Cromwell's court struck a balance between the status required of a head of state, and the Cromwell's own openbness and informality. It was a court full of music, as was the supposedly joyless puritan state. There was little of the London theatre, though popular performance at fairs went on as before - but Britain saw its first Opera and John Playford's Dancing Master was all the rage. And in 1657, the first openly Jewish place of worship opened in Creechurch Lane
","author_name":"David Crowther"}