William Shakespeare; poet, dramatist, and man . re givensecretly. When Elizabeth came to the throne, the rulesimposed on players were regulative rather thanprohibitory; for Elizabeth had no mind to putunder royal ban one of the chief means of easingthe popular feeling by giving it expression, and APPRENTICESHIP 129 of developing true English feeling by the presenta-tion of the chief figures and the most significantevents in English history. Companies were organ-ized and licensedunder the patronageof noblemen; theatreswere built, and thedrama became a rec-ognized form ofamusement in Lon-don. Bu
William Shakespeare; poet, dramatist, and man . re givensecretly. When Elizabeth came to the throne, the rulesimposed on players were regulative rather thanprohibitory; for Elizabeth had no mind to putunder royal ban one of the chief means of easingthe popular feeling by giving it expression, and APPRENTICESHIP 129 of developing true English feeling by the presenta-tion of the chief figures and the most significantevents in English history. Companies were organ-ized and licensedunder the patronageof noblemen; theatreswere built, and thedrama became a rec-ognized form ofamusement in Lon-don. But from thebeginninsf the theatrewas opposed and de-nounced. ArchbishopGrindall fought itvigorously, on theground that actorswere an idle sortof people, which hadbeen infamous in allgood common-wealths, and thatthe crowds which at-tended the perform-ances spread theplague by which Lon-don was ravaofed fora number of years, and of which there was greatand well-founded dread. In spite of the Queensfavour and of Leicesters patronage, theatres were. QUEEN ELIZABETH a rare old print. 130 WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE compelled to take refuge in the suburbs. The strug-gle between the players, backed by the Queen, andthe City authorities was long and bitter. The Cor-poration was determined to exclude players from theCity, and to prevent them from giving performancesduring service hours, on holidays, or during the prev-alence of the plague. Bitter as the struggle was,however, neither side was willing to carry it to a de-cisive issue. The Queen, who knew to a nicety howfar she could go in asserting the royal prerogatives,had no desire to antagonize a community of grow-ing importance and power, and exceedingly jealousof its rights and privileges ; the City had no wishto set itself in final opposition to that which a pow-erful sovereign evidently had very much at players ceased to give regular performanceswithin the City limits, but became, in consequenceof this opposition,
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectshakesp, bookyear1901
