of Leicester's men. If an average of only
three men were taken from each of these companies--forming a company of
twelve players, which was then regarded as a large company--it would
necessarily leave a considerable number of men free to make new
connections, as three of the companies involved in the changes disappear
from the records at that time. Thereafter we hear no more of Lord
Strange's tumblers, nor of Lord Leicester's, nor Lord Hunsdon's players.
It is not unlikely, then, that while some of the players discarded from
the three companies that had gone out of existence would drift into
different existing companies, that some of them would unite to form a
new company. The disruption of the Queen's company in 1590-91 would also
leave some men at large. As most of these men had been previously
connected with well-known companies, which performed principally in
London, it is likely that they would endeavour to continue as London
performers instead of forming a provincial company.

That such a company for London performances was actually formed some
time in 1591 is evident in the appearance of a company--hitherto unheard
of for sixteen years--under the patronage of the Earl of Pembroke.
Between the years 1576 and 1592 there is no mention of a company acting
under this nobleman's licence in either the provincial or Court records,
nor is there any mention of, or reference to, such a company in any
London records.

All we know about this new company is that record of it appeared for
the first time in December 1592, when it played twice before the Court;
that it returned to London in the early autumn of 1593 after a
disastrous tour in the provinces, being compelled to pawn a portion of
its properties to pay expenses; that Marlowe wrote _Edward II._ for it
in about 1593; that _The True Tragedy of the Duke of York_ was one of
its properties, and that Shakespeare was connected with either the
revision or the theatrical presentation of this play at the period that
it belonged to Pembroke's company, _i.e._ in 1592, as he is attacked by
Greene on that score at this time.

Owing to the prevalence of the plague in London in 1593, and early in
1594, the public performance of plays was prohibited. The Earl of
Pembroke's company, which had failed to make its expenses travelling,
and which was not allowed to play in London on account of the plague,
evidently disrupted in the spring or summer of 1594; and as some of its
members joi