He had a warrant from the Lord Lieutenant to be Master of
the Ceremonies for that kingdom; and built a pretty[694]
little theatre in St. Warburgh Street in Dublin.

[Footnote 694: "Pretty little theatre" is the reading of _MS. Aubr.
7_, folio 20; _MS. Aubr. 8_ omits the adjective "pretty." For Aubrey's
full account of Ogilby see Andrew Clark's _Brief Lives_ (1898), 2
vols.]

The history of this "little theatre" is not known in detail. For its
actors Ogilby himself wrote at least one play, entitled _The Merchant
of Dublin_,[695] and Henry Burnell a tragi-comedy entitled
_Landgartha_, printed in 1641 "as it was presented in the new theatre
in Dublin with good applause." But its chief playwright was James
Shirley, who came to Dublin in 1636 under the patronage of the Earl of
Kildare. For the Irish stage he wrote _The Royal Master_, published in
1638 as "acted in the new theatre in Dublin"; _Rosania, or Love's
Victory_, now known as _The Doubtful Heir_, under which title it was
later printed; _St. Patrick for Ireland_;[696] and in all probability
_The Constant Maid_.[697] The actors, however, had little need to buy
original plays, for they were free, no doubt, to take any of the
numerous London successes. From Shirley's _Poems_ we learn that they
were presenting Jonson's _Alchemist_, Middleton's _No Wit_, two of
Fletcher's plays, unnamed, and two anonymous plays entitled _The Toy_
and _The General_; and we may fairly assume that they honored several
of Shirley's early plays in the same way.

[Footnote 695: Aubrey mentions this as having been "written in Dublin,
and never printed."]

[Footnote 696: Published in 1640 as "the first part," and both the
Prologue and the Epilogue speak of a second part; but no second part
was printed, and in all probability it never was written.]

[Footnote 697: Never licensed for England; reprinted in 1657 with _St.
Patrick for Ireland_.]

The theatre came to a sudden end with the outbreak of the rebellion in
1641. In October the Lords Justices prohibited playing there; and
shortly after, we are told, the building was "ruined and spoiled, and
a cow-house made of the stage."[698]

[Footnote 698: _MS. Aubr. 7_, folio 20 v. Ogilby's second theatre in
Dublin, built after the Restoration, does not fall within the scope of
the present work.]

IV

THE FRENCH PLAYERS' TEMPORARY THEATRE IN DRURY LANE

In February, 1635, a company of French players, under the leadership
of