similar liveries furnished for both the King's and the Queen's men by a series of Lord Chamberlain's warrants to his Wardrobe, which begin in 1622.[1] These liveries were renewed every two years and consisted at first of three, and afterwards of four, yards of bastard scarlet for a cloak, and a quarter of a yard of crimson velvet for a cap. These were of course state liveries, not the 'watching' liveries of medley-coloured cloth, at 5s. a yard as against the 26s. 8d. paid for the scarlet.[2] The Chamberlain's books of the same period also contain warrants for the swearing-in of new members of the King's and other companies, and in these the players are directed to be sworn as 'grooms of the chamber in ordinary without fee'.[3] These are, as I say, Caroline records, but if we may assume that the procedure which they disclose was no novelty, and that the royal players from 1583 onwards held this intermediate position as 'grooms in ordinary without fee' between the ordinary and the extraordinary Grooms of the Chamber, we get an explanation of their status which, on the assumption that Howes was not quite well informed, is at least consistent with all the few known facts.
The times and seasons at which plays might be given formed, of course, one of the chief battle-grounds in the controversy with the preachers; and it was here that the Puritans, routed on the main issue of the campaign, were able to secure their principal victory. From the beginning it was an understood thing that plays must not be given during the hours of divine service, either on Sundays, or on the Saints' days, which continued long after the Reformation to be observed as public holidays. This, however, did not prevent the audiences from gathering, so that the play-houses were already full, while the bells were still ringing in the empty services.[4] The City regulations of 1574 attempted to remedy this scandal by extending the prohibition to the opening of the doors. The same point is made in the 'Remedies' put forward by the City advocates in 1584. But there was a practical difficulty, which increased when the theatres in the distant fields or over the water came into use. Afternoon prayer did not begin until 2 p.m., and if the theatres waited until 4 p.m., the performances were not
- ↑ Sullivan, 250; C. C. Stopes in Sh.-Jahrbuch, xlvi. 92; from Lord Chamberlain's Records, ii. 48; v. 92, 93. I am not sure whether the velvet was for a 'cap' or a 'cape'.
- ↑ Sullivan, 253; cf. vol. i, p. 52.
- ↑ Stopes (supra). I find a confirmatory note to a Household list of 1641 in Lord Chamberlain's Records, iii. 1, 'Note that the Companyes of Players under the Titles of the Kings, Queenes, Queene of Bohemia, Prince & Duke of Yorke are all of them sworne Groomes of the Chamber in ordinary without fee'. I cannot accept Miss Sullivan's theory that 'without fee' means that the players did not have to buy their places.
- ↑ Cf. App. C, Nos. xvii, xxxi.
