CHAPTER XX

After dinner I went to the Theatre [i.e., Killigrew's playhouse] where I found so few people (which is strange, and the reason I did not know) that I went out again; and so to Salisbury Court, where the house as full as could be; and it seems it was a new play,The Queen's Masque, wherein are some good humours: among others a good jeer to the old story of the Siege of Troy, making it to be a common country tale. But above all it was strange to see so little a boy as that was to act Cupid, which is one of the greatest parts in it.

Again, on March 26, he found Salisbury Court crowded:

After dinner Mrs. Pierce and her husband, and I and my wife, to Salisbury Court, where coming late, he and she light of Col. Boone, that made room for them; and I and my wife sat in the pit, and there met with Mr. Lewes and Tom Whitton, and sawTheBondman[654]done to admiration.

The history of the playhouse during these years falls outside the scope of this volume. Suffice it to say that before Beeston finished paying the carpenters for their work of reconstruction, the great fire of 1666 swept the building out of existence; as Fisher and Silver declared: "The mortgaged premises by the late dreadful fire in London were totally burned down and consumed."[655]

ON birthdays, holidays, and festive occasions in general the sovereigns of England and the members of the royal family were wont to summon the professional actors to present plays at Court. For the accommodation of the players and of the audience, the larger halls at Hampton, Windsor, Greenwich, St. James, Whitehall, or wherever the sovereign happened to be at the time, were specially fitted up, often at great expense. At one end of the hall was erected a temporary stage equipped with a "music-room," "players' houses of canvas," painted properties, and such other things as were necessary to the actors. In the centre of the hall, on an elevated dais, were provided seats for the royal family, and around and behind the dais, stools for the more distinguished guests; a large part of the audience was allowed to stand on platforms raised in tiers at the rear of the room. Since the plays were almost invariably given at night, the stage was illuminated by special "branches" hung on wires overhead, and carrying many lights. In the accounts of the Office of the Revels one may find interesting records of plays presented in thismanner, with the miscellaneous items of expense for making the halls ready.

Usually the Court performances, like the masques, were important, almost official occasions, and many guests, including the members of the diplomatic corps, were invited. To provide accommodation for so numerous an audience, a large room was needed. Hampton Court possessed a splendid room for the purpose in the Great Banqueting Hall, one hundred and six feet in length and forty feet in breadth. But the palace at Whitehall for many years had no room of a similar character. For the performance of a masque there in 1559 the Queen erected a temporary "Banqueting House." Again, in 1572, to entertain the Duke of Montmorency, Ambassador from France, she had a large "Banketting House made at Whitehall," covered with canvas and decorated with ivy and flowers gathered fresh from the fields. An account of the structure may be found in the records of the Office of the Revels. Perhaps, however, the most elaborate and substantial of these "banqueting houses" was that erected in 1581, to entertain the ambassadors from France who came to treat of a marriage between Elizabeth and the Duc d'Anjou. The structure is thus described by Holinshed in hisChronicle:[656]

This year (against the coming of certain commissioners out of France into England), by Her Majesty's appointment, on the sixth and twentieth day of March, in the morning (being Easter Day), a Banqueting House was begun at Westminster, on the south-west side of Her Majesty's palace of Whitehall, made in manner and form of a long square, three hundred thirty and two foot in measure about; thirty principals made of great masts, being forty foot in length apiece, standing upright; between every one of these masts ten foot asunder and more. The walls of this house were closed with canvas, and painted all the outsides of the same most artificially, with a work called rustic, much like stone. This house had two hundred ninety and two lights of glass. The sides within the same house was made with ten heights of degrees for people to stand upon; and in the top of this house was wrought most cunningly upon canvas works of ivy and holly, with pendants made of wicker rods, garnished with bay, rue, and all manner of strange flowers garnished with spangles of gold; as also beautified with hanging toseans made of holly and ivy, with all manner of strange fruits, as pomegranates, oranges, pompions, cucumbers, grapes, carrots, with such other like, spangled with gold, and most richly hanged. Betwixt these works of bays and ivy were great spaces of canvas, which was most cunningly painted, the clouds with stars, the sun and sun-beams, with diverse other coats of sundry sorts belonging to the Queen's Majesty, most richly garnished with gold. There were of all manner of persons working on this house to the number of three hundred seventy and five: two men had mischances, the one broke his leg, and so did the other. This house was made in three weeks and three days, and was ended the eighteenth day of April, and cost one thousand seven hundred forty and four pounds, nineteen shillings, and od mony, as I was credibly informed by the worshipful master Thomas Grave, surveyor unto Her Majesty's works, who served and gave order for the same.

