But for the actors, forbidden to act, what
were they to do? They had been constituted Malignants or Royalists
almost by Act of Parliament. The younger players promptly joined the
army of King Charles. Mohun acquired the rank of captain, and at the
close of the war, served in Flanders, receiving the pay of a major.
Hart became a lieutenant of horse, under Sir Thomas Dallison, in the
regiment of Prince Rupert. In the same troop served Burt as cornet,
and Shatterel as quartermaster. Allen, of the Cockpit, was a major and
quartermaster-general at Oxford. Robinson, serving on the side of the
King, was long reputed to have lost his life at the taking of Basing
House. The story went that the Cromwellian General Harrison had, with
his own hands, slain the actor, crying, as he struck him down: "Cursed
is he that doeth the work of the Lord negligently." Chalmers
maintains, however, that an entry in the parish register of St.
Anne's, Blackfriars, of the death and burial of "Richard Robinson, a
player," in March, 1647, negatives this account of the actor's fate.
Possibly there were two actors bearing the not uncommon name of
Robinson.
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