Page:The Elizabethan stage (Volume 4).pdf/155

 and refers to Henry but not to the Queen as present. He also paid for one play by the King's men before Henry, of which he does not give the date, and which may be that of 13 Jan. Both records note a play by the Duke of York's men on 24 Feb., but while the Revels list does not indicate that James was absent, the Treasurer treats the performance as one before the royal children only. I do not know that all this is beyond the blundering of the clerks concerned, especially perhaps the Clerk of the Revels, at a time when the functions of the office in relation to court plays had become trivial. On the other hand, I am not clear that plays ordered by the Queen and paid for out of her privy purse, instead of by the Treasurer of the Chamber, may not sometimes have been produced under Revels Office auspices; if so, some of the discrepancies might be thus accounted for. But obviously the facts necessitate some caution in the use of the 1611-12 list.

ABSTRACT OF PAYMENTS

I now give in tabular form an abstract of all entries in the Chamber and Revels accounts, which enable us to establish the succession of court performances during 1558-1616. These are arranged under years running from Michaelmas to Michaelmas. Four columns are devoted to the Chamber Accounts. Col. 1 records the dates of the performances, as recorded in the Declared Accounts. Any correction or closer information as to date derivable from other sources is added in square brackets. For the Jacobean period I also show the personages before whom the performances were given, K. standing for James, Q. for Anne, H. for Henry, C. for Charles, E. for the Princess Elizabeth, and F. for the Elector Palatine. Col. 2 contains the verbatim descriptions in the accounts of the companies performing and their payees, and in a very few cases of the nature of the performances. A few miscellaneous entries are inserted in this column. Probably an exhaustive examination of the records of the subordinate royal households during 1603-16 might enable a few additions to be made. It is also possible that an occasional play, perhaps on a progress, may have been rewarded out of the Privy Purse. But the main series of performances provided for the regular winter 'solace' of the sovereign appears to be fairly complete. Col. 3 shows the amounts of the rewards. Col. 4 adds the dates of the warrants for payment as given in the Declared Accounts and in brackets the places where they were made out, W. for Westminster, H. for Hampton Court, G. for Greenwich, R. for Richmond, J. for St. James's, Wi. for Windsor. I add references to the parallel extracts of Cunningham from the Original Chamber Accounts (C.), and to the notes of the signing of warrants in the Privy Council Register (D.) where these exist. A fifth column, for certain years, adds the relevant extracts from such Revels Accounts as survive. The references are to Feuillerat's edition. Any discrepancies of importance between Chamber, Privy Council, and Revels records are dealt with in foot-notes. The variant dates of warrants in the ill-kept Privy Council Register are not important.