od of fifty-one years at an annual rental of
L10 13_s._ 10_d._ a share, with the express condition that the
building to be erected thereon should never be used for any purpose
other than the acting of stage-plays. The sharers then proceeded to
the task of constructing their playhouse. It was proposed to make the
new building larger[459] and handsomer than the old one, and to build
it of brick[460] with a tiled roof--possibly an attempt at fireproof
construction. It was decided, also, to abandon the square shape in
favor of the older and more logical circular shape. Wright, in his
_Historia Histrionica_, describes the New Fortune as "a large, round,
brick building,"[461] and Howes assures us that it was "farre fairer"
than the old playhouse.[462] We do not know how much the building
cost. At the outset each sharer was assessed L83 6_s._ 8_d._ towards
the cost of construction,[463] which would produce exactly L1000; but
the first assessment was not necessarily all that the sharers were
called upon to pay. For example, when the Globe was rebuilt each
sharer was at first assessed "L50 or L60," but before the building was
finished each had paid more than L100. So the Fortune may well have
cost more than the original estimate of L1000. In 1656 two expert
assessors appointed by the authorities of Dulwich College to examine
the playhouse declared that "the said building did in our opinions
cost building about two thousand pound."[464] This estimate is
probably not far wrong. The playhouse was completed in June or July of
1623, and was again occupied by the Palsgrave's Men.[465]

[Footnote 458: Greg, _Henslowe Papers_, pp. 28-30; 112. The names of
the sharers are not inspiring: Thomas Sparks, merchant tailor; William
Gwalter, innholder; John Fisher, barber-surgeon; Thomas Wigpitt,
bricklayer; etc.]

[Footnote 459: Prynne, _Histriomastix_, Epistle Dedicatory.]

[Footnote 460: The writer of the manuscript notes in the Phillipps
copy of Stow's _Annals_ (see _The Academy_, October 28, 1882, p. 314),
who is not trustworthy, says that the Fortune was burned down in 1618,
and "built again with brick work on the outside," from which Mr.
Wallace assumed that he meant that the building was merely
brick-veneered. If the writer meant this he was in error. See the
report of the commission appointed by Dulwich College to examine the
building (Greg, _Henslowe Papers_, p. 95).]

[Footnote 461: Hazlitt's Dodsley, XV, 408.]

[Footnote 462: