he precinct was now the
home of many noblemen and wealthy gentlemen, and Farrant probably
thought that, as one of the most fashionable residential districts in
London, it was suitable for "private" performances to be given by
members of Her Majesty's household.

In furthering his project he sought the counsel and aid of his "very
friend" Sir Henry Neville, Lieutenant of Windsor, who, it is to be
presumed, was interested in the Windsor Boys. It happened that Neville
knew of exactly such rooms as were desired, rooms in the old monastery
of Blackfriars which he himself had once leased as a residence, and
which, he heard, were "to be let either presently, or very shortly."
These rooms were in the southwestern corner of the monastery, on the
upper floor of two adjoining buildings formerly used by the monks as a
buttery and a frater. A history of the rooms up to the time of their
use as a theatre may be briefly sketched.

In 1548 the buttery and frater, with certain other buildings, were let
by King Edward to Sir Thomas Cawarden, Master of the Revels; and in
1550 they were granted to him outright. In 1554 Cawarden sold the
northern section of the buttery, fifty-two feet in length, to Lord
Cobham, whose mansion it adjoined. The rest of the buttery, forty-six
feet in length, and the frater, he converted into lodgings. Since the
frater was of exceptional breadth--fifty-two feet on the outside,
forty-six feet on the inside--he ran a partition through its length,
dividing it into two parts. The section of the frater on the west of
this partition he let to Sir Richard Frith; the section on the east,
with the remainder of the buttery not sold to Lord Cobham, he let to
Sir John Cheeke. It is with the Cheeke Lodgings that we are especially
concerned.

About September, 1554, Cheeke went to travel abroad, and surrendered
his rooms in the Blackfriars. Sir Thomas Cawarden thereupon made use
of them "for the Office of the Queen's Majesty's Revells"; thus for a
time the Cheeke Lodgings were intimately connected with dramatic
activities. But at the death of Cawarden, in 1559, the Queen
transferred the Office of the Revels to St. John's, and the
Blackfriars property belonging to Cawarden passed into the possession
of Sir William More.

[Illustration: A PLAN OF FARRANT'S PLAYHOUSE

Frith's Lodging and the four southern rooms of Farrant's Lodging were
on the upper floor of the Frater; the two northern rooms of Farrant's
Lodging were on t