Shakespearean Playhouses Part 21

The wisdom of this arrangement was quickly shown, for "about the time of the building of said playhouse and galleries, or shortly after,"

William Kempe decided to withdraw from the enterprise. He had to dispose of his share to the other parties in the "joint tenancy,"

Shakespeare, Heminges, Phillips, and Pope, who at once divided it equally among themselves, and again went through the process necessary to place that share in "joint tenancy." After the retirement of Kempe, the organization, it will be observed, consisted of six men, and the shares were eight in number, owned as follows: Richard Burbage and Cuthbert Burbage, each two shares, Shakespeare, Heminges, Phillips, and Pope, each one share.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A PLAN OF THE GLOBE PROPERTY

Based on the lease and on other doc.u.ments and references to the property.]

The tract of land on which the new playhouse was to be erected is minutely described in the lease[385] as follows:

All that parcel of ground just recently before enclosed and made into four separate garden plots, recently in the tenure and occupation of Thomas Burt and Isbrand Morris, diers, and Lactantius Roper, salter, citizen of London, containing in length from east to west two hundred and twenty feet in a.s.size or thereabouts, lying and adjoining upon a way or lane there on one [the south] side, and ab.u.t.ting upon a piece of land called The Park[386] upon the north, and upon a garden then or recently in the tenure or occupation of one John Cornishe toward the west, and upon another garden plot then or recently in the tenure or occupation of one John Knowles toward the east, with all the houses, buildings, structures, ways, eas.e.m.e.nts, commodities, and appurtenances thereunto belonging.... And also all that parcel of land just recently before enclosed and made into three separate garden plots, whereof two of the same [were] recently in the tenure or occupation of John Roberts, carpenter, and another recently in the occupation of one Thomas Ditcher, citizen and merchant tailor of London ... containing in length from east to west by estimation one hundred fifty and six feet of a.s.size or thereabouts, and in breadth from the north to the south one hundred feet of a.s.size by estimation or thereabouts, lying and adjoining upon the other side of the way or lane aforesaid, and ab.u.t.ting upon a garden plot there then or recently just before in the occupation of William Sellers toward the east, and upon one other garden plot there, then or recently just before, in the tenure of John Burgram, sadler, toward the west, and upon a lane there called Maiden Lane towards the south, with all the houses....

[Footnote 385: The lease is incorporated in the Heminges-Osteler doc.u.ments, which Mr. Wallace has translated from the Anglicized Latin.

The original Latin text may be found in Martin, _The Site of the Globe Playhouse of Shakespeare_, pp. 161-62. Since, however, that text is faultily reproduced, I quote Mr. Wallace's translation.]

[Footnote 386: What is meant by "The Park" is a matter of dispute.

Some contend that the Park of the Bishop of Winchester is meant; it may be, however, that some small estate is referred to. In support of the latter contention, one might cite Collier's _Memoirs of Edward Alleyn_, p. 91. Part of the doc.u.ment printed by Collier may have been tampered with, but there is no reason to suspect the two references to "The Parke."]

This doc.u.ment clearly states that the Globe property was situated to the north of Maiden Lane, and consequently near the river. Virtually all the contemporary maps of London show the Globe as so situated. Mr.

Wallace has produced some very specific evidence to support the doc.u.ment cited above, and he claims to have additional evidence as yet unpublished. On the other hand, there is at least some evidence to indicate that the Globe was situated to the south of Maiden Lane.[387]

[Footnote 387: For the discussions of the subject, see the Bibliography.]

For the purposes of this book it is sufficient to know that the Globe was "situate in Maiden Lane"; whether on the north side or the south side is of less importance. More important is the nature of the site.

Strype, in his edition of Stow's _Survey_, gives this description: "Maiden Lane, a long straggling place, with ditches on each side, the pa.s.sage to the houses being over little bridges, with little garden plots before them, especially on the north side, which is best both for houses and inhabitants." In Maiden Lane, near one of these ditches or "sewers," the Globe was erected; and like the other houses there situated, it was approached over a bridge.[388] In February, 1606, the Sewer Commission ordered that "the owners of the playhouse called the Globe, in Maid Lane, shall before the 20 day of April next pull up and take clean out of the sewer the props or posts which stand under their bridge on the north side of Maid Lane."[389] The ground on which the building was erected was marshy, and the foundations were made by driving piles deep into the soil. Ben Jonson tersely writes:[390]

The Globe, the glory of the Bank.... Flanked with a ditch, and forced out of a marish.

