thereof, inclosed from the steeple and choir, was in the
year 1550 granted to the Dutch nation in London, to be their
preaching place: the other part--namely, the steeple, choir,
and side aisles to the choir adjoining--he reserved to
household uses, as for stowage of corn, coal and other things;
his son and heir, Marquis of Winchester, sold the monuments of
noblemen there buried in great number, the paving stone and
whatsoever (which cost many thousands) for one hundred pounds,
and in place thereof made fair stabling for horses. He caused
the lead to be taken from the roofs, and laid tile in place
thereof; which exchange proved not so profitable as he looked
for, but rather to his disadvantage."
Between Broad Street and Bishopsgate Street the space was chiefly
composed of gardens. One of the houses fronting Bishopsgate Street
was the residence of Sir Thomas Gresham (perhaps his house in Lombard
Street was reserved for business purposes).
On the opposite side of Bishopsgate Street was Crosby Hall and the
precinct of the dissolved nunnery of St. Helen, extending towards St.
Mary Axe and the church of St. Andrew Undershaft. At the further end of
St. Mary Axe was the "Papye," a building which had been a hospital for
poor priests before the Reformation. In the year 1598 Shakespeare was
living in the St. Helen's precinct, within the shadow of Crosby Hall,
and John Stow, in his home near the church of St. Andrew Undershaft,
had just corrected the proofs of the first edition of his _Survey of
London_. Stow tells us about Gresham's House and about Crosby Hall. He
tells us that Sir Francis Walsingham, the Secretary of State, resided
at the Papye. He describes the church of St. Andrew Undershaft, where
his own monument may be seen at the present day; he describes, too, the
ancient church of the nunnery of St. Helen, in which a memorial window
now commemorates Shakespeare. But he failed to mention the fact, which
has since been recovered from the subsidy-roll in the Record Office,
that William Shakespeare was a denizen of the precinct in 1598. Had
Shakespeare built a water conduit in the neighbourhood, or endowed an
almshouse, he might have been celebrated in the pages of John Stow.
They were neighbours, and may have been acquainted. The district had
been familiar to Stow from childhood, and he may have entertained the
poet as he entertains us in his _Survey_ with recollections of the
changes he had witnessed in his long lifetime. Describing Tower Hill,
he recalls the abbey of nuns of the order of St. Clare, called the
Minories, and after giving the facts of its history, proceeds:
"In place of this house of nuns is now built divers fair and
large storehouses for armour and habiliments of war, with
divers workhouses serving to the same purpose: there is a
small parish church for inhabitants of the close, called St.
Trinities. Near adjoining to this abbey, on the south side
thereof, was sometime a farm belonging to the said nunnery;
at the which farm I, myself, in my youth, have fetched many a
half-penny worth of milk, and never had less than three ale
pints for a half-penny in the summer, nor less than one ale
quart for a half-penny in the winter, always hot from the
kine, as the same was milked and strained. One Trolop, and
afterwards Goodman, were the farmers there, and had thirty
or forty kine to the pail. Goodman's son being heir to his
father's purchase, let out the ground, first for grazing of
horses, and then for garden-plots, and lived like a gentleman
thereby."
Here we have the source of the name Goodman's Fields, a point of some
interest for us; but how vastly more interesting to have rambled with
Stow in Elizabethan London, listening to such stories of the old order
which had passed, giving place to the new!
We have strayed outside the wall, but not far. This road between
Aldgate and the Postern Gate by the Tower, running parallel with the
wall, is called the Minories, after the nunnery. Setting our faces
towards Aldgate, to retrace our steps, we have the store-houses for
armour and habiliments of war on our right; the wide ditch on our left
has been filled up, and partly enclosed for cultivation. There are
trees, and cows browsing, although the farm which Stow remembered no
longer existed. Before us, just outside Aldgate, is the church of St.
Buttolph, with its massive tower, standing in a spacious churchyard.
