One of the paragraphs in the account of the subsequent lawsuit between
Allen and the Burbages gives a very vivid idea of this remarkable
removal. Allen accuses Cuthbert Burbage of "unlawfully combininge and
confederatinge himselfe with the sayd Richard Burbage, and one Peter
Streat, William Smyth and divers other persons, to the number of twelve,
to your subject unknowne, did aboute the eight and twentyth daye of
December in the one and fortyth yeere of your Highnes raygne (1598)
ryotouslye assemble themselves together, and then and there armed
themselves with dyvers and manye unlawfull and offensive weapons, as,
namelye, swordes, daggers, billes, axes, and such like, and so armed,
did then repayre unto the sayd Theatre, and then and there, armed as
aforesayd, in verye ryotous, outragious and forcyble manner, and
contrarye to the lawes of your highnes realme, attempted to pull down
the sayd Theatre, whereupon divers of your subjectes, servauntes, and
farmers, there goinge aboute in peaceable manner to procure them to
desist from that their unlawfull enterpryse, they the sayd ryotous
persons aforesayd notwithstanding procured then therein with greate
vyolence, not only then and there forcyblye and ryotouslye resisting
your subjectes, servauntes, and farmers, but also then and there
pulling, breaking, and throwing downe the sayd Theatre in verye
outragious, violent, and riotous sort, to the great disturbance and
terrefyeing not onlye of your subjectes sayd servauntes and farmers, but
of divers others of your Majesties loving subjectes there neere
inhabitinge; and having so done, did then alsoe in most forcible and
ryotous manner take and carrye away from thence all the wood and timber
thereof, unto the Bancksyde in the parishe of St. Marye Overyes, and
there erected a newe playehouse with the sayd timber and wood."
Such was the end of the first short-lived London playhouse. But the new
house, which was built out of its materials on the "Bankside," was the
celebrated "Globe," the name of which is inseparably connected with that
of Shakespeare.
As we said above, James Burbage, the creator of The Theatre, belonged to
the company which played under the patronage of Lord Leicester, and
therefore went under the name of "Lord Leicester's Servants" or "Men."
The four other actors, who in 1574 received a royal license to act from
Queen Elizabeth, were John Perkin, John Lanham, William Jonson, and
Robert Wilson.
While James Burbage was no doubt the leader of the company, Robert
Wilson is supposed to have been its chief actor, at all events of comic
parts, and he was the only one among the five who was also a dramatic
author. Under his name, but after his death, Cuthbert Burbage published,
in 1594, _The Prophecy of the Cobbler_; and among anonymous plays the
following are ascribed to him: _Fair Eve, The Miller's Daughter from
Manchester, The Three Ladies of London_, etc.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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