[Footnote 388: This was probably not the only means of approach.]

[Footnote 389: Wallace, in the London _Times_, April 30, 1914, p. 10; _Notes and Queries_ (XI series), XI, 448.]

[Footnote 390: _An Execration upon Vulcan._]

Into the construction of the new playhouse went the timber and other materials secured from the old Theatre; but much new material, of course, had to be added. It is a mistake to believe that the Globe was merely the old "Theatre" newly set up on the Bankside, and perhaps strengthened here and there. When it was completed, it was regarded as the last word in theatrical architecture. Dekker seems to have had the Globe in mind in the following pa.s.sage: "How wonderfully is the world altered! and no marvel, for it has lyein sick almost five thousand years: so that it is no more like the old _Theater du munde_, than old Paris Garden is like the King's garden at Paris. What an excellent workman therefore were he, that could cast the _Globe_ of it into a new mould."[391] In 1600 Henslowe and Alleyn used the Globe as the model of their new and splendid Fortune. They sought, indeed, to show some originality by making their playhouse square instead of round; but this, the one instance in which they departed from the Globe, was a mistake; and when the Fortune was rebuilt in 1623 it was made circular in shape.

[Footnote 391: _The Guls Hornbook_, published in 1609, but written earlier.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE SITES OF THE BEAR GARDEN, THE ROSE, AND THE GLOBE

Marked by the author on a plan of the Bankside printed in Strype's _Survey of London_, 1720.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE BEAR GARDEN, THE ROSE, AND THE FIRST GLOBE

Compare this view of the Bankside with the preceding map. (From an equestrian portrait of King James I, by Delaram. The city is represented as it was when James came to the throne in 1603.)]

A few quotations from the Fortune contract will throw some light upon the Globe:

With such-like stairs, conveyances, and divisions [to the galleries], without and within, as are made and contrived in and to the late-erected playhouse ... called the Globe.

And the said stage to be in all other proportions contrived and fashioned like unto the stage of the said playhouse called the Globe.

And the said house, and other things before mentioned to be made and done, to be in all other contrivations, conveyances, fashions, thing, and things, effected, finished and done according to the manner and fashion of the said house called the Globe, saving only that all the princ.i.p.al and main posts ... shall be square and wrought pilasterwise, with carved proportions called satyrs to be placed and set on the top of every of the said posts.

What kind of columns were used in the Globe and how they were ornamented, we do not know, but presumably they were round. Jonson, in _Every Man Out of His Humour_, presented on the occasion of, or shortly after, the opening of the Globe in 1599, says of one of his characters: "A well-timbered fellow! he would have made a good column an he had been thought on when the house was abuilding."[392] That Jonson thought well of the new playhouse is revealed in several places; he speaks with some enthusiasm of "this fair-fitted Globe,"[393] and in the pa.s.sage already quoted he calls it "the glory of the Bank."

[Footnote 392: _Jonson's Works_, ed. Cunningham, I, 71.]

[Footnote 393: In the first quarto edition of _Every Man Out of His Humour_.]

In shape the building was unquestionably polygonal or circular, most probably polygonal on the outside and circular within. Mr. E.K.

Chambers thinks it possible that it was square;[394] but there is abundant evidence to show that it was not. The very name, Globe, would hardly be suitable to a square building; Jonson describes the interior as a "round";[395] the ballad on the burning of the house refers to the roof as being "round as a tailor's clew"; and the New Globe, which certainly was not square, was erected on the old foundation.[396] The frame, we know, was of timber, and the roof of thatch. In front of the main door was suspended a sign of Hercules bearing the globe upon his shoulders,[397] under which was written, says Malone, the old motto, _Totus mundus agit histrionem_.[398]

[Footnote 394: _The Stage of the Globe_, p. 356.]