Owing to the extensive building and development which had taken
place outside the wall since the Reformation, it had been necessary
to construct lofts and galleries in this church to accommodate the
parishioners. At Aldgate the line of the wall turns westward towards
Bishopsgate. Parallel to it a road has been made along the bank of the
ditch, and leads into Bishopsgate Street. This is Houndsditch. The
houses stand thickly along one side of the way looking towards the
wall; the ditch has been filled up, and the wide surface is used for
cattle pens or milking stalls.
We will not go along Houndsditch, but turning sharply to the left from
St. Buttolph's we pass through Aldgate. In doing so we immediately
find ourselves in the midst of the remains of the great priory of Holy
Trinity. The road leads southward into Fenchurch Street, branching off
on the west into Leadenhall Street. At the junction of these streets
stood the hospitium of the priory. Between Leadenhall Street and the
city wall, from Aldgate nearly up to St. Andrew Undershaft, lies the
ground-plan of the establishment of the Canons Regular, known as
Christchurch, or the priory of Holy Trinity, the grandest of all the
monastic institutions in Middlesex except Westminster. The heads of the
establishment were aldermen of the City of London, representing the
Portsoken Ward.
"These priors have sitten and ridden amongst the aldermen of
London, in livery like unto them, saving that his habit was
in shape of a spiritual person, as I, myself, have seen in my
childhood; at which time the prior kept a most bountiful house
of meat and drink, both for rich and poor, as well within
the house as at the gates, to all comers, according to their
estates" (Stow).
In 1531 the King took possession of Christchurch; the canons were
sent to other houses of the same order--St. Bartholomew the Great,
Smithfield; St. Mary Overies, Southwark; and St. Mary Spital--"and the
priory, with the appurtenances, King Henry gave to Sir Thomas Audley,
newly knighted, and after made Lord Chancellor" (Stow). So extensive
and so solid was the mass of building that Audley was at a loss to get
the space cleared for the new house he wished to build here. He offered
the great church of the priory to any one who would take it down and
cart away the materials. But as this offer met with no response, Audley
had to undertake the destruction himself. Stow could remember how the
workmen employed on this work, "with great labour, beginning at the
top"--the tower had pinnacles at each corner like the towers at St.
Saviour's and St. Sepulchre's--"loosed stone from stone, and threw
them down, whereby the most part of them were broken, and few remained
whole; and those were sold very cheap, for all the buildings then made
about the city were of brick and timber. At that time any man in the
city might have a cart-load of hard stone for paving brought to his
door for sixpence or sevenpence, with the carriage." Thus, in place of
the priory and its noble church, was built the residence of Thomas,
Lord Audley, and here he lived till his death in 1544. By marriage of
his only daughter and heiress, the house passed into the possession of
Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, and was then called Duke's Place.
Turning our backs upon Duke's Place and continuing a little further
along the way by which Stow used to fetch the milk from the farm at
the Minories to his father's house on Cornhill, we come to Leadenhall,
a great building which served as a public granary in ancient times,
and later as the chief market hall of the city. Leaving aside all the
particulars of its history which Stow gives, let us note what he tells
us from his own recollections:
"The use of Leadenhall in my youth was thus:--In a part of the
north quadrant, on the east side of the north gate, were the
common beams for weighing of wool and other wares, as had been
accustomed; on the west side the gate were the scales to weigh
meal; the other three sides were reserved, for the most part,
to the making and resting of the pageants showed at Midsummer
in the watch; the remnant of the sides and quadrants was
employed for the stowage of wool sacks, but not closed up; the
lofts above were partly used by the painters in working for
the decking of pageants and other devices, for beautifying of
the watch and watchmen; the residue of the lofts were letten
out to merchants, the wool winders and packers therein to
wind and pack their wools. And thus much for Leadenhall may
suffice."
The celebration of the Nativity of St. John and the civic pageantry
of Midsummer Eve belonged to the past; but Stow could remember the
assembly of the citizens arrayed in parti-coloured vestments of red
and white over their armour, their lances coloured and decorated
to distinguish the various wards they represented, their torches
borne in cressets on long poles. He could remember the processions
as they passed the bonfires which burned in the open spaces of the
city thoroughfares, and the throng of faces at the open windows and
casements as they appeared in the fitful glare. The pageantry had
disappeared with the suppression of the religious houses; but the
military organization was merely changed. The musters of the city
soldiers when they were reviewed by Queen Elizabeth at the coming of
the Armada was a recent memory.
