On 11 October 1592 the Queen’s men were at Aldeburgh, on the same day as, and conceivably in association with, Lord Morley’s men, although the payments are distinct. They did not in fact appear at Court during the Christmas of 1592–3, although both Lord Pembroke’s and Lord Strange’s did. They were at Coventry and Stratford-on-Avon in the course of 1592–3, at Leicester in June 1593 and again after Michaelmas, at Bath on 22 August, and at York in September. On 6 January 1594 they returned to Court and gave what proved to be their last performance there. On 1 April they began to play at one of Henslowe’s theatres ‘to geather’—that is to say, either alternately or in combination—with Sussex’s men, who had already performed there for the six weeks between Christmas and Lent. Possibly this was a renewal of an earlier alliance of 1591. Only eight performances are recorded, and of the five plays given only King Leire can very reasonably be assigned to the repertory of the Queen’s men. The others were The Jew of Malta and The Fair Maid of Italy, which Sussex’s men had been playing in the winter, Greene’s Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay, which was played for Henslowe by other companies both before and after, and was probably his property, and The Ranger’s Comedy, the performances of which were being continued by the Admiral’s men in the following autumn, but which it is possible that they or Henslowe may have acquired from the Queen’s. For there can be no doubt that the Queen’s men, whether because they had ceased to be modish, or because their finances had proved unable to stand the strain of the plague years, were now at the end of their London career. On 8 May 1594 the significant entry occurs in Henslowe’s diary of a loan of £15 to his nephew Francis Henslowe ‘to lay downe for his share to the Quenes players when they broke & went into the contrey to playe’.[328] This by itself would not perhaps be conclusive, as there are other years in which the company began its provincial wanderings as early as May. But from the present journey there is nothing to show that they ever returned, and it may fairly be reckoned as another sign of defeat that while The Troublesome Reign of King John (1591) was the only play certainly theirs which was printed before 1594, no less than nine found their way into the publishers’ hands during that and the following year. These were, besides Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay (1594, S. R. 14 May 1594), with which they probably had only a recent connexion, A Looking Glass for London and, England (1594, S. R. 5 March 1594), King Leire (1594, S. R. 14 May 1594), James IV and The Famous Victories of Henry V (1598, S. R. 14 May 1594), The True Tragedy of Richard III (1594, S. R. 19 June 1594), Selimus (1594), Peele’s Old Wive’s Tale (1595, S. R. 16 April 1595), and Valentine and Orson (S. R. 23 May 1595), of which no copy is known to be extant. Somewhat later came Sir Clyomon and Clamydes (1599).
The Queen’s men were at Coventry on 4 July 1594, at Bristol in August, and at Bath and Barnstaple, where they were unlucky enough to break down the ceiling in the Guildhall, during 1593–4, and thereafter they are traceable right up to the end of the reign, at Coventry, Oxford, and Bath in 1594–5, at Leicester both before and after Michaelmas 1595, twice at Coventry and at Ludlow in 1595–6, at Stratford-on-Avon on 16 and 17 July 1596, at Bristol in August, at Leicester between October and December 1596, and at Faversham and Bridgnorth in the same year, at Coventry, at Dunwich, and twice at Bath in 1596–7, at Bristol again about Christmas 1597, at Nottingham on 8 July 1597, at Bristol about 25 July, at Bath in 1597–8, at Leicester on 9 January 1598, at Maldon in 1598, at Ipswich and Reading in 1598–9, at Maldon in 1599, at Dunwich in 1599–1600, at Ipswich on 2 June 1600, and at Leicester before 29 September in the same year, at Coventry and Bath in 1600–1, at York in July 1602, at Leicester on 30 September 1602, at Belvoir in August or September of the same year, and at Coventry in 1602–3. But little, naturally enough, is known of the personnel of the company during this period of its decay. On 1 June 1595 Francis Henslowe borrowed another £9 from his uncle ‘to laye downe for his hallfe share wth the company wch he dothe playe wth all’,[329] and I see no particular reason to suppose that this was another company than the Queen’s. The loan is witnessed by William Smyght, George Attewell, and Robert Nycowlles, each of whom is described as ‘player’. It is likely enough that these were now fellows of Francis Henslowe. Attewell had been payee for Lord Strange’s men in 1591. The earlier loan was witnessed by John Towne, Hugh Davis, and Richard Alleyn. Davis and Alleyn appear elsewhere in connexion with Henslowe, but Towne was certainly a Queen’s man. He is in the 1588 list and is described as ‘one of her Majesties plears’ when on 8 July 1597 he obtained a release of debts due to Roger Clarke of Nottingham.[330] The other men of 1588 had nearly all vanished. John Singer had joined the Admiral’s by the autumn of 1594. I should not be surprised, however, to find that John Garland was still with the Queen’s. He was an associate of Francis Henslowe in the Duke of Lennox’s men in 1604, and was then ‘owld’ Garland. Indeed, it seems probable that, when the Queen’s men lost their last shred of claim to a livery on Elizabeth’s death, they made an attempt still to hold together under the patronage of Lennox. John Shank was once a Queen’s man.
