Shakespearean Playhouses: A History of English Theatres from the Beginnings to the RestorationAdams, Joseph Quincy
History
Shakespearean Playhouses: A History of English Theatres from the Beginnings to the Restoration
Adams, Joseph Quincy
Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Stage history -- To 1625; Theaters -- England -- London -- History
Before the expiration of two years, or in the early summer of 1578,
Burbage and Brayne began to quarrel about the division of the money
which fell to their share. Brayne apparently thought that he should at
once be indemnified for all the money he had expended on the playhouse
in excess of Burbage; and he accused Burbage of "indirect
dealing"--there were even whispers of "a secret key" to the "common
box" in which the money was kept.[71] Finally they agreed to "submit
themselves to the order and arbitrament of certain persons for the
pacification thereof," and together they went to the shop of a notary
public to sign a bond agreeing to abide by the decision of the
arbitrators. There they "fell a reasoning together," in the course of
which Brayne asserted that he had disbursed in the Theatre "three
times at the least as much more as the sum then disbursed by the said
James Burbage." In the end Brayne unwisely hinted at "ill dealing" on
the part of Burbage, whereupon "Burbage did there strike him with his
fist, and so they went together by the ears, in so much," says the
notary, "that this deponent could hardly part them." After they were
parted, they signed a bond of L200 to abide by the decision of the
arbitrators. The arbitrators, John Hill and Richard Turnor, "men of
great honesty and credit," held their sessions "in the Temple church,"
whither they summoned witnesses. Finally, on July 12, 1578, after
"having thoroughly heard" both sides, they awarded that the profits
from the Theatre should be used first to pay the debts upon the
building, then to pay Brayne the money he had expended in excess of
Burbage, and thereafter to be shared "in divident equally between
them."[72] These conditions, however, were not observed, and the
failure to observe them led to much subsequent discord.
[Footnote 71: Wallace, _op. cit._, pp. 142, 148.]
[Footnote 72: For the history of this quarrel, and for other details
of the award see Wallace, _op. cit._, pp. 102, 119, 138, 142, 143,
148, 152.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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