f [1] (21 December)
Our duetyes to your
Lordshipps most humbly remembred/ The remembraunce of the late
grevious infeccion and contagion of the plague wherewith it
pleased Almightie God so heavilye to afflicte vs
this Citty and other
partes of this Kingedome, do make vs very circumspecte and warye so farr
as lyeth in our powers to prevente all occasions that wee conceave may bee a meanes
to renne or to spread the same Soe accordingely wee haue been very carefull to give
order for the ayringe and clensyinge of all houses and especially those that haue
bene infected in this late visitacion as also for the cleane and sweete
keepinge of our streetes and lanes, and for avoidinge of Inmates and vndersitters
that heretofore haue much pestered this Citty and especially the populous parrishes
of the same, This haue wee carefully done, and yet there is one thinge of late
begonne which in our opinions wilbe as greate a meanes as any of the rest
both to renewe and increase the sicknes, namely comon stageplaies aboute the Citty out of our
iurisdiccions which lyeth not in our powers to redresse, And
therefore wee haue presumed to giue your Lordships notice
thereof leavinge it to your Loordshippes grave
consideracions what is meete to bee done therein: But wee are of opinion
that yf way bee given to contynue plaies, it wilbe a meanes to drawe together a
greate concourse of people and that of the meaner and lewder sorte, who there make
matches and appointe theire meetinge places and so consequently to indanger the
renvinge & dispersing of the sicknes, which (blessed bee god) is nowe
in a manner totally abated within this Citty./ And so wee humbly take our
leaves of your Lordshippes This xxjth of December 1625
Your Lordshippes most humble
(signed) Allin cotton mayor
(signed) Thomas Bennett
(signed) Thomas Myddelton
(signed) Iohn. Gore
(signed) Robert Ihonson(signed) Martin Lumley
See further Alfred B. Beaven, The Aldermen of the City of London Temp. Henry III.-1908 (London, 1908-13), for Thomas Bennett, mercer (vol 2, p 45), Thomas Myddelton/Middleton, grocer (vol 2, p 48), Hugh Hamersley, haberdasher (vol 1, p 37), James Campbell, ironmonger (vol 2, p 54 ), John Gore, merchant taylor (vol 2, p 54), Robert Johnson, grocer (vol 2, p 54), Martin Lumley, draper (vol 2, p 53), Rowland Heylin or Heylyn, ironmonger (vol 2, p 57) and Robert Parkhurst, clothworker (vol 2, p 57). See also the ODNB entry for Thomas Myddlelton/Middleton: Charles Welch and Trevor Dickie (rev), 'Myddelton [Middleton], Sir Thomas (1549X56–1631), merchant and politician,' accessed 2 December 2022.
Record title: Letter from the Lord Mayor to the Privy Council
Repository:
BL
Shelfmark: Egerton MS 2623
Repository location: London
The letter from Lord Mayor Sir Allen Cotton and aldermen of London, preserved in an antiquarian collection, reflects ongoing anxiety about crowds gathering at playhouses beyond the jurisdiction of London authorities at the end of the plague year of high mortality in 1625. Charles Creighton provides further details, including various contemporary witnesses testifying to the widespread misery and flight from the capital for those able to do so; see A History of Epidemics in Britain, vol 1, 2nd ed (London, 1965), 507–20. The Hope may not have been functioning as a playhouse by this time.
21 December 1625; paper; English; bifolium; 205mm wide x 310mm; good condition; no decoration; endorsed f [2v] (reversed): 'To the righte honorable | ‸⸢& owr very good Lordes⸣ the Lordes and others of | his Maiestes most honorable | privye councell./././.' Now glued and mounted on a later guard leaf, foliated 30-1, and bound in a with other miscellaneous 16th, 17th, and 18th-c. papers titled 'Dramatic Miscellanies M-S.' collected by John Payne Collier.
© British Library Egerton MS 2623