the other."[64] And Stephen
Gosson, in _Plays Confuted_ (_c._ 1581) writes: "In the playhouses at
London, it is the fashion for youths to go first into the yard, and to
carry their eye through every gallery; then, like unto ravens, where
they spy the carrion, thither they fly, and press as near to the
fairest as they can." The "yard" was unroofed, and all persons there
had to stand during the entire performance. The galleries, however,
were protected by a roof, were divided into "rooms," and were provided
for the most part with seats. Gyles Alleyn inserted in the lease he
granted to Burbage the following condition:

And further, that it shall or may [be] lawful for the said
Gyles and for his wife and family, upon lawful request
therefor made to the said James Burbage, his executors or
assigns, to enter or come into the premises, and there in
some one of the upper rooms to have such convenient place to
sit or stand to see such plays as shall be there played,
freely without anything therefor paying.[65]

[Footnote 63: One cannot be absolutely sure, yet the whole history of
early playhouses indicates that the Theatre was polygonal (or
circular) in shape. The only reason for suspecting that it might have
been square, doubtfully presented by T.S. Graves in "The Shape of the
First London Theatre" (_The South Atlantic Quarterly_, July, 1914),
seems to me to deserve no serious consideration.]

[Footnote 64: Quoted by W.B. Rye, _England as Seen by Foreigners_, p.
88.]

[Footnote 65: Wallace, _op. cit._, p. 177.]

The stage was a platform, projecting into the yard, with a
tiring-house at the rear, and a balcony overhead. The details of the
stage, no doubt, were subject to alteration as experience suggested,
for its materials were of wood, and histrionic and dramatic art were
both undergoing rapid development.[66] The furnishings and
decorations, as in the case of modern playhouses, seem to have been
ornate. Thus T[homas] W[hite], in _A Sermon Preached at Pawles Crosse,
on Sunday the Thirde of November, 1577_, exclaims: "Behold the
sumptuous Theatre houses, a continual monument of London's
prodigality"; John Stockwood, in _A Sermon Preached at Paules Cross,
1578_, refers to it as "the gorgeous playing place erected in the
Fields"; and Gabriel Harvey could think of no more appropriate epithet
for it than "painted"--"painted theatres," "painted stage."

[Footnote 66: There is no reason wha