xiv. THE EARL OF ARUNDEL’S MEN
Henry Fitzalan, 12th Earl of Arundel; nat. c. 1511; m. (1) Katherine, d. of Thomas Grey, Marquis of Dorset, before 1532, (2) Mary, Countess of Sussex, d. of Sir John Arundel, after 1542; succ. Jan. 1544; Lord Chamberlain, 1544; Lord Steward, 1553, and again 1558–64; ob. 24 Feb. 1580.
Philip Howard, 13th Earl of Arundel, s. of Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, attainted 1572, and Mary, d. and h. of 12th Earl; nat. 28 June 1557; m. Anne, d. of Thomas, Lord Dacre, 1571; succ. Feb. 1580; sent to Tower, 25 Apr. 1585, and ob. there, 19 Oct. 1595.
The Earls of Arundel had players as far back as the fifteenth century.[331] The 12th Earl entertained Elizabeth with a mask at Nonsuch on 5 August 1559. He had players, who were rewarded by the Duchess of Suffolk, apparently during a London visit, in December 1561. The 13th Earl had a company in 1584. It was in London when plays were suppressed in June, and obediently submitted. It seems to have been located at the Curtain. It can be traced at Ipswich on 1 July, at Leicester before 29 September, at Aldeburgh in 1583–4, at Norwich in 1585–6, and thereafter no more.
xv. THE EARL OF HERTFORD’S MEN
Edward Seymour, s. of Edward, Protector and 1st and attainted Duke of Somerset; nat. 25 May 1539; cr. Earl of Hertford, 13 Jan. 1559; m. (1) Lady Catherine Grey, d. of Henry, Duke of Suffolk, c. Nov. 1560, (2) Frances, d. of William, 1st Lord Howard of Effingham, before 1582, (3) Frances, d. of Thomas, Lord Howard of Bindon and widow of Henry Pranell, Dec. 1600; ob. 6 Apr. 1621.
These are among the most obscure of the companies. They appeared at Canterbury in 1582, Faversham in 1586, Newcastle in October 1590, Leicester on 22 November 1590, and Bath, Marlborough, and Southampton in 1591–2. During the progress of 1591 Elizabeth was entertained from 20 to 24 September by the Earl at Elvetham in Hampshire ‘beeing none of the Earles chiefe mansion houses’ (cf. ch. xxiv). This was really a visit of reconciliation, for much of Hertford’s life had been spent in disgrace, owing to his first marriage with the heiress, under Henry VIII’s will, to Elizabeth’s throne. The entertainment was very elaborate, and at its close Elizabeth protested to the Earl that it was so honourable ‘as hereafter he should find the rewarde thereof in her especiall favour’. No doubt Hertford’s players took a part, and shared the ‘largesse’ which she bestowed upon the ‘actors’ of the pastimes before she departed. I think it must have also been their success on this occasion which earned them their only appearance at Court, on the following 6 January 1592. I have elsewhere tried to show that there is a special connexion between this Elvetham entertainment and A Midsummer-Night’s Dream,[332] and if any special company is satirized in Bottom and his fellows, I feel sure that it must have been the Earl of Hertford’s and not, as Mr. Fleay thinks, the Earl of Sussex’s.[333]
Probably the company went under in the plague of 1592–4, and in 1595 Hertford was again in disgrace for presuming so far upon his favour as to claim a declaration of the validity of his first marriage. But there were players under his name at Coventry in 1596–7, at Ipswich in 1600–1, and on 8 May 1602, at Norwich in 1601, and at Bath in 1601–2, and this company appeared at Court on 6 January 1603. Their payee was Martin Slater, formerly of the Admiral’s, and since then, possibly, an associate of Laurence Fletcher in his Scottish tours. In 1604–5 they were at Norwich. In 1606 they visited Leicester, on 9 July Oxford, and on 2 December the Earl of Derby wrote to the Mayor of Chester to bespeak for them the use of the town-hall. In 1606–7 they were at Coventry.