3 February 1573.[1] On 2 February 1574 he presented Timoclia at the Siege of Thebes and on 23 February Percius and Anthomiris; at Shrovetide 1575 and on 6 March 1576 plays unnamed; and on 12 February 1583 Ariodante and Geneuora. A reminiscence of these performances has been left us by the seventeenth-century judge, Sir James Whitelocke, who entered the school in 1575 and left for St. John's, Oxford, in 1588:
'I was brought up at school under M^r Mulcaster, in the famous
school of the Merchantaylors in London. . . . Yeerly he presented
sum playes to the court, in which his scholers wear only actors, and
I on among them, and by that meanes taughte them good behaviour
and audacitye.'[2]
In 1586 Mulcaster quarrelled with the Merchant Taylors
and resigned. In 1596 he became High Master of St. Paul's
grammar school, but it is only conjecture that his influence
counted for anything in the revival of plays by the choir
master, Edward Pearce. Regular plays at Merchant Taylors
probably ceased on his withdrawal. When Sir Robert Lee,
one of the Company, became Lord Mayor in 1602, a payment
was made to Mr. Haines, the Schoolmaster, for a wagon and
the apparel of ten scholars, who represented Apollo and the
Muses in Cheapside. But when James came to dine at the
hall on 16 July 1607, it was thought best to apply for help to
Heminges of the King's men and Nathaniel Giles of the
Chapel, on the ground that the Schoolmaster and children
were not familiar with such entertainments.[3]
ix. THE EARL OF LEICESTER'S BOYS
Vide ch. xiii (Earl of Leicester's men).
x. THE EARL OF OXFORD'S BOYS
Vide ch. xiii (Earl of Oxford's men).
xi. MR. STANLEY'S BOYS
Vide ch. xiii (Earl of Derby's men).
