THE SWAN THEATRE
The second theatre erected on the Bankside was named the Swan, situated at the extreme western end, in the Manor of Paris Garden, represented to-day by the Blackfriars Road. The proprietor and builder was a well-known London citizen, named Francis Langley, holding an office under the Corporation, as one of the searchers of cloth, an appointment much coveted by well-to-do men.
When first the plans were laid out for building a theatre on the Paris Garden Estate, the puritan section of the Corporation rose up in arms, vehemently protesting against the scheme being carried out. In their eager desire in preventing such desecration, they appealed to the Lord Treasurer, praying that a warrant might at once be issued, forbidding the building from being completed. These proceedings took place in 1594.
The exact date of the opening is very uncertain and somewhat conflicting. First, we have the opposition against the building in 1594; secondly, the evidence of the Dutchman De Witte, who visited and described the Swan Theatre. De Witte’s biographer positively asserts that he only visited these shores once, that visit taking place in the year 1596. According to the evidence, we should expect the erection of the theatre between these dates, namely, 1594–6. Curiously enough, a third witness is introduced in the records of the minutes of St. Saviour’s Vestry stating that Mr. Langley’s new buildings shall be viewed, and that he and others shall be moved for money for the poor in regard to the playhouse and the tithes; this order is dated 1598.
How can we best reconcile these three different dates? The mention of Langley’s new buildings in 1598 somewhat weakens the statement that De Witte visited the theatre in 1596, and yet the fact cannot well be ignored. Until new documentary evidence is forthcoming the wisest course consists in simply declaring an open verdict.
Quite apart from the interest attached to any place of amusement in Elizabeth’s reign, the Swan Theatre has become famous, through a startling and sensational discovery, in the form of an authentic drawing depicting the interior of this building. The actual discovery of this important and interesting drawing was made by Dr. Thiele, librarian of the University of Utrecht, who found the drawing in a manuscript volume belonging to the University Library. This interior view is certainly the most interesting document in existence in connexion with the early history of the theatre. By a special act of courtesy on the part of the librarian, this precious manuscript containing the drawing was conveyed to this country and exhibited in the British Museum. A photograph of the drawing will be found as frontispiece to this volume. The text accompanying the drawing is as follows, omitting all extraneous matter:
(Fol. 131 verso).
Ex Observationibus Londinensibus Johannis De Witt.
Amphiteatra Londinij sunt iv visendae pulcritudinis quae a diversis intersigniis diuersa nomina fortiuntur: in iis varia quotidie scaena populo exhibetur. Horum duo excellentiora vltra Tamisim ad meridiam sita sunt a suspensis signis ROSA et Cygnus nominata: Alia duo extra vrbem ad septentrionem sunt, via qua itur per Episcopalem portam vulgariter Biscopgat nuncupatam. Est etiam (Fol. 132 recto) quintum sed dispari et structura, bestiarum concertationi destinatum, in quo multi vrsi, Tauri, et stupendae magnitudinis canes, discretis caueis & septis aluntur, qui (drawing occupies rest of page) (the words from quintum to qui being written underneath) ad pugnam adseruantur, iucundissimum hominibus spectaculum praebentes. Theatrorum autem omnium prestantissimum est et amplissimum id cuius intersignium est cygnus (vulgo te theatre off te cijn), quippe quod tres mille homines in sedilibus admittat, constructum ex coaceruato lapide pyrrtide (quorum ingens in Britannia copia est), ligneis suffultum columnis quae ob illitum marmoreum colorem, nasutissimos quoque fallere possent. Cuius quidem formam quod Romani operis vmbram videatur exprimere supra adpinxi.
The above extract is taken verbatim from the manuscript book belonging to Arend van Buchell, the friend and biographer of De Witte.
(Translation).
