orded at Coventry as receiving twenty shillings; and again, under the
same date, is an entry recording the payment of five shillings "to the
Lord Chamberlain's Musicians that came with the Judge at the assizes."

The juxtaposition of the entries on these records of the names of these
two companies in 1586 and 1587, and their union in a performance before
the Court in January 1586, shows that a combination of some sort between
them was formed in 1585. _Who, then, were the men that composed the Lord
Admiral's company from 1585 to 1589?_

In 1592, when Lord Strange's players left Burbage to perform under
Henslowe at the Rose, we are assured that Edward Alleyn was the manager
of the company, and, though the manager of Lord Strange's company, that
he still styled himself a Lord Admiral's man. When, then, did Edward
Alleyn, who is mentioned in the Leicester records in 1584 as a member of
the Earl of Worcester's company, become a Lord Admiral's man and cease
to perform under the licence of the Earl of Worcester? Is it not
palpable that the change took place in 1585, when all records of
Worcester's company cease for several years and a new Lord Admiral's
company begins? The last record of a provincial performance for
Worcester's company is at Barnstaple in 1585. The Court and provincial
records of 1586 show that within about eight months of its inception the
Lord Admiral's company worked in conjunction with Burbage's players--the
Lord Chamberlain's men. That this connection continued in the case of
Edward Alleyn and a few others of the Admiral's men, who were old
Worcester men, and that they preserved their licensed identity through
the several changes in the title of the company, until they finally
separated early in 1594, shall be made apparent in this history.

It is evident that Edward Alleyn's brother, John Alleyn, joined the
Admiral's men at about the time of its inception, when his old company,
Lord Sheffield's players, suddenly disappear from the records. Their
last recorded provincial performance is in Coventry, under date of 15th
November 1585, _the Lord Admiral's men and the Lord Chamberlain's men
being recorded there under the same date of entry_. John Alleyn
continued his connection with the Lord Admiral's men at least as late as
July 1589, when he is mentioned as "servant to me the Lord Admiral" in a
letter from the Privy Council to certain aldermen. After this he is not
heard of again either in connection with L