before a handful of particular men, or profit before pleasure, so far was our suit to be preferred before theirs.'
The players appealed to the Earl of Somerset, who became
Lord Chamberlain and in that capacity their official protector
on 10 July 1614, but he proved well affected towards the
watermen. The hearing was adjourned and never resumed,
owing to the death of Cope on 31 July, the promotion of
Caesar to the Mastership of the Rolls on 1 October, and the
consequent dissolution of the commission. Ill feeling broke
out between Taylor and his fellows the watermen, who
declared that he met the players at supper at the Cardinal's
Hat on Bankside, and took bribes of them to let the suit
fall. Taylor, therefore, wrote his pamphlet to vindicate his
position.[1] The completion of the new Globe and the Hope
during the progress of the dispute had probably eased matters
temporarily for the watermen, but the growing tendency of
things theatrical towards Middlesex was not permanently
checked. Some of the minor companies used the Hope until
1617, and then left it to the bears again. The Globe survived,
but will be found to have occupied during the Caroline period
a distinctly secondary position to the Blackfriars in the
economy of the King's men. For this there was another
reason besides the geographical superiority of Middlesex over
Surrey. The acquisition of the Blackfriars, even though only
for winter purposes, in 1608 was an acknowledgement of the
advantages for adult companies of the 'private' or roofed
type of theatre, hitherto used only by boys. Once these
advantages were realized, the doom of the old 'ring' type,
with its central opening, was written. Probably the Hope
was the only new house constructed on these lines after 1608,
and obviously the Hope required free ventilation to get rid
of the stink of bears and dogs. In 1615 Philip Rosseter and
others obtained sanction for the conversion of Porter's Hall
in the Blackfriars into a theatre. This was to be used by
children as well as adults, and was probably roofed. It was
pulled down again by what seems a somewhat arbitrary
decision in 1617. About the same time, the roofed Cockpit
in Drury Lane was converted into a theatre, under the name
of the Phoenix, for the occupation of the Queen's men, who
migrated to it from the Red Bull. Whether or not the
- ↑ It cites Caesar's promotion and describes the agitation by the watermen as taking place in 'January last, 1613', i. e. 161-3/4. Probably it was written in the winter of 1614, and touched up before 1630, since it refers to Bacon and Somerset as 'then' Attorney-General and Lord Chamberlain respectively. Bacon's term of office was from 27 Oct. 1613 to 7 March 1617, Somerset's from 10 July 1614 to 2 Nov. 1615.
