re of the lease.

Apparently Farrant entered into possession of the rooms on September
29[152] (although the formal lease was not signed until December 20),
and we may suppose that he at once set about converting the two upper
rooms at the north end of the lodgings into a suitable theatre.[153]
Naturally he took for his model the halls at Court in which the
Children had been accustomed to act. First, we are told, he "pulled
down partitions to make that place apt for that purpose"; next, he
"spoiled" the windows--by which is meant, no doubt, that he stopped up
the windows, for the performances were to be by candle-light. At one
end of the hall he erected a platform to serve as a stage, and in the
auditorium he placed benches or chairs. There was, presumably, no room
for a gallery; if such had been erected, the indignant More would
certainly have mentioned it in his bill of complaints.[154]
Chandeliers over the stage, and, possibly, footlights, completed the
necessary arrangements. For these alterations Farrant, we are told,
became "greatly indebted," and he died three or four years later with
the debt still unpaid. More complained that the alterations had put
the rooms into a state of "great ruin," which meant, of course, from
the point of view of a landlord desiring to let them again for
residential purposes. Just how costly or how extensive the alterations
were we cannot now determine; but we may reasonably conclude that
Farrant made the hall not only "commodious for his purpose," but also
attractive to the aristocratic audiences he intended to gather there
to see his plays.

[Footnote 152: The date from which the lease was made to run.]

[Footnote 153: It is usually said that he converted the entire seven
rooms into his theatre, but that seems highly unlikely. The northern
section was 46 x 26 feet, the southern section 110 x 22--absurd
dimensions for an auditorium. Moreover, that Farrant originally
planned to use only the northern section is indicated by his request
to be allowed to "pull down one partition and so make two rooms--one."
The portion not used for the playhouse he rented; in 1580, we are
told, he let "two parcels thereof to two several persons."]

[Footnote 154: M. Feuillerat, I think, is wrong in supposing that
there was a gallery. He deduces no proof for his contention, and the
evidence is against him.]

To reach the hall, playgoers had to come first into Water Lane, thence
through "a way leading