[252] "Id cuius intersignium est cygnus (vulgo te theatre off te cijn)." Mr. Wallace proposes to emend the last clause to read: "te theatre off te cijn off te Swan," thus making "cijn" mean "sign"; but is not this Flemish, and does not "cijn" mean "Swan"?
[253] It is commonly thought that De Witt was wrong in stating that the Swan was built of flint stones. Possibly the plaster exterior deceived him; or possibly in his memory he confused this detail of the building with the exterior of the church of St. Mary Overies, which was indeed built of "a mass of flint stones." On the other hand, the long life of the building after it had ceased to be of use might indicate that it was built of stones.
[254] Discovered by Mr. Wallace and printed in Englische Studien (1911), xliii, 340-95. These documents have done much to clear up the history of the Swan and the Rose in the year 1597.
[255] I cannot agree with Mr. Wallace that Langley induced these players to desert Henslowe, secured for them the patronage of Pembroke, and thus was himself responsible for the organization of the Pembroke Company.
[256] For an account of The Isle of Dogs see E.K. Chambers, Modern Language Review (1909), iv, 407, 511; R.B. McKerrow, The Works of Thomas Nashe, v, 29; and especially the important article by Mr. Wallace in Englische Studien already referred to.
[257] Nashes Lenten Stuffe (1599), ed. McKerrow, iii, 153.
[258] Dasent, Acts of the Privy Council, xxvii, 313. Possibly the other public playhouses were suppressed along with the Swan in response to the petition presented to the Council on July 28, (i.e. on the same day) by the Lord Mayor and Aldermen requesting the "final suppressing of the said stage plays, as well at the Theatre, Curtain, and Bankside as in all other places in and about the city." See The Malone Society's Collections, i, 78.
[259] In a marginal gloss to Nashes Lenten Stuffe (1599), ed. McKerrow, iii, 154, Nashe says: "I having begun but the induction and first act of it, the other four acts without my consent or the best guess of my drift or scope, by the players were supplied, which bred both their trouble and mine too."
[260] The identity of the three players is revealed in an order of the Privy Council dated October 8, 1597: "A warrant to the Keeper of the Marshalsea to release Gabriel Spencer and Robert Shaw, stage-players, out of prison, who were of late committed to his custody. The like warrant for the releasing of Benjamin Jonson." (Dasent, Acts of the Privy Council, xxviii, 33.)
[261] Such a copy was formerly preserved in a volume of miscellaneous manuscripts at Alnwick Castle, but has not come down to modern times. See F.J. Burgoyne, Northumberland Manuscripts (London, 1904).