[wouldst thou come

Omnes. Ha, ha, ha!
La-P. Oh, thou fresh-water gudgeon,
To point of marriage with an ignoramus?
Thou shouldst have had her urine to the doc-
tor's;

[plain
The foolishest physician could have made
The liquid Epicone63; a blind man by the
hand
[stone.-
Could have discover'd the ring from the
Boy, come to sea with me; I'il teach thee
to climb,

And come down by the rope, nay, to eat rats. Ver. I shall devour my master before the prison then6+;

Sir, I've began my trade.

Mal. Trade! to the city, child;
A flap cap will become thee.
Mont. Gentlemen,

I beseech you molest yourselves no further
For his preferment; 'tis determined.

Luv. I'm much ashamed; and if my cheek
Giveth not satisfaction, break my head.
Mont. Your shame is enough, sir.
Ami. Montagues,

Much joy attend thy marriage-bed! By thy
Example of true goodness, Envy is exil'd;"
And to all honest men that truth intend,
I wish good luck! fair Fate be still thy friend!
[Exeunt omnes.

63 The liquid Epicone.] There is great humour in this, which will escape those who are not acquainted with the technical words in grammar: the Epicane gender is the doubtful, or where the sex is not distinguished. The adjective and substantive are therefore jocosely inverted, and the liquid Epicane, is the same as the dubious liquid. Seward.

We do not remember meeting with a stranger observation, than is contained in the above

note.

64 I shall devour my master before the prison then.] This is a passage that has puzzled Mr. Sympson and myself. He proposes to read poison for prison, but he owns himself not satisfied with the change; nor, indeed, do I see, what advance towards sense we can make by it. I am very far from being satisfied with what I am going to propose. It is very clear, that Veramour designs to call La-Poop a rat, and his natural answer should be, "I shall "then devour my master the first of all his crew." I read, therefore,

65 Montague, much joy attend thy marriage bed; By thy example of true goodness, Envy is exil'd, And to all honest men that truth intend,

I wish good luck, fair Fate be still thy friend.] The reader will here see another instance, how much corrupted the measure was in those parts of the play which were rang'd as verse; which generally arose from the printers making the beginning of most speeches the beginning of a verse, when they are often a conclusion of some foregoing verse, as in this instance. Hence they were forced to curtail the next lines, to bring two lines and a half into two; and I hope, that the original is only restored in stretching them again into due dimensions. In the last line, I believe, for thy friend, we should read their friend, else we should make a fuller point than a comma before it. The former seems most natural.

Scarcely any of Mr. Seward's divisions, which he so often mentions, are adopted in the present edition.

THE

THE MASQUE

OF

THE INNER-TEMPLE AND GRAY'S INN,

GRAY'S INN AND THE INNER-TEMPLE;

Presented before His Majesty, the Queen's Majesty, the Prince, Count Palatine and the Lady Elizabeth their Highnesses, in the Banqueting-House at Whitehall, on Saturday the 20th day of February, 1612.

This Masque was undoubtedly the production of Beaumont alone, There is a quarto edition of it without a date; and it is also printed in the folio of 1647.

DEDICATION.

To the Worthy Sir Francis Bacon, His Majesty's Solicitor-General; and the Grave and Learned Bench of the anciently-allied Houses of Gray's Inn and the Inner-Temple, the Inner-Temple and Gray's Inn.

YOU that spared no time nor travel, in the setting forth, ordering, and furnishing of this Masque, (being the first fruits of honour, in this kind, which these two Societies have offered to his majesty), will not think much now to look back upon the effects of your own care and work: for that whereof the success was then doubtful, is now happily performed and graciously accepted; and that which you were then to think of in straits of time, you may now peruse at leisure: and you, Sir Francis Bacon, especially, as you did then by your countenance and loving affection advance it, so let your good word grace it and defend it, which is able to add value to the greatest and least matters.

VOL. III.

4D

INTRO

INTRODUCTION.

THIS Masque was appointed to have been presented the Shrove-Tuesday before', at which time the masquers with their attendants, and divers other gallant young gentleinen of both houses, as their convoy, set forth from Winchester-house (which was the rendezvous) towards the court, about seven of the clock at night.

This voyage by water was performed in great triumph; the gentlemen masquers being placed by themselves in the king's royal barge, with the rich furniture of state, and adorned with a great number of lights placed in such order as might make best show.

They were attended with a number of barges and gallies, with all variety of loud musick, and several peals of ordnance, and led by two admirals.

Of this show his majesty was graciously pleased to take a view, with the prince, the count Palatine, and the lady Elizabeth their highnesses, at the windows of his privy gallery, upon the water, till their landing, which was at the privy stairs; where they were most honourably received by the lord chamberlain, and so conducted to the vestry.

