is management until March, 1613, when, for some
unknown reason, he formed a partnership with Philip Henslowe, who was
managing the Lady Elizabeth's Men at the Swan. The two companies were
combined, and the new organization, under the name of "The Lady
Elizabeth's Men," made use of both playhouses, the Swan as a summer
and the Whitefriars as a winter home.

As already explained in the preceding chapters, Rosseter's lease on
the Whitefriars Playhouse was to expire in 1614, and apparently he was
unable to renew the lease.[568] Naturally he and his partner Henslowe
were anxious to secure a private playhouse in the city to serve as a
winter home for their troupe, especially since the Swan was poorly
situated for winter patronage. This may explain the following entry in
Sir George Buc's Office-Book: "July 13, 1613, for a license to erect a
new playhouse in Whitefriars &c. L20."[569] The new playhouse,
however, was not built. Probably the opposition of the inhabitants of
the district led to its prohibition.

[Footnote 568: Nathaniel Field, the leading actor at Whitefriars,
published _A Woman is a Weathercock_ in 1612, with the statement to
the reader: "If thou hast anything to say to me, thou know'st where to
hear of me for a year or two, and no more, I assure thee." Possibly
this reflects the failure of the managers to renew the lease; after
1614 Field did not know where he would be acting. But editors have
generally regarded it as meaning that Field intended to withdraw from
acting.]

[Footnote 569: Malone, _Variorum_, III, 52.]

At the expiration of one year, in March, 1614, Rosseter withdrew from
his partnership with Henslowe, and on the old patent of the Children
of the Queen's Revels (which he had retained) organized a new company
to travel in the country.

In the following year, 1615, he and certain others, Philip Kingman,
Robert Jones, and Ralph Reeve, secured a lease of "diverse buildings,
cellars, sollars, chambers, and yards for the building of a playhouse
thereupon for the better practising and exercise of the said Children
of the Revels; all which premises are situate and being within the
precinct of the Blackfriars, near Puddlewharf, in the suburbs of
London, called by the name of the Lady Saunders's House, or otherwise
Porter's Hall."[570] It was their purpose to convert this hall into a
playhouse to rival the near-by Blackfriars; and in accordance with
this purpose, on June 3, 1615, Rosseter secured a roy