As it is not the purpose of this work to trace the histories of
dramatic companies, I shall here present briefly only such facts
as should be kept in mind in connection with the censorship
of plays, the problems of stage-right and copyright in plays, the
attitudes of companies toward play publication, and the con-
ditions affecting the time of publication. ¹

The adult and the child actors were usually in separate
companies, the rivalries of which are well known. What became
of the child actor as actor, when he grew up, has puzzled others
beside Hamlet ( Hamlet, Act II, sc. 2, 361-8). ² There was an
attempt at a combination of adults and children when the
King, in July 1622, licensed seven of those who had been
comedians to Queen Anne to "bring up children in the qualitie
and exercise of playinge. . . . to be called the Children of the
Revels." Herbert's office-book in 1622 lists these same adults
as the chief players at the Red Bull, called the players of the
Revels. The combination was short-lived. ( Var., III, 59-60). As
the problems here to be considered usually concern the adult
companies, it will be understood that, when dramatic com-
panies are mentioned, the adult companies will be meant unless
it is otherwise specified.

The structure of Elizabethan society being in many respects
still medieval, there are certain traditions and customs handed
down from the past that vitally affected the profession of the

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