kespeare_ (1835), p. 44, as from a manuscript in his possession,
is, I think, an obvious forgery.]

CHAPTER XVI

THE HOPE

On August 29, 1611, Henslowe became manager of the Lady Elizabeth's
Men. Having agreed among other things to furnish them with a
playhouse,[540] and no longer being in possession of the Rose, he
rented the old Swan and maintained them there throughout the year
1612.

[Footnote 540: The agreement has been lost, but for a probably similar
agreement, made with the actor Nathaniel Field, see Greg, _Henslowe
Papers_, p. 23.]

In March of the following year, 1613, he entered into a partnership
with Philip Rosseter (the manager of the private playhouse of
Whitefriars), and "joined" the Lady Elizabeth's Men with Rosseter's
excellent troupe of the Queen's Revels. Apparently the intention of
Henslowe and Rosseter was to form a company strong enough to compete
on equal terms with the King's Men. In imitation of the King's Men,
who used the Globe as a summer and the Blackfriars as a winter home,
the newly amalgamated company was to use the Swan and the
Whitefriars.[541] And the chief actor of the troupe, corresponding to
Richard Burbage of the King's Men, was to be Nathaniel Field, then at
the height of his powers:

_Cokes._ Which is your Burbage now?

_Leatherhead._ What mean you by that, sir?

_Cokes._ Your best actor, your Field.

_Littlewit._ Good, i' faith! you are even with me, sir.[542]

[Footnote 541: Daborne writes to Henslowe on June 5, 1613: "The
company told me you were expected there yesterday to conclude about
their coming over ... my own play which shall be ready before they
come over." This, I suspect, refers to the moving of the company to
the Swan for the summer. (See Greg, _Henslowe Papers_, p. 72.) That
Henslowe was manager of a "private" house in 1613 is revealed by
another letter from Daborne, dated December 9, 1613. (See Greg,
_ibid._, p. 79.)]

[Footnote 542: _Bartholomew Fair_, V, iii. The part of Littlewit was
presumably taken by Field himself.]

Among their playwrights were Ben Jonson, Philip Massinger, John
Fletcher, and Robert Daborne, not to mention Field, who in addition to
acting wrote excellent plays.

If it was the purpose of Henslowe and Rosseter to compete with the
Globe Company in a winter as well as in a summer house, that purpose
was endangered by the fact that Rosseter's lease of his private
theatre expired within a year and