Will last 'gainst worms. MAM. "Tis like your Irish wood 'Gainst cobwebs. I have a piece of Jason's fleece, too, Writ in large sheepskin, a good fat ram-vellum. The manner of our work: the bulls, our furnace, That keeps the whiteness, hardness, and the biting: (Th' alembic), and then sowed in Mars his field, The Alchemist, Act II. sc. 1. THE COURT-MASKS OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. The courts of Elizabeth and James I. were long enlivened by the peculiar theatrical entertainment called the mask-a combination of scenery, music, and poetry. The origin of the mask is to be looked for in the 'revels' and 'shows' which, during the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries, were presented on high festive occasions at court, in the inns of the lawyers, and at the universities, and in those mysteries and moralities which were the percursors of the legitimate drama. Henry VIII. in his earlier and better days had frequent entertainments, consisting of a set of masked and gaily dressed characters, or of such representations as the following: In the hall of the palace at Greenwich, a castle was reared, with numerous towers and gates, and every appearance of preparation for a long siege, and inscribed La Forteresse Dangereuse, it was defended by six richly dressed ladies; the king and five of his courtiers then entered in the disguise of knights, and attacked the castle, which the ladies, after a gallant resistance, surrendered, the affair concluding with a dance of the ladies and knights. Here there was nothing but scenery and pantomime; by and by, poetical dialogue, song, and music, were added; and when the mask had reached its height in the reigns of James and the First Charles, it employed the finest talent of the country in its composition, and, as Bacon remarks, being designed for princes, was by princes played. Masks were generally prepared for some remarkable occasion, as a coronation, the birth of a young prince or noble, a peer's marriage, or the visit of some royal personage of foreign countries; and they usually took place in the hall of the palace. Many of them were enacted in that banqueting-room at Whitehall through which a prince, who often took part in them, afterwards walked to the scaffold. Allegory and mythology were the taste of the age; we must allow for the novelty of classical imagery and characters at that period, and it may be only a kind of prejudice, or the effect of fashion, which makes us so rigorously banish from our literature allusions to the poetic creations of Grecian antiquity; while we contentedly solace ourselves in contemplating, through what are called historical novels, the much ruder, and perhaps not more truly represented, personages of the middle ages. The action of a mask was always something short and simple; and it is easy to see that, excepting where very high poetical and musical talent was engaged, the principal charm must have lain in the elegance of the dresses and decorations, and the piquancy of a constant reference from the actors in their assumed, to the actors in their real characters. Usually, besides gods, goddesses, and nymphs from classical antiquity, there were such personages as Night, Day, Beauty, Fortitude, and so forth; but though the persons of the drama were thus removed from common life, the reference of the whole business of the scene to the occasion which had called it forth, was as direct as it could well be, and even ludicrously so, particularly when the object was to pay a compliment to any of the courtly audience. This, however, was partly justified by the private character of the entertainment; and it is easy to conceive that, when a gipsy stepped from the scene, and, taking the king's hand, assigned him all the good-fortune which a loyal subject should wish to a sovereign, there would be such a marked increase of sensation in the audience, as to convince the poet that there lay the happiest stroke of his art. Mr. Collier, in his Annals of the Stage,' has printed a document which gives a very distinct account of the court-mask, as it was about the time when the drama arose in England--namely, in the early years of Elizabeth. That princess, as is well known, designed an amicable meeting with Mary Queen of Scots, which was to have taken place at Nottingham Castle, in May 1562, but was given up in consequence, as is believed, of the jealousy of Elizabeth regarding the superior beauty of Mary. A mask was devised to celebrate the meeting and entertain the united courts and it is the poet's scheme of this entertainment, docketed by Lord Burleigh, to which reference is now made. The mask seems to have been simply an acted allegory, relating to the circumstances of the two queens; and it throws a curious light not only upon the taste, but upon the political history of the period. We give the programme of the first night. First, a prison to be made in the ball, the name whereof is Extreme Oblivion, and the keeper's name thereof Argus, otherwise called Circumspection; then a mask of ladies to come in after this sort: 'First, Pallas, riding upon a unicorn, having in her hand a s'andard, on which is to be painted two ladies' hands, knit in one fast within the other, and over the hands, written in letters of gold, Fides. Then two ladies riding together-the one upon a golden lion, with a crown of gold on his head; the other upon a red lion, with the like crown of gold; signifying two virtues; that is to say, the lady on the golden lion is to be called Prudentia, and the lady on the red lion Temperantia. After this, to follow six or eight ladies, maskers, bringing in captive Discord and False Report, with ropes of gold about their necks. When these have marched about the hall, then Pallas to declare before the queen's majesty, in verse, that the goddess, understanding the noble meeting of these two queens, liath willed her to declare unto them that those two virtues, Prudentia and Temperantia, have made great and long suit unto Jupiter that it would please him to give unto them False Report and Discord, to be punished as they think good; and that those ladies have now in their presence determined to commit them fast bound unto the aforesaid prison of Extreme Oblivion, there to be kept by the aforesaid jailer Argus, otherwise Circumspection, for ever, unto whom Prudentia shall deliver a lock, whereupon shall be written In Eternum. Then Temperantia shall likewise deliver unto Argus a key, whose name shall be Nunquam, signifying that, when False Report and Discord are committed to the prison of Extreme Oblivion, and locked there everlastingly, he should put in the key to let them out nu quam [never]; and when he hath so done, then the trumpets to blow, and the English ladies to take the nobility of the strangers, and