There are in London four theatres of noteworthy beauty which bear diverse names according to their diverse signs. In them a different action is daily presented to the people. The first two of these are situated to the southward beyond the Thames and named from the signs they display, The Rose and The Swan. Two others are outside the City towards the north, and are approached (per Episcopalim postern, in the vernacular, Bisopgate)—Bishopsgate. There is also a fifth of dissimilar structure devoted to beast baiting, wherein many bears, bulls and dogs of stupendous size are kept in separate dens and cages, which being pitted against each other, afford men a delightful spectacle. Of all the theatres, however, the largest and most distinguished is that whereof the sign is a swan, commonly called the Swan Theatre, since it contains three thousand persons and is built of a concrete of flint stone, which greatly abound in Britain, and supported by wooden columns painted in such excellent imitation of marble that it might deceive even the most cunning. Since its form seems to approach that of a Roman structure I have depicted it above.
Naturally such an important document was submitted to various severe tests regarding its authenticity, and on examination was satisfactorily proved to be quite genuine. The next question requiring an answer was not so easily settled. How came this drawing made by De Witte inserted in a manuscript copy of a volume belonging to his friend, Van Buchell. It cannot be the original drawing sketched by De Witte on the spot, as the paper on which the sketch is made is identical with the paper forming the leaves of the manuscript. The only conclusion possible is that Van Buchell copied the drawing and the letters sent or lent to him by his friend into his own commonplace book. Whether the drawing was faithfully copied cannot be definitely answered, as De Witte’s original is lost.
There is no reason in believing that Van Buchell deviated from the copy sent him. The description given by De Witte to his friend may have been orally delivered and Van Buchell may have made the sketch from memory according to the details narrated by De Witte. The biographer of Van Buchell states that he never visited England. De Witte’s biographer writes that he only visited this country in 1596, but this statement cannot be implicitly relied upon.
Arend van Buchell was a lawyer practising in Utrecht; his hobby was collecting pictures and prints; he was intimate with Cornelis Boissers, an engraver, and several painters and collectors of his day.
By referring to the text, the reader will notice that De Witte estimated the seating and standing capacity of the Swan roughly about three thousand. Of course this number is the result of guesswork, but surely the number is nearer the mark than three hundred, the estimate of a well-known writer and critic, who arrived at this conclusion by inferring that three thousand was a mistake for three hundred.
On turning to the frontispiece of this volume, the reader will observe that the arena contains three galleries: these galleries ran right round the theatre, each one containing three or four rows. By carefully examining the drawing, fourteen divisions can be counted in the top-most gallery. Between each division, seats, or standing room for three people, can be quite distinctly made out. Therefore the third part of the gallery shown in the sketch would hold forty-two persons in one row, the entire row encircling the theatre on three of its sides would contain one hundred and twenty-six people; multiply this number by eleven, the number of rows (four in the first and second tiers and three in the top one) we get a total of 1,386. Add to this another 700 standing in the yard, we get a grand total of 2,086, which in all probability was about the full capacity of the house.
Another point which is hotly debated is whether De Witte is correct in stating that the exterior of the theatre was built of stone. In Hentzner’s description of the London theatres in 1598 he positively asserts that they all were built of wood; naturally this counter assertion raises the question regarding the value to be placed on De Witte’s observations in general.
He could hardly mistake wood for stone, pointing out himself the difficulty in discerning wooden columns from marble ones. A possible solution might be that the Swan Theatre was not built when Hentzner described the theatres of London; they are not mentioned by name, which adds additional force to my theory.
On a close inspection of the drawing all the characteristics of an Elizabethan theatre are at once apparent. The first important feature is the division of the auditorium into three distinct tiers, one above the other, which the careful reader will remember seemed such a novelty to Samuel Kiechel, the foreigner, who visited London in 1585. At that date the Swan was not in existence, but the construction of an Elizabethan theatre only varied in small details during the length of her reign. On looking at the stage, one is not impressed with its elaborate or elegant appearance, a more primitive kind of structure is scarcely conceivable. There is no sign of a curtain either at the back or front. The turned columns support what is technically known as the “Heavens,” a kind of roof protecting the actors from the elements, and also serving as a sounding board. Mr. Ordish, in his fascinating and highly interesting study of the early London theatres, in describing this sketch, strangely observes that the “heavens” over the stage are not shown; this statement must surely be a clerical error, as they are quite clearly marked in the drawing.
