was built five feet high right across the nave from wall to wall. The 'state' for the Queen was placed on the stage itself, against the south wall. She reached it by a bridge from the choir door. At the other end of the stage, under the north wall, stood the actors, with two side chapels to serve for their entrances and exits. Cecil and Dudley, as Chancellor and High Steward of the University, 'vouchsafed to hold both books on the scaffold themselves, and to provide that sylence might be kept with quietness'. I am not quite clear whether these books were prompt-books, or copies of the texts, provided in order that the Queen or her train, if they thought fit, might help out their Latinity. When the Westminster boys brought the Miles Gloriosus to Court in 1565, they spent 11s. on 'one Plautus geuen to the Queenes maiestie and fowre other unto the nobilitie', and the Sapientia Salomonis which they gave Elizabeth in 1565-6 is still extant.[1] Only a few other privileged spectators were allowed on the King's College stage, at the north end. Seats were provided for ladies and gentlemen in the rood loft, and for the chief officers of the Court at 'the twoe loer Tables' below the rood loft. The only lighting was provided by the torches of the guard, who were aligned along the sides of the stage. At Oxford, on the other hand, where the plays were given in Christ Church hall, it is reasonable to assume that the arrangements were directly modelled upon those prevalent in the palaces.[2] There was, however, one exceptional feature, due to the desire to enable the Queen to reach the hall, without being incommoded by the press of spectators. A temporary
- ↑ Cf. ch. xii and App. K.
- ↑ Plummer, 123 (from Bereblock's account): 'Primo ibi ab ingenti solido pariete patefacto aditu proscenium insigne fuit, ponsque ab eo ligneus pensilis, sublicis impositus, parvo et perpolito tractu per transversos gradus ad magnam Collegii aulam protrahitur; festa fronde coelato pictoque umbraculo exornatur, ut per eum, sine motu et perturbatione prementis vulgi, regina posset, quasi aequabili gressu, ad praeparata spectacula contendere. Erat aula laqueari aurato, et picto arcuatoque introrsus tecto, granditate ac superbia sua veteris Romani palatii amplitudinem, et magnificentia imaginem antiquitatis diceres imitari. Parte illius superiori, qua occidentem respicit, theatrum excitatur magnum et erectum, gradibusque multis excelsum. Iuxta omnes parietes podia et pegmata extructa sunt, subsellia eisdem superiora fuerunt multorum fastigiorum, unde viri illustres ac matronae suspicerentur, et populus circumcirca ludos prospicere potuit. Lucernae, lichni, candelaeque ardentes clarissimam ibi lucem fecerunt. Tot luminaribus, ramulis ac orbibus divisis, totque passim funalibus, inaequali splendore, incertam praebentibus lucem, splendebat locus, ut et instar diei micare, et spectaculorum claritatem adiuvare candore summo visa sint. Ex utroque scenae latere comoedis ac personatis magnifica palatia, aedesque apparatissimae extruuntur. Sublime fixa sella fuit, pulvinaribus ac tapetiis ornata, aureoque umbraculo operta, Reginae destinatus locus erat'; cf. Boas, 99.
