[From Feild the Players Letter to M^r Sutton, Preacher att S^t Mary Overs, 1616, printed by Halliwell, Illustrations, 115, from S. P. Dom. Jac. I, lxxxix. 105. There are some slight references to the stage in Thomas Sutton's England's First and Second Summons (1616), 27, 195, but these are Paul's Cross sermons delivered, and in the case of the first at least printed, before he became preacher at Saint Mary Overies in 1616, and Field is probably answering something later and more pointed.]
Protests that Sutton's labour 'to hinder the Sacrament and banish me from myne owne parishe Churche' is 'uncharitable dealing with your poore parishioners, whose purses participate in your contribucion and whose labour yow are contented to eate'. Can find nothing in the Bible, 'which I have studied as my best parte', condemning players, nor does 'our Caesar, our David', King James, condemn them.
APPENDIX D
DOCUMENTS OF CONTROL
[Bibliographical Note.—The material here collected relates to the control
of the stage both by the central and, so far as London and its suburbs
are concerned, by the local authorities. It is largely drawn from official
sources, especially the Chancery Rolls and the Privy Council Register, and
the City archives, in particular the series of Remembrancia, which begins
in 1579 and contains copies of official correspondence between the Corporation
and the Privy Council, or individual persons of honour. Something
has also been contributed by the Repertories of the Court of Aldermen
and the Journals of the Common Council, but these, as well as the Liber
Legum and the Letter Books, which extend to 1590, probably still require
further search. The nature of the Privy Council Register is described in
ch. ii, and it must be borne in mind that orders relating to plays are
probably missing from it, owing to lacunae, of which the chief are May
1559-May 1562, Sept. 1562-Nov. 1564, Dec. 1565-Oct. 1566, May 1567-May
1570, July 1572-Feb. 1573, June 1582-Feb. 1586, Aug. 1593-Oct.
1595, April 1599-Jan. 1600, Jan. 1602-May 1613. For the last of these
an abstract covering 1602-10 in Addl. MS. 11402 is an inadequate substitute.
Probably some volumes of the Register were burnt in the fire
of 1619 (cf. ch. i). Many of the documents were printed by Collier, Hazlitt,
Wright, and others, but in most cases more authoritative texts are available
in such publications as the Statutes of the Realm (1810-22), J. R. Dasent,
Acts of the Privy Council (1890-1907), J. C. Jeaffreson, Middlesex County
Records (1888-92), W. W. Greg, Henslowe Papers (1907), C. C. Stopes,
Extracts from London Play Regulations (1908, Harrison, Description of
England, Part iv), and Collections of the Malone Society, vol. i (Dramatic
Records from the Remembrancia, Lansdowne Manuscripts, Patent Rolls, and
Privy Council Register 1603-42, by E. K. Chambers and W. W. Greg),
and in view of the diplomatic accuracy of these I have allowed myself
to make the present copies more readable by means of additional punctuation,
modifications in the use of capitals, and the extension of contractions.
I have also occasionally omitted an irrelevant passage or an endorsement.
And I have replaced full texts by abstracts where, as in the case of the
company patents, the full texts seemed to go better in other sections of
this work.]
