even more stringent ordinance against
dramatic performances, placing penalties not only upon the players,
but also upon the spectators. This for ever put an end to acting at
the Fortune.

In 1649 the arrears of the lessees having reached the sum of L974
5_s._ 8_d._, the authorities of the College took formal possession of
the playhouse.

From certain manuscript notes[477] entered in the Phillipps copy of
Stow's _Annals_ (1631), we learn that "a company of soldiers, set on
by the sectaries of these sad times, on Saturday, the 24 day of March,
1649," sacked the Salisbury Court Playhouse, the Phoenix, and the
Fortune. The note states that the Fortune was "pulled down on the
inside by the soldiers"; that is, the stage and the seats were
dismantled[478] so as to render the building unusable for dramatic
purposes.

[Footnote 477: Printed in _The Academy_, October 28, 1882, p. 314.]

[Footnote 478: See _The Journals of the House of Commons_, July 26,
1648.]

In the following year, 1650, the inhabitants of the Parish of St.
Giles "represent that they are poor, and unable to build a place of
worship for themselves, but think it would be convenient if that large
building commonly known by the name of the Fortune Playhouse might be
allotted and set apart for that purpose." The request was not
granted.[479]

[Footnote 479: Warner, _Catalogue_, XXXI; Greg, _Henslowe's Diary_,
II, 65.]

By July, 1656, the condition of the old playhouse was such that the
Masters and Wardens of the College appointed two experts to view the
building and make recommendations. They reported "that by reason the
lead hath been taken from the said building, the tiling not secured,
and the foundation of the said playhouse not kept in good repair,
great part of the said playhouse is fallen to the ground, the timber
thereof much decayed and rotten, and the brick walls so rent and torn
that the whole structure is in no condition capable of repair, but in
great danger of falling, to the hazard of passengers' lives"; and they
add: "The charge for demolishing the same will be chargeable and
dangerous. Upon these considerations our opinion is that the said
materials may not be more worth than eighty pound."[480]

[Footnote 480: The entire report is printed in Greg, _Henslowe
Papers_, p. 95.]

The authorities of Dulwich took no action on this report. However, on
March 5, 1660, they ordered that the property be leased, making a
casual reference to the pl