was after admitted into the Theatre by the mouth of Mayster
Tarleton, the excellent comedian." As Tarleton died in 1588 these
references cannot apply to the "Theatre" later than this date, and if
they apply at all to Burbage's Theatre and the term is not used
generically, they apply to it in the years preceding 1583, when Tarleton
played at the Theatre as a member of Lord Leicester's company. The
author of _Martin's Month's Mind_, in 1587, refers to "twittle twattle
that I learned in ale-houses and at the Theatre of Lanam and his
fellowes." This also probably refers to the period preceding 1583, when
Laneham was a member and evidently the leader of Leicester's company and
after Burbage had retired from its leadership. In _News out of
Purgatory_, published in 1587, in which the ghost of Tarleton appears,
"the Curtaine of his Countenance" is mentioned, which apparently alludes
to his recent connection with that house.[16] While it is possible,
however, that the Queen's company may have performed occasionally at the
Theatre after their formation in 1582-83 and before the Rose was built
in 1587, all evidence and logical assumption regarding the regular
playing-places of the Queen's and the Admiral's companies when in
London, between 1586 and 1589, infer that the Queen's company played at
the Curtain, and after 1587, at the Rose, and the Lord Admiral's
company, in conjunction with the Lord Chamberlain's, at the Theatre in
summer and the Crosskeys in winter.

Towards the end of this period a rivalry existed between the Queen's
company and the combined companies playing under Burbage at the Theatre,
which ended in 1591 in the supersession for Court performances of the
Queen's company by Lord Strange's players--a new company of which
Richard Burbage was a member, which had been organised out of the best
actors from the defunct companies of the Lord Chamberlain and Lord
Leicester, and with accretions from the Lord Admiral's company and Lord
Strange's company of boy acrobats; which latter had for about a year
past been affiliated in some manner with the Lord Admiral's company,
which, in turn, had worked in conjunction with Burbage's players (the
Lord Chamberlain's company) since 1585-86.

For this connection between the Lord Admiral's company and the company
of Lord Hunsdon, who was now Lord Chamberlain, we have record of a Court
performance on 6th January 1586, which was paid for on 31st January:
"The Lord Admiral's and the Lo