erprise, the Burbage brothers holding between them one-half the
stock, or two and a half shares each, and the five actors holding the
other half, or one share each. All the expenses of leasing a site,
erecting a building, and subsequently operating the building as a
playhouse, and likewise all the profits to accrue therefrom, were to
be divided among the sharers according to their several holdings.

This organization, it should be understood, merely concerned the
ownership of the building. Its members stood in the relation of
landlords to the players, and were known by the technical name of
"housekeepers." Wholly distinct was the organization of the players,
known as the "company." The company, too, was divided into shares for
the purpose of distributing its profits. The "housekeepers," in return
for providing the building, received one-half of the income from the
galleries; the company, for entertaining the public, received the
other half of the income from the galleries, plus the takings at the
doors. Those actors who were also "housekeepers" shared twice in the
profits of the playhouse; and it was a part of the plan of the
"housekeepers" to admit actors to be sharers in the building as soon
as they attained eminence, or otherwise made their permanent
connection with the playhouse desirable. Thus the two organizations,
though entirely distinct, were interlocking.

Such a scheme had many advantages. In the first place, it prevented
the company from shifting from one playhouse to another, as was
frequently the case with other troupes. In the second place, it
guaranteed both the excellence and the permanency of the company. Too
often good companies were dissolved by the desertion of a few
important members; as every student of the drama knows, the constant
reorganization of troupes is one of the most exasperating features of
Elizabethan theatrical history. In the third place, the plan, like all
profit-sharing schemes, tended to elicit from each member of the
organization his best powers. The opportunity offered to a young actor
ultimately to be admitted as a sharer in the ownership of the building
was a constant source of inspiration,[382] and the power to admit at
any time a new sharer enabled the company to recruit from other
troupes brilliant actors when such appeared; as, for example, William
Osteler and Nathaniel Field, who had attained fame with the Children
at Blackfriars and elsewhere. Finally, the plan brought