Although built in such a short time, and of such flimsy material, this expensive Banqueting House seems to have been allowed to stand, and to have been used thereafter for masques and plays. Thus, when King James came to the throne, he ordered plays to be given there in November, 1604. We find the following entry in the Treasurer's accounts:

For making ready the Banqueting House at Whitehall for the King's Majesty against the plays, by the space of four days ... 78s.7d.

And the accounts of the Revels' Office inform us:

Hallomas Day, being the first of November, a play in the Banqueting House at Whitehall, calledThe Moor of Venice.

Apparently, however, the King was not pleased with the Banqueting House as a place for dramatic performances, for he promptly ordered the Great Hall of the palace—a room approximately ninety feet in length and forty feet in breadth[657]—to be made ready for the next play:

For making ready the Great Chamber at Whitehall for the King's Majesty to see the play, by the space of two days ... 39s.4d.

The work was completed with dispatch, for on the Sunday following the performance ofOthelloin the Banqueting House,The Merry Wives of Windsorwas acted in the Great Hall. The next play to be given at Court was also presented in the same room:

On St. Stephen's Night, in the Hall, a play calledMeasure for Measure.

And from this time on the Great Hall was the usual place for Court performances. The abandonment of the Banqueting House was probably due to the facts that the Hall was smaller in size, could be more easily heated in the winter, and was in general better adapted to dramatic performances. Possibly the change was due also to the decayed condition of the old structure and to preparations for its removal. Stow, in hisAnnalsunder the date of 1607, writes:

The last year the King pulled down the old, rotten, slight-builded Banqueting House at Whitehall, and new-builded the same this year very strong and stately, being every way larger than the first.[658]

This new Banqueting House was completed in the early part of 1608. John Chamberlain writes to Sir Dudley Carleton on January 5, 1608: "The masque goes forward at Court for Twelfth Day, tho' I doubt the New Room will be scant ready."[659]Thereafter the Banqueting House, "every waylarger than the first," was regularly used for the presentation of masques. But it was rarely if ever used for plays. Throughout the reign of James, the ordinary place for dramatic performances, as has been observed, was the Great Hall.

On January 12, 1619, as a result of negligence during the preparations for a masque, the Banqueting House caught fire and was burned to the ground. The Reverend Thomas Lorkin writes to Sir Thomas Puckering on January 19, 1619:

The unhappy accident that chanced at Whitehall last week by fire you cannot but have heard of; but haply not the manner how, which was this. A joiner was appointed to mend some things that were out of order in the device of the masque, which the King meant to have repeated at Shrovetide, who, having kindled a fire upon a false hearth to heat his glue-pot, the force thereof pierced soon, it seems, the single brick, and in a short time that he absented himself upon some occasion, fastened upon the basis, which was of dry deal board, underneath; which suddenly conceiving flame, gave fire to the device of the masque, all of oiled paper, and dry fir, etc. And so, in a moment, disposed itself among the rest of that combustible matter that it was past any man's approach before it was almost discovered. Two hours begun and ended that woful sight.

THE COCKPIT

Probably as built by Henry VIII. (From Faithorne'sMap of London, 1658. The Whitehall district is represented as it was many years earlier, compare Agas'sMap, 1560).

[Enlarge]

Inigo Jones, who had dreamed of a magnificent palace at Whitehall, and who had drawn elaborate plans for a royal residence which should surpass anything in Europe, now took charge of building a new Banqueting House as a first step in the realization of his scheme. The noble structure which he erected is to-day one of his chief monuments, and the sole relic of the once famous royal palace. It was completed in the spring of 1622; but, as in the case of its predecessor, it was not commonly usedfor dramatic entertainments. Though masques might be given there, the regular place for plays continued to be the Great Hall.