[Footnote 395: Induction to _Every Man Out of His Humour_ (ed.

Cunningham, I, 66).]

[Footnote 396: I have not s.p.a.ce to discuss the question further. The foreign traveler who visited a Bankside theatre, probably the Globe, on July 3, 1600, described it as "Theatrum ad morem antiquorum Romanorum constructum ex lignis" (London _Times_, April 11, 1914).

Thomas Heywood, in his _Apology for Actors_ (1612), describing the Roman playhouses, says: "After these they composed others, but differing in form from the theatre or amphitheatre, and every such was called _Circus_, the frame _globe_-like and merely round." The evidence is c.u.mulative, and almost inexhaustible.]

[Footnote 397: See _Hamlet_, II, ii, 378.]

[Footnote 398: Malone, _Variorum_, III, 67.]

The earliest representation of the building is probably to be found in the Delaram _View of London_ (opposite page 246), set in the background of an engraving of King James on horseback. This view, which presents the city as it was in 1603 when James came to the throne, shows the Bear Garden at the left, polygonal in shape, the Rose in the centre, circular in shape, and the Globe at the right, polygonal in shape. It is again represented in Visscher's magnificent _View of London_, which, though printed in 1616, presents the city as it was several years earlier (see page 253). The Merian _View_ of 1638 (opposite page 256) is copied from Visscher, and the _View_ in Howell's _Londinopolis_ (1657) is merely a slavish copy of Merian; these two views, therefore, so far as the Globe is concerned, have no special value.[399]

[Footnote 399: The circular playhouse in Delaram's _View_ is commonly accepted as a representation of the First Globe, but without reason.

The evidence which establishes the ident.i.ty of the several playhouses pictured in the various maps of the Bankside comes from a careful study of the Bear Garden, the Hope, the Rose, the First Globe, the Second Globe, and their sites, together with a study of all the maps and views of London, considered separately and in relation to one another. Such evidence is too complicated to be given here in full, but it is quite conclusive.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE FIRST GLOBE

From an old drawing in an extra-ill.u.s.trated copy of Pennant's _London_ now in the British Museum. Apparently the drawing is based on Visscher's _View_.]

The cost of the finished building is not exactly known. Mr. Wallace observes that it was erected "at an original cost, according to a later statement, of 600, but upon better evidence approximately 400."[400] I am not aware of the "better evidence" to which Mr.

Wallace refers,[401] nor do I know whether the estimate of 400 includes the timber and materials of the old Theatre furnished by the Burbages. If the Theatre of 1576 cost nearly 700, and the second Globe cost 1400, the sum of 400 seems too small.

[Footnote 400: The London _Times_, October 2, 1909.]

[Footnote 401: Possibly he gives this evidence in his _The Children of the Chapel at Blackfriars_, p. 29, note 4.]

Nor do we know exactly when the Globe was finished and opened to the public. On May 16, 1599, a post-mortem inquisition of the estate of Sir Thomas Brend, father of Sir Nicholas, was taken. Among his other properties in Southwark was listed the Globe playhouse, described as "vna domo de novo edificata ... in occupacione Willielmi Shakespeare et aliorum."[402] From this statement Mr. Wallace infers that the Globe was finished and opened before May 16, 1599. Though this is possible, the words used seem hardly to warrant the conclusion.

However, we may feel sure that the actors, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, had moved into the building before the end of the summer.

[Footnote 402: Wallace, in the London _Times_, May 1, 1914.]

Almost at once they rose to the position of leadership in the drama, for both Shakespeare and Burbage were now at the height of their powers. It is true that in 1601 the popularity of the Children at Blackfriars, and the subsequent "War of the Theatres" interfered somewhat with their success; but the interference was temporary, and from this time on until the closing of the playhouses in 1642, the supremacy of the Globe players was never really challenged. When James came to the throne, he recognized this supremacy by taking them under his royal patronage. On May 19, 1603, he issued to them a patent to play as the King's Men[403]--an honor that was as well deserved as it was signal.

[Footnote 403: Printed in The Malone Society _Collections_, I, 264.]