And so we turn into Bishopsgate Street again, and walk along to Crosby
Hall, the ancient palace of Richard III. In the middle of the roadway,
opposite the junction of Threadneedle Street with Bishopsgate Street,
stands a well, with a windlass, which probably existed here before the
conduit was made near the gateway in the time of Henry VIII. We enter
the precinct of St. Helen's: the wall of Crosby's great chamber is on
our right hand; before us is the church of the nunnery. The spirit
of the place is upon us. The barriers of time are removed; past and
present mingle in the current of our meditation. Lo! one bids us a
courteous farewell: it is Master Stow, our cicerone, who goes away
in the direction of St. Andrew Undershaft. The presence of another
influence continues to be felt. We enter the dim church, and shadows
of kneeling nuns seem to hover in the twilight of the northern nave.
Invisible fingers touch the organ-keys; the strains of evensong arise
from the choir. Our reverie is broken, an influence recedes from us.
But turning our eyes towards the painted picture of Shakespeare which
fills the memorial window in this ancient church, we join in the hymn
of praise and thanksgiving.
* * * * *
What chiefly impressed the Elizabethan was the newness of London, and
the rapidity with which its ancient features were being obliterated.
John Stow felt it incumbent upon him to make a record of the ancient
city before it was entirely swept away and forgotten. In what was new
to him we find a similar interest.
Through Bishopsgate northward lies Shoreditch. The old church which
stood here in Elizabethan times has disappeared, but on the site
stands another church with the same dedication, to St. Leonard. The
sweet peal of the bells from the old belfry, so much appreciated by
the Elizabethans, is to be heard no more; but the muniment chest of
the modern church contains the old registers, in which we may read the
names of Tarleton, Queen Elizabeth's famous jester, of Burbage, and
the colony of players who lived in this parish, in the precinct of the
dissolved priory of Holywell. The road from Shoreditch to the precinct
still exists, known as Holywell Lane.
The priory of St. John Baptist, called Holywell, a house of nuns, had
been rebuilt, in the earlier period of the reign of Henry VIII., by
Sir Thomas Lovel, K.G., of Lincoln's Inn. He endowed the priory with
fair lands, extended the buildings, and added a large chapel. He also
built considerably in Lincoln's Inn, including the fine old gateway in
Chancery Lane, which still stands as one of the few remaining memorials
of ancient London. Sir Thomas figures as one of the characters in
Shakespeare's play of _Henry VIII._ When he died he was duly buried in
the large chapel which he had added to Holywell Priory, in accordance
with his design; but a few years later, in 1539, the priory was
surrendered to the King and dissolved. Stow tells us that the church
was pulled down--it is doubtful if Lovel's chapel was spared--and
that many houses were built within the precinct "for the lodgings of
noblemen, of strangers born, and others."
In the first edition of his _Survey_ Stow added:--
"And near thereunto are builded two publique houses for the
acting and shewe of comedies, tragedies and histories, for
recreation. Whereof one is called the Courtein, and the other
the Theatre; both standing on the south west side towards the
field."
This passage was omitted from the second edition of the book published
in 1603; but the whole extensive history of these playhouses, which
was won from oblivion by the research of J. O. Halliwell-Phillipps,
proceeded from this brief testimony of Stow.
