Note 926 — X THE ACTOR'S QUALITY
Reading edition
Sir Edward Conway to the Privy Council, 12 Aug. 1624 (Chalmers, Apology, 500, from S. P. D. Charles I, clxxi. 39), 'His Majesty remembers well there was a commandment and restraint given against the representing of any modern Christian Kings in those stage-plays'. This was written about the performance of Middleton's A Game of Chess, reflecting on the Spanish policy of James I, by the King's men; cf. M. S. C. i. 379. Other post-Shakespearian indiscretions were a performance of a play on the Marquis D'Ancre by an unnamed company in 1617 (M. S. C. i. 376), and one of Sir John Van Olden Barnavelt by the King's men in 1619 (Bullen, O. E. P. iv. 381, from S. P. D. James cx. 37); cf. Gildersleeve, 113.