one of the patentees for the Queen's Revels in 1609, and some letters apparently belonging to the same series show Field as interested, either as writer or actor, in some of the plays which Henslowe was purchasing from Daborne, with a view to reselling them to this company. Further confirmation is to be obtained for this view from the signature of Hugh Attwell as witness to one of Henslowe's advances to Daborne,[1] and from the mention of Benfield,[2] of Pallant who, as will be seen, joined the company in 1614,[3] and of Eastward Ho! which their repertory had inherited from that of the Queen's Revels.[4] That 'Mr. Allin' was hearing Daborne's plays with Henslowe in May 1613 need cause no difficulty.[5] It is true that Edward Alleyn is not known to have had any relations with the Lady Elizabeth's men, but John Alleyn, a nephew of Edward, is amongst Henslowe's witnesses about this time,[6] and Richard Allen, who may not have belonged to the same family, was himself one of the Lady Elizabeth's men, and perhaps served as their literary adviser. The correspondence makes it possible to recover the names of a series of plays on which Daborne was engaged, either alone or in collaboration with others, during the period over which it extends, and all of which seem to have been primarily meant for the Lady Elizabeth's men, although he occasionally professes, as an aid to his chaffering, to have an alternative market with the King's men.[7] From April to June 1613 he was writing a tragedy of Machiavel and the Devil, and this is probably the 'new play', of which he suggests the performance on Wednesday in August, to follow one of Eastward Ho! on the Monday.[8]
- [Footnote: Field to Henslowe, N.D.; (xiv)? Art. 69, Field to Henslowe, N.D.;
(xv)? Art. 68, Field, Daborne, and Massinger to Henslowe, N.D.; (xvi) Art. 82, 16 July 1613; (xvii) Art. 83, 30 July 1613; (xviii)? Art. 76, N.D.; (xix)? Art. 99, Daborne to Edward Griffin (Henslowe's scrivener), N.D.; (xx). Art. 84, 23 Aug. 1613; (xxi) Art. 85, 14 Oct. 1613; (xxii) Art. 86, 29 Oct. 1613; (xxiii) Art. 87, 5 Nov. 1613; (xxiv) Art. 88, 13 Nov. 1613; (xxv) Art. 89, 13 Nov. 1613; (xxvi). Art. 90, 27 Nov. 1613; (xxvii) Art. 91, 9 Dec. 1613; (xxviii) Art. 92, 10 Dec. 1613; (xxix) Art. 93, 24 Dec. 1613; (xxx)? Art. 95, N.D.; (xxxi) Art. 94, 31 Dec. 1613; (xxxii) Art. 96, 11 Mar. 1614; (xxxiii) Art. 97, 28 Mar. 1614; (xxxiv), Art. 98, 31 July 1614.]
- ↑ Henslowe Papers, 68.
- ↑ Sh. Soc. Papers, i. 16; Henslowe Papers, 125, from Egerton MS. 2623, f. 24. This document cannot be dated, but it has probably been detached from the Dulwich series.
- ↑ Henslowe Papers, 82.
- ↑ Ibid. 71. I should suppose this, rather than, with Dr. Greg, Bartholomew Fair, to be the 'Johnsons play' contemplated on 13 Nov. (Henslowe Papers, 78), but others of Jonson's plays may also have been revived.
- ↑ Ibid. 69, 70.
- ↑ Ibid. 71, 103, 111.
- ↑ Ibid. 76, 77, 78.
- ↑ Ibid. 71.
