Note 1777 — BOOK IV THE PLAY-HOUSES (continued 5)

In Isle of Gulls (1606, Blackfriars), ind., a Gent. can only see an act or two out, for ‘I lay in bed till past three a clock, slept out my dinner and my stomache will toule to supper afore fiue’. Otho of Hesse-Cassel (1611) says that the Whitefriars plays were at three, and from Michaelmas to Easter only. Percy, on the other hand (cf. ch. xii), says that the Paul’s boys were not allowed to begin before four, after prayers, and the gates of Paul’s shut at six. So, too, Ram Alley (King’s Revels), epil., ‘Thus two hours have brought to end’. Gerschow in 1602 (cf. ch. xii) says that the Chapel acted once a week; cf. Eastward Hoe (1605, Blackfriars), epil., ‘May this attract you hither once a week’.