As it hath bin lately acted by the right
Honourable the Earle of Darby his
seruants.
LONDON
Printed by Simon Stafford for Nathaniel Butter,
and are to be sold at his shop in Paules Church-yard,
neere S. Austens gate. 1605.
(Original Image)
Edward Allen, as servant to the Lord High Admiral, figures at the head of this list. Whether the custom permitted an actor attaching himself to two different companies has not been satisfactorily explained, although in this instance the evidence is quite clear.
During the year Lord Strange became the Earl of Derby, and by that name the company is recorded in the municipal documents of Coventry and Leicester. Under this title his name appears in print, and that on the title page of “Titus and Andronicus,” published in 1594, as acted by the Right Honourable the Earl of Derby, Earl of Pembroke, and Earl of Sussex, their servants. Once only the Earl of Derby’s name figures alone, and that is on the title page of a play called “The Trial of Chivalry,” by the Right Honourable the Earl of Derby, his Servants, 1605.