The palace of Whitehall, anciently called York House, and the home of thirty successive Archbishops of York, was seized by King Henry VIII at the fall of Wolsey and converted into a royal residence.[660] The new proprietor at once made improvements after his own taste, among which were tennis-courts, bowling-alleys, and an amphitheatre for the "royal sport" of cock-fighting. In Stow's description of the palace we read: On the right hand be diverse fair tennis courts, bowling alleys, and a Cockpit, all built by King Henry the Eight. [Footnote 660: Shakespeare writes (_Henry VIII_, IV, i, 94-97): Sir you Must no more call it York-place, that is past; For since the Cardinal fell, that title's lost: 'Tis now the King's, and called Whitehall.] Strype, in his edition of Stow's _Survey_ (1720), adds the information that the Cockpit was made "out of certain old tenements."[661] It is pictured in Agas's _Map of London_ (1570), and more clearly in Faithorne's _Map_ (see page 390), printed in 1658, but apparently representing the city at an earlier date. [Footnote 661: Book VI, page 6.] During the reign of Elizabeth the Cockpit, so far as I can ascertain, was never used for plays. In the voluminous documents relating to the Office of the Revels there is only one reference to the building: in 1572 flowers were temporarily stored there that were to be used for decking the "Banketting House." It was during the reign of King James that the Cockpit began to be used for dramatic representations. John Chamberlain writes from London to Sir Ralph Winwood, December 18, 1604: "Here is great provision for Cockpit to entertain him [the King] at home, and of masques and revels against the marriage of Sir Herbert and Lady Susan Vere."[662] Since, however, King James was very fond of cock-fighting, it may be that Chamberlain was referring to that royal entertainment rather than to plays. The small Cockpit was certainly a very unusual place for the formal presentation of plays before His Majesty and the Court. [Footnote 662: _Winwood State Papers_ (1725), II, 41.] But the young Prince Henry, whose official residence was in St. James's Palace, often had private or semi-private performances of plays in the Cockpit. In the rolls of the expenses of the Prince we find the following records:[663] For making ready the Cockpit four several times for plays, by the space of four days, in the month of December, 1610, L2 10_s._ 8_d._ For making ready the Cockpit for plays two several times, by the space of four days, in the months of January and February, 1611, 70_s._ 8_d._ For making ready the Cockpit for a play, by the space of two days, in the month of December, 1611, 30_s._ 4_d._ [Footnote 663: See Cunningham, _Extracts from the Accounts of the Revels_, pp. xiii-xiv.]