every week."

[Footnote 30: I emphasize this point because the opposite is the
accepted opinion. We find it expressed in _The Cambridge History of
English Literature_, VI, 431, as follows: "Certain players, finding
the city obdurate, and unwilling to submit to its severe regulations,
began to look about them for some means of carrying on their business
out of reach of the mayor's authority," etc.]

This man, "the first builder of playhouses,"--and, it might have been
added, the pioneer in a new field of business,--was James Burbage,
originally, as we are told by one who knew him well, "by occupation a
joiner; and reaping but a small living by the same, gave it over and
became a common player in plays."[31] As an actor he was more
successful, for as early as 1572 we find him at the head of
Leicester's excellent troupe.

[Footnote 31: Deposition by Robert Myles, 1592, printed in Wallace's
_The First London Theatre_, p. 141.]

Having in 1575 conceived the notion of erecting a building specially
designed for dramatic entertainments, he was at once confronted with
the problem of a suitable location. Two conditions narrowed his
choice: first, the site had to be outside the jurisdiction of the
Common Council; secondly, it had to be as near as possible to the
city.

No doubt he at once thought of the two suburbs that were specially
devoted to recreation, the Bankside to the south, and Finsbury Field
to the north of the city. The Bankside had for many years been
associated in the minds of Londoners with "sports and pastimes."
Thither the citizens were accustomed to go to witness bear-baiting
and bull-baiting, to practice archery, and to engage in various
athletic sports. Thither, too, for many years the actors had gone to
present their plays. In 1545 King Henry VIII had issued a proclamation
against vagabonds, ruffians, idle persons, and common players,[32] in
which he referred to their "fashions commonly used at the Bank." The
Bankside, however, was associated with the lowest and most vicious
pleasures of London, for here were situated the stews, bordering the
river's edge. Since the players were at this time subject to the
bitterest attacks from the London preachers, Burbage wisely decided
not to erect the first permanent home of the drama in a locality
already a common target for puritan invective.

[Footnote 32: See page 134.]

The second locality, Finsbury Field, had nearly all the advantages,
and none of the disa