These flags were probably displayed only during the hours of
performance; and it should seem from one of the old comedies that they
were taken down in Lent, in which time, during the early part of King
James's reign, plays were not allowed to be represented, though at a
subsequent period this prohibition was dispensed with by paying a fee to
the Master of the Revels.
It was called the Globe from its sign, which was a figure of Hercules, or
Atlas, supporting a globe, under which was written, _Totus mundus agit
histrionem_, (All the world acts a play):--and not as many have
conjectured, that the Globe though hexagonal at the outside, was a rotunda
within, and that it might have derived its name from its circular form.
This theatre was burnt down June 29, 1613, but it was rebuilt with greater
splendour in the following year. The Cut represents the original theatre.
The account of this accident is given by Sir Henry Wotton, in a letter
dated July 2, 1613.[3] "Now to let matters of state sleepe, I will
entertain you at the present with what happened this week at the Banks
side. The King's players had a new play called All is True, representing
some principal pieces of the reign of Henry the Eighth, which set forth
with many extraordinary circumstances of pomp and majesty even to the
matting of the stage; the knights of the order with their Georges and
Garter, the guards with their embroidered coats, and the like: sufficient
in truth within awhile to make greatness very familiar, if not ridiculous.
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