ke, Edward
Sibthorpe, and John Mason.[528]

[Footnote 527: Also spelled Slater, Slaughter, Slather, Slawghter.
Henslowe often refers to him as "Martin."]

[Footnote 528: Mr. Wallace (_The Century Magazine_, 1910, LXXX, 511)
incorrectly says that Whitefriars was held by "six equal sharers."]

The "great hall" had, of course, already been fitted up for the acting
of plays, and the new lessees did not at first contemplate any
expenditure on the building. Later, however,--if we can believe
Androwes,--they spent a not inconsiderable sum for improvements. The
Children already had certain plays, and to these were added some new
ones. Among the plays in their repertoire were Day's _Humour Out of
Breath_, Middleton's _Family of Love_, Armin's _The Two Maids of
Moreclacke_, Sharpham's _Cupid's Whirligig_, Markham and Machin's _The
Dumb Knight_, Barry's _Ram Alley_, and Mason's _The Turk_. The last
two writers were sharers, and it seems likely that Drayton, also a
sharer and experienced as a dramatist, contributed some plays towards
the stock of the company.

The new organization, with bright prospects for success, was launched
in March, 1608. Almost at once, however, it began to suffer from ill
luck. In April the Children at Blackfriars, by their performance of
_Byron_, caused King James to close all playhouses in London. How long
he kept them closed we do not know, but we find the lessees of
Whitefriars joining with the three other London companies in seeking
to have the inhibition raised. As the French Ambassador informed his
Government: "Pour lever cette defense, quatres autres compagnies, qui
y sont encore, offrent deja cent mille francs, lesquels pourront bien
leur en ordonner la permission."[529]

[Footnote 529: Letter of M. De La Boderie, the French Ambassador to
England; quoted by E.K. Chambers, _Modern Language Review_, IV, 159.]

Even if this inhibition was shortly raised, the Whitefriars
organization was not much better off, for in July the plague set in
with unusual violence, and acting was seriously if not wholly
interrupted for the next twelve months and more. As a result, the
profits from the theatre did not come up to the "fair and false
flattering speeches" which at the outset Barry had made to prospective
investors, and this led to bad feeling among the sharers.

The company at Blackfriars, of course, was suffering in a similar way.
On August 8, 1608, their playhouse was surrendered to the owner,
Richar