Note 692 — VII THE COURT PLAY

The £10 fee continued to be paid under Charles I, but by 1630-1 the players had established a claim to an additional £10 if their service at court lost them a day at the theatre, owing to a journey to Hampton Court or Richmond or an occasional performance or rehearsal at Whitehall in the day-time. During 1636-7, however, the theatres were closed for plague (M. S. C. i. 391), and the King's men had an allowance of £20 a week to maintain them near the court (S. P. D. Car. I, cccxxxvii. 33), and did not get the extra £10 a play; cf. E. Law, More about Shakespeare Forgeries, 37, and the extracts from the Lord Chamberlain's Records in C. C. Stopes, Shakespeare's Fellows and Followers (Jahrbuch, xlvi. 92).