Note 501 — BOOK III THE COMPANIES (continued 5)

Dr. Greg puts it in 1598, on the assumption that Alleyn returned to the stage in that year. It might conceivably belong to 1597, between 18 Dec., when Bristow was bought, and 29 Dec., by which day Alleyn had left. It cannot be later than Feb. 1602, by which month Jones and Shaw had left. The prefix ‘Mr’ allotted to Charles and Sam is in favour of a date after their agreements on 16 Nov. 1598. Dr. Greg’s argument (Henslowe Papers, 138) that Kendall’s agreement expired 7 Dec. 1599 is not convincing, as there was nothing in it to prevent him from staying on, and the satire of the play in Jonson’s Poetaster of 1601, to which he refers, obviously tells in favour of a date nearer to 1601 than 1598.