oss the river; and shortly after the
Globe began to lift itself above the houses of the Bankside--a
handsome theatre surpassing anything then known to London playgoers.

In the meantime the lawyers had drawn up the lease, and this was
formally signed on February 21, 1599. The company had arranged a
"tripartite lease," the three parties being Sir Nicholas Brend, the
Burbage brothers, and the five actors.[383] To the Burbages Sir
Nicholas leased one-half of the property at a yearly rental of L7
5_s._; and to the five actors, he leased the other half, at the same
rate. Thus the total rent paid for the land was L14 10_s._ The lease
was to run for a period of thirty-one years.

[Footnote 383: Exact information about the lease and the organization
of the company is derived from the Heminges-Osteler and the
Witter-Heminges documents, both discovered and printed by Mr. Wallace.
And with these one should compare the article by the same author in
the London _Times_, April 30, May 1, 1914.]

The five actors, not satisfied with tying up the property in the
"tripartite lease," proceeded at once to arrange their holdings in the
form of a "joint tenancy." This they accomplished by the following
device:

William Shakespeare, Augustine Phillips, Thomas Pope, John
Heminges, and William Kempe did shortly after grant and
assign all the said moiety of and in the said gardens and
grounds unto William Levison and Thomas Savage, who
regranted and reassigned to every one of them severally a
fifth part of the said moiety of the said gardens and
grounds.[384]

[Footnote 384: Wallace, _Shakespeare and his London Associates_, p.
53. Shakespeare's leadership in the erection of the Globe is indicated
in several documents; for example, the post-mortem inquisition of the
estate of Sir Thomas Brend, May 16, 1599.]

The object of the "joint tenancy" was to prevent any member of the
organization from disposing of his share to an outsider. Legally at
the death of a member his share passed into the possession of the
other members, so that the last survivor would receive the whole. In
reality, however, the members used the "joint tenancy" merely to
control the disposition of the shares, and they always allowed the
heirs-at-law to receive the share of a deceased member.

The wisdom of this arrangement was quickly shown, for "about the time
of the building of said playhouse and galleries, or shortly after,"
William