play of that name revived by the Admiral's men in 1594 and now lost,[1] while that of Orlando in Greene's Orlando Furioso is amongst the papers at Dulwich.[2] Heywood, writing about 1608, speaks of Alleyn's playing in the past. He probably retired finally soon after the beginning of the new reign. In 1605 he valued his 'share of aparell' at £100; but his name is not in the patent to the Prince's men of 30 April 1606, although as late as 1611 he still retained his personal rank as servant to the prince. It is difficult to give much credit to the legend that his withdrawal was due to remorse, or, as one version has it, to an apparition of the devil when he was playing Faustus.[3] Certainly he continued to hold an interest in the Fortune, and conceivably in the Red Bull (q.v.) also. And certainly remorse did not prevent him from continuing to exercise the functions of Master of the Game of Paris Garden, a post which he acquired jointly with Henslowe in 1604, having already been interested in the Beargarden itself since 1594. At this after it became the Hope (q.v.) he was still about 1617 entertaining players. But the time of his retirement synchronizes with the first beginnings of his foundation of a school and hospital by the name of the College of God's Gift at Dulwich. By 1605 he was a wealthy man, with income from substantial investments in leasehold property as well as the profits from his enterprises, and on 25 October he took the first step in the purchase of the manor of Dulwich, which was completed by 1614 at a total cost of nearly £10,000. Here about 1613 he made his residence, moving from Southwark, where he had been churchwarden of St. Saviour's in 1610. In 1613 also he began the building of the college, which was opened in 1617. Alleyn himself acted as manager and was in a position to spend upon the college and his own household some £1,700 a year. The endowment of the college included, besides house property in London, the freehold of the Fortune. Henslowe had died in January 1616 and his widow in the following year, and his papers passed to Alleyn and remain at Dulwich. Here, too, is Alleyn's own diary for 1617-22, and this and his correspondence show him as a friend of persons of honour, and the patron of writers and the members of his own former profession. Alleyn's wife Joan died on 28 June 1623 and on the following 3 December he married Constance, daughter of John Donne, dean of St. Paul's, settling on her £1,500. A letter of 23 July 1624 indicates that he was then desirous of obtaining 'sum further dignetie'. He died on 25 November 1626.
ALLEYN, JOHN. Admiral's, 1589-91. Edward Alleyn had an elder brother John, who was born in 1556-7, and is described as servant to Lord Sheffield and an Innholder in 1580, and as servant to the Lord
- [Footnote:
This Jew, with others many, th' other wan
The Attribute of peerelesse, being a man
Whom we may ranke with (doing no one wrong)
Proteus for shapes, and Roscius for a tongue,
So could he speake, so vary.
]
