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
A picture of the building is to be seen in the Hondius _View of
London_, 1610 (see page 149), and in the small inset views from the
title-pages of Holland's _Her[Greek: o]ologia_, 1620, and Baker's
_Chronicle_, 1643 (see page 147), all three of which probably go back
to a view of London made between 1587 and 1597, and now lost. Another
representation of the structure is to be seen in the Delaram portrait
of King James, along with the Rose and the Globe (see opposite page
246). The best representation of the building, however, is in
Visscher's _View of London_ (see page 127), printed in 1616, but drawn
several years earlier.[188]
[Footnote 188: For a fuller discussion of these various maps and views
see pages 146, 248, and 328. Norden's map of 1594 (see page 147)
merely indicates the site of the building.]
Although we are not directly concerned with the history of the Bear
Garden,[189] a few descriptions of "the royal game of bears, bulls,
and dogs" drawn from contemporary sources will be of interest and of
specific value for the discussion of the Hope Playhouse--itself both a
bear garden and a theatre.
[Footnote 189: For such a history the reader is referred to Ordish,
_Early London Theatres_; Greg, _Henslowe's Diary_, II, and _Henslowe
Papers_; Young, _The History of Dulwich College_; Rendle, _The
Bankside_, and _The Playhouses at Bankside_.]
Robert Laneham, in his _Description of the Entertainment at
Kenilworth_ (1575), writes thus of a baiting of bears before the
Queen:
Well, syr, the Bearz wear brought foorth intoo the Coourt,
the dogs set too them.... It was a Sport very pleazaunt of
theez beastz; to see the bear with his pink nyez leering
after hiz enemiez approoch, the nimbleness & wayt of ye dog
to take his auauntage, and the fors & experiens of the bear
agayn to auoyd the assauts: if he war bitten in one place,
how he woold pynch in an oother to get free: that if he wear
taken onez, then what shyft, with byting, with clawing, with
rooring, tossing, & tumbling he woold woork to wynd hym self
from them: and when he waz lose, to shake his earz tywse or
thryse, wyth the blud and the slauer aboout his fiznomy, waz
a matter of a goodly releef.
John Houghton, in his _Collection for Improvement of Husbandry and
Trade_,[190] gives a vivid account of the baiting of the bull. He
says:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account