[152] The date from which the lease was made to run.
[153] It is usually said that he converted the entire seven rooms into his theatre, but that seems highly unlikely. The northern section was 46 x 26 feet, the southern section 110 x 22—absurd dimensions for an auditorium. Moreover, that Farrant originally planned to use only the northern section is indicated by his request to be allowed to "pull down one partition and so make two rooms—one." The portion not used for the playhouse he rented; in 1580, we are told, he let "two parcels thereof to two several persons."
[154] M. Feuillerat, I think, is wrong in supposing that there was a gallery. He deduces no proof for his contention, and the evidence is against him.
[155] There must have been two stairways leading to the upper rooms; I have assumed that playgoers used Neville's stairs to reach the theatre.
[156] I suspect that the theatre gave greater offense to More himself than it did to any one else, for it adjoined his home, and the audience made use of the private passage which led from Water Lane to his mansion. Unquestionably he suffered worse than any one else both from the noise and the crowds.
[157] Wallace, The Evolution of the English Drama, p. 163.
[158] Wallace, The Evolution of the English Drama, p. 153.
[159] More had "refused to accept any rent but conditionally." Probably he refused written consent to the sublease for the same reason.
[160] Wallace, The Evolution of the English Drama, p. 154.
[161] The letter is printed in full by Mr. Wallace in The Evolution of the English Drama, p. 158. Mr. Wallace, however, misdates it. It was not written until after More had "recovered it [the lease] against Evans."