The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 19, No. 540, March 31, 1832

The ancient topography of the southern bank of the Thames (or Bankside ) between London and Blackfriars bridges is peculiarly interesting to the lover of dramatic lore, as well as to the inquirer into the sports and pastimes of our ancestors. It appears to have been the Arcadia of the olden metropolis, if such a term be applicable to a place notorious for the indulgence of brutal sports.
The third Cut includes the GLOBE, ROSE, and BEAR-BAITING THEATRES, as they appeared about the year 1612. Of the Globe we have been furnished with the following account by a zealous correspondent, G.W. :
The Globe Theatre stood on a plot of ground, now occupied by four houses, contiguous to the present Globe Alley, Maiden Lane, Southwark. This theatre was of considerable size. It is not certain when it was built. Hentzner, the German traveller, who gives an amusing description of London in the time of Queen Elizabeth, alludes to it as existing in 1598, but it was probably not built long before 1596. It was an hexagonal, wooden building, partly open to the weather, and partly thatched with reeds, on which, as well as other theatres, a pole was erected, to which a flag was affixed. These flags were probably displayed only during the hours of performance; and it should seem from one of the old comedies that they were taken down in Lent, in which time, during the early part of King James's reign, plays were not allowed to be represented, though at a subsequent period this prohibition was dispensed with by paying a fee to the Master of the Revels.
It was called the Globe from its sign, which was a figure of Hercules, or Atlas, supporting a globe, under which was written, Totus mundus agit histrionem , (All the world acts a play):—and not as many have conjectured, that the Globe though hexagonal at the outside, was a rotunda within, and that it might have derived its name from its circular form.
In 1613, was entered in the Stationers' books, A doleful ballad of the General Conflagration of the famous Theatre called the Globe.