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 inconvenient on so small a stage. And, as it certainly originated at the public houses, so it maintained itself there, in spite of the grumbles of the ordinary spectators, with whose view of the action the throng of feathered and restless gallants necessarily interfered. It may have been profitable to the actors as sharers, but as actors they resented the restriction of the space available for their movements which it entailed. The prologue to Jonson's The Devil is an Ass


 * [Footnote: K. B. P. (1607), ind. 41:  Wife below Rafe below.

Wife. Husband, shall I come vp husband?

Citizen. I cunny. Rafe helpe your mistresse this way: pray gentlemen make her a little roome, I pray you sir lend me your hand to helpe vp my wife Boy, let my wife and I haue a cupple stooles Come vp Rafe.

It must not be assumed from this burlesque that women usually sat on the stage, even at the private houses.]*