Globe Theater, a theater in Maiden Lane, London, erected in 1599, in which many of Shakespeare's plays were acted for the first time. It was a high, eight-sided, wooden affair, with a stage but without scenery. It was covered with a roof of straw thatch. In the prologue of Henry V, Shakespeare refers to the building as "this wooden O." It accommodated 2,000 spectators, and was uncommonly large for the time. Seats varied in price from two pence to half a crown--from four to sixty cents. Shakespeare was allowed a salary and a share of the profits, amounting in all to $2,500 a year--equivalent to an income of four times that amount at the present day. June 29, 1613, during the performance of the play of Henry VIII with immense pomp, cannon were fired by way of welcome at the entry of the supposed Henry. "Some of the paper or other stuff wherewith one of them was stopped did light on the thatch, where, being thought at first but an idle smoak, and their eyes more attentive to the show, it kindled inwardly and ran round like a train, consuming within less than an hour the whole house to the ground." The chronicler of the event deemed it worth while to record as the exciting incident of the occasion, that "one man had his breeches set on fire," but that "a provident wit put it out with bottled ale." The theater was rebuilt but the new edifice never acquired the fame of that in which Shakespeare scored triumph after triumph. It was pulled down finally. The site is occupied now by tenements. Welsh gives an interesting description of the Globe Theater in Shakes-peare's time: On the banks of the Thames rises the principal theatre, the Globe, a hexagonal tower, surrounded by a muddy ditch, surmounted by a red flag, and roofed by the sky, retaining in its form and arrangements traces of the old model--the inn-yard. Into the pit, the sun shines and the rain falls without let or hindrance; but their bodies are inured to exposure, and they don't trouble themselves about it. The poor are there, as well as the rich; for they have sixpenny, twopenny, and even penny seats. With the actors, on the rush-strewn stage, which is covered with thatch, are the elegant and the dainty, who pay a shilling for admittance. For an extra shilling, they can have a stool. If stools or benches are lacking, they stretch themselves on the floor. They smoke, drink, swear, insult the pit, who pay them back in kind, and fling apples at them in the bargain. Over them, in a lofty gallery, are the musicians. Below, in the circle of the pit, while they wait for the piece, cards are shuffled, oaths resound, ale-pots clatter, blows are exchanged. When the beer takes effect, there is a receptacle for general use. When the fumes rise, they cry, "Burn the juniper!" They are amusing themselves after their fashion. At one o'clock-Sundays included--the flag is hoisted, to announce the hour of the performance. When the trumpet sounds, a figure in a long black velvet cloak comes forward to recite the prologue. Then the play begins, the players in masks and wigs, and attired in the richest dress of the day. If the house are not suited, they hiss, whistle, crow, yell, perhaps fall upon the actors and turn the theatre upside down. The appointments are barbarous, but imaginations are fervid and supply what is wanting. Wooden imitations of animals, towers, forests, etc., are the scenery. A bed suggests a bed-room. A rough table, with drinking vessels, replaces a dingy throne and turns a palace into a tavern. A young man, just shaven, stands for a queen. A scroll in big letters, hung out in view of the spectators informs them that they are in London, Athens, or Paris. Three combatants on a side determine the fate of an empire. Says Sir Philip Sidney: "You shall have Asia of the one side, and Africke of the other, and so many other under-kingdoms, that the Plaier when hee comes in must ever begin with telling where hee is, or else the tale will not be conceived. Now shall you have three Ladies walke to gather flowers, and then wee must beleeve the stage to be a garden. By and by wee heare newes of shipwracke in the same place, then wee are to blame if we accept it not for a rocke; . . . while in the meane time two armies flie in, represented with foure swordes and bucklers, and then what hard heart will not receive it for a pitched field?" See SHAKESPEARE; THEATER; DRAMA; TRAGEDY; COMEDY; STAGE; ACT.