The two doors served as exits and entrances, leading to and from the dressing room, inscribed in the sketch as “mimorum aedes.” The balcony was divided into boxes for playgoers who were willing to pay a higher price for their seats. When occasion required, part of the balcony was occupied by the musicians, and frequently by the actors themselves, especially in those scenes in which they appeared from above, as in the play of “Romeo and Juliet,” or when soldiers appear before the walls of a city.
From a spectator’s point of view, this part of the auditorium does not appear the most advantageous, as only the backs of the actors could be seen. Notwithstanding the bad position, these expensive seats were always in demand, some motive must have kept up the price of these boxes; the only one I can suggest is that they offered a degree of privacy to the occupants; furthermore, they had an entrance from the back of the stage, thus enabling the avoidance of the crowd by the seat-holders.
Over the balcony was a kind of hutch, where most likely the stage properties were stored. From an opening in this structure an attendant is seen sounding a trumpet, an intimation that the play is about to commence, although in this instance the warning is given while the play is in progress. The significance of this small detail is rather important, allowing us in presuming that De Witte drew the sketch after he had left the theatre, and therefore from memory, which in many small matters may have played him false.
The play which is being performed has all the appearance of a scene from Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night,” in which Olivia, Maria and Malvolio, with his staff of office, appear. Shakespeare’s play was composed a few years later, but a play with similar incidents may have been acted at this date.
An earlier play on the same subject that Shakespeare treated in “Twelfth Night” is generally supposed to have been presented on the stage. The roof of the hutch is surmounted by a flag, waving over the building, bearing for its sign a swan. With the exception of the stage, which was a movable one, the other parts of the stage buildings were permanent structures. The different sections of the house inscribed in the sketch are as follows: Over the topmost gallery is a sloping roof, which ran right round the theatre, inscribed on the right hand side facing the spectators with the word “tectum,” the Latin for roof. This part of the theatre was either tiled or thatched throughout. In one division of the lowermost gallery, in which were situated the best seats, a space therein, so described with the word “orchestra.” Professor Lawrence has written a very ingenious and learned dissertation on the meaning of this word, in which he proves conclusively that the place so marked was set apart for private boxes, called in the theatrical parlance of the day “The gentlemen’s rooms.”
The word orchestra, in this sense, has no connexion with the modern meaning of the word, or the ancient Greek definition, signifying a place reserved for dancing, also where the chorus accompanying a Greek play sang. The true meaning in the Shakesperean period denoted that part of the auditorium set aside for noblemen or those willing to pay a high price for their seats.
Cotgrave, in his English and French dictionary, published in 1611, defines orchestre as “the senators or noblemens’ places in a theatre, between the stage and the common seats.” The knowledge of this important fact in reconstructing intelligibly this part of an old theatre is a debt we owe to the ingenuity and learning of Professor Lawrence.
The word “sedilia” refers to the seats in the galleries, which proves that seating accommodation was provided in this part of the house, a fact which had been doubted for many years past.
The porticus was a colonnade or corridor running round the gallery furnished with columns supporting the galleries, and may have afforded standing room for spectators.
The Swan Theatre. From Visscher’s Map of London, 1616.
“Ingressus” refers to the steps leading to the galleries, being placed on both sides of the house. Other steps not shown in the sketch led to the second and third galleries. At this point were stationed the “gatherers,” who received the extra payment for entrance to these seats.
The structure behind the stage, inscribed “mimorum aedes,” is the tiring room for the actors making their exits and their entrances through the two doors placed one on each side. The word “proscænium” is the Latin word for stage, derived from the Greek word Skene, a booth or tent, in which the leader of the chorus in the early days of the Greek drama erected his dressing room. The same word scene, in our own days, bears many theatrical meanings almost identical with the word employed twenty-five hundred years ago, thus contradicting the belief of most people that we owe everything to the genius of the present generation.
The arena was the yard, in which stood the pit and gallery habitués of our day, the charge for this privilege being one penny.
I hope the reader will constantly refer to the [drawing] whilst reading this description, as it will materially help him in fully understanding the interior of an Elizabethan playhouse.