Against the background of the ancient priory this precinct of
Holywell presented a perfect picture of the new conditions which
constituted what was distinctively Elizabethan London. It comprehended
the conditions of freedom required by the new life. Outside the
jurisdiction of the city, but within the protection of the justices of
Middlesex; lying open to the common fields of Finsbury, where archery
and other sports were daily practised; its two playhouses affording
varied entertainment in fencing matches, wrestling matches, and other
"sports, shows, and pastimes," besides stage-plays performed by the
various acting companies which visited them; this precinct of Holywell
presented a microcosm of Elizabethan London society. The attraction
of the plays brought visitors from all parts of the city. On the days
when dramatic performances were to be given flags were hoisted in the
morning over the playhouses; and after the early midday dinner the
stream of playgoers began to flow from the gates. On horseback and
on foot, over the fields from Cripplegate and Moorgate, or along the
road from Bishopsgate, came men and women, citizens and gallants,
visitors from the country, adventurers and pickpockets. All classes
and conditions mingled in the Theatre or the Curtain, in the "common
playhouses," as they were called, which only came into existence in
1576, after the players had been banished from the city. It was all
delightfully new and modern; the buildings were gorgeously decorated;
the apparel of the players was rich and dazzling; the music was
enthralling; the play was a magic dream.
Some of the plays of Marlowe were performed at these Holywell theatres;
and in 1596 a play by the new poet, William Shakespeare, called _Romeo
and Juliet_, was produced at the Curtain, and caused a great sensation
in Elizabethan London. The famous balcony scene of this play was
cleverly adapted to the orchestra gallery above the stage. The stage
itself projected into the arena, and the "groundlings" stood around it.
Above were three tiers of seated galleries, and near the stage were
"lords' rooms," the precursors of the private boxes of a later time.
* * * * *
After the Theatre and Curtain had become a feature of Elizabethan
London at Shoreditch, other playhouses came into existence on the other
side of the river; first at Newington, outside the jurisdiction of
the city, in conditions corresponding to those of Shoreditch. For the
sports and pastimes of Finsbury Fields, in the neighbourhood of the
playhouses, there were the sports and pastimes of St. George's Fields
in the neighbourhood of the Newington Theatre. Playgoers from the city
took boat to Paris Garden stairs and witnessed the bear-baiting on
Bankside, or proceeded by road on horseback or on foot to St. George's
Fields and Newington; or they went thither over the bridge all the way
by road, walking or riding. The use of coaches was very limited, owing
to the narrow roads and imperfect paving of Elizabethan London.
[Illustration: SHOOTING MATCH BY THE LONDON ARCHERS IN THE YEAR 1583.]
At Newington the proprietor and manager of the playhouse was Philip
Henslowe, whose diary is the chief source of what information we have
concerning the earlier period of Elizabethan drama. He was a man of
business instinct, who conducted his dramatic enterprise on purely
commercial lines. In 1584 he secured the lease of a house and two
gardens on Bankside, and here, in the "liberty" of the Bishop of
Winchester, nearer to the city but outside the civic jurisdiction, he
erected his playhouse, called the Rose, in 1591. Henslowe thus brought
the drama nearer to the city than it had been since the edict of 1575
abolished the common stages which until then had been set up in inn
yards or other convenient places in the city. The flag of the playhouse
could be seen across the river; and from all points came the tide
of playgoers, whose custom was a harvest to Henslowe and the Thames
watermen.
Midway between these two points of theatrical attraction--Holywell,
Shoreditch on the north, and Newington and Bankside on the
south--Shakespeare lodged in the precinct of St. Helen's, Bishopsgate.
The company of players with whom he had become finally associated was
that of the Lord Chamberlain. They derived their profits from three
sources--from performances at court, from theatrical tours, and from
performances at the Theatre and the Curtain. The Theatre was the
property of the family of James Burbage, who had built it in 1576--his
son Richard Burbage, the famous actor, and others. The interest of the
proprietors may have suffered from Henslowe's enterprise in setting
up a playhouse on Bankside; and they were in dispute with the ground
landlord of their playhouse in regard to the renewal of their lease.
In these circumstances the Burbages, with the co-operation of other
members of the company, secured a site in the Winchester Liberty on
Bankside, not far from the Rose but nearer the Bridge. They then took
down their building in Holywell, vacated the land, and re-erected the
playhouse on the other side of the river. Those who participated in
this enterprise became "sharers," or partners, in the new playhouse.
