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them, and of the audience for which they were provided. In the infancy of the stage, there existed no permanent buildings set apart for theatrical exhibitions; nor did play-acting constitute a recognised profession. We have seen in the chapter upon Moral Plays that noblemen used to maintain a musical establishment for the service of their Chapels, and to this department of their households the actors of Interludes and Moral Plays were attached. When not required by their masters, these players strolled the country, calling themselves Servants of the magnate whose pay they took and whose badge they wore. After this fashion Companies of Actors came into existence; and the towns of England were infested by wandering bands, professing to be the Servants of the Earl of Warwick, Lord Clinton, the Earl of Derby, or some other eminent person, whose household supported the luxury of a trained set of players. Often enough, the claim of such strollers was well founded. But pretenders to a title which they could not justify were numerous; and under the name of My Lord's Players, common vagabonds and men of no condition roamed the counties. During the reign of Edward VI. it was found necessary to place the theatrical establishments of noble houses under the special control of the Privy Council. Licences were granted to the aristocracy to maintain troops of players, and their performances were limited to the residences of their masters. The political and religious disturbances of that reign had given occasion to seditious. propaganda under the colourable pretext of playacting. There were no newspapers; and next to the

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STAGE IN REIGNS OF EDWARD AND MARY. 267

pulpit, the stage, rude as it was, formed the most popular and powerful engine for disseminating opinions on matters of debate. During the reign of Mary, theatrical exhibitions were submitted to even stricter control. Finding that the Protestant reaction was being worked by means of Moral Plays, the Crown endeavoured to silence secular acting in public through the length and breadth of England. Encouragement, meanwhile, was given to the revival of Miracle Plays, in the belief that these would educate the people back to their old creeds. The Court, however, still maintained a musical and dramatic establishment upon a scale of great magnificence. In salaries alone, independent of board, liveries, and incidental expenses, it is calculated that Mary spent between two and three thousand pounds a year on this department of her household. It was impossible, however, by any repressive measures of the Privy Council, to check a custom which had gained so strong a hold upon the manners of the nation. Noblemen refused to be interfered with. The public had no mind to be deprived of their amusements. Therefore the class of men who gained their livelihood by acting, having the goodwill of the people and the protection of powerful masters on their side, defied or eluded the orders of the Crown. It would seem that Mary's edicts had the effect of increasing clandestine performances, and driving the professors of the art of acting into vagrancy and vagabondage. This at least is the conclusion we may draw from the tenor of Elizabeth's first proclamations on the subject of the stage. These are clearly regulative, implying the intention to check disorder

and to place a prevalent national amusement under State supervision. Soon after Elizabeth's accession it was decreed that no players should perform without a licence from the Mayors of towns, or from the Lord-Lieutenants of counties, or from two Justices of the Peace resident in the neighbourhood. Companies professing to be Servants of noblemen, who could not prove their title, were to be treated as rogues and vagrants under the rigorous Acts in force against such persons. Plays on matters touching religion and government were strictly forbidden. The department of the Revels at Court was put at once upon a more economical footing. But the theatrical establishments of the aristocracy seem, at the same period, to have been multiplied in numbers and considerably strengthened in efficiency.

II.

It was a fortunate circumstance for the development of our theatre that both Elizabeth herself and her favourite Leicester were enthusiastically partial to play-acting. Had it not been for their encouragement and patronage, the stage could hardly have established itself upon a permanent footing in London; and the conditions which rendered a national Drama possible in England might have been missed. The justice of this observation will be perceived when we come to consider the next and most eventful chapter in the history of the English stage. In the first years of Elizabeth's reign, Leicester, then Sir Robert Dudley, had the best company of players in his service. He took a personal interest in their welfare, as appears

LEICESTER'S SERVANTS.

269

from a letter addressed by him in June 1559 to the Earl of Shrewsbury. The object of this letter was to obtain for them the licence to play in Yorkshire. He begins by saying that his servants, 'bringers hereof unto you, be such as are players of interludes;' expressly states that they hold 'the licence of divers of my Lords here, under their seals and hands, to play in divers shires within the realm under their authorities, as may amply appear unto your Lordship by the same licence;' and recommends them to Lord Shrewsbury as 'honest men, and such as shall play none other matters, I trust, but tolerable and convenient.' Thus it seems that, in conformity with Elizabeth's edicts, the servants of Sir Robert Dudley had armed themselves with a licence signed by several Lord-Lieutenants of counties, upon the production of which they counted on the liberty to play within the jurisdictions of the signataries.

The same players, relying on their Master's powerful support, advanced so far in their pretensions that in 1574 they obtained from Elizabeth herself a Royal Patent. This document, the first licence granted by the Crown to a dramatic company, was given at Greenwich under the Privy Seal upon May 7, to James Burbage and four partners. Addressed to all Justices, Mayors, Sheriffs, Bailiffs, head Constables, under Constables, and all other our officers and ministers,' it empowered Lord Leicester's servants to 'use, exercise, and occupy the art and faculty of playing Comedies, Tragedies, Interludes, Stage-plays, and such other like... as well for the recreation of our loving subjects, as for our solace and pleasure, when we shall

Elizabeth, in this
Elizabeth, in this paragraph,

double function of Lord
caterers for the public and

think good to see them.'
specially contemplates the
Leicester's servants; first as
then as players at Court. Up to this time the royal
establishment had no formed body of dramatic artists,
and no players with the title of Queen's Servants.
The Master of the Revels for the time being engaged
the best companies to play at Court; and among
these the Servants of Lord Leicester had been con-
spicuous for frequent performance. After the date of
the patent, Leicester's men, for a time at any rate,
called themselves, upon the strength of the document,
'The Queen's Majesty's Poor Players.'

The patent next rehearses the places to which the privilege extends: As well within our City of London and Liberties of the same, as also within the liberties and freedoms of any our Cities, Towns, Boroughs, &c. whatsoever, as without the same, throughout our Realm of England.' Then follow the limitations under which the privilege is granted. All plays performed by Leicester's men must have received the sanction of the Master of the Revels. No public representations might take place in the time of Common Prayer, or in the time of great and common Plague in our said City of London.'

The privileges granted in this Royal Licence testified to Elizabeth's personal approval of Burbage and his comrades, no less than to Leicester's warm-hearted patronage. They were ample, and seemed explicit enough to have conferred a monopoly of acting on this company throughout the length and breadth of England. Yet the players met with a determined opposi

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