of St.
Anne's, Blackfriars, of the death and burial of "Richard Robinson, a
player," in March, 1647, negatives this account of the actor's fate.
Possibly there were two actors bearing the not uncommon name of
Robinson. These were all players of note, who had acquitted themselves
with applause in the best plays of the time. Of certain older actors,
unable to bear arms for the king, Lowin turned innkeeper, and died, at
an advanced age, landlord of the Three Pigeons at Brentford. He had
been an actor of eminence in the reign of James I.; "and his poverty
was as great as his age," says one account of him. Taylor, who was
reputed to have been taught by Shakespeare himself the correct method
of interpreting the part of Hamlet, died and was buried at Richmond.
These two actors, as did others probably, sought to pick up a little
money by publishing copies of plays that had obtained favour in
performance, but had not before been printed. Thus, in 1652, Beaumont
and Fletcher's "Wild Goose Chase" was printed in folio, "for the
public use of all the ingenious, and the private benefit of John Lowin
and Joseph Taylor, servants to his late Majesty, and by them dedicated
to the honoured few lovers of dramatic poesy: wherein they modestly
intimate their wants, and that with sufficient cause, for whatever
they were before the wars, they were afterwards reduced to a
necessitous condition." Pollard, possessed of some means, withdrew to
his relatives in the country, and there ended his days peacefully.
Perkins and Sumner lodged humbly together in Clerkenwell, and were
interred in that parish. None of these unfortunate old actors lived to
see the re-opening of the theatres or the restoration of the monarchy.

But one actor is known to have sided with the Parliament and against
the King. He renounced the stage and took up the trade of a jeweller
in Aldermanbury. This was Swanston who had played Othello, and had
been described as "a brave roaring fellow, who would make the house
shake again." "One wretched actor only," Mr. Gifford writes, in the
introduction to his edition of Massinger, "deserted his sovereign."
But it may be questioned whether Swanston really merited this
reprehension. He was a Presbyterian, it seems, and remained true to
his political opinions, even though these now involved the abandonment
of his profession. If his brother-players fought for the King, they
fought no less for themselves, and for the theatre the Puritans had