Note 707 — VII THE COURT PLAY

J. D. Walker, Black Books of Lincoln's Inn, i. xxxiii, 344, 348, 352, 362, 374, 418; ii. 55. It was ordered on 2 Feb. 1565 that 'Mʳ Edwards shall have in reward liijˢ, iiijᵈ for his plee, and his hussher xˢ, and xˢ more to the children that pleed' (in margin, 'Children of the Quenes Chappell'). The accounts of 1564-5, however, show £1 18s. 2d. for a supper and for staff torches, clubs, and other necessaries for the play, and £1 as reward for the boys; those of 1565-6 £2 to the boys of the Queen's chapel and their master for a play at the Purification; those of 1569-70 £1 'lusoribus' of 'Lord Roche' at the Purification; those of 1579-80 £3 6s. 8d. on 9 Feb. 'to Mʳ Ferrand [Farrant] one of the Queen's chaplains pro commedia'. On 12 May 1598, a levy was made for the expenses of 'the gentlemen that were actors in the matter of the shew the last Christmas'. No more is known of this show. On the Inns of Court Christmases generally cf. Mediaeval Stage, i. 413.