o use the Swan "to show
his feats of activity at convenient times in that place without let or
interruption."[266] The Privy Council in issuing the license observed
that Bromvill "hath been recommended unto Her Majesty from her good
brother the French King, and hath shewed some feats of great activity
before Her Highness."

[Footnote 266: Dasent, _Acts of the Privy Council_, XXX, 327.]

On June 22, 1600, the Privy Council "with one and full consent"
ordered "that there shall be about the city two houses, and no more,
allowed to serve for the use of the common stage plays; of the which
houses, one [the Globe] shall be in Surrey ... and the other [the
Fortune] in Middlesex."[267] This order in effect merely confirmed the
order of 1598 which limited the companies to two, the Admiral's and
the Chamberlain's.

[Footnote 267: _Ibid._, 395.]

Early in 1601 Langley died; and in January, 1602, his widow, as
administratrix, sold the Manor of Paris Garden, including the Swan
Playhouse, to Hugh Browker, a prothonotary of the Court of Common
Pleas. The property remained in the possession of the Browker family
until 1655.[268]

[Footnote 268: For this and other details as to the subsequent history
of the property see Wallace, _Englische Studien_, XLIII, 342; Rendle,
_The Antiquarian Magazine_, VII, 207; and cf. the map on page 163.]

On November 6, 1602, the building was the scene of the famous hoax
known as _England's Joy_, perpetrated upon the patriotic citizens of
London by one Richard Vennar.[269] Vennar scattered hand-bills over
the city announcing that at the Swan Playhouse, on Saturday, November
6, a company of "gentlemen and gentlewomen of account" would present
with unusual magnificence a play entitled _England's Joy_, celebrating
Queen Elizabeth. It was proposed to show the coronation of Elizabeth,
the victory of the Armada, and various other events in the life of
"England's Joy," with the following conclusion: "And so with music,
both with voice and instruments, she is taken up into heaven; when
presently appears a throne of blessed souls; and beneath, under the
stage, set forth with strange fire-works, diverse black and damned
souls, wonderfully described in their several torments."[270] The
price of admission to the performance was to be "two shillings, or
eighteen pence at least." In spite of this unusually high price, an
enormous audience, including a "great store of good company and many
noblemen," passed into