SHAKESPEARE AND THE EARL OF PEMBROKE'S COMPANY
Almost from the time he first began to operate the Shoreditch Theatre in
1576, until his death in 1597, James Burbage had trouble from one source
or another regarding his venture. Both the Theatre, and the Curtain at
Shoreditch, seem to have been particularly obnoxious to the puritanical
element among the local authorities, who made numerous attempts to have
both theatres suppressed. There were long intervals during the term of
Burbage's lease of the Theatre when, owing to various causes, both the
Theatre and the Curtain were closed. Among the causes were--the
prevalence of the plague, alleged rioting, and the performance of plays
which infringed the law prohibiting the presentation of matters of
Church and State upon the stage. Burbage's Theatre came into disfavour
with the authorities in 1589 owing to the performance there of plays
relating to the Martin Marprelate controversy; and that it was the
combined Strange's and Admiral's company that was concerned in these
performances, and not the Queen's, as is usually supposed, is evident
from the fact that in November, when they moved to their winter quarters
in the City at the Crosskeys, the Lord Mayor, John Hart, under
instructions from Lord Burghley, issued orders prohibiting them from
performing in the City. It is not unlikely that their connection with
the Martin Marprelate affair earlier in the year at the Theatre, and
their deliberate defiance of the Mayor's orders in performing at the
Crosskeys on the afternoon of the day the prohibition was issued,
delayed the full measure of Court favour presaged for them by their
recent drastic--and evidently officially encouraged--reorganisation.
When they performed at Court in the Christmas seasons of 1589-90 and
1590-91, they did so as the Lord Admiral's men; and in the latter
instance, while the Acts of the Privy Council credit the performance to
the Admiral's, the Pipe Rolls assign it to Strange's men.[19] Seeing
that the Admiral's men had submitted dutifully to the Mayor's orders,
and that Lord Strange's men--two of whom had been committed to the
Counter for their contempt--were again called before the Mayor and
forbidden to play, the company's reason for performing at Court at this
period as the Lord Admiral's men is plainly apparent. It is not unlikely
that their transfer to Henslowe's financial management became necessary
because of Burbage's continued disfavour with Lord Burghley and the City
authorities, as well as his financial inability adequately to provide
for the needs of the new Court company, in 1591. In the defiance of
Burghley's and the Mayor's orders by the Burbage portion of the company,
and the subservience of the Alleyn element at this time, is foreshadowed
their future political bias as independent companies. From the time of
their separation in 1594 until the death of Elizabeth, the Lord
Admiral's company represented the Cecil-Howard, and Burbage's company
the Essex factional and political interests in their covert stage
polemics. Shakespeare's friendship and intimacy with Essex's _fidus
Achates_, the Earl of Southampton, between 1591 and 1601, served
materially to accentuate the pro-Essex leanings of his company. This
phase of Shakespeare's theatrical career has not been investigated by
past critics, though Fleay, Simpson, and Feis recognise the critical and
biographical importance of such an inquiry, while the compilers do not
even suspect that such a phase existed.
While the Curtain seems to have escaped trouble arising from its lease
and its ownership, the Theatre came in for more than its share. The
comparative freedom of the Curtain from the interference and persecution
of the local authorities in these years was evidently due to the fact
that it was the recognised summer home of the Queen's company between
1584 and 1591. It is evident that during the winter months the Queen's
company performed at the Rose between 1587--when this theatre was
erected--and the end of 1590; it was superseded at Court by Lord
Strange's company at the end of 1591, and was disrupted during this
year--a portion of them continuing under the two Duttons, as the Queen's
men. The Rose, being the most important, centrally located, theatre
available for winter performances during these years, would naturally be
used by the leading Court company. It is significant that Lord Strange's
company commenced to play there when they finally supplanted the Queen's
company at Court. It is probable that they played there also before it
was reconstructed during 1591.
The large number of old plays formerly owned by the Queen's company,
which came into the hands of the companies associated with Henslowe and
Burbage at this time, suggests that they bought them from Henslowe, who
had retained them, and probably other properties, in payment for money
owed him by the Queen's company which, having been several years
affiliated with him at the Rose, would be likely to have a similar
financial experience to that of the Lord Admiral's men, who, as shown by
the _Diary_, got deeply into his debt between 1594 and 1598. The Queen's
company was plainly not in a prosperous financial condition in 1591. It
is apparent also that some Queen's men joined Strange's, and Pembroke's
men at this time bringing some of these plays with them as properties.