Shakespeare was one of these, and the name by which it was called--the
Globe--was symbolical of the genius which reached its maturity in
plays presented in this theatre during the closing years of the reign
of Elizabeth and the first decade of the reign of her successor. "Totus
mundus agit histrionem" was the inscription over the portal of the
Globe. "All the world's a stage," said Shakespeare's Jaques in _As You
Like It_. The life of Elizabethan London found its ultimate expression
in that playhouse, which became celebrated then as "the glory of the
Bank," and now is famous in all parts of the world where the glory of
English literature is cherished.
* * * * *
There were many reminiscences of mediæval times on the Surrey side. At
Bermondsey were to be seen the extensive remains of the great abbey
of St. Saviour. After the Dissolution its name became transferred to
the church near the end of London Bridge, formerly known as St. Mary
Overies, the splendid fane which in our time has worthily become the
cathedral of Southwark. Between this church and the church of St.
George were many inns, among them the Tabard, where travellers to and
from Canterbury and Dover, or Winchester and Southampton, introduced
an element of novelty, change, and bustle; where plays were performed
in the inn yards before the playhouses were built on Bankside. At the
end of Bankside, looking towards the church of St. Saviour, stood
Winchester House, the London residence of the Bishop of Winchester
since the twelfth century. Here Cardinal Beaufort and Stephen Gardiner,
Bishop of Winchester, had lived in great state. The site, including
the park, which extended parallel with the river as far as Paris
Garden, was formerly the property of the priory of Bermondsey. This
area was under the separate jurisdiction of the Bishops of Winchester,
and was called their "Liberty." Here, in the early years of Queen
Elizabeth, were two amphitheatres--one for bull-baiting, the other for
bear-baiting. There were also ponds for fish, called the Pike Ponds.[4]
The great Camden records an anecdote of these ponds or stews, "which
are here to feed Pikes and Tenches fat, and to scour them from the
strong and muddy fennish taste." All classes delighted in the cruel
sport of bear-baiting on the Bankside: ambassadors and distinguished
foreigners were always conducted to these performances; on special
occasions the Queen had them at the palace.
In 1583 one of the amphitheatres fell down, and when re-erected it was
built on the model of the playhouses.[5] It then became known as the
Bear Garden; the bull-baiting amphitheatre dropped out of existence;
perhaps it was reconstructed by Henslowe as his Rose theatre. The point
is not of much importance, except as regards the evolution of the
playhouse.
The second playhouse built on the Surrey side after the Rose was the
Swan, opened in 1596. This was erected on a site in the manor of Paris
Garden, separated only by a road from the Liberty of Winchester. The
playhouse was in a line with the landing-stairs, opposite Blackfriars.
After the Globe playhouse was built in 1599, the other
playhouses--Henslowe's Rose and Langley's Swan--ceased to flourish.
Here the outward facts corresponded with the inward: a lovely flower
had opened into bloom on the Bankside; what was unnecessary to its
support drooped earthward like a sheath.
* * * * *
Opposite Paris Garden, across the river, was Blackfriars; and here the
change from the ancient order to what was distinctively Elizabethan
London was most manifest. The ancient monastery had existed here from
1276, when the Dominican or Black Friars moved hither from Holborn,
until 1538, when the establishment was surrendered to King Henry VIII.
It possessed a magnificent church, a vast palatial hall, and cloisters.
Edward VI. had granted the whole precinct, with its buildings, to Sir
Thomas Cawarden, the Master of the Revels. It became an aristocratic
residential quarter; and in the earlier period of Queen Elizabeth's
reign plays were performed here, probably in the ancient hall of the
monastery, by the children of Her Majesty's chapel and the choir-boys
of St. Paul's. At a later period--viz., in 1596--James Burbage,
who built the theatre in Shoreditch, built a new playhouse in the
precinct, or more probably adapted an existing building--the hall or
part of the church--to serve the purpose of dramatic representation.
This playhouse, consequently, was not open to the weather at the top
like the common playhouses, and it was distinguished as the "private"
theatre at Blackfriars.
The west wall of the precinct was built along the bank of the Fleet
river. Across the river opposite was the royal palace of Bridewell,
which Edward VI. had given to the city of London to be a workhouse for
the poor and a house of correction. This contiguity of a house for the
poor and the remains of a monastery suggests a reflection on the social
problem of Elizabethan London.