: And at the north end of cache of the same rankes of Almes-
howses shall erect one howse of office, to conteyne ten foote one way
and twelve foote another, with a vault to each howse of office of brick,
eight foote deepe, and a vent out of each howse of office in the manner
of a chimney above the ridge of the same Almes bowses : and also
shall erect one wall of brick thwart from end to end of the saide Almes
bowses to enclose the courte, eight foote high, and in the midest of
the same wall one faire gate rome to be fynished in the best and most
decent manner with piUasters, freze, comishe and piramides: the
saide wall to be a brick and a halfe in thicknes. All the pillasters,
freezes, comishe and windowes and fawmes of the saide buildinge to
be fairely and cleanely fynished white, as is accustomed in buildings
of like nature. And all the same worke before prescribed, and all
other bricklayers worke to the same buildinge apperteyninge, shall
well, workemanlike and sufficiently worke make and fynishe in all
thinges to the trade of a bricklayer belonginge. And shall and will
begin the same worke on or before the last day of this instant moneth
of May, and shall and will contynue at the same worke and fynishe
the same with as much convenient speede as possibly may be, and as
the saide Edward Aljeyn his executors or assignes shall require the
same, shall provide stufFe for doeinge thereof. For and in conside-
ration of which worke and covenantes, in forme aforesaide to be done
and performed, the said Edward AUeyn, for him, his executors and

APPENDIX. 219

administrators^ covenanteth and graunteth to and with the saide John
Benson, his executors and assignes, by these presentes in manner and
forme followinge ; that is to say. That he the said Edward Alleyn, his
executors or assignes, shall finde and allowe sufficient scaffolding
boards, cordes and nailes for the buildinge aforesaid. And also upon
the fyneshinge of every five rodd square of the saide buildinge, every
rodd conteyninge sixteene foote and a half of assize, shall pay or
cause to be paide to the said John Benson the sume of seaven
poundes ten shillinges of lawfuU mony of England, the same to be
measured one with another, and runninge measure, which is thirty
shillinges for every rodd. And upon the full fynishinge and endinge
of the saide worke and buildinge for every rodd the same shalbe
measured into, one with another after the measure aforesaide ten
shillinges more, which in all is after the rate of forty shillinges a
rodd, vnthout fraud or covyn. In witnes whereof the said parties to
theis present Indentures interchangeably have sett their handes and
scales. Yeoven the day and yeres first above written.

John Benson
Sealed and delivered in presence of me

Thomas Bolton Scr.

Anthony Williams

Servant to the said Tho. Bolton.

THE END.

LONDON :

F. SBOBBRL, JUN., 51, RUPERT STREET, HAYMARKBT.

PRINTER TO H. R. H. PRINCE ALBERT.

PROSPECTUS

OF

THE SHAKESPEARE SOCIETY

It is remarkable that all that has hitherto been done for the illus-
tration of Shakespeare has been accomplished by individuals, and
that no Literary Association has yet been formed for the purpose of
collecting materials, or of circulating information, by which he may
be thoroughly understood and fully appreciated.

To supply this deficiency The Shakespbarb Society has been
established ; and it is hoped that, when once its purpose is generally
known, it will produce a spirit of inquiry and examination, the result
of which may be the discovery of much curious and valuable infor-
mation, in private hands and among family papers, of the very
existence of which the possessors are not at present aware. Every
thing, whether derived from manuscript or printed sources, that will
throw light on our early Dramatic Literature and Stage, will come
within the design of the Society. The cabinets of collectors and
our public libraries contain much that will contribute to this end-
Some of the productions of our Dramatists prior to the Restoration
have never yet been published, and the printed copies of many Old
Plays have the rarity of manuscripts. The best of these will be edited
under the sanction of the Society, accompanied by biographical
sketches and notes.

The Tracts by such prolific authors as Nash, Greene, Harvey,
Dekker, Breton, Munday, Rowlands, Rich, Taylor, Jordan, &c., are
known to comprise matter of great interest and curiosity, in con-
nexion, either immediate or remote, with our early Stage and its
Poetry ; and to the republication of these the attention of the Society
will also be directed. In time complete sets may thus be afforded of
the scattered productions of distinguished and once popular Writers.

The Works of Northbrooke, Gosson, Lodge, Rankins, Whetstone,
Stubbes, Heywood, and others, who wrote for or against theatrical
representations in their comparative infancy, are important in the
History of our Drama, and these (most of which are of the rarest
possible occurrence), it is intended to reprint in a connected series.