In building the Theatre, in 1576, Burbage had taken his brother-in-law,
one John Brayne, into partnership, agreeing to give him a half-interest
upon certain terms which Brayne apparently failed to meet. Brayne,
however, claimed a moiety and engaged in a lawsuit with Burbage which
dragged along until his death, when his heirs continued the litigation.
Giles Allen, the landlord from whom Burbage leased the land on which he
had built the Theatre, evidently a somewhat sharp and grasping
individual, failed to live up to the terms of his lease which he had
agreed to extend, provided that Burbage expended a certain amount of
money upon improvements. There was constant bickering between Allen and
Burbage regarding this matter, which also eventuated in a lawsuit that
was carried on by Cuthbert and Richard Burbage after their father's
death in 1597. Added to these numerous irritations, came further trouble
from a most unlooked-for source. In 1581, Edmund Peckham, son of Sir
George Peckham, on the most shadowy and far-fetched grounds, questioned
the validity of Giles Allen's title to the land he had leased to
Burbage, and not only entered a legal claim upon it, but found a jury to
agree with him. This suit also continued for years.
In _Burbage and Shakespeare's Stage_, which is the best account yet
written of Burbage and his affairs, Mrs. Stopes evidently gives all
available details regarding his legal embarrassments. Mrs. Stopes'
account makes it clear that by the year 1591, James Burbage could not
have amassed much wealth in the practice of his profession, though we
may infer that he had enriched a number of lawyers. In the legal records
examined by Mrs. Stopes, I learn that upon 10th January 1591 an
attachment on the Theatre was awarded against Burbage for contempt of
court on the plea of one Robert Miles, and though several attempts were
made in the meantime to have the matter adjudicated, that the attachment
was still in force in November 1591; there is apparently no record as to
when and how the matter was finally settled and the attachment lifted.
It evidently held three months later when Lord Strange's company
commenced to perform under Henslowe at the Rose, or at least as late as
December and January 1591-92, in which months Henslowe repaired and
enlarged the Rose in anticipation of the coming of Strange's company. I
have reason to believe that some settlement was made regarding the
attachment upon Burbage's Theatre early in 1592, and that the Earl of
Pembroke's company played there when in London from that time until we
lose sight of them late in 1593. In the spring of 1594 their membership
and properties were absorbed by the Lord Admiral's company and Lord
Strange's company, most of the properties they had in the way of plays
going to the latter.
The Rose Theatre was first erected in 1587. By the year 1592, when Lord
Strange's players commenced to appear there, it evidently needed to be
repaired and enlarged. Between the 7th of March and the end of April
1592, Henslowe paid out over £100 for these repairs; the work paid for
having been done in the few months preceding 19th February 1592, when
Lord Strange's company commenced to perform there.
Henslowe was much too careful a business man to invest the large sum of
money in the enlargement and repair of the Rose Theatre, which he did at
this time, without the assurance of a profitable return. When his other
business transactions, as shown in his _Diary_, are considered it
becomes apparent that in undertaking this expenditure he would stipulate
for the use of his house by Lord Strange's men for a settled period,
probably of, at least, two years, and that Edward Alleyn, who was the
manager of Lord Strange's men at this time, and continued to be their
manager for the next two years,--though still remaining the Lord
Admiral's man,--was Henslowe's business representative in the company.
Alleyn married Henslowe's stepdaughter in October, this year, and
continued to be his business associate until Henslowe's death, when,
through his wife, he became his heir. Lord Strange's company, under this
and the later title of the Lord Chamberlain's men, continued to perform
at theatres owned or operated by Henslowe, and probably also under
Alleyn's management, until the spring of 1594, when it appears that they
returned to Burbage and resumed performances, as in 1589-91, at the
Theatre in Shoreditch in summer, and at the Crosskeys in winter.
