[242] The sale took the form of a lease for one thousand years.
[243] The Malone Society's Collections, i, 74-76.
[244] The swan was not uncommon as a sign, especially along the river; for example, it was the sign of one of the famous brothels on the Bankside, as Stow informs us.
[245] Quoted in Rye, England as Seen by Foreigners, p. 183.
[246] Reproduced by Rendle, The Bankside, Southwark, and the Globe Playhouse.
[247] Stow's original manuscript (Harl. MSS., 544), quoted by Collier, History of English Dramatic Poetry (1879), iii, 96, note 3. The text of the edition of 1598 differs very slightly.
[248] Apparently he allowed Van Buchell to transcribe the description and the rough pen-sketch from his notebook or traveler's diary.
[249] This interesting document was discovered by Dr. Karl T. Gaedertz, and published in full in Zur Kenntnis der altenglischen Bühne (Bremen, 1888).
[250] "Viâ quâ itur per Episcopalem portam vulgariter Biscopgate nuncupatam."
[251] "Theatrorum."