TO
NOTES AND QUERIES. [11 s. xn. JULY 24, 1915.
THE SITE OF THE GLOBE.
(11 S. x. 209, 290, 335; xi. 447; xii. 10, 50.)
DR. WILLIAM MARTIN in his contribution ante, p. 10, quotes your correspondent L. L. K., who translates the wording " abutantem super peciam terras vocatam The Park super boream " in the Coram Rege Roll as " abutting on the Park on its north side." I do not think that this is the natural translation, and it appears to be introduced to try and make the wording suit the theory of DR. MARTIN and others who hold that the Globe was south of Maid Lane. The obvious translation is " abutting upon a piece of land called The Park on the north." This translation is clearly the correct one, and it conforms with the facts when it is realized that the cottages on Bankside were known as The Park.
Dr. MARTIN, however, does not apparently base his opinion upon this very questionable translation, but prefers to think that the draftsman, when he prepared the document, had before him a plan in which the south was at the upper edge of the plan, and that he had consequently mistaken the north for the south.
It is always dangerous to assume an error in a contemporary document, except on the very clearest evidence. In this instance there is no evidence of an error in the text ; the document is perfectly correct ; the mis- take has been in trying to make the document fit some other site on the south of Maiden Lane to which the description cannot apply. That an error should occur in the descrip- tion of the boundaries is most unlikely, for it must be remembered that the draftsman was not giving a description of the boundaries as they were in 1616, when the document was prepared he was copying the wording from the lease which was granted by Nicholas Brand (and dated 21 Feb., 1598) to the brothers Burbage and others.
DR. MARTIN in his contribution supposes that until a contemporary plan of Bankside is forthcoming, there will continue to be two opinions : the one, that the site was to the north of Maiden Lane ; and the other, which he believes to be true, " that the site was where tradition and documentary and topo- graphical evidence place it, viz., to the south of that thoroughfare."
In reply to this statement it should be remembered that there is a long series of
contemporary views of Bankside, and if
these are carefully studied it will be seen
that, in all cases where the Globe is shown
and named in the views, this building is
invariably clearly shown to be immediately
behind the cottages (The Paik) on Bankside,
and therefore obviously on the north side
of Maiden Lane.
The following contemporary views show the Playhouse with the words'" The Globe " written abo\>e it, and in all cases the Play- house is shown to be immediately behind the cottages on Bankside, viz. :
Visscher's view of London, 1616.
Vanden Hoeye's, c. 1640.
Hollar's, 1647.
' Profil de la Ville de Londre,' " Boisseau excudit 1643." In this view there are indications that erasions have been made on the north side of the Thames. Old St. Paul's has been rubbed out, and Wren's Cathedral has been inserted.
In Merian's view of London, c. 1638, and ' Londinium Urbs praecipua regni Angliae,' the Globe is shown, but without the inscrip- tion of the name ; indicating numbers have, however, been placed over the theatre, and by these references to the indexes it appears that, in both instances, the Globe was in- tended .
Thus there is an abundance of contem- porary evidence in these views of Bankside definitely establishing the fact that the Globe was on the north side of Maiden Lane.
DR. MARTIN, in the reprint from the Surrey Archaeological Collections on ' The Site of the Globe Playhouse of Shakespeare,' says :
"It may well be that the Visscher panorama, as originally drafted, contained the Globe in a position to the south of Maid Lane, and on curtailing the depth of the view for publication, or some other purpose, the Globe was consequently removed from the picture, along with the associated matter on either side, the style ' The Globe ' within the limits of the picture being still allowed to remain."
It is most unlikely that the panorama was curtailed so as to cut out the drawing of the Globe. The style "The Globe" obviously refers to the big octagonal build- ing immediately below it.
If DR. MARTIN is right in respect to Visscher's view, then, unfortunately, there must have been the same curtailing in re- spect of Vanden Hoeye's view, in Merian's view, and also in the * Profil de la Ville de Londre,' for they all show the same octagonal building, just as Visscher shows it. and they all call it the Globe.
The collective evidence of all these contem- porary cartographers is dead opposed to
