cSarcasm."

CHAPTER XXVII.

BENEFITS.

Philip Henslowe, who, late in the sixteenth century, was proprietor of
the old Rose Theatre, which stood a little west of the foot of London
Bridge, at Bankside, combined with his managerial duties the
occupation of pawnbroker, and was employed, moreover, as a kind of
commission agent, or middleman, between dramatic authors and actors.
It probably seemed as natural to the manager to engage in these
different employments as to require his players to "double" or
"treble" parts in plays possessed of an unusually long list of
_dramatis personae_. He had married Agnes Woodward, a widow, whose
daughter, Joan, became the first wife of Edward Alleyn, the actor, the
founder of Dulwich College. Henslowe had been the servant of Mrs.
Woodward, and by his union with her he acquired considerable property.
Forthwith he constituted himself "a banker of the poor"--to use the
modern euphonious synonym for pawnbroker--and advanced money for all
needing it who were able to deposit with him plate, rings, jewels,
wearing apparel, or other chattels of value. The playwrights of the
time constantly obtained loans from him, not always that he might
secure their compositions for his theatre, but often to relieve their
immediate wants; and it is plain that he constantly availed himself of
their necessitous condition to effect bargains with them very
advantageous to his own interests. Robert Daborne, the dramatist, for
instance, appears to have been particularly impecunious, and he was,
moreover, afflicted with a pending lawsuit; the sums he obtained for
his plays from the manager were therefore very disproportionate and
uncertain. His letters to Henslowe are urgent in solicitations for
payment on account of work in hand; he was often obliged to send his
manuscripts piecemeal to the manager, and on one occasion supplied a
rough draft of the last scene of a play in order to obtain a few
shillings in advance. The amounts paid for new plays at this time were
very low. Before 1600 Henslowe never gave more than L8 for a play, but
after that date there was a considerable rise in prices. In 1613
Daborne received L20 for his tragedy of "Machiavell and the Devil." In
the same year, however, for another play, "The Bellman of London," he
was content to take L12 and "the overplus of the second day." He had
demanded L20 in the first instance, but being in great stress for
money, had reduced his terms, beseechin