Canbury, 12 August, 1626.
Apparently some very influential person was urging the passage of the bill. But the scheme soon evoked the bitter opposition of the various troupes of players, and of the owners of the various theatres and other places of amusement. An echo of the quarrel is found in Marmion's Holland's Leaguer, ii, iii:
Twill dead all my device in making matches,
My plots of architecture, and erecting
New amphitheatres to draw custom
From playhouses once a week, and so pull
A curse upon my head from the poor scoundrels.[691]
The "poor scoundrels"—i.e., the players—seem to have caused the authorities to examine the bill more closely; and on September 28, 1626, the Lord Keeper sent to Lord Conway a second letter in which he condemned the measure in strong terms:[692]
My Lord,—According to His Majesty's good pleasure, which I received from your lordship, I have considered of the grant desired by John Williams and Thomas Dixon for building an Amphitheatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields; and comparing it with that which was propounded in King James his time, do find much difference between them: for that former was intended principally for martiall exercises, and extraordinary shows, and solemnities for ambassadors and persons of honor and quality, with a cessation from other shows and sports for one day in a month only, upon 14 days' warning: whereas by this new grant I see little probability of anything to be used but common plays, or ordinary sports now used or showed at the Bear Garden or the common playhouses about London, for all sorts of beholders, with a restraint to all other plays and shows for one day in the week upon two days' warning: with liberty to erect their buildings in Lincoln's Inn Fields, where there are too many buildings already; and which place in the late King's time upon a petition exhibited by the Prince's comedians for setting up a playhouse there, was certified by eleven Justices of Peace under their hands to be very inconvenient. And therefore, not holding this new grant fit to pass, as being no other in effect but to translate the playhouses and Bear Garden from the Bankside to a place much more unfit, I thought fit to give your lordship these reasons for it; wherewithal you may please to acquaint His Majesty, if there shall be cause. And so remain your lordship's very assured friend to do you service,
Tho. Coventrye.
Canbury, 28 Sept., 1626.
Lo. Conway.
On the letter Lord Conway has written the indorsement: "That it is unfit the grant for the Amphitheatre should passe." And such, no doubt, was the ultimate decision of the Privy Council, for we hear nothing more of the project.