The hall was by that time filled with company of very good fashion, but yet so as a very great number of principal ladies, and other noble persons, were not yet come in, whereby it was foreseen that the room would be so scanted as might have been inconvenient; and thereupon his majesty was most graciously pleased, with the consent of the gentlemen masquers, to put off the night until Saturday following, with this special favour and privilege, that there should be no let, as to the outward ceremony of magnificence until that time. At the day that it was presented, there was a choice room reserved for the gentlemen of both their houses, who, coming in troop about seven of the clock, received that special bonour and noble favour, as to be brought to their places by the right honourable the earl of Northampton, lord-privy-seal.

This Masque was appointed, &c.] The marriage of the count Palatine of the Rhine with the lady Elizabeth, daughter to James I., was celebrated on Valentine's Day, in the year 1613. The Masque then exhibited by the gentlemen of Gray's Inn and the Inner-Temple was performed with much splendor and magnificence, and at a great expence to both those societies. In Dugdale's Origines Juridiciales, 1671, p. 286, we find the following accounts of the charges attending this representation, extracted from the records of each society.— Gray's Inn. In the 10th of King James, the gentlemen of this house were (together with those of the other inns of court) actors in that great Masque at Whitehall, at the marriage of the king's eldest daughter unto Frederick Count Palatine of the Rhine; the charge in apparel for the actors in which Masque, was supported by the society: the readers being each man assessed at 41.; the ancients, and such as at that time were to be called ancients, at 24. 10s. apiece; the barristers at 27. a man; and the students at 20s.; out of which so much was to be taken as the Inner-Temple did then allow.

Which being performed, there was an order made, 18 Maii then next following, that the gentlemen who were actors in that Masque should bring in all their masqueing apparel, so provided at the charge of the house.'

Ibid. p. 346. Lincoln's Inn. The third upon a Masque in 11 Jac. presented by this society before the king, at the marriage of the lady Elizabeth his daughter, to the prince Elector Palatine of the Rhine, which cost no less than mixxxvil. 8s. 11d.'

R.

THE

OF

THE INNER-TEMPLE AND GRAY'S INN,

GRAY'S INN AND THE INNER-TEMPLE.

THE DEVISE OR ARGUMENT.

JUPITER and Juno, willing to do honour to the marriage of the two famous rivers, Thamesis and Rhine, employ their messengers severally, Mercury and Iris, for that purpose. They meet and contend: then Mercury, for his part, brings forth an anti-masque all of spirits or divine natures; but yet not of one kind or livery (because that had been so much in use heretofore) but, as it were, in consort, like to broken music and preserving the propriety of the devise; for that rivers in nature are maintained either by springs from beneath, or showers from above, he raiseth four of the Naiades out of the fountains, and bringeth down five of the Hyades out of the clouds, to dance. Hereupon, Iris scoffs at Mercury, for that he had devised a dance but of one sex, which could have no life: but Mercury, who was provided for that exception, and in token that the match should be blessed both with love and riches, calleth forth out of the groves four Cupids, and brings down from Jupiter's altar four statues of gold and silver to dance with the nymphs and stars: in which dance, the Cupids being blind, and the statues having but half life put into them, and retaining still somewhat of their old nature, giveth fit occasion to new and strange varieties both in the music and paces. This was the first anti-masque.

Then Iris, for her part, in scorn of this high-flying devise, and in token that the match shall likewise be blessed with the love of the common people, calls to Flora, her confederate (for that the months of flowers are likewise the months of sweet showers and rainbows) to bring in a May dance, or rural dance, consisting likewise not of any suited persons, but of a confusion or commixture of all such persons as are natural and proper for country sports. This is the second anti-masque.

Then Mercury and Iris, after this vieing one upon the other, seem to leave their conten tion; and Mercury, by the consent of Iris, brings down the Olympian knights, intimating, that Jupiter having, after a long discontinuance, revived the Olympian games, and summoned thereunto from all parts the liveliest and activest persons that were, had enjoined them, before they fell to their games, to do honour to these nuptials. The Olympian games portend to the match celebrity, victory, and felicity. This was the main masque. The fabric was a mountain with two descents, and severed with two traverses.

At the entrance of the king, the first traverse was drawn, and the lower descent of the mountain discovered, which was the pendant of a hill to life, with divers boscages and grovets upon the steep or hanging grounds thereof; and at the foot of the hill, four delicate fountains running with water, and bordered with sedges and water flowers.

Iris first appeared; and presently after Mercury, striving to overtake her.

Iris appareled in a robe of discoloured taffeta, figured in variable colours, like the rainbow, a cloudy wreath on her head, and tresses.

Mercury in doublet and hose of white taffeta, a white hat, wings on his shoulders and feet, his caduceus in his hand, speaking to Iris as followeth :

2 Curst;] i. e. Cross, peevish. The word occurs in Philaster, and several other places.

4 D 2

Iris.

Iris. Behold, &c.] The argument, as well as what follows, proves beyond_contradiction. that this speech belongs to Mercury, though hitherto erroneously allotted to Iris.