._, pp. 216, 249.]

Shortly after this fruitless interview, or late in 1598, Gyles Alleyn
resolved to take advantage of the fact that Cuthbert Burbage had not
removed the Theatre before the expiration of the first twenty-one
years. He contended that since Cuthbert had "suffered the same there
to continue till the expiration of the said term ... the right and
interest of the said Theatre was both in law and conscience absolutely
vested" now in himself; accordingly he planned "to pull down the same,
and to convert the wood and timber thereof to some better use for the
benefit" of himself.[87]

[Footnote 87: _Ibid._, pp. 277, 288.]

But, unfortunately for Alleyn, Cuthbert Burbage "got intelligence" of
this purpose, and at once set himself to the task of saving his
property. He and his brother Richard, the great actor, took into their
confidence the chief members of the Lord Chamberlain's Company, then
performing at the Curtain Playhouse, namely William Shakespeare, John
Heminges, Augustine Phillips, Thomas Pope, and William Kempe. These
men agreed to form with the Burbages a syndicate to finance the
erection of a new playhouse. The two Burbages agreed to bear one-half
the expense, including the timber and other materials of the old
Theatre, and the five actors promised to supply the other half.
Together they leased a suitable plot of land on the Bankside near
Henslowe's Rose, the lease dating from December 25, 1598. These
details having been arranged, it remained only for the Burbages to
save their building from the covetousness of Alleyn.

On the night of December 28, 1598,[88] Alleyn being absent in the
country, Cuthbert Burbage, his brother Richard, his friend William
Smith, "of Waltham Cross, in the County of Hartford, gentleman," Peter
Street, "cheefe carpenter," and twelve others described as "laborers
such as wrought for wages," gathered at the Theatre and began to tear
down the building. We learn that the widow of James Burbage "was
there, and did see the doing thereof, and liked well of it";[89] and
we may suspect that at some time during the day Shakespeare and the
other actors were present as interested spectators.

[Footnote 88: The date, January 20, 1599, seems to be an error.]

[Footnote 89: Wallace, _op. cit._, p. 238.]

The episode is thus vividly described by the indignant Gyles Allen:

The said Cuthbert Burbage, having intelligence of your
subject's purpose herein, and unlawfully combin