The assumption that Shakespeare was a member of Lord Strange's company
while it was with Henslowe, is based upon three things: first, the
undoubted fact that his close friend and coadjutor, Richard Burbage, was
one of the leading members of the company at that time; secondly, that
_The First Part of Henry VI._, in an early form, was presented as a
revised play by Lord Strange's men at the Rose, upon 3rd March 1592, and
upon several subsequent occasions while they were with Henslowe;
thirdly, an alleged reference to Shakespeare's name in Peele's _Edward
I._, which was owned by the Lord Admiral's players after 1594, and
presumably written for them when Shakespeare acted with the company
before 1592. Let us examine these things in order.
At first sight it is a plausible inference, in view of Shakespeare's
earlier, and later, connection with the Burbages, that he should
continue to be associated with Richard Burbage during these two years.
When the reason for the formation of Lord Strange's company is
remembered, however, it becomes clear that Richard Burbage would be a
member for the very reason that Shakespeare would not. The intention in
the formation of this company being to secure an organisation of the
best actors for the services of the Court, it is evident that Richard
Burbage--who even at this early date was one of the leading actors in
London--would be chosen. Shakespeare never at any time attained
distinction as an actor.
The presentation of _Henry VI., Part I._, by Lord Strange's players, as
a reason for Shakespeare's membership, infers that he was the author of
this play, or, at least, its reviser in 1592, and that the Talbot scenes
are his. This, consequently, implies that Nashe's commendatory
references to these scenes were complimentary to work of Shakespeare's
in 1592. It is evident that the play of _Henry VI._, acted by Lord
Strange's men in March 1592, and commended by Nashe, was much the same
play as _Henry VI., Part I._, included in all editions of Shakespeare.
Textual criticism has long since proved, however, that this was not a
new play in 1592--though marked "ne" by Henslowe--but merely a
revision. Three hands are distinctly traceable in it; the unknown
original author who wrote the opening lines:
"Hung be the heavens with black, yield day to night!
Comets, importing change of times and states,
Brandish your crystal tresses in the sky,
And with them scourge the bad revolting stars
That have consented unto Henry's death!"
Whoever wrote these lines, it is very palpable that Shakespeare did not.
The second hand in the play was the reviser of 1592 who introduced the
Talbot passages. There cannot be the slightest doubt that this was
George Peele, who in 1592, and for some time before and later, was the
principal producer and reviser of plays for the Lord Admiral's company.
The classical allusions in the Talbot scenes, and the manner in which
they are always lugged in by the ear, as though for adornment, plainly
proclaim the hand of Peele, and as plainly disassociate Shakespeare from
their composition. The third hand is clearly Shakespeare's. The "Temple
Garden" scene has been accepted by practically all critics as
unquestionably his work; it is not the work, either, of his "pupil pen."
His revision was evidently not made until 1594, when the Lord
Chamberlain's company brought the MS. with them as a portion of their
properties, upon their return to Burbage. The references to red and
white roses, as the badges of Lancaster and York, were evidently then
introduced by Shakespeare in order to link together, and give dramatic
continuity to, the whole historical series connected with the Wars of
the Roses, upon which he had already worked, or was then working for his
company. There is not a single classical allusion in the "Temple
Garden" scene, while there are twenty-seven classical allusions in the
whole play: eight of them being in the Talbot passages. In Shakespeare's
_Richard II._--which I shall give good evidence was written within about
a year of the time that _Henry VI._ was presented as a new play--there
are two classical allusions. In any authentic play by Marlowe, Greene,
or Peele of an equal length there will be found from forty to eighty
classical allusions, besides, as a rule, a number of Latin quotations.
In revising the first part of _Henry VI._ in, or after, 1594, it is
evident that Shakespeare eliminated many classical allusions, and that
in the early work which he did upon _The Contention_, and also in his
final revision of _The Contention_, into the second and third parts of
_Henry VI._, he eliminated classical allusions, reducing the average in
these plays to from thirty to thirty-five. In his own acknowledged
historical plays, _Richard II._, _King John_, _Richard III._, _Henry
IV._, and _Henry V._, _there is not an average of six classical
allusions_.
When the settled animus which Nashe, in conjunction with Greene, between
1589-92, displays against Shakespeare is better understood, the utter
improbability of his referring to Shakespeare's work in a laudatory
manner in the latter year shall readily be seen. When, also, the high
praise which Nashe bestows upon Peele in the same publications in which
he attacks Shakespeare is noted, it becomes evident that he again
intends to commend Peele in his complimentary allusion to the Talbot
scenes. Peele was the principal writer and reviser for Henslowe at this
period, while not one of Shakespeare's plays is mentioned in his whole
_Diary_.