In the meanwhile, however, there had been developed at Court the custom of having small private performances in the Cockpit, in addition to the more elaborate performances in the Great Hall. Since this ultimately led to the establishment of a theatre royal, known as "The Cockpit-in-Court," it will be necessary to trace in some detail the history of that structure.

The palace of Whitehall, anciently called York House, and the home of thirty successive Archbishops of York, was seized by King Henry VIII at the fall of Wolsey and converted into a royal residence.[660]The new proprietor at once made improvements after his own taste, among which were tennis-courts, bowling-alleys, and an amphitheatre for the "royal sport" of cock-fighting. In Stow's description of the palace we read:

On the right hand be diverse fair tennis courts, bowling alleys, and a Cockpit, all built by King Henry the Eight.

Strype, in his edition of Stow'sSurvey(1720), adds the information that the Cockpit was made "outof certain old tenements."[661]It is pictured in Agas'sMap of London(1570), and more clearly inFaithorne'sMap(see page390), printed in 1658, but apparently representing the city at an earlier date.

During the reign of Elizabeth the Cockpit, so far as I can ascertain, was never used for plays. In the voluminous documents relating to the Office of the Revels there is only one reference to the building: in 1572 flowers were temporarily stored there that were to be used for decking the "Banketting House."

It was during the reign of King James that the Cockpit began to be used for dramatic representations. John Chamberlain writes from London to Sir Ralph Winwood, December 18, 1604: "Here is great provision for Cockpit to entertain him [the King] at home, and of masques and revels against the marriage of Sir Herbert and Lady Susan Vere."[662]Since, however, King James was very fond of cock-fighting, it may be that Chamberlain was referring to that royal entertainment rather than to plays. The small Cockpit was certainly a very unusual place for the formal presentation of plays before His Majesty and the Court.

But the young Prince Henry, whose official residence was in St. James's Palace, often had private or semi-private performances of plays in the Cockpit. In the rolls of the expenses of the Prince we find the following records:[663]

For making ready the Cockpit four several times for plays, by the space of four days, in the month of December, 1610, £2 10s.8d.For making ready the Cockpit for plays two several times, by the space of four days, in the months of January and February, 1611, 70s.8d.For making ready the Cockpit for a play, by the space of two days, in the month of December, 1611, 30s.4d.

For making ready the Cockpit four several times for plays, by the space of four days, in the month of December, 1610, £2 10s.8d.

For making ready the Cockpit for plays two several times, by the space of four days, in the months of January and February, 1611, 70s.8d.

For making ready the Cockpit for a play, by the space of two days, in the month of December, 1611, 30s.4d.

The building obviously, was devoted for the most part to other purposes, and had to be "made ready" for plays at a considerable expense. Nor was the Prince the only one who took advantage of its small amphitheatre. John Chamberlain, in a letter to Sir Dudley Carleton on September 22, 1612, describing the reception accorded to the Count Palatine by the Lady Elizabeth, writes: "On Tuesday she sent to invite him as he sat at supper to a play of her own servants in the Cockpit."[664]

It is clear, then, that at times throughout the reign of James dramatic performances were given in the Cockpit; but the auditorium was small, and the performances must have been of a semi-private nature. The important Court performances, to which many guests were invited, were held in the Great Hall.

In the reign of the next sovereign, however, a change came about. In the year 1632 or 1633, as well as I am able to judge with the evidence at command, King Charles reconstructed the old Cockpit into a "new theatre at Whitehall," which from henceforth was almost exclusively used for Court performances. The opening of this "new theatre royal" is celebrated by aSpeechfrom the pen of Thomas Heywood:

A Speech Spoken to Their Two Excellent Majesties atthe First Play Play'd by the Queen's Servants inthe New Theatre at Whitehall.

When Greece, the chief priority might claimFor arts and arms, and held the eminent nameOf Monarchy, they erected divers places,Some to the Muses, others to the Graces,Where actors strove, and poets did devise,With tongue and pen to please the ears and eyesOf Princely auditors. The time was, whenTo hear the rapture of one poet's penA Theatre hath been built.By the Fates' doom,When th' Empire was removed from thence to Rome,The Potent Cæsars had theircirci, andLarge amphitheatres, in which might standAnd sit full fourscore thousand, all in viewAnd touch of voice. This great Augustus knew,Nay Rome its wealth and potency enjoyed,Till by the barbarous Goths these were destroy'd.But may this structure last, and you be seenHere a spectator, with your princely Queen,In your old age, as in your flourishing prime,To outstrip Augustus both in fame and time.