The Hope Theatre was modelled on the Swan. I here append the contract for the first-named theatre:
“The contractor, Katherens, is to take down the existing structure, and to build in its place another game house or plaie house fit for players to play in and for the game of bears and bulls. There is to be provided a tyre house and a frame to be carried or taken away and to stand upon tressels, sufficient to bear such a stage. It is agreed to build the same of such large compass, form, wideness and height as the playhouse called the Swan in the liberty of Paris Garden. And the said playhouse or game place to be made in all things and in such form and fashion as the said playhouse called the Swan, the scantling of the timbers, tiles and foundations as is aforesaid without fraud or covin.” The last word means conspiracy or collusion.
The separate items are:
1. Two staircases without and adjoining the playhouse of such largeness and height as the said playhouse called the Swan.
These stairs are not shown in the sketch; perhaps they were placed outside the building. It would be interesting to know the exact position.
2. “Heavens” over the stage to be borne and carried away without any posts or supporters to be fixed or set about the stage. Gutters of lead needful for carriage of water that shall fall about the same.
The “Heavens” in the Hope contract is different somewhat from the Swan, as the sketch plainly shows the columns supporting the “Heavens.”
3. Two boxes in the lowermost storey, fit and decent for gentlemen to sit in, and shall make the partition between the rooms as they are at the said playhouse called the Swan.
The boxes are marked “Orchestra” in the sketch.
4. Turned columns upon and over the stage.
5. Principals and forefront of the playhouse to be of oak; no fir to be used in the lowermost or under stones, except the upright posts or the back part of the said stones, all binding joists to be of oak.
6. To new tyle with English tyles all the upper roof of the said playhouse.
7. Also a louvre or storey over the said playhouse as it now is.
Several of the above particulars confirm the exactness of the drawing. It must not be forgotten that between the building of the Swan and that of the Hope nearly twenty years had intervened; in that time many improvements had taken place, but the essentials remain the same.
The Swan Theatre has little interest for students, the entertainments being chiefly devoted to bear-baiting, and other sports of a less exciting nature.
Francis Meres, the author of Palladis Tamia, published in 1598, refers to the Swan in the following passage: “As Antipater Sidonius was famous for extemporal verse in Greek.... And so is now our wittie Wilson, who, for learning and extemporal witte in this facultie, is without compare or compeere, as to his great and eternall commendations he manifested in his chalenge at the Swanne on the Banke-side.” A very interesting account of Shakespeare occurs in the same book: “As the soule of Euphorbus was thought to live in Pythagoras so the sweete wittie soule of Ovid lives in mellifluous and honeytongued Shakespeare, witness his Venus and Adonis, his Lucrece, his sugred sonnets among his private friends, etc.”
A few more references to the Swan are still extant. A certain Peter Bromville appeared at this theatre in 1600, performing acts of activity, he having exhibited the same before the Queen. Acts of activity correspond to those acrobatic feats often seen at our present day music halls.
Another extract is from Dekker’s play “Satiromastic,” 1602. Tucca: “Thou hast been at Paris Garden, hast not?” Horace: “Yes, Captain, I have played Zulziman there.” I have searched in vain to find the name of the play in which the part of Zulziman occurs. Ben Jonson acted the part of Zulziman.
The Swan was often alluded to as Paris Garden. Middleton’s play of “A Chaste Maid in Cheapside” was performed there. Another notice relates how a knight, witnessing the last new play at the Swan, lost his purse containing seven angels. An angel was a gold coin, valued at ten shillings. A man named Turner was thrust through the eye and killed here whilst contesting there for a prize.
During the last years of the Swan, only fencing matches and gladiatorial exhibitions were given. The last notice of this theatre appeared in a pamphlet entitled “Holland’s Leaguer,” by N. Goodman, published in 1632: “Three famous amphitheatres can be seen from the turret, one the continent of the world (i.e., the Globe), to which, half the year, a world of beauties and brave spirits resort. A building of excellent hope for players, wild beasts and gladiators and another, that the lady of the Leaguer in fortress could almost shake hands with, now fallen to decay and like a dying swan, hangs her head and sings her own dirge.” A dying swan evidently refers to this playhouse. It was a popular belief that a swan fluted a wild carol in her death.