While I believe that the reference to Shakespeare's name in _Edward
I._--which was first noticed by Mr. Fleay--was actually intended by
Peele, the passage in which it occurs pertains to an early form of the
play, which was old when it was published in 1593. It was written by
Peele for the Lord Admiral's company before their conjunction with
Strange's men under Henslowe, and at the time when they acted with Lord
Hunsdon's company at the Theatre in Shoreditch in summer, and at the
Crosskeys in the winter. It is significant that this play was not acted
by Lord Strange's men during their tenure of the Rose Theatre, and that
in 1595, after they had separated from Henslowe, it was revised and
presented as a new play by the Lord Admiral's company. It is quite
likely that it was the property of Pembroke's company in 1592-93. The
allusion to Shakespeare in this play is probably the first evidence we
possess of the well-authenticated fact that as an actor he usually
appeared in kingly parts. It is recorded of him that he played the part
of the ghost in _Hamlet_, and his friend, John Davies, the poet, writes
in 1603:
"Some say, good Will, which I in sport do sing,
Hadst thou not played some kingly parts in sport,
Thou hadst been a companion for a King."
The reference to his name by Peele in _Edward I._, in which play
Shakespeare evidently took the part of John Baliol, the Scottish King,
is as follows:
"Shine with thy golden head,
_Shake_ thy _speare_, in honour of his name,
Under whose royalty thou wear'st the same."
Against the assumption that Shakespeare acted with Lord Strange's
company under Alleyn and Henslowe for two years, there is some positive,
and much inferential, evidence, the strongest of the latter being that
between the end of 1590 and the middle of 1594, at about which latter
date the Lord Chamberlain's company parted from Henslowe, Shakespeare
produced,--as I shall later demonstrate,--in addition to _Venus and
Adonis_, _Lucrece_, and nearly half of the whole body of his _Sonnets_,
at least seven new plays, not one of which was performed at the Rose by
Lord Strange's company. The remainder of the evidence against this
assumption shall develop in this history.
We may infer that Henslowe in entering into business relations with Lord
Strange's company would make quite as binding a contract with them as we
find him making a few years later with the Lord Admiral's men. In those
contracts he binds the players to play at the Rose and "at no other
house publicly about London"; further stipulating that should the London
theatres be closed by the authorities for any reason "then to go for the
time into the country, then to return again to London."
The fact that his manager, and son-in-law, Edward Alleyn, accompanied
Lord Strange's men upon their provincial tour in 1593, when, owing to
the plague, the London theatres were closed by order of the Council,
implies a similar understanding with this company.
The words "in any other house publicly about London" in Henslowe's
contracts with players apparently infer that they retained the right of
giving private and Court performances upon their own account and for
their own profit. The money they received for Court performances appears
to have belonged exclusively to the players, as the total amount
collected by them is at times turned over to Henslowe in part payment of
their corporate indebtedness to him, and credited to them in full. Had
Henslowe shared in these payments his portion would have been deducted
from the credits. It is evident that he was merely the financial backer
of, and not a sharer in, this company.
In the apparently comprehensive list of the members of Lord Strange's
company--as it existed early in 1592--which was owned by Edward Alleyn
and is now preserved at Dulwich College, while Pope and Bryan, who came
from Leicester's company, and Richard Burbage and others, no doubt, who
came from Lord Hunsdon's company are mentioned, Shakespeare's name does
not appear. There is no reason why he should not have been mentioned in
this list had he been a member of the company at that time. About three
years later, when Strange's men had separated from Henslowe and the
Admiral's men, and returned to Burbage, Shakespeare is mentioned, with
William Kempe and Richard Burbage, in the Court records as receiving
payment for Court performances, from which we may infer that he was
regarded as one of the leading members of, and was also a sharer in, the
company at this time.
Where, then, was Shakespeare during the period of Henslowe's management?
