"
Taylor, the water poet, commemorates the event in the following lines:
"As gold is better that in fire's tried,
So is the Bankside Globe, that late was burn'd;
For where before it had a thatched hide,
Now to a stately theatre 'tis turn'd;
Which is an emblem that great things are won;
By those that dare through greatest dangers run."
It is also alluded to in some verses by Ben Jonson, entitled, "An
Execration upon Vulcan," from which it appears that Ben Jonson was in the
theatre when it was burnt.
This theatre was open in summer and the performances took place by
daylight; the King's company usually began to play in the month of May.
The exhibitions appear to have been calculated for the lower class of
people, and to have been more frequent than those at the Blackfriars, till
1604 or 5, when it became less fashionable and frequented. Being
contiguous to the Bear Garden, it is probable that those who resorted
there went to the theatre, when the bear-baiting sports were over, and
such persons were not likely to form a very refined audience.
We have no description of the interior of the Globe, but that it was
somewhat similar to our modern theatres, with an open space in the roof:
or perhaps it more resembled an inn-yard, where, in the beginning of Queen
Elizabeth's reign, many of our ancient dramatic pieces were performed. The
galleries in both were arranged on three sides of the building; the small
rooms under the lowest, answered to our present boxes and were called
rooms; the yard bears a sufficient resemblance to the pit, as at present
in use, and where the common people stood to see the exhibition; from
which circumstance they are called by Shakspeare "the _groundlings_," and
by Ben Jonson, "the _understanding_ gentlemen of the _ground_.
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