dance.' On the second night a castle is presented in the hall, and Peace comes in riding in a chariot drawn by an elephant, on which sits Friendship. The latter pronounces a speech on the event of the preceding evening, and Peace is left to well with Prudence and Temperance. The third night shewed Disdain on a wild boar, accompanied by Prepensed Malice, as a serpent, striving to procure the liberation of Discord and False Report, but opposed successfully by Courage and Discretion. At the end of the fight, Disdain shall run his ways, and escape with life, but Prepensed Malice shall be slain; siguifying that some ungodly men may still disdain the perpetual peace made between these two virtues; but as for their prepensed malice, it is easy trodden under these ladies' feet.' The second night ends with a flowing of wine from conduits, 'during which time the English lords shall mask with the Scottish ladies' the third night terminates by the six or eight lady-maskers singing a song as full of harmony as may be devised.' The whole entertainment indicates a sincere desire of reconciliation on the part of Elizabeth; but the first scene-a prison-seems strangely ominous of the events which followed six years after. 6 The mask, as has been stated, attained the zenith of its glory in the reign of James I.-the most festive reign in England between those of Henry VIII. and Charles II. The queen, the princess, and nobles and ladies of the highest rank, took parts in them, and they engaged the genius of Jonson and Inigo Jones, one as poet, and the other as machinist, while no expense was spared to render them worthy of the place, the occasion, and the audience. It appears from the accounts of the Master of the Revels, that no less than £4215 was lavished on these entertainments in the first six years of the king's reign. Jonson himself composed twenty-three masks; and Dekker, Middleton, and others of the leading dramatic authors, Shakspeare aione excepted, were glad to contribute in this manner to the pleasures of a court from which they derived their best patronage and support. The marriage of Lord James Hay to Anne, daughter and heir of Lord Denny (January 6, 1607), was distinguished at Court (Whitehall) by what was called the Memorable Mask, the production of Dr. Thomas Campion, an admired musician as well as poet of that day, now forgotten. On this occasion, the great hall of the palace was fitted up in a way that shews the mysteries of theatrical scenery and decoration to have been better understood, and carried to a greater height, in that age than is generally supposed. One end of the hall was set apart for the audience, having the king's seat in the centre; next to it was a space for ten concerted musicians-base and mean lutes, a bandora, a double sackbut, a harpsichord, and two treble violins-besides whom there were nine violins, three lutes, six cornets, and six chapel-singers. The stage was concealed by a curtain resembling dark clouds, which being withdrawn, disclosed a green valley with green round about it, and in the midst of them nine golden clouds of fifteen feet high. The bower of Flora was on their right, the house of Night on the left; between them a hill hanging like a cliff over the grove. The bower of Flora was spacious, garnished with flowers and flowery branches, with lights among them; the house of Night, ample and stately, with black columns studded with golden stars; while about it were placed on wires, artincial bats and owls continually moving. As soon as the king entered the great hall, the haut-boys were heard from the top of the hill and from the wood, till Flora and Zephyrus were seen busily gathering flowers from the bower, throwing them into baskets which two sylvans held, attired in changeable taffety. Besides two other allegorical characters, Night and Hesperus, there were nine maskers, representing Apollo's knights, and personated by young men of rank. After songs and recitative, the whole vale was suddenly with drawn, and a hill with Diana's tree discovered. Night appeared in her house with Nine Hours, apparelled in large robes of black taffety, painted thick with stars; their hair long, black, and spangled with gold; on their heads, coronets of stars, and their faces black. Every Hour bore in his hand a black torch painted with stars, and lighted. NIGHT. Vanish, dark vales; let Night in glory shine, See where she triumphs, see her flowers are thrown, Despiteful Flora, is 't not enough of grief, That Cynthia's robbed, but thou must grace the thief? 1 Diana. Hymen had stolen a nymph out of her train. And matched her here, plighted henceforth to be FLORA. Be mild, stern Night; Flora doth honour Cynthia and her right;. The nymph was Cynthia's while she was her own, But now another claims in her a right, By fate reserved thereto, and wise foresight. ZEPHYRUS. Can Cynthia one kind virgin's loss bemoan? After some more such dialogue, in which Hesperus takes part, Cynthia is reconciled to the loss of her nymph; the trees sink, by means of machinery, under the stage, and the maskers come out of their tops to fine music. Dances, processions, speeches, and songs follow, the last being a duet between a Sylvan and an Hour, by the way of tenor and bass. SYLVAN. Tell me, gentle Hour of Night, HOUR. Not in sleep. SYL. Wherein, then? SYL. Lov'st thou music? HOUR. Oh, 'tis sweet, SYL. What's dancing? HOUR Even the mirth of feet. SYL. Joy you in fairies and in elves? HOUR. We are of that sort ourselves. But, Sylvan, say, why do you love Only to frequent the grove? SYL. Life is fullest of content, Where delight is innocent. HOUR. Pleasure must vary, Lot be long; Then the maskers made an obeisance to the king, and attended him to the banqueting-room. ་ The masks of Jonson contain a great deal of fine poetry, and even the prose descriptive parts are remarkable for grace and delicacy of language-as, for instance, where he speaks of a sea at the back of a scene catching the eye afar off with a wandering beauty.' In that which was produced at the marriage of Ramsay, Lord Haddington, to Lady Elizabeth Ratcliff, the scene presented a steep red cliff, topped by clouds, allusive to the red cliff from which the lady's name was said to be derived; before which were two pillars charged with spoils of love, amongst which were old and young persons bound with roses, wedding-garments, rocks, and spindles, hearts transfixed with arrows, others flaming, virgins' girdles, garlands, and worlds of such like.' Enter Venus in her chariot, attended by the Graces, and delivers a speech expressive of her anxiety to recover her son Cupid, who has run away from her. The Graces then make proclamation as follows: FIRST GRACE. If he be amongst ye, say; SECOND GRACE. She that will but now discover Where the winged wag doth hover, |