What company of players performed in the plays he produced between about
the end of 1590 and the middle of 1594, which are--_The Comedy of
Errors_, _Love's Labour's Lost_, _Love's Labour's Won_, _The Two
Gentlemen of Verona_, _King John_, _Richard II._, _Richard III._, and
_Midsummer Night's Dream_? Later on I shall advance conclusive evidence
to prove that all of these plays were written in this interval, though
most of them were materially revised in later years.
In order to answer these questions it will be advisable to revert to a
consideration of the drastic changes which took place between the end of
1588 and the beginning of 1592, in the comparative standing, as well as
in the personnel, of several of the most prominent companies of players.
I have shown that early in 1589 a union took place between the leading
members of Lord Strange's tumblers, the Lord Admiral's, the Lord
Chamberlain's, and the Earl of Leicester's men. If an average of only
three men were taken from each of these companies--forming a company of
twelve players, which was then regarded as a large company--it would
necessarily leave a considerable number of men free to make new
connections, as three of the companies involved in the changes disappear
from the records at that time. Thereafter we hear no more of Lord
Strange's tumblers, nor of Lord Leicester's, nor Lord Hunsdon's players.
It is not unlikely, then, that while some of the players discarded from
the three companies that had gone out of existence would drift into
different existing companies, that some of them would unite to form a
new company. The disruption of the Queen's company in 1590-91 would also
leave some men at large. As most of these men had been previously
connected with well-known companies, which performed principally in
London, it is likely that they would endeavour to continue as London
performers instead of forming a provincial company.
That such a company for London performances was actually formed some
time in 1591 is evident in the appearance of a company--hitherto unheard
of for sixteen years--under the patronage of the Earl of Pembroke.
Between the years 1576 and 1592 there is no mention of a company acting
under this nobleman's licence in either the provincial or Court records,
nor is there any mention of, or reference to, such a company in any
London records.
All we know about this new company is that record of it appeared for
the first time in December 1592, when it played twice before the Court;
that it returned to London in the early autumn of 1593 after a
disastrous tour in the provinces, being compelled to pawn a portion of
its properties to pay expenses; that Marlowe wrote _Edward II._ for it
in about 1593; that _The True Tragedy of the Duke of York_ was one of
its properties, and that Shakespeare was connected with either the
revision or the theatrical presentation of this play at the period that
it belonged to Pembroke's company, _i.e._ in 1592, as he is attacked by
Greene on that score at this time.
Owing to the prevalence of the plague in London in 1593, and early in
1594, the public performance of plays was prohibited. The Earl of
Pembroke's company, which had failed to make its expenses travelling,
and which was not allowed to play in London on account of the plague,
evidently disrupted in the spring or summer of 1594; and as some of its
members joined Henslowe at this time and some of the properties came to
the Burbage organisation, we may infer that they were brought as
properties by men who came from Pembroke's company to Burbage.
Edward Alleyn, who toured the provinces in the summer of 1593 with Lord
Strange's company, and for the same reason that Pembroke's toured at
this time, _i.e._ owing to the plague in London, wrote to Henslowe in
September 1593, from the country, inquiring as to the whereabouts of
Pembroke's company, and was told by Henslowe that they had returned to
London five or six weeks before, as they could not make their charges
travelling. He further informed him that he had heard that they were
compelled to pawn their apparel. The fact that the fortunes of
Pembroke's company should be a matter of interest to Alleyn and Henslowe
appears to imply that it was a new theatrical venture of some
importance, and that it probably had in its membership some of the
Admiral's, Strange's, or Queen's company's old players. That a new
company should play twice before the Court, in what was evidently the
first or second year of its existence, speaks well for the influence of
its management and for the quality of its plays and performances. After
this mention of Pembroke's company in Henslowe's letter to Alleyn in
September 1593, we hear nothing further concerning it as an independent
company until 1597. At that time Gabriel Spencer and Humphrey Jeffes,
who were evidently Pembroke's men in 1592-93, became members of, and
sharers in, the Lord Admiral's company, with which they had evidently
worked--though under Pembroke's licence--between 1594 and 1597.
