to perform
without special leave from the Privy Council; and the authorities of
Gray's Inn, once famous for its dramatic representations, expressly
ordered that there should be "no comedies called interludes in this
house out of term time, but when the Feast of the Nativity of our Lord
is solemnly observed." Upon the accession of Queen Mary, in 1553,
dramatic representations, whether or not touching upon points of
religious doctrine, appear to have been forbidden for a period of two
years. In 1556 the Star Chamber issued orders, addressed to the
justices of the peace in every county in the kingdom, with
instructions that they should be rigorously enforced, forbidding the
representation of dramatic productions of all kinds. Still, in Mary's
reign, certain miracle plays, designed to inculcate and enforce the
tenets of the Roman Catholic religion, were now and then encouraged by
the public authorities; and in 1557 the Queen sanctioned various
sports and pageants of a dramatic kind, apparently for the
entertainment of King Philip, then arrived from Flanders, and of the
Russian ambassador, who had reached England a short time before.

The players had for a long while few temptations to resist authority,
whether rightfully or wrongfully exercised. Sufferance was the badge
of their tribe. They felt constrained to submit without question or
repining, when loud-toned commands were addressed to them, dreading
lest worse things should come about. It was a sort of satisfaction to
them, at last, to find themselves governed by so distinguished a
personage as the Lord Chamberlain, or even by his inferior officer the
Master of the Revels. It was true that he might, as he often did, deal
with them absurdly and severely; but even in this abuse of his power
there was valuable recognition of their profession--it became invested
with a measure of lawfulness, otherwise often denied it by common
opinion. How it chanced that a member of the royal household ruled not
only the dramatic representations of the court, but controlled
arbitrarily enough, plays and players generally, no one appeared to
know, or thought it worth while to inquire. As Colley Cibber writes:
"Though in all the letters patent for acting plays, &c., since King
Charles I.'s time, there has been no mention of the Lord Chamberlain,
or of any subordination to his command or authority, yet it was still
taken for granted that no letters patent, by the bare omission of such
a gre