e's "Origines Juridiciales."

[55] "Progresses."

[56] "History of Music," vol iii. p. 15.

[57] Gifford's "Ben Jonson," vol. viii. p. 254.

[Illustration]

_CHAPTER VIII._

CHRISTMAS UNDER JAMES I.

(1603-1625.)

COURT MASQUES.

The Court entertainments of Christmastide in the reign of James the
First consisted chiefly of the magnificent masques of Ben Jonson and
others, who, by their training in the preceding reign, had acquired a
mastery of the dramatic art. The company to which Shakespeare belonged
(that of Lord Chamberlain's players) became the King's players on the
accession of James, and several of Shakespeare's plays were produced
at Court. But very early in this reign plays gave place to the more
costly and elaborate entertainments called masques, but which were
very different from the dumb-show masques of Elizabeth's reign, the
masquerades of Henry the Eighth, and the low-buffoonery masques of
earlier times. At the Court of James thousands of pounds were
sometimes expended on the production of a single masque. To the aid of
poetry, composed by poets of the first rank, came the most skilful
musicians and the most ingenious machinists. Inigo Jones, who became
architect to the Court in 1606, shared honours with Ben Jonson in the
production of the Court masques, as did also Henry Lawes, the eminent
musician. In some of the masques the devices of attire were the work
of "Master Jones," as well as the invention and the architecture of
the whole of the scenery. D'Israeli[58] says:--"That the moveable
scenery of these masques formed as perfect a scenical illusion as any
that our own age, with all its perfection and decoration, has attained
to, will not be denied by those who have read the few masques that
have been printed. They usually contrived a double division of the
scene; one part was for some time concealed from the spectator, which
produced surprise and variety. Thus in the Lord's Masque, at the
marriage of the Palatine, the scene was divided into two parts from
the roof to the floor; the lower part being first discovered, there
appeared a wood in perspective, the innermost part being of "releeve
or whole round," the rest painted. On the left a cave, and on the
right a thicket from which issued Orpheus. At the back of the scene,
at the sudden fall of a curtain, the upper part broke on the
spectators, a heaven of clouds of all hues; the stars suddenly
vanished, the clouds disper