Here is the record of
his gift:
"_Issue Roll_, Easter, 14 Ric. II.
"11 July. To the clerks of the parish churches and to divers
other clerks of the city of London. In money paid to them in
discharge of L10 which the Lord the King commanded to be paid
to them of his gift on account of the play of the 'Passion of
Our Lord and the Creation of the World' by them performed at
Skynnerwell after the feast of St. Bartholomew last past. By
writ of Privy Seal amongst the mandates of this term--L10."
[Footnote 57: _English Poetry_, vol. ii. p. 397.]
Skinners' Well was close to the Clerks' Well, and it was so called, so
Stow informs us, "for that the Skinners of London held there certain
plays yearly of Holy Scripture,"
A few years later, in the succeeding reign, 10 Henry IV, A.D. 1409, the
fraternity of clerks were again performing at the same place. Stow says:
"In the year 1409 was a great play at Skynners' Welle, neere unto
Clarkenwell, besides London, which lasted eight daies, and was of matter
from the creation of the world; there were to see the same the most part
of the nobles and gentles in England"--a mighty audience truly, which
not even Sir Henry Irving could command in his farewell performances at
Drury Lane.
[Illustration: A MYSTERY PLAY AT CHESTER (FROM A PRINT AFTER A PAINTING
BY T.
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