Mr. Ordish attributes this pamphlet to Shakerley Marmion, who wrote a play called “Holland’s Leaguer.” Mr. Ordish has by a clerical error mixed the babies up.
Before taking leave of the fortunes of the Swan Theatre I wish to relate an interesting event which took place there in the year 1602, which incidently throws considerable light on how Elizabethan managers advertised their special shows on important occasions. The circumstances are described in a letter from John Chamberlain to Dudley Carleton in 1602.
“And now we are in mirth I must not forget to tell you of a cosening prank of one Venner, of Lincoln’s Inn, that gave out bills of a famous play on Saturday, was sevennight on the Bankside, to be acted only by certain gentlemen and gentlewomen of account. The price at coming was two shillings or eighteenpence at least, and when he had gotten most part of the money into his hands he would have shewed them a fair pair of heels, but he was not so nimble to get upon horseback, but that he was fain to forsake that course and betake himself to the water, where he was pursued and taken and brought before the Lord Chief Justice, who would make nothing of it but a jest and a merriment and bound him over on five pounds to appear at the sessions. In the meantime the common people, when they saw themselves deluded, revenged themselves upon the hangings, curtains, chairs, stone walls, and whatsoever came in their way, very outrageously and made great spoil, there was great store of good company and many noblemen.”
This event is referred to by Ben Jonson in his “Masque of Angurs, 1622.” Three of these gentlemen should have acted in that famous matter of “England’s Joy,” in 1603, but the date should be 1602. In a poetical effusion by Taylor, the Water Poet, he relates how one Fenner often confused with the real writer of “England’s Joy,” Venner, advertised himself as the author of this piece. This Fenner was the rival of Taylor as an extempore rhymester, and being challenged and the bills set up advertising the literary duel, Taylor prepared himself for the meeting. On the day appointed Fenner failed to come to the scratch, thereby causing Taylor to be branded as an impostor, which drew from him the following lines, published in his “A Cast over Water,” 1615:
“My defence against thy offence.”
“Thou bragst what fame thou gottst upon the stage,
Indeed, thou set’st the people in a rage
In playing ‘England’s Joy’ that every man
Did judge it worse than that done at the Swan.
To all your cost he will his wits employ
To play the second part of ‘England’s Joy,’
And poor old Venner that plain-dealing man,
Who acted ‘England’s Joy’ first at the Swan,
Paid eight crowns for the writing of these things,
Besides the covers and the silken strings.”
The original play-bill announcing this performance has the following title: ...
“The plot of the play called ‘England’s Joy,’
To be played at the Swan this 6 of March, 1602.”
This document being of such extreme interest, a photograph will be found on the opposite page. One can see by the smallness of the print that it was not intended for a poster, but to be distributed either amongst the assembled audience or delivered at the houses of the gentry or handed to passers-by in the street. The original of this broad sheet is preserved in the collection of the Society of Antiquaries. By the courtesy of the Secretary of the Society of Antiquaries I was accorded the privilege of inspecting this most interesting document, and further, allowed the favour of having the original photographed especially for this book. Although, as stated above, the print is too small for a poster, yet it is quite legible, almost the size of the type of this page.
THE PLOT OF THE PLAY, CALLED
ENGLANDS JOY.
To be Playd at the Swan this 6. of Nouember. 1602.
FIRST, there is induct by shew and in Action; the ciuill warres of England from Edward the third, to the end of Queene Maries raigne, with the ouerthrow of Vsurpation.
2 Secondly then the entrance of Englands Ioy by the Coronation of our Soueraigne Lady Elizabeth, her Throne attended with peace, Plenty, and ciuill Pollicy: A sacred Prelate standing at her right hand, betokening the Serenity of the Gospell: At her left hand Iustice: And at her feete Warre, with a Scarlet Roabe of peace vpon his Armour: A wreath of Bayes about his temples, and a braunch of Palme in his hand.
