Note 625 — BOOK V PLAYS AND PLAYWRIGHTS

Sir Henry Herbert noted in his office-book in 1633 (Variorum, iii. 208), ‘The Master ought to have copies of their new playes left with him, that he may be able to shew what he hath allowed or disallowed’, but it was clearly not the current practice. In 1640 (Variorum, iii. 241) he suppressed an unlicensed play, and noted, ‘The play I cald for, and, forbiddinge the playinge of it, keepe the booke’, which suggests that only one copy existed.