The stay of the Red Bull Company at the Fortune was not happy. Towards the end of 1635 the plague was seriously interfering with their performance of plays;[467] and on May 10, 1636, the Privy Council closed all theatres, and kept them closed, except for a few days, until October 2, 1637.[468] This long inhibition not only impoverished the actors and drove them into the country, but came near ruining the lessees of the Fortune, who, having no revenue from the playhouse, could not make their quarterly payments to the College. On September 4, 1637, the Court of Assistants at Dulwich noted that the lessees were behind in their rent to the extent of L132 12_s._ 11_d._; "and," the court adds, "there will be a quarter's rent more at Michaelmas next [i.e., in twenty-five days], which is doubted will be also unpaid, amounting to L33 1_s._ 4_d._"[469] The excuse of the lessees for their failure to pay was the "restraint from playing."[470] [Footnote 467: Young, _The History of Dulwich College_, I, 114.] [Footnote 468: The Malone Society's _Collections_, I, 391, 392; Malone, _Variorum_, III, 239.] [Footnote 469: Young, _The History of Dulwich College_, I, 114.] [Footnote 470: The College appealed to the Lord Keeper, who on January 26 ordered the payment of the sum. But two years later, February, 1640, we find the College again petitioning the Lord Keeper to order the lessees of the Fortune property to pay an arrearage of L104 14_s._ 5_d._ See Collier, _The Alleyn Papers_, pp. 95-98.] This "restraint" was removed on October 2, 1637, and the players resumed their performances at the Fortune. But in the early summer of 1639 they fell victims to another bit of ill luck even more serious than their long inhibition. In a letter of Edmond Rossingham, dated May 8, 1639, we read: "Thursday last the players of the Fortune were fined L1000 for setting up an altar, a bason, and two candlesticks, and bowing down before it upon the stage; and although they allege it was an old play revived, and an altar to the heathen gods, yet it was apparent that this play was revived on purpose in contempt of the ceremonies of the Church."[471] [Footnote 471: Printed in _The Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, 1639_, p. 140.] During the Easter period, 1640, the players returned to their old quarters at the Red Bull. After their unhappy experiences at the Fortune they were apparently glad to occupy again their former home. The event is celebrated in a Prologue entitled _Upon the Removing of the Late Fortune Players to the Bull_, written by John Tatham, and printed in _Fancies Theatre_ (1640):[472] Here, gentlemen, our anchor's fixt; and we Disdaining _Fortune's_ mutability, Expect your kind acceptance. [Footnote 472: The Prologue is printed in full by Malone, _Variorum_, III, 79.]