playwrights as Thomas
Heywood (the "prose Shakespeare," who was also one of the troupe),
Henry Chettle, Thomas Dekker, John Day, Wentworth Smith, Richard
Hathway, and John Webster. The company continued to act at the Rose
until March 16, 1603, when it had a reckoning with Henslowe and left
the playhouse.[234] In May, however, after the coming of King James,
it returned to the Rose, and we find Henslowe opening a new account:
"In the name of God, amen. Beginning to play again by the King's
license, and laid out since for my Lord of Worcester's Men, as
followeth, 1603, 9 of May."[235] Since only one entry follows, it is
probable that the company did not remain long at the Rose. No doubt,
the outbreak of the plague quickly drove them into the country; and on
their return to London in the spring of 1604 they occupied the Boar's
Head and the Curtain.

[Footnote 234: On March 19 the Privy Council formally ordered the
suppression of all plays. This was five days before the death of Queen
Elizabeth.]

[Footnote 235: Greg, _Henslowe's Diary_, I, 190.]

After this there is no evidence to connect the playhouse with dramatic
performances.

Henslowe's lease of the Little Rose property, on which his playhouse
stood, expired in 1605, and the Parish of St. Mildred's demanded an
increase in rental. The following note in the _Diary_ refers to a
renewal of the lease:

_Memorandum_, that the 25 of June, 1603, I talked with Mr.
Pope at the scrivener's shop where he lies,[236] concerning
the taking of the lease anew of the little Rose, and he
shewed me a writing betwixt the parish and himself which
was to pay twenty pound a year rent,[237] and to bestow a
hundred marks upon building, which I said I would rather
pull down the playhouse than I would do so, and he bad me
do, and said he gave me leave, and would bear me out, for it
was in him to do it.[238]

[Footnote 236: Some scholars have supposed that this was Morgan Pope,
a part owner of the Bear Garden; but he is last heard of in 1585, and
by 1605 was probably dead. Mr. Greg is of the opinion that Thomas
Pope, the well-known member of the King's Men at the Globe, is
referred to. From this has been developed the theory that Pope, acting
for the Globe players, had rented the Rose and closed it in order to
prevent competition with the Globe on the Bankside. I believe,
however, that the "Mr. Pope" here referred to was neither of these
men