'up again' before their rivals of the Chapel, who cannot be shown to have begun in the Blackfriars under Henry Evans until 1600.[1] This being so, they were probably also responsible for Marston's revision in 1599 of Histriomastix, which by giving offence to Ben Jonson, led him to satire Marston's style in Every Man Out of His Humour, and so introduced the 'war of the theatres'.[2] Before the end of 1600 they had probably added to their repertory Chapman's Bussy d'Ambois, and certainly The Maid's Metamorphosis, The Wisdom of Dr. Dodipoll, and Jack Drum's Entertainment, all three of which were entered on the Stationers' Register, and the first two printed, during that year. Jack Drum's Entertainment followed in 1601 and contains the following interesting passage of autobiography:[3]
Sir Edward Fortune. I saw the Children of Powles last night,
And troth they pleas'd me prettie, prettie well:
The Apes in time will doe it handsomely.
Planet. I faith, I like the audience that frequenteth there
With much applause: A man shall not be chokte
With the stench of Garlick; nor be pasted
To the barmie Iacket of a Beer-brewer.
Brabant Junior. 'Tis a good, gentle audience, and I hope the boies
Will come one day into the Court of requests.
Brabant Senior. I, and they had good Plaies. But they produce
Such mustie fopperies of antiquitie,
And do not sute the humorous ages backs,
With clothes in fashion.
The criticism, being a self-criticism, must not be taken too seriously. So far as published plays are concerned, Histriomastix is the only one to which it applies. In Marston, Chapman, and Middleton the company had enlisted vigorous young playwrights, who were probably not sorry to be free from the yoke of the professional actors, and appear to have followed the exceptional policy of printing some at least of their new plays as soon as they were produced.
On 11 March 1601, two months after the boys made their first bow at Court, the Lord Mayor was ordered by the Privy Council to suppress plays 'at Powles' during Lent. It is to be inferred that they were, as of old, acting in their singing school. Confirmation is provided by a curious note appended by William Percy to his manuscript volume of
