stage-successes, and that in seeking for novel and
invented plots, in the contrast of tragic and idyllic elements, in the
unusual and rapidly shifting situations, in the loose and parenthetical
style, and in the elaboration of the _denouement_, he was adapting
himself to the new formulas and fashions in which Beaumont and Fletcher
were the leaders.

Still another suggestion came from the theater, but this time from the
court. The court shows of the sort which we have noticed as
characteristic of the early years of Elizabeth's reign had given place
to a better ordered and more sumptuous spectacle, the Court Masque.
Under James I, with the great architect Inigo Jones to devise the
machines and setting, and with Ben Jonson to write the librettos, one of
these masques was a magnificent affair. It was given on festal occasions
at court and often cost thousands of pounds. It had but a single or at
most two performances, always at night, and it came to follow a
distinct formula. The kernel of the show was the masked dance in which
members of the court, even King and Queen, took part. This dance or
"masque proper," often elaborated into several measures, came near the
end of the show. As accompaniments there were (1) music, instrumental
and vocal, (2) a play of some length, usually with mythological or
allegorical motive, (3) various grotesque dances by professional
performers, preceding the main masque and often integrated with the
play, and (4) a spectacular stage-setting.

These shows were given in great halls, brilliantly lighted. The stage
was splendidly decorated. Gods and goddesses floated among the clouds,
and elaborate machines and scenes were devised. In one masque, a few
years before the 'Tempest,' "an artificial sea was seen to shoot forth
over the stage as it flowed to land, [this was the main machine--a great
stage four feet high on trestles] on which was a great concave shell
like mother of pearl" containing the masquers and conveyed by many
sea-monsters hidden by the torch-bearers. The costumes of the masquers
were in brilliant colors and heavily jeweled. These were often bizarre;
but Inigo Jones knew the monuments of classical antiquity and the
artistic achievements of Renaissance Italy as well as Jonson knew
classical and humanistic literature. The living pictures were often in
richness and color no unworthy rivals of the frescoes with which Rubens
had decorated the ceiling of the Masquing Hall.

Such expe