The exact date of thisSpeechis not given, but it was printed[665]in 1637 along with "The Prologue to the Famous Tragedy ofThe Rich Jew of Malta, as it Was Played Before the King and Queen in His Majesty's Theatre at Whitehall"; and this Prologue Heywood had already published with the play itself in 1633. He dedicated the play to Mr. Thomas Hammon, saying, "I had no better a New-Year's gift to present you with." Apparently, then, the play had been acted at Court shortly before New Year's, 1633; and this sets a forward date to Heywood'sSpeech. Other evidence combines with this to show that "His Majesty's Theatre at Whitehall" was "new" at the Christmas season of 1632-33.

In erecting this, the first "theatre royal," King Charles would naturally call for the aid of the great Court architect Inigo Jones,[666]and by good luck we have preserved for usJones's original sketchesfor the little playhouse (see page396). These were discovered a few years ago by Mr. Hamilton Bell in the Library of Worcester College (where many valuable relics of the great architect are stored), and printed inThe Architectural Recordof New York, March, 1913. Mr. Bell accompanied the plans witha valuable discussion, but he was unable to discover their purpose. He writes:

We have still no clue as to what purpose this curiously anomalous and most interesting structure was to serve—whether the plan was ever carried out, or whether it remained part of a lordly pleasure-house which its prolific designer planned for the delectation of his own soul.

That the plan actually was carried out, at least in part, is shown by asketch of the Whitehall buildingsmade by John Fisher at some date before 1670, and engraved by Vertue in 1747, (see page398).[667]Here, in the northeast corner of the palace, we find a little theatre, labeled "The Cockpit." Its identity with the building sketched by Inigo Jones is obvious at a glance; even the exterior measurements, which are ascertainable from the scales of feet given on the two plans, are the same.

INIGO JONES'S PLANS FOR THE COCKPIT-IN-COURT

Now preserved in the Worcester College Library at Oxford; discovered by Mr. Hamilton Bell, and reproduced inThe Architectural Record, of New York, 1913.

FISHER'S SURVEY OF WHITEHALL SHOWING THE COCKPIT-IN-COURT

A section from Vertue's engraving, 1747, of a survey of Whitehall made by John Fisher, 1660-1670. Compare "The Cockpit" with Inigo Jones's plans.

[Enlarge]

THE THEATRO OLYMPICO AT VICENZA

Which probably inspired Inigo Jones's plans for the Cockpit-in-Court.

Mr. Bell describes the plan he discovered as follows:[668]

