bafis, which neither the lapfe of time nor the fluctuation of opinion will ever be able to fhake. Here therefore I conclude this imperfect account of the origin and progrefs of the English Stage.

ADDITION S.

HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE ENGLISH STAGE.

JUST as this work was iffuing from the prefs, fome curious Manufcripts relative to the ftage, were found at Dulwich College, and obligingly tranfmitted to me from thence. One of thefe is a large folio volume of accounts kept by Mr. Philip Henflowe, who appears to have been proprietor of the ROSE Theatre near the Bankfide in Southwark.

The celebrated player Edward Alleyn, who has erroneously been fuppofed by Mr. Oldys, the writer of his life in the Biographia Britannica, to have had three wives, was married, as appears from an entry in this book, to Joan Woodward, on the 22d of October, 1592, at which time he was about twentyfix years old. This lady, who died in 1623, was the daughter of Agnes, the widow of Woodward, whom Mr. Philip Henflowe, after the death of Woodward, married: so that Mr. Henslowe was not, as has been fuppofed, Alleyn's father-in-law, but only step-father to his wife.

This MS. contains a great number of curious notices relative to the dramatick poets of the time, and their productions, from the year 1597 to 1603, during which time Mr. Henflowe kept an exact account of all the money which he difburfed for the various companies of which he had the management, for copies of plays and the apparel which he bought for their reprefentation. I find here notices of a great number of plays now loft, with the authors' names, and feveral entries that tend to throw a light on various particulars which have been difcuffed in the preceding History of the English Stage, as well as the Effay on the order of time in which Shakspeare's plays were written. A ftill more curious part of this MS. is a register of all the plays performed by the fervants of Lord Strange, and the Lord Admiral, and by other companies, between the 19th of February 1591-2, and November 5, 1597. This register ftrongly confirms the conjectures that have been hazarded relative to The First Part of King Henry VI. and the play which I have fuppofed to have been written on the fubject of Hamlet. In a bundle of loofe papers has also been found an exact Inventory of the Wardrobe, play-books, properties, &c. belonging to the Lord Admiral's fervants.

Though it is not now in my power to arrange thefe very curious materials in their proper places, I am unwilling that the publick fhould be deprived of the information and entertainment which they may afford; and therefore fhall extract from them all fuch notices as appear to me worthy of prefervation.

In the register of plays the fame piece is frequently repeated: but of thefe repetitions I have taken no notice, having transcribed only the ac

count of the first reprefentation of each piece, with the fum which Mr. Henflowe gained by it.'

By the fubfequent reprefentations, fometimes a larger, and fometimes a lefs, fum, was gained. The figures within crotchets fhew how often each piece was reprefented within the time of each

account.

5 It is clear from fubfequent entries made by Mr. Henflowe that the fums in the margin oppofite to each play, were not the total receipts of the houfe, but what he received as a proprietor from either half or the whole of the galleries, which appear to have been appropriated to him to reimburse him for expences incurred for dreffes, copies, &c. for the theatre. The profit derived from the rooms or boxes, &c. was divided among fuch of the players as poffeffed bares. In a fubfequent page I find-" Here I begynne to receve the whole gallereys from this day, beinge 29 of July, 1598." At the bottom of the account, which ends Oct. 13, 1599, is this note: "Received with the company of my lord of Nottinghams men, to this place, being the 13 of October 1599, and yt doth apeare that I have received of the deate which they owe unto me, iij hundred fiftie and eyght pounds."

Again: "Here I begane to receive the gallereys agayne, which they received, begynninge at Mihellmas weeke, being the 6 of October, 1599, as followeth."

Again: "My lord of Pembrokes men beganne to playe at the Rofe, the 28 of October, 1600, as followeth:

Five fhillings could not poffibly have been the total receipt of the houfe, and therefore must have been that which the proprietor received on his feparate account.

"In the name of God, Amen, 1591, beginninge the 19 of febreary my g. lord Stranges men, as followeth, 1591:

R. at fryer bacone, the 19 of fe- 1. breary, (faterday) [4]

O.

S. d. xvii. iii.

mulomurco, the 20 of febr.

• Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay, by Robert Greene.

7 In a fubfequent entry called Mulamulluco. The play meant was probably The Battle of Alcazar. See the firft fpeech:

"This brave barbarian lord, Muly Molocco," &c.

8 Orlando Furiofo, by Robert Greene, printed in 1599.

9 In the Differtation on the three parts of K. Henry VI, I conjectured that the piece which we now call The first part of King

R. at bendo and Richardo, the 4 1.
of marche 1591, [3]

iiii playes in one,' the 6 of
marche 1591, [4]

the looking glafs, the 8 of

O.

xvi. o.

iii.

xi. O.

marche 1591, [4],

O.

vii. o.

-fenobia (Zenobia) the 9 of

marche 1591, [1]

Jeronimo, the 14 of marche

1591 [14]

conftantine, the 21 of marche

Henry VI. was, when firft performed, called The play of King Henry VI. We find here that fuch was the fact. This play, which I am confident was not originally the production of Shakspeare, but of another poet, was extremely popular, being reprefented in this feafon between March 3 and June 19, [1592] no less than thirteen times. Hence Nafhe in a pamphlet published in this year, speaks of ten thoufand fpectators that had feen it. See Differtation, &c. Vol. X. p. 423.

2 Afterwards written Bjndo.

3 This could not have been the piece called All's one, or four plays in one, of which The Yorkshire Tragedy made a part, because the fact on which that piece is founded happened in 1605.

The Looking glafs for London and England, by Robert Greene and Thomas Lodge, printed in 1598.

5 Probably The Destruction of Jerufalem, by Dr. Thomas Legge, See Wood's Faft. Oxon. Vol. I. p. 133.