of six years, eight months, and twenty days then following,
for and under the yearly rent of fifty pounds reserved
thereupon; the moiety of which said lease and premisses, by
mean assignment from the said Thomas Woodford, was lawfully
settled in the said Lordinge Barry, as he did pretend,
together with the moiety of diverse play-books, apparel, and
other furnitures and necessaries used and employed in and
about the said messuage and the Children of the Revels,[526]
there being, in making and setting forth plays, shows, and
interludes, and such like. And the said Lordinge Barry ...
being desirous to join others with him in the interest of
the same, who might be contributory to such future charges
as should arise in setting forth of plays and shows there,
did thereupon ... solicit and persuade your orator to
take from the said Barry an assignment of a sixth part of
the messuage, premisses, and profits aforesaid.

[Footnote 525: By a stupid error often called Lodowick Barry. For an
explanation of the error see an article by the present writer in
_Modern Philology_, April, 1912, IX, 567. Mr. W.J. Lawrence has
recently shown (_Studies in Philology_, University of North Carolina,
April, 1917) that David Barry was the eldest son of the ninth Viscount
Buttevant, and was called "Lording" by courtesy. At the time he became
interested in the Whitefriars Playhouse he was twenty-two years old.
He died in 1610.]

[Footnote 526: At this time the Children of Blackfriars had lost their
patent, so that the Children at Whitefriars were the only Revels
troupe.]

[Illustration: MICHAEL DRAYTON

(From a painting in the National Portrait Gallery, London: photograph
copyrighted by Emery Walker, Ltd.)]

This passage gives us an interesting glimpse of Drayton and Barry in
their efforts to organize a syndicate for exploiting the Children of
His Majesty's Revels. They induced several other persons to buy
half-shares; and then they engaged, as manager of the Children, Martin
Slaiter,[527] a well-known and thoroughly experienced actor. For his
services as manager, Slaiter was to receive one whole share in the
organization, and lodgings for himself and his family of ten in the
building. The syndicate thus formed was made up of four whole-sharers,
Michael Drayton, Lordinge Barry, George Androwes, and Martin Slaiter,
and four half-sharers, William Trevell, William Coo