The last fling at Burbage is quite gratuitous; yet it is probably true that the main costs of erecting the playhouse fell upon the shoulders of Brayne. The evidence is contradictory; some persons assert that Burbage paid half the cost of the building,[54] others that Brayne paid nearly all,[55] and still others content themselves with saying that Brayne paid considerably more than half. The last statement may be accepted as true. The assertion of Gyles Alleyn in 1601, that the Theatre was "erected at the costs and charges of one Brayne and not of the said James Burbage, to the value of one thousand marks,"[56] is doubtless incorrect; more correct is the assertion of Robert Myles, executor of the Widow Brayne's will, in 1597: "The said John Brayne did join with the said James [Burbage] in the building aforesaid, and did expend thereupon greater sums than the said James, that is to say, at least five or six hundred pounds."[57] Since there is evidence that the playhouse ultimately cost about L700,[58] we might hazard the guess that of this sum Brayne furnished about L500,[59] and Burbage about L200. To equalize the expenditure it was later agreed that "the said Brayne should take and receive all the rents and profits of the said Theatre to his own use until he should be answered such sums of money which he had laid out for and upon the same Theatre more than the said Burbage had done."[60] [Footnote 54: Wallace, _op. cit._, pp. 213, 217, 263, 265, _et al._] [Footnote 55: Wallace, _op. cit._, pp. 137, 141, 142, 148, 153.] [Footnote 56: Alleyn _v._ Burbage, Star Chamber Proceedings, 1601-02; printed by Wallace, _op. cit._, p. 277.] [Footnote 57: Myles _v._ Burbage and Alleyn, 1597; printed by Wallace, _op. cit._, p. 159; cf. pp. 263, 106, 152.] [Footnote 58: See Wallace, _op. cit._, p. 277.] [Footnote 59: This agrees with the claim of Brayne's widow.] [Footnote 60: Wallace, _op. cit._, p. 120.] But if Burbage at the outset was "nothing able to contribute any" great sum of ready money towards the building of the first playhouse, he did contribute other things equally if not more important. In the first place, he conceived the idea, and he carried it as far towards realization as his means allowed. In the second place, he planned the building--its stage as well as its auditorium--to meet the special demands of the actors and the comfort of the audience. This called for bold originality and for ingenuity of a high order, for, it must be remembered, he had no model to study--he was designing the first structure of its kind in England.[61] For this task he was well prepared. In the first place, he was an actor of experience; in the second place, he was the manager of one of the most important troupes in England; and, in the third place, he was by training and early practice a carpenter and builder. In other words, he had exact knowledge of what was needed, and the practical skill to meet those needs.