theatres 'to geather'—that is to say, either alternately or in combination—with Sussex's men, who had already performed there for the six weeks between Christmas and Lent. Possibly this was a renewal of an earlier alliance of 1591. Only eight performances are recorded, and of the five plays given only King Leire can very reasonably be assigned to the repertory of the Queen's men. The others were The Jew of Malta and The Fair Maid of Italy, which Sussex's men had been playing in the winter, Greene's Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay, which was played for Henslowe by other companies both before and after, and was probably his property, and The Ranger's Comedy, the performances of which were being continued by the Admiral's men in the following autumn, but which it is possible that they or Henslowe may have acquired from the Queen's. For there can be no doubt that the Queen's men, whether because they had ceased to be modish, or because their finances had proved unable to stand the strain of the plague years, were now at the end of their London career. On 8 May 1594 the significant entry occurs in Henslowe's diary of a loan of £15 to his nephew Francis Henslowe 'to lay downe for his share to the Quenes players when they broke & went into the contrey to playe'.[1] This by itself would not perhaps be conclusive, as there are other years in which the company began its provincial wanderings as early as May. But from the present journey there is nothing to show that they ever returned, and it may fairly be reckoned as another sign of defeat that while The Troublesome Reign of King John (1591) was the only play certainly theirs which was printed before 1594, no less than nine found their way into the publishers' hands during that and the following year. These were, besides Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay (1594, S. R. 14 May 1594), with which they probably had only a recent connexion, A Looking Glass for London and, England (1594, S. R. 5 March 1594), King Leire (1594, S. R. 14 May 1594), James IV and The Famous Victories of Henry V (1598, S. R. 14 May 1594), The True Tragedy of Richard III (1594, S. R. 19 June 1594), Selimus (1594), Peele's Old Wive's Tale (1595, S. R. 16 April 1595), and Valentine and Orson (S. R. 23 May 1595), of which no copy is known to be extant. Somewhat later came Sir Clyomon and Clamydes (1599).
The Queen's men were at Coventry on 4 July 1594, at
- ↑ Henslowe, i. 4. The date in the diary is '8 of Maye 1593', but I am prepared to accept Dr. Greg's view (ii. 80) that as Francis was pawnbroking for his uncle all through 1593, this must be an error of Henslowe's for '1594'. He seems to have actually left London on 18 May 1594.
