of the resumption of plays is guarded by the proviso 'except there shall happen weeklie to die of the plague aboue the number of thirtie within the Cittie of London and the liberties therof; att which time we think it fitt they shall cease and forbeare any further publicklie to playe untill the sicknes be again decreaced to the saide number'. This criterion of thirty deaths was much less favourable to the players than that of fifty which they had themselves suggested in 1584. It appears to have ruled until about 1607 and then to have been replaced by the more liberal allowance of forty, which is the number specified in the later patents of 1619 and 1625 to the King's men.[1]
It is clear that a plague, if at all prolonged, hit the players very hard, partly because it was customary to divide up the profits weekly or even daily, and the companies, as distinct from prudent individuals, seem to have kept no reserve funds. In particular the plague of 1592-4 forms a regular watershed in the history of the companies. Some went under altogether; others, such as the famous Queen's men, failed for ever after to recover a foothold in the metropolis. The reconstructed organizations of 1594 have practically no continuity with those in existence up to 1592. The obvious resource in a time of inhibition was to travel, since a London plague did not necessarily extend far into the provinces.[2] It was a regrettable necessity. In favourable economic conditions, the London companies tended to grow, to effect amalgamations, to occupy more than one theatre.[3] Travelling, for more than a few
- ↑ Your Five Gallants (1607), iv. 2. 30, 'If the bill down rise to above thirty, here's no place for players' (cf. App. E, s. a. 1605); Ram Alley (1607-8), iv. 1, 'I dwindle as a new player does at a plague bill certefied forty'. Thorndike, Influence of Beaumont and Fletcher upon Shakespeare, 16, doubts whether the theatres can in fact have been wholly closed from Aug. 1608 to Dec. 1609, when the bill was almost continuously over 40. I think that Murray, ii. 175, sufficiently answers some of his points, but in Shakespeare's Theater, 241, he cites Keysar v. Burbage (cf. ch. xii, s.v. Chapel) as evidence that the King's played at Blackfriars during the plague season of 1609. Both disputants seem to have overlooked the special payments to the King's men (App. B) for private practice before the Christmases of 1608-9 and 1609-10. It is possible that they were allowed, in spite of a general restraint, to use the Blackfriars for this purpose, and even admit a select audience. If a similar relaxation was given to the Revels at Whitefriars, the dating of Epicoene in' 1609' would be explained. I do not agree with Murray that it is likely to have been produced in the provinces. After all, the plague bill was well under 40 by 7 Dec. 1609, although it went up to 39 again on 28 Dec.
- ↑ In 1574, a restraint covers 10 miles from the city; in 1581 (a civic precept), 2 miles; in 1593, 7 miles; in 1594, 5 miles; in 1597, 3 miles.
- ↑ Cf. App. D, Nos. lxxii, lxxv, and the use of the Curtain as an 'easer'