The Society is limited to one thousand Subscribers, and, until this
limit is attained. Members are admitted on the introduction of one
of the Council, or by application to the Secretary or Treasurer.

Communications relative to the Society may be addressed to the
Secretary, 186, Fleet Street, or any other Member of the Council,
or to Mr. Rodd, Bookseller, 2, Newport Street, Long Acre. Sub-
scriptions of Members received at the Metropolitan Bank, 4, Pall
Mall East.

2

LAWS OF THE SHAKESPEARE SOCIETY.

I. The Society shall be called " The Shakespeare Society."

II. The chief object of the Society shall be to afford every species of illus-
tration to the Plays of Shakespeare and his Contemporaries, by the publication
or reprinting of works connected with the origin and progress of English Dra-
matic Poetry and the Stage, anterior to the Restoration. Attention will also
be directed to the general Literature of the period, in relation, either imme-
diate or remote, to dramatic representations, and to the lives, characters, and
opinions of such as have in any way been concerned in them.

III. The Society shall consist of One Thousand Subscribers of <£'! annually ;
such subscription to be paid in advance, on or before the 1st day of January in
every year.

IV. The controlling power of the Society shall be vested in the general body
of the Members, who, at their General Meetings, shall elect the Council, and
make regulations affecting the Society.

V. The management of the affairs of the Society, and the election of Officers,
shall be vested in a Council composed of Twenty-one Members, exclusive of a
President and four Vice-Presidents.

VI. Five Members of the Council shall be a quorum.

VII. The present Council shall continue in office until the 25th of April,
1842 ; and thenceforward the Council shall be elected annually.

VIIL Five Members of the Council shall retire in each year, and not be re-
eligible for the ensuing year.

IX. If any Member of the Council shall resign, or a vacancy be otherwise
occasioned, the remaining Members of the Council may fill up such vacancy.

X. The Council shall, from amongst their own body, elect a Director, who
shall act as Chairman of the Council in the absence of the President and Vice-
Presidents.

XI. A General Meeting of the Members shall be held on the 25th of April,
1842, and on each succeeding 25th of April, unless it fall on a Sunday, and in
that case on the following day.

XII. The accompts of the Receipts and Expenditure of the Society shall be
audited annually by three Auditors, to be elected at the General Meetings, and
the Report of the Auditors, with an abstract of the accompts, shall be printed.

XIII. No Member shall be entitled to vote at any General Meeting whose
Subscription is in arrear.

XIV. The Chairman of the Council for the time being shall have a Second
Vote in case of equality of numbers.

XV. Every Member not in arrear of his Annual Subscription shall be enti-
tled to one copy of every work printed by the Society during that year.

XVI. The Members shall be invited to contribute Works for publication.

XVII. The Editors of Works printed by the Society shall be entitled to
twelve copies of the Works they edit.

XVIII. Any Member of the Society may at any time compound for his futore
annual subscriptions by payment of «i£10 over and above his subscription for the
current year.

XIX. Every Member of the Society who shall not pay his subscription for
the current year within three months after his election, or after such subscrip-
tion shall have become due, shall thereupon cease to be a Member of the So-
ciety.

XX. The Council may appoint Local Secretaries in such places and with
such authorities as shall be deemed expedient : every Local Secretary being a
Member of the Society.

XXI. The Works issued by the Society not to be sold by the Society.

XXII. After the 25th of April, 1842, no alteration shall be made in these
Laws, except at a General Meeting, nor then, unless one month*s notice of any
alteration intended to be proposed at such Meeting shall have been given in
writing to the Secretary. Until the 25th of April, 1842, the Council shall
have power to amend or add to the above Laws.

s

ALREADY PRINTED.

1. Memoirs op Edward Allbtn, the Actor, Founder of Dulwich
College, from original sources, with new information respecting
Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, Lodge, Dekker, Marston, and other contem-
porary Dramatists and Actors. By J. Fatne Collier, Esq., F.S. A.

WORKS IN THE PRESS.

2. The School op Abuse : containing a pleasant Invective
against Poets, Pipers, Players, Jesters, &c. By Stephen Gosson.
From the edition of 1579, compared with the impression of 1587.

3. The Diary and Account Book of Philip Henslowe, be-
tween the years 1590 and 1610, in which he entered his various
Transactions relating to Plays, Players, and Dramatic Authors,
(parts only of which were imperfectly printed by Malone), from the
original MS. at Dulwich College. By permission of the Master,
Warden, and Fellows.

