' thatch. The theatre was rebuilt in the following spring 'with a tiled roof, and, according to Howe's MS., quoted 'by Collier in his life of Shakespeare, "at the great "charge of King James and many noblemen and others." 'Ben Jonson styled the new theatre "the glory of the "Bank and the fort of the whole parish."

'The Globe Theatre was pulled down in 1644 by Sir 'Matthew Brand, with the view to tenements being ' erected on its site, a portion of which is at the present day occupied by Barclay and Perkins's brewery.'

Inside, a balcony ran round three sides of the building, which was reserved for the better portion of the public, at prices ranging from sixpence to half-a-crown; at some theatres there were some seats as low as twopence, and standing-room in the pit cost a penny. There were a few covered boxes close to the stage, which were known as Lords' rooms, but there were no stalls, all the arena was occupied by the 'groundlings,' as those who stood in the pit were called. There was a higher gallery for the orchestra above the stage boxes. The stage was separated from the audience by palings and a silk or woollen curtain on a rod, which was drawn apart instead of being raised. The stage was usually strewn with rushes, but matting was used on special occasions. It was hung round with tapestry, such as covered the walls in all private houses of any pretension. It was of course behind this arras that Polonius was lurking when Hamlet ran him through the body. At the back of the stage was a balcony some eight or ten feet above the floor.1 It would be from this balcony that Christopher Sly in 'The Taming of the Shrew witnessed the play with the disguised page; it would also have formed the Capitol on which Julius Cæsar was murdered; it was there that, ' in Richard III., the ghosts of the murdered persons 'would present themselves; it was there that, in King 'John, the negotiating citizens of Angers would enter;

1 Elze's Shakespeare.

' and again, it was from this balcony-in the same drama '—that Prince Arthur leaped down, whereas Romeo 'made use of it for climbing up to Juliet's chamber. 'Upon occasions when an inner balcony on the stage was not wanted in the play it was concealed by a traverse ( or curtain. There must also have been some such I contrivance as trapdoors; also trees, rocks, and other objects to effect a change of scene, and also some means 'for raising and lowering objects from above, but no 'moveable decorations, and the scenic apparatus was, in 'fact, so imperfect that the scene of the action had to be 'written up on a board, an arrangement which is even 'met with at the time of the Restoration.' We may remember the apology in the mouth of the chorus in Henry V., before the battle: 'Can this cockpit hold the ' vasty fields of France?' with its appeal to the imagination of the audience, which they, unjaded by marvellous spectacular illusions, probably responded to far more readily than we should do, as children who depend on their own make-believe have a far more vivid fancy in their games than those whose nurseries are filled with mechanical toys.

But if scenery was lacking in gorgeousness, dress made amends; large sums were spent on costumes, and it was quite a common thing for actors to purchase the cast-off clothes of king or courtiers, and on one occasion it is said that the coronation robes were actually lent for a performance. As much as sixteen or twenty pounds would be given for a velvet mantle, whereas the author of the play had to content himself with about four to six pounds.

The performance was announced by play-bills posted in the principal thoroughfares. It took place always in the afternoon, and in the open theatres by daylight. A trumpet, sounded thrice, as is done to-day at Baireuth, gave the signal that the play was about to begin, and a flag was hoisted on the flagstaff which crested the stage roof. In Queen Elizabeth's day it was the custom for all

the actors to cross the stage in costume before the piece began, but it is doubtful whether this was still done in the seventeenth century. The prologue was read by a personage in long black velvet mantle and a laurel wreath, supposed to represent the poet. There were frequently intermezzos in which clowns played the fool and improvised after the manner of harlequin, clown, and pantaloon in the traditional part of a pantomime. In one old play is found the stage direction: 'Here the two talke and 'rayle what they list.' But Shakespeare preferred that his clowns should keep to what he had written for them, as Hamlet exhorts-'Let those that play your clowns 'speak no more than is set down for them.' Jigs also were introduced, corresponding to the modern ballet, but there were no girl dancers, so the jig was danced by the clown, who accompanied himself with tabor and pipe. There was always an orchestra consisting of violins, hautboys, flutes, drums, horns, and trumpets; lutes too in all probability.

The play usually lasted from two to two and a half hours; the time being sometimes specified as 'two short 'hours.' By this it is evident that plays must have been more mercilessly cut than even in our own day, for Hamlet would take nearly twice as long to play in extenso. In Bartholomew Fair Cokes asks: 'But do you 'play it according to the printed book?' and Leatherhead replies: By no means, sir.' Cokes: 'No! How then?' Leatherhead: A better way, sir; that is too learned and 'poetical for our audience.' The public of that day, however, had a very keen relish for tragedy, especially for tragedy of the 'blood and thunder' order. The plays of Webster and Tourneur are steeped in gloom and abound in murders, suicides, and hideous blood-curdling crimes, and though the interest of Shakespeare's stories is so much wider, saner, and more full of beauty and pathos, he so far yielded to the popular taste as to sweep off his characters at the end in batches of corpses.

It