It represents within a square building, windowed on three sides and on one seemingly attached to another building, an auditorium occupying five sides of an octagon, on the floor of which are shown the benches of a pit, or the steps, five in number, on which they could be set. These are curiously arranged at an angle of forty-five degrees on either side of a centralaisle, so that the spectators occupying them could never have directly faced the stage. Surrounding this pit on five sides is a balcony ten feet deep, with, it would seem, two rows of benches on four of its sides; the fifth side in the centre, directly opposite the stage, being partitioned off into a room or box, in the middle of which is indicated a platform about five feet by seven, presumably for the Royal State. Three steps descend from this box to the centre aisle of the pit. To the left of and behind this royal box appears another enclosure or box, partitioned off from the rest of the balcony.The staircases of access to this auditorium are clearly indicated; one small door at the rear of thesallewith its own private stairway, communicating with the adjoining building, opens directly into the royal box; as in the Royal Opera House in Berlin to-day.There is another door, with a triangular lobby, into the rear of the left-hand balcony. Two windows are shown on each side of the house, opening directly into the theatre from the outer air.The stage runs clear across the width of the pit, about thirty-five feet, projecting in an "apron" oravant scènefive feet beyond the proscenium wall, and is surrounded on the three outward sides by a low railing of classic design about eighteen inches in height, just as in many Elizabethan playhouses.If one may trust an elevation of the stage, drawn on the same sheet to twice the scale of the general plan, the stage was four feet six inches above the floor of the pit. This elevation exhibits the surprising feature of a classic façade, Palladian in treatment, on the stage of what so far we have regarded as a late modification of a playhouse of Shakespeare's day. Evidently Inigo Jones contemplated the erection of apermanent architecturalproscenium, as the ancients called it, of the type, though far more modest, both in scale and ornamentation, of Palladio's Theatro Olimpico at Vicenza, which we know he visited in about 1600, some twenty years after its erection. Thisproscenium, given in plan and elevation, shows a semi-circular structure with a radius of fifteen feet, two stories in height, of the Corinthian or Composite order. In the lower story are five doorways, the centre of which is a large archway flanked by pedestals, on which are inscribed in Greek characters, Melpomene—Thalia; over these and over the smaller doors are tablets.The second story contains between its lighter engaged columns, over the four side doors, niches with corbels below, destined to carry statues as their inscribed bases indicate. So far as these inscriptions are legible,—the clearest reading "phocles," probably Sophocles,—these were to represent Greek dramatists, most likely Æschylus, Euripides, Sophocles and Aristophanes.The curved pediment of the central archway runs up into this story and is broken in the middle by a tablet bearing the inscription "Prodesse et Delectare," which is flanked by two reclining genii holding garlands.Above these are two busts on brackets, Thespis and Epicurus, or possibly Epicharmus. The space directly above this pediment is occupied by a window-like opening five by four feet, the traditional Elizabethan music-room, in all probability, which, Mr. W.J. Lawrence has shown us, occupied this position both in Shakespeare's day and for some time after the Restoration; an arrangement which was revived by Mr. Steele Mackaye in the Madison Square Theatre,and originally in the first little Lyceum, New York, both now pulled down. The pyramidal pediment above this opening projects above the upper cornice into a coved ceiling, which would appear from the rendering of the drawing to form an apse above the semi-circular stage. Behind theprosceniumis a large space with staircases of approach, two windows at the rear, and apparently a fireplace for the comfort of the waiting players. Communication with the front of the house is provided by a door in the proscenium wall opening into the stage door lobby, whence the outside of the building may be reached.There is no indication of galleries, unless some marks on the angles of the front wall of the balcony may be interpreted without too much license into the footings of piers or posts to carry one; the total interior height shown in the elevation from what I have assumed to be the floor of the pit to the ceiling being only twenty-eight feet, there would hardly have been room for more than one. The only staircases which could have served it are at the rear of the building in the corners behind the stage wall....The general dimensions would appear to be:

The staircases of access to this auditorium are clearly indicated; one small door at the rear of thesallewith its own private stairway, communicating with the adjoining building, opens directly into the royal box; as in the Royal Opera House in Berlin to-day.

There is another door, with a triangular lobby, into the rear of the left-hand balcony. Two windows are shown on each side of the house, opening directly into the theatre from the outer air.

The stage runs clear across the width of the pit, about thirty-five feet, projecting in an "apron" oravant scènefive feet beyond the proscenium wall, and is surrounded on the three outward sides by a low railing of classic design about eighteen inches in height, just as in many Elizabethan playhouses.

If one may trust an elevation of the stage, drawn on the same sheet to twice the scale of the general plan, the stage was four feet six inches above the floor of the pit. This elevation exhibits the surprising feature of a classic façade, Palladian in treatment, on the stage of what so far we have regarded as a late modification of a playhouse of Shakespeare's day. Evidently Inigo Jones contemplated the erection of apermanent architecturalproscenium, as the ancients called it, of the type, though far more modest, both in scale and ornamentation, of Palladio's Theatro Olimpico at Vicenza, which we know he visited in about 1600, some twenty years after its erection. Thisproscenium, given in plan and elevation, shows a semi-circular structure with a radius of fifteen feet, two stories in height, of the Corinthian or Composite order. In the lower story are five doorways, the centre of which is a large archway flanked by pedestals, on which are inscribed in Greek characters, Melpomene—Thalia; over these and over the smaller doors are tablets.

The second story contains between its lighter engaged columns, over the four side doors, niches with corbels below, destined to carry statues as their inscribed bases indicate. So far as these inscriptions are legible,—the clearest reading "phocles," probably Sophocles,—these were to represent Greek dramatists, most likely Æschylus, Euripides, Sophocles and Aristophanes.

