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 Admiral's, all in turn played The Jew of Malta leads to a strong suspicion that it was Henslowe's property and placed by him at the disposal of any company that might from time to time be occupying his theatre.

The Rose was what is now known as a 'repertory' house. A very successful play might be repeated on the night after its first production or revival, or in the course of the same week. But as a rule one performance a week was the limit, and after a play had been on the boards a few weeks, the intervals between its appearances rapidly became greater. ''The Wise Man of West Chester'', which was presented thirty-two times between December 1594 and July 1597, had a longer life than any other new play during the three years. Next came A Knack to Know an Honest Man, with twenty-one performances in two years, 1 Seven Days of the Week, with twenty-one performances in fifteen months, and The Blind Beggar of Alexandria, with twenty-two performances in fourteen months. Belin Dun, although not continuously upon the stage for long together, achieved with the aid of its revival a total of twenty-four performances. The only other new plays, that outlived a year, were 2 Godfrey of Bulloigne and A Toy to Please Chaste Ladies. Even such highly successful plays as 1 and 2 Hercules ceased to be heard of after six months. The usual run of a play was anything from six to seventeen nights, but sixteen plays failed to obtain even such a run, and several plays, which apparently did well enough on the first night, were not repeated at all. As a rule the first night of a play brought Henslowe the highest returns; but this was by no means invariably the case, and the success of any play, which held the boards for as many as six nights, can perhaps best be measured by its average returns. By far the most fortunate was The Comedy of Humours which averaged 53s. for the eleven nights available before the summer season of 1597 closed. Next came 1 and 2 Hercules with 42s. and 43s. respectively, 1 Seven Days of the Week with 35s., and The Wise Man of West Chester with 34s. On the other hand the average of Henry I was no more than 19s. and that of the second French Comedy no more than 16s. The highest individual returns were those from the first nights of 1 and 2 Hercules, 2 Godfrey of Bulloigne, and ''1 Seven Days of the Week, which yielded 73s., 70s., 71s., and 70s.'' respectively, and that from the sixth night of the Comedy of Humours, which was also 70s. The booking for this play shows a curious progress, being 43s., 55s., 58s., 64s., 66s., 70s., for the first six nights. Similarly The Wise Man of West Chester, which began with a bad first night of 33s.,