players apparently infer that they retained the right of
giving private and Court performances upon their own account and for
their own profit. The money they received for Court performances appears
to have belonged exclusively to the players, as the total amount
collected by them is at times turned over to Henslowe in part payment of
their corporate indebtedness to him, and credited to them in full. Had
Henslowe shared in these payments his portion would have been deducted
from the credits. It is evident that he was merely the financial backer
of, and not a sharer in, this company.

In the apparently comprehensive list of the members of Lord Strange's
company--as it existed early in 1592--which was owned by Edward Alleyn
and is now preserved at Dulwich College, while Pope and Bryan, who came
from Leicester's company, and Richard Burbage and others, no doubt, who
came from Lord Hunsdon's company are mentioned, Shakespeare's name does
not appear. There is no reason why he should not have been mentioned in
this list had he been a member of the company at that time. About three
years later, when Strange's men had separated from Henslowe and the
Admiral's men, and returned to Burbage, Shakespeare is mentioned, with
William Kempe and Richard Burbage, in the Court records as receiving
payment for Court performances, from which we may infer that he was
regarded as one of the leading members of, and was also a sharer in, the
company at this time.

Where, then, was Shakespeare during the period of Henslowe's management?
What company of players performed in the plays he produced between about
the end of 1590 and the middle of 1594, which are--_The Comedy of
Errors_, _Love's Labour's Lost_, _Love's Labour's Won_, _The Two
Gentlemen of Verona_, _King John_, _Richard II._, _Richard III._, and
_Midsummer Night's Dream_? Later on I shall advance conclusive evidence
to prove that all of these plays were written in this interval, though
most of them were materially revised in later years.

In order to answer these questions it will be advisable to revert to a
consideration of the drastic changes which took place between the end of
1588 and the beginning of 1592, in the comparative standing, as well as
in the personnel, of several of the most prominent companies of players.
I have shown that early in 1589 a union took place between the leading
members of Lord Strange's tumblers, the Lord Admiral's, the Lord
Chamberlain's, and the Earl