Strype, in his edition of Stow's Survey (1720), adds the information that the Cockpit was made "out of certain old tenements."[661] It is pictured in Agas's Map of London (1570), and more clearly in [Faithorne's Map] (see page [390]), printed in 1658, but apparently representing the city at an earlier date.
During the reign of Elizabeth the Cockpit, so far as I can ascertain, was never used for plays. In the voluminous documents relating to the Office of the Revels there is only one reference to the building: in 1572 flowers were temporarily stored there that were to be used for decking the "Banketting House."
It was during the reign of King James that the Cockpit began to be used for dramatic representations. John Chamberlain writes from London to Sir Ralph Winwood, December 18, 1604: "Here is great provision for Cockpit to entertain him [the King] at home, and of masques and revels against the marriage of Sir Herbert and Lady Susan Vere."[662] Since, however, King James was very fond of cock-fighting, it may be that Chamberlain was referring to that royal entertainment rather than to plays. The small Cockpit was certainly a very unusual place for the formal presentation of plays before His Majesty and the Court.
But the young Prince Henry, whose official residence was in St. James's Palace, often had private or semi-private performances of plays in the Cockpit. In the rolls of the expenses of the Prince we find the following records:[663]
For making ready the Cockpit four several times for plays, by the space of four days, in the month of December, 1610, £2 10s. 8d.
For making ready the Cockpit for plays two several times, by the space of four days, in the months of January and February, 1611, 70s. 8d.
For making ready the Cockpit for a play, by the space of two days, in the month of December, 1611, 30s. 4d.
The building obviously, was devoted for the most part to other purposes, and had to be "made ready" for plays at a considerable expense. Nor was the Prince the only one who took advantage of its small amphitheatre. John Chamberlain, in a letter to Sir Dudley Carleton on September 22, 1612, describing the reception accorded to the Count Palatine by the Lady Elizabeth, writes: "On Tuesday she sent to invite him as he sat at supper to a play of her own servants in the Cockpit."[664]
It is clear, then, that at times throughout the reign of James dramatic performances were given in the Cockpit; but the auditorium was small, and the performances must have been of a semi-private nature. The important Court performances, to which many guests were invited, were held in the Great Hall.
In the reign of the next sovereign, however, a change came about. In the year 1632 or 1633, as well as I am able to judge with the evidence at command, King Charles reconstructed the old Cockpit into a "new theatre at Whitehall," which from henceforth was almost exclusively used for Court performances. The opening of this "new theatre royal" is celebrated by a Speech from the pen of Thomas Heywood: