shal be consentinge [or privy to any other of the said company going out of the howse with any of their apparell on his or their bodies, he, the said] Robert Dawes, shall and will forfeit and pay unto the said Phillip and Jacob, or their administrators or assignes, the some of ffortie pounds of lawfull [money of England] . . . and the said Robert Dawes, for him, his executors, and administrators doth [covenant promise and graunt to with the said] Phillip Henslowe and Jacob Meade, their executors, and administrators [and assigns]
that it shall and may be
lawfull to and for the said Phillip Henslowe and Jacob Meade, their executors, and assignes, to have and use the playhows so appoynted [for the said company one day of] every fower daies, the said daie to be chosen by the said Phillip and [Jacob]
Monday in any week, on which day it shalbe lawful
for the said Phillip [and Jacob, their administrators], and assignes, to bait their bears and bulls ther, and to use their accustomed sport and [games] and take to their owne use all suche somes of money, as thereby shall arise and be receaved
And the saide Robert Dawes, his executors, administrators, and assignes, [do hereby covenant, promise, and graunt to and with the saide Phillip and Jacob,] allowing to the saide company daye the some of ffortie shillings money of England . . . [In testimony] for every such whereof, I the saide Robert Dawes haue hereunto sett my hand and seal this [sev]enth daie of April 1614 in the twelfth yeare [of the reign of our sovereign lord &c.]
Robert Dawes.
It must be mainly matter of conjecture at what theatres
the Lady Elizabeth's had played from 1611 to 1614. Possibly
they may have begun at the Swan. Middleton's A Chaste
Maid in Cheapside was published as 'often acted at the
Swan on the Banke-side by the Lady Elizabeth her Seruants',
and although this publication was not until 1630,
it is rather tempting to identify the play with The Proud Maid
of 1611-12. Probably the association of the company with
Henslowe led to a transfer to the Rose; and after the joining
of forces with Rosseter in March 1613, the Whitefriars must
have been available for the combination. That there were
alternatives open in 1613 is shown by two passages in
Daborne's letters.[1] On 5 June he says that the company were
expecting Henslowe to conclude 'about thear comming over
or goinge to Oxford', and by 'comming over' may most
naturally be understood crossing the Thames. On 9 December
he claims that a book he is upon will 'make as good a play
for your publique howse as ever was playd', and the inference
- ↑ Henslowe Papers, 72, 79.
