tely erected and made fit a building, which
is almost if not fully finished. You shall understand that
His Majesty hath this day expressly signified his pleasure
that the same shall be pulled down, so as it be made unfit
for any such use; whereof we require your Lordship to take
notice and to cause it to be performed accordingly, with all
speed, and thereupon to certify us of your proceeding.

There can be no doubt that an order so peremptory, carrying the
authority both of the Privy Council and of the King, and requiring an
immediate report, was performed "with all speed." After this we hear
nothing more of the playhouse in Puddlewharf.[576]

[Footnote 576: I can find no further reference to the Puddlewharf
Theatre either in the _Records_ of the Privy Council or in the
_Remembrancia_ of the City. Collier, however, in his _History of
English Dramatic Poetry_ (1879), I, 384, says: "The city authorities
proceeded immediately to the work, and before three days had elapsed,
the Privy Council was duly and formally made acquainted with the fact
that Rosseter's theatre had been 'made unfit for any such use' as that
for which it had been constructed." Collier fails to cite his
authority for the statement; the passage he quotes may be found in the
order of the Privy Council printed above.]

CHAPTER XVIII

THE PHOENIX, OR COCKPIT IN DRURY LANE

The private playhouse opened in Drury Lane[577] in 1617 seems to have
been officially named "The Phoenix"; but to the players and the
public alike it was more commonly known as "The Cockpit." This implies
some earlier connection of the site or of the building with
cock-fighting, from time out of mind a favorite sport in England.
Stowe writes in his _Survey_: "Cocks of the game are yet cherished by
diverse men for their pleasures, much money being laid on their heads,
when they fight in pits, whereof some be costly made for that
purpose." These pits, it seems, were circular in shape, and if large
enough might well be used for dramatic purposes. Shakespeare, in
_Henry V_ (1599), likens his playhouse to a cockpit:

Can this cockpit hold
The vasty fields of France? or may we cram
Within this wooden O the very casques
That did affright the air at Agincourt?

[Footnote 577: Its exact position in Drury Lane is indicated by an
order of the Privy Council, June 8, 1623, concerning the paving of a
street at the