rty; one of the legal documents printed by
Cunningham contains the phrase: "and the great barn, which was
afterwards the playhouse."[626] If this be true--I think it very
doubtful--the reconstruction must have been thorough, for Howes, in
his continuation of Stow's _Annals_ (1631), speaks of Salisbury Court
as "a new, fair playhouse";[627] and in all respects it seems to have
ranked with the best.

[Footnote 626: Cunningham, _The Shakespeare Society's Papers_, IV,
104. In his _Handbook for London_ Cunningham says that the Salisbury
Court Playhouse "was originally the 'barn.'"]

[Footnote 627: _Annals_ (1631), p. 1004. In 1633 Prynne
(_Histriomastix_) refers to it as a "new theatre erected."]

We know very little of the building. But Wright, in his _Historia
Histrionica_, informs us that it was "almost exactly like" the two
other private houses, the Blackfriars and the Cockpit:

_True._ The Blackfriars, Cockpit, and Salisbury Court were
called private houses, and were very small to what we see
now. The Cockpit was standing since the Restoration, and
Rhodes' company acted there for some time.

_Love._ I have seen that.

_True._ Then you have seen the other two in effect, for they
were all three built almost exactly alike for form and
bigness.[628]

[Footnote 628: Collier, _The History of English Dramatic Literature_
(1879), III, 106, thought that Salisbury Court was a round playhouse,
basing his opinion on a line in Sharpe's _Noble Stranger_ acted at
"the private house in Salisbury Court": "Thy Stranger to the
Globe-like theatre."]

In spite of what Wright says, however, there is some reason for
believing that Salisbury Court was smaller than the other two private
houses. The Epilogue to _Totenham Court_ refers to it as "my little
house"; and the Epistle affixed to the second edition of _Sir Giles
Goosecappe_ is said to convey the same impression of smallness.[629]

[Footnote 629: I have not been able to examine this. In the only copy
of the second edition accessible to me the Epistle is missing.]

According to Malone, Sir Henry Herbert, the Master of the Revels, was
"one of the proprietors" of the house, and held a "ninth share" in the
profits.[630] This, however, is not strictly accurate. Sir Henry, by
virtue of his power to license playhouses, demanded from each
organization of players an annual fee. The King's Men gave him two
benefit performances a year; Christophe