It is now agreed by critics that the Admiral's and Chamberlain's men,
who had been united under Alleyn for the past two years, divided their
forces and fortunes in June 1594, or earlier. It is evident that some of
Pembroke's company's plays were absorbed by the Lord Chamberlain's
company, and that a few of the Pembroke men joined the Lord Admiral's
company at this time. As evidence of the absorption of the plays of
Pembroke's men by Lord Strange's players is the fact that between 3rd
and 13th June 1594, when Strange's players acted under Henslowe for the
last time, three of the seven plays they then presented,--_Hamlet_,
_Andronicus_, and _The Taming of a Shrew_,--while all old plays, were
new to the repertory of Strange's company presented upon Henslowe's
stages, and furthermore, that all three of these plays were
rewritten--or alleged to have been rewritten--by Shakespeare. At about
the same time that Pembroke's company ceased to exist the Earl of
Sussex's company, which had recently played for Henslowe, was also
disrupted. It is evident that some of these men joined the Lord
Admiral's and the Lord Chamberlain's companies also, and that in this
manner the Lord Chamberlain's company secured _Andronicus_, which had
lately been played by the Earl of Sussex's men as well as by Pembroke's
men.
Humphrey Jeffes and Gabriel Spencer, whose names are mentioned in _The
True Tragedy of the Duke of York_, which was played by Pembroke's
company in 1592-93, and who, we may therefore infer, were members of
Pembroke's company in those years, or else were members of the company
that previously owned this play, are mentioned as playing with the Lord
Admiral's company as Pembroke's men in 1597. The name of John Sinkler,
who is mentioned as one of Lord Strange's men in Edward Alleyn's list,
which evidently represents the company as it appeared in the first
performance of _Four Plays in One_ at the Rose Theatre upon 6th March
1592, also appears with that of Gabriel Spencer and Humphrey Jeffes in
_The True Tragedy of the Duke of York_. From this we may infer either
that Sinkler left Strange's company and joined Pembroke's men after this
date, or else that he, Spencer, and Jeffes, before 1592, were members of
the company that originally owned the play. It is very evident that the
originals of the three parts of _Henry VI._ were old plays composed at
about the time of the Spanish Armada, and, it is generally agreed, for
the Queen's company. As _The True Tragedy of the Duke of York_--in
common with _Hamlet_ and _The Taming of a Shrew_--was also later revised
or rewritten by Shakespeare, into the play now known as _Henry VI., Part
III._, it evidently came from Pembroke's company to Lord Strange's
company, along with _Hamlet_ and _The Taming of a Shrew_ in 1594. Later
on I shall adduce evidence showing that _The Taming of a Shrew_ and
_Hamlet_ were owned and acted by a company, or companies, associated
with the Burbage interests previous to the amalgamation of 1589, and
that _The True Tragedy of the Duke of York_, which was an old play in
1592, probably originally written by Greene, was revised in that year by
Marlowe and Shakespeare for Pembroke's company, and that its final
change into the play now known as _Henry VI., Part III._, was made by
Shakespeare in, or after, 1594, when he rejoined the Lord Chamberlain's
company.
Within a year of the time that Marlowe, with Shakespeare, revised _The
True Tragedy of the Duke of York_ for Pembroke's men in 1592, Marlowe
also wrote _Edward II._ for this company, Shakespeare producing _Richard
II._ for the company at the same time. The friendly co-operation between
Shakespeare and Marlowe, which I shall show commenced in 1588-89, and
which aroused Greene's jealousy at that time, was evidently continued
until the death of Marlowe in June 1593. It is in the historical plays
composed or revised between 1591-93 by Shakespeare that Marlowe's
influence is most apparent, as also is Shakespeare's influence upon
Marlowe in his one play which we know was produced at the same period.
_Edward II._ is much more Shakespearean in character than any other of
Marlowe's plays. It is evident that their close association at this time
reacted favourably upon the work of each of them.
The deductions I draw from these and other facts and inferences still to
be developed, is, that shortly after the Lord Admiral's and Lord
Strange's men passed under Alleyn's and Henslowe's management, some time
between Christmas 1590 and Christmas 1591, Shakespeare formed Lord
Pembroke's company, becoming its leader and also its principal producer
of plays, and that it was through his influence and the reputation that
certain of his early plays had already attained in Court circles that
this new company was enabled to appear twice before the Court in the
Christmas season of 1592. To demonstrate this hypothesis it will be
necessary to revert to a consideration of Shakespeare's status in
theatrical affairs between 1588-89 and 1594.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 19: E.K. Chambers in _Modern Language Review_, Oct. 1906.]