lipps, ii. 77-80.

{208} _Accounts of the Revels_, ed. Peter Cunningham (Shakespeare
Society), p. 177; _Variorum Shakespeare_, 1821, iii. 406.

{210a} It was reproduced by the Hakluyt Society to accompany _The
Voyages and Workes of John Davis the Navigator_, ed. Captain A. H.
Markham, 1880. Cf. Mr. Coote's note on the _New Map_, lxxxv-xcv. A
paper on the subject by Mr. Coote also appears in _New Shakspere
Society's Transactions_, 1877-9, pt. i. 88-100.

{210b} _Diary_, Camden Soc. p. 18; the Elizabethan Stage Society
repeated the play on the same stage on February 10, 11 and 12, 1897.

{210c} Bandello's _Novelle_, ii. 36.

{211a} First published in 1579; 2nd edit. 1595.

{211b} _Hamlet_, III. ii. 109-10.

{213a} On December 31, 1601, the Lords of the Council sent letters to
the Lord Mayor of London and to the magistrates of Surrey and Middlesex
expressing their surprise that no steps had yet been taken to limit the
number of playhouses in accordance with 'our order set down and
prescribed about a year and a half since.' But nothing followed, and no
more was heard officially of the Council's order until 1619, when the
Corporation of London remarked on its practical abrogation at the same
time as they directed the suppression (which was not carried out) of the
Blackfriars Theatre. All the documents on this subject are printed from
the Privy Council Register by Halliwell-Phillipps, 307-9.

{213b} The passage, act ii. sc. ii. 348-394, which deals in ample detail
with the subject, only appears in the folio version of 1623. In the
First Quarto a very curt reference is made to the misfortunes of the
'tragedians of the city:'

'Y' faith, my lord, noveltie carries it away,
For the principal publike audience that
Came to them are turned to private playes
And to the humours of children.'

'Private playes' were plays acted by amateurs, with whom the 'Children'
might well be classed.

{214a} All recent commentators follow Steevens in interpreting the 'late
innovation' as the Order of the Privy Council of June 1600, restricting
the number of the London playhouses to two; but that order, which was
never put in force, in no way affected the actors' fortunes. The First
Quarto's reference to the perils attaching to the 'noveltie' of the boys'
performances indicates the true meaning.

{214b} _Hamlet_, II. ii. 349-64.

{215} At the moment offensive personalities seemed to have infected all