The plot of England’s Joy, specially photographed for this book, from the original, with kind permission of the Society of Antiquaries.
In the fifth paragraph of this most interesting programme of “England’s Joy” appears the name of Lopus, or more correctly Lopez. This name opens up a wide field of controversy, for the bearer was a Jew, and English historians aver that since the expulsion of that race in 1290, no Jew set foot on English soil until the time of Cromwell, over 350 years later than the first and only exodus. There can be no doubt that a certain number of Jews visited these shores, and a few settled here and made it their permanent home. This Lopez was a celebrated Jewish physician, and was honoured by being elected house surgeon to St. Bartholomew’s Hospital; afterwards he became physician to Queen Elizabeth. After many years’ residence in this country he was arrested on suspicion of being implicated In a plot to poison the Queen; he was duly tried, convicted and sentenced to be hanged, which sentence a few months later was carried out at Tyburn. According to Camden, the learned antiquarian, Lopez’s last words on the scaffold were that he loved the Queen as much as he did Jesus Christ, which naturally leads one to the assumption that he must have been a converted Jew and have forsaken the faith of his fathers, or else Camden may have invented this dying confession in order to show that some Jews believed in the Christian religion.
Either the Rose Theatre or the First Globe Theatre.
When the Swan Theatre was sold it realized the sum of £1,873. A view of the exterior of the theatre is depicted in Visscher’s Map of London, 1616. The old theatre is marked on the Map of the Manor, dated 1627.
This sketch of the interior of the Swan Theatre, dated circa 1596, important as it is, must not be taken too literally; many discrepancies can be detected when compared with our knowledge of the contemporary stage. Especially noticeable is the bareness of the stage, and lack of all signs of any suggestion of a curtain, which, judging by directions in old plays, was a most important feature. Also be it remembered that the Swan playhouse was not typically a playgoers’ theatre, being devoted chiefly to feats of activity and other pastimes.
THE GLOBE THEATRE
The last theatre built on the Bankside was the most famous of all, namely, the Globe. On the stage of this theatre the greatest of the Shakesperean plays were first acted; here Shakespeare followed the actor’s calling, covering a period of ten years.