The curved pediment of the central archway runs up into this story and is broken in the middle by a tablet bearing the inscription "Prodesse et Delectare," which is flanked by two reclining genii holding garlands.

Above these are two busts on brackets, Thespis and Epicurus, or possibly Epicharmus. The space directly above this pediment is occupied by a window-like opening five by four feet, the traditional Elizabethan music-room, in all probability, which, Mr. W.J. Lawrence has shown us, occupied this position both in Shakespeare's day and for some time after the Restoration; an arrangement which was revived by Mr. Steele Mackaye in the Madison Square Theatre,and originally in the first little Lyceum, New York, both now pulled down. The pyramidal pediment above this opening projects above the upper cornice into a coved ceiling, which would appear from the rendering of the drawing to form an apse above the semi-circular stage. Behind theprosceniumis a large space with staircases of approach, two windows at the rear, and apparently a fireplace for the comfort of the waiting players. Communication with the front of the house is provided by a door in the proscenium wall opening into the stage door lobby, whence the outside of the building may be reached.

There is no indication of galleries, unless some marks on the angles of the front wall of the balcony may be interpreted without too much license into the footings of piers or posts to carry one; the total interior height shown in the elevation from what I have assumed to be the floor of the pit to the ceiling being only twenty-eight feet, there would hardly have been room for more than one. The only staircases which could have served it are at the rear of the building in the corners behind the stage wall....

The general dimensions would appear to be:

The scale on the drawing may not be absolutely correct, as measured by it the side doors of theprosceniumare only five feet high and two feet nine inches wide: this, however, may be an error in the drawing, since we have it on very good authority that Inigo Jones designed without the use of a scale, proportioning his various members by his exquisitely critical eye alone, subsequently adding the dimensions in writing.

I record below some of the references to the Cockpit which I have gathered from the Herbert Manuscript and the Office-Books of the Lord Chamberlain. The earliest payment for plays there, it will be observed, is dated March 16, 1633. Abundant evidence shows that the actors gave their performance in the Cockpit at night without interfering with their regular afternoon performance at their playhouses, and for their pains received the sum of £10. If, however, for any reason they "lost their day" at their house they were paid £20.

1633. March 16. Warrant to pay £270 to John Lowen, Joseph Taylor, and Eilliard Swanston, His Majesty's Comedians, for plays by them acted before His Majesty, viz.—£20 for the rehearsal of one at the Cockpit, by which means they lost their afternoon at their house....[669]1634.Bussy d'Amboisewas played by the King's Players on Easter-Monday night, at the Cockpit-in-Court.[670]1634. ThePastorallwas played by the King's Players on Easter-Tuesday night, at the Cockpit-in-Court.[671]1635. 10 May. A warrant for £30 unto Mons. Josias Floridor, for himself and the rest of the French players for three plays acted by them at the Cockpit.[672]1635. 10 Decemr.—A warrant for £100 to the Prince's Comedians,—viz. £60 for three plays acted at Hampton Court, at £20 for each play, in September and October, 1634. And £40 for four plays at Whitehall and [query"at"] the Cockpit in January, February, and May following, at £10 for each play.[673]1636. The first and second part ofArviragus and Philiciawere acted at the Cockpit before the King and Queen, the Prince, and Prince Elector, the 18 and 19 April, 1636, being Monday and Tuesday in Easter week.[674]

1634.Bussy d'Amboisewas played by the King's Players on Easter-Monday night, at the Cockpit-in-Court.[670]

1634. ThePastorallwas played by the King's Players on Easter-Tuesday night, at the Cockpit-in-Court.[671]

1635. 10 May. A warrant for £30 unto Mons. Josias Floridor, for himself and the rest of the French players for three plays acted by them at the Cockpit.[672]

1635. 10 Decemr.—A warrant for £100 to the Prince's Comedians,—viz. £60 for three plays acted at Hampton Court, at £20 for each play, in September and October, 1634. And £40 for four plays at Whitehall and [query"at"] the Cockpit in January, February, and May following, at £10 for each play.[673]

1636. The first and second part ofArviragus and Philiciawere acted at the Cockpit before the King and Queen, the Prince, and Prince Elector, the 18 and 19 April, 1636, being Monday and Tuesday in Easter week.[674]

