"This valuable manuscript, having lain for a considerable time
in a damp place, is unfortunately damaged, and in a very
mouldering condition; however, no material part of it appears to
have perished."
Such being the case, it becomes more than ever desirable that this
interesting volume should be sought after, and the _whole_ of its
contents put on record before its total decay. Surely, if its depositary
is known, and accessible, it is well worth the attention of the
_Shakespeare Society_, or some other learned body instituted for the
preservation of documents of this nature.
A biographical account of the various persons that have held the
appointment of "Master of the Revels," with such particulars of the
stage as would necessarily fall in, would form a valuable _Prolegomena_
to the publication of Sir Henry's Office-Book. We have, it is true, much
information upon this subject, but in a very scattered form.
I have now before me a list of the "Masters of the Revells," with the
dates of their patents, which I beg to transcribe. It is of more than
ordinary value, being in the handwriting of Sir Henry Herbert himself,
and copied at the back of the worthy knight's "Petition to Charles the
Second against the Grant to Killegrew and Davenant to form Two Companies
of Players."
"_Masters of ye Revells_.
"Sir Richard Guilford - not on record.
Sir Thomas Cawerden - [1544] 36 Henry VIII.
Sir Thomas Beneger - not on record.
Sir John Fortescue - not on record.
Edmund Tilney, Esq. - July 24 [1578] 21 Eliz.
Sir George Buck - June 23 [1603] I Jac.
Sir John Astley - [1612] 10 Jac. I.
Benjamin Johnson - [1617] 15 Jac. I.
Sir Henry Herbert, and}
Simon Thelwall, Esq. } - Aug. 21 [1629] 5 Car. I."