3 Thirdly is dragd in three Furies, presenting Dissention, Famine, and Bloudshed, which are throwne downe into hell.
4 Fourthly is exprest vnder the person of a Tyrant, the enuy of Spayne, who to shew his cruelty causeth his Souldiers dragge in a beautifull Lady, whome they mangle and wound, tearing her garments and Iewels from off her: And so leaue her bloody, with her hayre about her shoulders, lying vpon the ground. To her come certaine Gentlemen, who seeing her pitious dispoylment, turne to the Throne of England, from whence one descendeth, taketh vp the Lady, wipeth her eyes, bindeth vp her woundes, giueth her treasure, and bringeth forth a band of Souldiers, who attend her forth: This Lady presenteth Belgia.
5 Fiftly, the Tyrant more enraged, taketh counsell, sends forth letters, priuie Spies, and secret vnderminers, taking their othes, and giuing them bagges of treasure. These signifie Lopus, and certaine Iesuites, who afterward, when the Tyrant lookes for an answere from them, are shewed to him in a glasse with halters about their neckes, which makes him mad with fury.
6 Sixtly, the Tyrant seeing all secret meanes to fayle him, intendeth open violence and inuasion by the hand of Warre, whereupon is set forth the battle at Sea in 88, with Englands victory.
7 Seuenthly, hee complotteth with the Irish rebelles, wherein is layd open the base ingratitude of Tyrone, the landing there of Don John de Aguila, and their dissipation by the wisdome and valour of the Lord Mountioy.
8 Eightly, a great triumph is made with fighting of twelue Gentlemen at Barriers, and sundrie rewards sent from the Throne of England, to all sortes of well deseruers.
9 Lastly, the Nine Worthyes, with seuerall Coronets, present themselues before the Throne, which are put backe by certaine in the habite of Angels, who set vpon the Ladies head, which represents her Maiestie, an Emperiall Crowne, garnished with the Sunne, Moone and Starres; And so with Musicke both with voyce and Instruments shee is taken vp into Heauen, when presently appeares, a Throne of blessed Soules, and beneath vnder the Stage set forth with strange fireworkes, diuers blacke and damned Soules, wonderfully discribed in their seuerall torments.
The plot of England’s Joy, specially photographed for this book, from the original, with kind permission of the Society of Antiquaries.
In the fifth paragraph of this most interesting programme of “England’s Joy” appears the name of Lopus, or more correctly Lopez. This name opens up a wide field of controversy, for the bearer was a Jew, and English historians aver that since the expulsion of that race in 1290, no Jew set foot on English soil until the time of Cromwell, over 350 years later than the first and only exodus. There can be no doubt that a certain number of Jews visited these shores, and a few settled here and made it their permanent home. This Lopez was a celebrated Jewish physician, and was honoured by being elected house surgeon to St. Bartholomew’s Hospital; afterwards he became physician to Queen Elizabeth. After many years’ residence in this country he was arrested on suspicion of being implicated In a plot to poison the Queen; he was duly tried, convicted and sentenced to be hanged, which sentence a few months later was carried out at Tyburn. According to Camden, the learned antiquarian, Lopez’s last words on the scaffold were that he loved the Queen as much as he did Jesus Christ, which naturally leads one to the assumption that he must have been a converted Jew and have forsaken the faith of his fathers, or else Camden may have invented this dying confession in order to show that some Jews believed in the Christian religion.
Either the Rose Theatre or the First Globe Theatre.
When the Swan Theatre was sold it realized the sum of £1,873. A view of the exterior of the theatre is depicted in Visscher’s Map of London, 1616. The old theatre is marked on the Map of the Manor, dated 1627.
This sketch of the interior of the Swan Theatre, dated circa 1596, important as it is, must not be taken too literally; many discrepancies can be detected when compared with our knowledge of the contemporary stage. Especially noticeable is the bareness of the stage, and lack of all signs of any suggestion of a curtain, which, judging by directions in old plays, was a most important feature. Also be it remembered that the Swan playhouse was not typically a playgoers’ theatre, being devoted chiefly to feats of activity and other pastimes.