Enjoying Fools and Mortals, especially insight into everyday life of a player. Struck a cord because I have an ancestor, Baptiste Goodell, Queen’s and then King’s Men who debuted in Henry VI in 1589. Came from Dennington, Suffolk, father a ship master. Baptiste became a sharer and invested his earnings, which were considerable, in what became the East India Company. Between 1603 and 1608 he appeared in 51 plays at court, at £10.00 a time: I think if you multiply this by 500 you get a modern equivalent. He wrote a long poem called ‘The Tryall of Travell’ in 1630 dedicated to Elizabeth of Bohemia. I especially like Baptiste’s reference to The Kissing Crust, the base pastry of pies vied at The Mermaid and Dolhin Taverns. Servant girls gathered up discarded writings to use as pie bases. It is said the heat from baking revealed secret writings left by agents of Walsingham and the Cecils. Baptiste was an agent. Later he owned a ship The Star that traded to Java.

Anyhow regards

Steve Goodall