Other similar allusions to performance in the Cockpit might be cited from the Court records. One more will suffice—the most interesting of all, since it shows how frequently the little theatre was employed for the entertainment of the royal family. It is a bill presented by the Blackfriars Company, the King's Men, for Court performances during the year 1637. This bill was discovered and reproduced in facsimile by George R. Wright, F.S.A., inThe Journal of the British Archæological Associationfor 1860; but it was wholly misunderstood by its discoverer, who regarded it as drawn up by the company of players that "performed at the Cockpit in Drury Lane." He was indeed somewhat puzzled by the reference to the Blackfriars Playhouse, but met the difficulty by saying: "There can be little doubt that the last-named theatre was lent for the occasion to the Cockpit Company," although he suggests no reason for this strange borrowing of a theatre by a troupe that possessed a house of its own, and much nearer the Court, too. It did not even occur to him, it seems, to inquire how the Cockpit Company secured the plays which we know belonged to Shakespeare's old company. Because of these obvious difficulties scholars have looked upon the document with suspicion, and apparently have treated it as a forgery.[675]But that it is genuine is indicated by the history of "The Cockpit-in-Court" as sketched above, and is proved beyond any question by the fact that the Office-Book of the Lord Chamberlain shows that the bill was paid:

12th March 1638 [9].—Forasmuch as His Majesty's Servants, the company at the Blackfriars, have by special command, at divers times within the space of this present year 1638, acted 24 plays before His Majesty, six whereof have been performed at Hampton-court and Richmond, by means whereofthey were not only at the loss of their day at home, but at extraordinary charges by traveling and carriage of their goods, in consideration whereof they are to have £20 apiece for those plays, and £10 apiece for the other 18 acted at Whitehall, which in the whole amounted to the sum of £300.—These are therefore to pray and require you out of His Majesty's treasure in your charge to pay....[676]

A photographic facsimile of this interesting document may be seen inThe Journal of the British Archæological Association, already referred to; but for the convenience of those who do not read Elizabethan script with ease, I have reproduced it in typefacsimileon page 404.

facsimile

Transcriber's Note:The text of the above facsimile is given in the box below.

before the king & queene thisyeare of our lord 1638At the Cocpit the 26th of marchThe lost ladieAt the Cocpit the 27th of marchDamboyesAt the Cocpit the 3d of AprillAglauraAt the blackfryers the 23 of Aprill for the queenethe vnfortunate lou[ers]At the Cocpit the 29th of may the princes berthnightould CastelAt the Cocpit the last of may agayne thevnfortunate louersAt Sumerset-house the 10th of July & our day— lost at our house mr Carlels play the first part of the pasionate louers— At Hamton Court the 30th of SeptemberThe vnfortunate louer[s]— At Richmount the 6th of november for the ladiemaries berthnight & the day lost at our house}The mery divell of Edmonto[n]At the Cocpit the 8th of novemberThe foxAt the Cocpit the 13th of novemberCeaserAt the Cocpit the 15th of novemberThe mery wifes of winserAt the Cocpit the 20th of novemberThe fayre favorettAt the Cocpit the 22th of novemberChancesAt the Cocpit the 27th of novemberThe Costome of the C[ountry]At the Cocpit the 29th of novemberThe northen lasAt the Cocpit the 6th of desemberThe spanish CurattAt the Cocpit the 11th of desember agayneThe fayre favorettAt the Cocpit the 18th of desember m Carlelsplay agayne the first part ofThe pasionate louersAt the Cocpit the 20th of desember the 2d part ofThe pasionate louersAt the Cocpit the 27 of desember the 2d part agayne of the pasionate louers—At Richmount the 28 of desember the ladieElsabeths berthnight & our day lost at our house}The northen las— At Richmount on newyeares dayand our day lost at our house}beggers bush— At Richmount the 7th of Janeuaryeand our day lost at our house}The spanish Cura[tt]

before the king & queene thisyeare of our lord 1638

The check-marks at the left were probably made by the clerk in the Chamberlain's office to ascertain how many times the players "lost their day" at their house, and hence were entitled to £20 in payment. For the play given "at the blackfriars the 23 of Aprill for the queene" (presumably the general public was excluded) only the usual £10 was allowed.

