Court the
custom of having small private performances in the Cockpit, in
addition to the more elaborate performances in the Great Hall. Since
this ultimately led to the establishment of a theatre royal, known as
"The Cockpit-in-Court," it will be necessary to trace in some detail
the history of that structure.

The palace of Whitehall, anciently called York House, and the home of
thirty successive Archbishops of York, was seized by King Henry VIII
at the fall of Wolsey and converted into a royal residence.[660] The
new proprietor at once made improvements after his own taste, among
which were tennis-courts, bowling-alleys, and an amphitheatre for the
"royal sport" of cock-fighting. In Stow's description of the palace we
read:

On the right hand be diverse fair tennis courts, bowling
alleys, and a Cockpit, all built by King Henry the Eight.

[Footnote 660: Shakespeare writes (_Henry VIII_, IV, i, 94-97):

Sir you
Must no more call it York-place, that is past;
For since the Cardinal fell, that title's lost:
'Tis now the King's, and called Whitehall.]

Strype, in his edition of Stow's _Survey_ (1720), adds the information
that the Cockpit was made "out of certain old tenements."[661] It is
pictured in Agas's _Map of London_ (1570), and more clearly in
Faithorne's _Map_ (see page 390), printed in 1658, but apparently
representing the city at an earlier date.

[Footnote 661: Book VI, page 6.]

During the reign of Elizabeth the Cockpit, so far as I can ascertain,
was never used for plays. In the voluminous documents relating to the
Office of the Revels there is only one reference to the building: in
1572 flowers were temporarily stored there that were to be used for
decking the "Banketting House."

It was during the reign of King James that the Cockpit began to be
used for dramatic representations. John Chamberlain writes from London
to Sir Ralph Winwood, December 18, 1604: "Here is great provision for
Cockpit to entertain him [the King] at home, and of masques and revels
against the marriage of Sir Herbert and Lady Susan Vere."[662] Since,
however, King James was very fond of cock-fighting, it may be that
Chamberlain was referring to that royal entertainment rather than to
plays. The small Cockpit was certainly a very unusual place for the
formal presentation of plays before His Majesty and the Court.

[Footnote 662: _Winwood State Papers_ (1725), II, 41.]

Bu