4. A Collection op all the Documents which have reference
to the Events of Shakespeare's Life. The Will edited by Sir Frede-
rick Madden, F.R.S., F.S. A., Keeper of the MSS. in the British
Museum, with Fac-similes of the Signatures. The Marriage Licence,
transcripts from the Registers at Stratford-upon-Avon, and all the
other Documents, edited by John Bruce, Esq., F.S. A.

5. The Debate between Pride and Lowliness, pleaded in an
Issue of Assize, &c. by Francis Thynne. Imprinted at London by
John Charlwood, &c. n.d. B.L. 8vo. This work is in verse, and is
the original from which Robert Greene, the Dramatist, took his
*' Quip for an Upstart Courtier," 1592, 4to.

WORKS SUGGESTED FOR PUBLICATION.

6. Sir Thomas More : an unprinted Historical Play, on the Life
and Death of that great Statesman and Lawyer : written and li-
censed for the Stage about the year 1590, and preserved in the
original manuscript in the British Museum.

7. Four early German Plays, thought to be translations of
English Dramas not now known to be extant, but from which Shake-
speare derived the plots of four of his Plays. To be edited, with
an English translation, by William J. Thoms, Esq., F.S.A.

8. An Account of, and extracts from some of the Old Plays,
(many of them unique) in the Library of the Right. Hon. Lord
Francis Egerton, M.P. : accompanied by remarks historical, bib-
liographical, critical, and biographical, illustrative of our early Stage
and Dramatic Poetry. By J. Payne Collier, Esq., F.S.A.

9. An Answer to Stephen Gosson's School op Abuse. By
Thomas Lodge. This work was printed about the year 1580; but,
as the writer informs us, it was " suppressed by authority,*' and the
only copies known are both without title-pages.

10. An Apoloot for Actors, &c. By Thomas Hbtwood. From
the edition by Nicholas Okes in 1612, compared with Cartwright's
edition printed during the Civil Wars.

1 1 . LuDus CovENTRi^ I A COLLECTION OF MiRACLE Plats^ for-
merly represented at Coventry on the Feast of Corpus Christi. From
a MS. in the British Museum of the Reign of Edward IV. To be
edited by Jambs Orchard Halliwbll, Esq., F.R.S., F.S.A., &c.

12. Tarlton's News out of Purgatory : only such a Jest as his
Jig, fit for Gentlemen to laugh at an hour, &c. ; published by an old
companion of his, Robin Goodfellow. From the earliest edition,
printed by Edward White about 1590, compared with the impression
of 1 630.

13. Pierce Pbnnyless, his Supplication to the Devil. By
Thomas Nash. To be printed from the first edition of 1592, com-
pared with the two other impressions in the same year.

14. The pleasant Combdt of Patibnt Grissbll. By Thomas
Dekker, Henry Chbttle^ and William Haughton. 1603. With
an introduction on the origin of the story, and its application to the
Stage in various countries of Europe.

15. A volume of the Names. Lives, and Characters of the Actors
in the Plays of Marlowe, Greene, Peble, Shakespbarbf Lodge,
Ben Jonson, Chapman, Massinger, Ford^ Webster. Middleton,
Dekker, Heywood^ &c., alphabetically arranged, and embracing
various particulars hitherto unknown.

16. Honour Triumphant, or the Peer's Challenge, by Arms
Defensible at Tilt, Turnby, and Barriers, &c. Also, The
Monarch's Meeting, or the King of Denmark's Welcome into
England. By John Ford. 1606. A totally unnoticed produc-
tion, in prose and verse, by the celebrated Dramatic Poet.

17. A Royal Arbour of Loyal Poesie^ consisting of Poems and
Songs. By Thomas Jordan. 1664. It contains various Dramatic
Ballads* particularly those founded upon Shakespeare's Much Ado
about Nothing, Winter's Tale, Merchant of Venice, &c.

18. Pasquil's Jests, mixed with Mother Bunch's Merriments.
Whereunto is added a dozen of Gulls. Pretty and pleasant to drive
away the tediousness of a Winter's Evening. From the earliest edi-
tion of 1 604, compared with later impressions.

19. A Nest of Ninnies, simply without Compounds. By
Robert Armin. From the only known edition of 1608. It con-
tains an account, in verse and prose, of various celebrated Fools and
Jesters, theatrical and private.

20. A Collection of Broadsides and Manuscript Pieces, in
prose and verse, principally relating to Authors, Plays, Actors, and
Theatres, during the Reigns of Elizabeth, James I., and Charles I.

j4XZ 822.33 GSvl C.l

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