With the approach of the civil war, the Cockpit, like the public theatres, suffered an eclipse. Sir Henry Herbert writes: "On Twelfth Night, 1642, the Prince had a play calledThe Scornful Ladyat the Cockpit; but the King and Queen were not there, and it was the only play acted at court in the whole Christmas."[677]During the dark days that followed we hear nothing of plays in the Cockpit.Later Cromwell himself occupied this section of the palace, and naturally saw to it that no dramatic exhibitions were held there. But at the Restoration "the Prince," now become the King, could have his plays again; and he did not wait long. On November 20, 1660, Edward Gower wrote to Sir Richard Leveson: "Yesternight the King, Queen, Princess, etc., supped at the Duke d'Albemarle's, where they hadThe Silent Womanacted in the Cockpit."[678]From this time on the theatre royal was in constant use for the entertainment of the Court.

Samuel Pepys, as he rose in the world, became a frequent visitor there.[679]In the absence of other descriptions of the building, I subjoin a few of the entries from hisDiary. Under the date of October 2, 1662, he writes:

At night by coach towards Whitehall, took up Mr. Moore and set him at my Lord's, and myself, hearing that there was a play at the Cockpit (and my Lord Sandwich, who came to town last night, at it), I do go thither, and by very great fortune did follow four or five gentlemen who were carried to a little private door in a wall, and so crept through a narrow place and come into one of the boxes next the King's, but so as I could not see the King or Queen, but many of the fine ladies, who yet are really not so handsomegenerally as I used to take them to be, but that they are finely dressed. Here we sawThe Cardinal,[680]a tragedy I had never seen before, nor is there any great matter in it. The company that came in with me into the box were all Frenchmen that could speak no English, but Lord! what sport they made to ask a pretty lady that they got among them that understood both French and English to make her tell them what the actors said.

The next time he went to the Cockpit, on November 17, 1662, he did not have to creep in by stealth. He writes:

At Whitehall by appointment, Mr. Crew carried my wife and I to the Cockpit, and we had excellent places, and saw the King, Queen, Duke of Monmouth, his son, and my Lady Castlemaine, and all the fine ladies; andThe Scornful Lady, well performed. They had done by eleven o'clock.

The fine ladies, as usual, made a deep impression on him, as did the "greatness and gallantry" of the audience. On December 1, 1662, he writes:

This done we broke up, and I to the Cockpit, with much crowding and waiting, where I sawThe Valiant Cid[681]acted, a play I have read with great delight, but is a most dull thing acted, which I never understood before, there being no pleasure in it, though done by Betterton and by Ianthe,[682]and another fine wench that is come in the room of Roxalana; nor did the King or Queen once smile all the whole play, nor any of the company seem to take any pleasure but what was in the greatness and gallantry of the company.Thence ... home, and got thither by 12 o'clock, knocked up my boy, and put myself to bed.

THE COCKPIT-IN-COURT

From an engraving by Mazell in Pennant'sLondon. Mr. W.L. Spiers, who reproduces this engraving in theLondon Topographical Record(1903), says that it is "undated, but probably copied from a contemporary drawing of the seventeenth century."

Two entries, from an entirely different source, must suffice for this history of the Cockpit. In the Paper-Office Chalmers discovered a record of the following payments, made in 1667:

To the Keeper of the theatre at Whitehall, £30. To the same for Keeping clean that place,p. ann.£6.[683]

And in the Lord Chamberlain's Accounts is preserved the following warrant:

1674, March 27. Warrant to deliver to Monsieur Grabu, or to such as he shall appoint, such of the scenes remaining in the theatre at Whitehall as shall be useful for the French Opera at the theatre in Bridges Street, and the said Monsieur to return them again safely after 14 days' time to the theatre at Whitehall.[684]

What became of the theatre at Whitehall I have not been able to ascertain.[685]Presumably, after thefire of January, 1698, which destroyed the greater part of the palace and drove the royal family to seek quarters elsewhere, the building along with the rest of the Cockpit section was made over into the Privy Council offices.

IN Jeaffreson'sMiddlesex County Records(i, 260), we find the following entry, dated April 1, 1600:

Back to Index Next