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218

THE COURT

is preserved in the practice by which, if a play was ordered and then counter-ordered, the £6 13s. 4d. was paid, but not the £3 6s. 8d. The £10 rate was maintained, with insignificant exceptions, during the rest of Elizabeth's reign, and was taken over as 'the usuall allowaunce' or 'the ordinary rates formerly allowed' by James.^[1] If, however, a play was ordered for the Prince only and not the King, the 'speciall rewarde' was omitted, so far as the Treasurer of the Chamber was concerned, although it is quite possible that the Prince may have supplied it out of his privy purse.^[2] A quite exceptional amount of £30 was paid to the King's men for a play at Wilton in December 1603, to cover their 'paynes and expences' in coming from Mortlake to give the performance. Plague was raging, and they were probably practicing at Mortlake for the court entertainments of the following Christmas. It may be added that the King's company, and that alone, received a subsidy of £30 from the Treasurer of the Chamber, in aid of its maintenance during this plague-winter. Similar payments, of £40 and £30 respectively, were made after the plague-winters of 1608-9 and 1609-10.^[3]

In 1614 there was an innovation in the procedure, by which the responsibility for signing warrants for allowances to players was transferred from the Privy Council to the Lord Chamberlain; and thenceforward the payments are recorded

↑ There may have been special reasons why the Chapel only got £15 for two plays in 1583-4, Oxford's £6 13s. 4d. for a play in 1584-5, the Queen's £20 for three plays in 1587-8, and the Chapel £5 for a 'showe' in 1600-1. The accounts for 1605-6 seem to point to an unsuccessful attempt to establish a flat rate of £5 for a 'rewarde' and £3 6s. 8d. for a 'more rewarde', for plays before James and Henry alike. The payments of 17 May 1615 of £43 6s. 8d. for six plays before 'his highnes' (which in these accounts generally means the Prince) perhaps really represent one play before James and five before Charles.
↑ Henry's accounts for 1610-12 (Cunningham, xiii) include payments for making ready the Cockpit for plays, and rewards to musicians and a juggler, but none for players; but Elizabeth lost a play in a wager in 1612, and Anne paid for two plays at Somerset House in 1615. The only play recorded by the Treasurer of the Chamber as specially before Anne (10 Dec. 1604) was paid for at £10. Naturally she was present at plays entered as before the King or Prince, and in 1612 plays paid for at the King's rate seem in fact to have been shown before Anne and Henry in his absence (cf. App. B).
↑ The £10 fee continued to be paid under Charles I, but by 1630-1 the players had established a claim to an additional £10 if their service at court lost them a day at the theatre, owing to a journey to Hampton Court or Richmond or an occasional performance or rehearsal at Whitehall in the day-time. During 1636-7, however, the theatres were closed for plague (M. S. C. i. 391), and the King's men had an allowance of £20 a week to maintain them near the court (S. P. D. Car. I, cccxxxvii. 33), and did not get the extra £10 a play; cf. E. Law, More about Shakespeare Forgeries, 37, and the extracts from the Lord Chamberlain's Records in C. C. Stopes, Shakespeare's Fellows and Followers (Jahrbuch, xlvi. 92).

[1] There may have been special reasons why the Chapel only got £15 for two plays in 1583-4, Oxford's £6 13s. 4d. for a play in 1584-5, the Queen's £20 for three plays in 1587-8, and the Chapel £5 for a 'showe' in 1600-1. The accounts for 1605-6 seem to point to an unsuccessful attempt to establish a flat rate of £5 for a 'rewarde' and £3 6s. 8d. for a 'more rewarde', for plays before James and Henry alike. The payments of 17 May 1615 of £43 6s. 8d. for six plays before 'his highnes' (which in these accounts generally means the Prince) perhaps really represent one play before James and five before Charles.

[2] Henry's accounts for 1610-12 (Cunningham, xiii) include payments for making ready the Cockpit for plays, and rewards to musicians and a juggler, but none for players; but Elizabeth lost a play in a wager in 1612, and Anne paid for two plays at Somerset House in 1615. The only play recorded by the Treasurer of the Chamber as specially before Anne (10 Dec. 1604) was paid for at £10. Naturally she was present at plays entered as before the King or Prince, and in 1612 plays paid for at the King's rate seem in fact to have been shown before Anne and Henry in his absence (cf. App. B).

[3] The £10 fee continued to be paid under Charles I, but by 1630-1 the players had established a claim to an additional £10 if their service at court lost them a day at the theatre, owing to a journey to Hampton Court or Richmond or an occasional performance or rehearsal at Whitehall in the day-time. During 1636-7, however, the theatres were closed for plague (M. S. C. i. 391), and the King's men had an allowance of £20 a week to maintain them near the court (S. P. D. Car. I, cccxxxvii. 33), and did not get the extra £10 a play; cf. E. Law, More about Shakespeare Forgeries, 37, and the extracts from the Lord Chamberlain's Records in C. C. Stopes, Shakespeare's Fellows and Followers (Jahrbuch, xlvi. 92).

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