Burbage "was fain to find men at his own charge
to keep the possession thereof from the said Peckham and his
servants," and was even "once in danger of his own life by keeping
possession thereof." As a result of this state of affairs, Burbage
"was much disturbed and troubled in his possession of the Theatre, and
could not quietly and peaceably enjoy the same. And therefore the
players forsook the said Theatre, to his great loss."[74] In order to
reimburse himself in some measure for this loss Burbage retained L30
of the rental due to Alleyn. The act led to a bitter quarrel with
Alleyn, and figured conspicuously in the subsequent litigation that
came near overwhelming the Theatre.

[Footnote 74: See Wallace, _op. cit._, pp. 201, 239, 240, 242.]

In 1585 Burbage, having spent the stipulated L200 in repairing and
rebuilding the tenements on the premises, sought to renew the lease,
according to the original agreement, for the extended period of
twenty-one years. On November 20, 1585, he engaged three skilled
workmen to view the buildings and estimate the sum he had disbursed in
improvements. They signed a formal statement to the effect that in
their opinion at least L220 had been thus expended on the premises.
Burbage then "tendered unto the said Alleyn a new lease devised by his
counsel, ready written and engrossed, with labels and wax thereunto
affixed, agreeable to the covenant." But Alleyn refused to sign the
document. He maintained that the new lease was not a verbatim copy of
the old lease, that L200 had not been expended on the buildings, and
that Burbage was a bad tenant and owed him rent. In reality, Alleyn
wanted to extort a larger rental than L14 for the property, which had
greatly increased in value.

On July 18, 1586, Burbage engaged six men, all expert laborers, to
view the buildings again and estimate the cost of the improvements.
They expressed the opinion in writing that Burbage had expended at
least L240 in developing the property.[75] Still Alleyn refused to
sign an extension of the lease. His conduct must have been very
exasperating to the owner of the Theatre. Cuthbert Burbage tells us
that his father "did often in gentle manner solicit and require the
said Gyles Alleyn for making a new lease of the said premises
according to the purporte and effect of the said covenant." But
invariably Alleyn found some excuse for delay.

[Footnote 75: Wallace, _op. cit._, pp. 229, 234, 228, 233.]

The death of