A few titles may be found in
contemporary literature, such as _The Blacksmith's Daughter_, mentioned
by the Puritan Gosson in his _School of Abuse_, as "containing the
treachery of Turks, the honorable bounty of a noble mind, the shining of
virtue in distress," _The Conspiracy of Catilina, Caesar and Pompey_, and
_The Play about the Fabians_.
All these must have belonged to the earliest repertoire of The Theatre,
for Gosson's _School of Abuse_ appeared in 1579.
It is of more interest that Thomas Lodge mentions the original
pre-Shakespearean _Hamlet_ as having been acted in The Theatre. He
speaks of one who "looks as pale as the visard of the ghost which cries
so miserably at The Theatre, like an oister-wife, 'Hamlet revenge.'"
The same company, originally "Lord Leicester's Servants," continued to
act in The Theatre till it was pulled down. But the company several
times changed its patron and consequently its name. In 1588 Lord
Leicester died, and after his death Ferdinando Stanley, Lord Strange,
became the patron of the company; till 1592, therefore, the actors were
called "Lord Strange's Men." But in 1592 Lord Strange was created earl
of Derby; consequently the troupe became for two years "The Earl of
Derby's Men." In 1594 the Earl of Derby died, and Henry Carey, first
Lord Hunsdon and lord chamberlain, undertook to become patron of the
company, which, therefore, adopted the name of "The Lord Chamberlain's
Servants.
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