1633. March 16. Warrant to pay £270 to John Lowen, Joseph Taylor, and Eilliard Swanston, His Majesty's Comedians, for plays by them acted before His Majesty, viz.—£20 for the rehearsal of one at the Cockpit, by which means they lost their afternoon at their house....[669]
1634. Bussy d'Amboise was played by the King's Players on Easter-Monday night, at the Cockpit-in-Court.[670]
1634. The Pastorall was played by the King's Players on Easter-Tuesday night, at the Cockpit-in-Court.[671]
1635. 10 May. A warrant for £30 unto Mons. Josias Floridor, for himself and the rest of the French players for three plays acted by them at the Cockpit.[672]
1635. 10 Decemr.—A warrant for £100 to the Prince's Comedians,—viz. £60 for three plays acted at Hampton Court, at £20 for each play, in September and October, 1634. And £40 for four plays at Whitehall and [query "at">[ the Cockpit in January, February, and May following, at £10 for each play.[673]
1636. The first and second part of Arviragus and Philicia were acted at the Cockpit before the King and Queen, the Prince, and Prince Elector, the 18 and 19 April, 1636, being Monday and Tuesday in Easter week.[674]
Other similar allusions to performance in the Cockpit might be cited from the Court records. One more will suffice—the most interesting of all, since it shows how frequently the little theatre was employed for the entertainment of the royal family. It is a bill presented by the Blackfriars Company, the King's Men, for Court performances during the year 1637. This bill was discovered and reproduced in facsimile by George R. Wright, F.S.A., in The Journal of the British Archæological Association for 1860; but it was wholly misunderstood by its discoverer, who regarded it as drawn up by the company of players that "performed at the Cockpit in Drury Lane." He was indeed somewhat puzzled by the reference to the Blackfriars Playhouse, but met the difficulty by saying: "There can be little doubt that the last-named theatre was lent for the occasion to the Cockpit Company," although he suggests no reason for this strange borrowing of a theatre by a troupe that possessed a house of its own, and much nearer the Court, too. It did not even occur to him, it seems, to inquire how the Cockpit Company secured the plays which we know belonged to Shakespeare's old company. Because of these obvious difficulties scholars have looked upon the document with suspicion, and apparently have treated it as a forgery.[675] But that it is genuine is indicated by the history of "The Cockpit-in-Court" as sketched above, and is proved beyond any question by the fact that the Office-Book of the Lord Chamberlain shows that the bill was paid:
12th March 1638 [9].—Forasmuch as His Majesty's Servants, the company at the Blackfriars, have by special command, at divers times within the space of this present year 1638, acted 24 plays before His Majesty, six whereof have been performed at Hampton-court and Richmond, by means whereof they were not only at the loss of their day at home, but at extraordinary charges by traveling and carriage of their goods, in consideration whereof they are to have £20 apiece for those plays, and £10 apiece for the other 18 acted at Whitehall, which in the whole amounted to the sum of £300.—These are therefore to pray and require you out of His Majesty's treasure in your charge to pay....[676]
A photographic facsimile of this interesting document may be seen in The Journal of the British Archæological Association, already referred to; but for the convenience of those who do not read Elizabethan script with ease, I have reproduced it in type [facsimile] on page 404.
