New light on the strolling performers Thomas Peadle and Thomas Cosby, 1639–1650.

The present article brings to light new information about Thomas Peadle, a representative of the younger generation of a late 16th- and early 17th-century family of strolling entertainers, whose career has been very imperfectly documented. Archival materials relating to his marriage in Amsterdam in 1639, his presence at Delft in 1640, and his appearance at The Hague in 1641 suggest that Peadle took his troupe on a tour of The Low Countries in the 1630s and early 1640s. Further evidence of his theatrical activities on the continent is contained in an agreement for co-operation concluded at Paris on 22 October 1649 between Peadle and Thomas Cosby, a fellow rope dancer, on the one hand, and Florent Marchand, a French 'water-spouter', on the other. They continued their joint performances in England, where their co-operation ended in 1650, culminating in the English partners' ruthless exposure of Marchand's 'trade secrets'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]