Lamb, whose appreciation of the old dramatists was extremely acute, remarks,"A thousand beautiful passages from his 'New Inn,' and from those numerous court masques and entertainments which he was in the daily habit of furnishing, might be adduced to show the poetical fancy and elegance of mind of the supposed rugged old bard."

'Tis not to sit In place of worship at the royal masques, Their pastimes, plays, and Whitehall banquetings, For none of these, Nor yet to be seen whispering with some great one, Do I affect the favours of the court.

"Albion and Albanius" was a sort of introductory masque, in which, under a very thin veil of allegory, first, the restoration of the Stuarts to the throne, and, secondly, their recent conquest over their Whig opponents, were successively represented.

The first strict masque of a pastoral character that we meet with is that of Juno and Iris, with the dance of nymphs and the 'sunburnt sicklemen, of August weary,' introduced by Shakespeare into the Tempest; but this must not be taken as altogether typical of the independent productions of the time.

Besides these well-known poems, Milton wrote in this early period a fragmentary masque called "Arcades"; several Latin poems which, like his English, are exquisitely finished; and his famous "Sonnets," which brought this Italian form of verse nearly to the point of perfection.

Instead of those accurate emblems, curious impresses, gaudy masques, tilts, tournaments, &c., they have their wakes, Whitsun-ales, shepherd's feasts, meetings on holidays, country dances, roundelays, writing their names on trees, true lover's knots, pretty gifts.

Just, though not delicately beautiful, was as splendid an Irish damsel as man need look upon, with a grand masque, aquiline features, luxuriant black hair, andthough it was the fag-end of the London seasonthe unrivalled Irish complexion, as of the fair dame of Kilkenny, whose "Lips were like roses, her cheeks were the same, Like a dish of fresh strawberries smother'd in crame.

Know that in this grotesque old masque Too loud we cannot sing, Or dance too wild, or speak too wide To praise a hidden thing.

The crowd surrounds him and cries, "We recognise you, beau masque!"

It is in the Amaranta that we first meet with an attempt to introduce a real plot of some human interest into a purely pastoral composition; we are no longer dealing with a merely occasional piece written in celebration of some special person or festivity, no longer with a mythological masque or pageant, nor with an amorous allegory, but with a piece the interest of which, slight as it is, lies in the fate of the characters involved.

And accordingly they appeared, duly tagged, in Dryden's operatic masque, the State of Innocence.

Shall it be a pastoral masque? KING.

The fisher on his watery way Wandering at the close of day, Will spread his sail and seize his oar Till he pass the gloomy shore, Lest thy dead should, from their sleep Bursting o'er the starlight deep, Lead a rapid masque of death O'er the waters of his path.

I am got into a house, the doors all open, This, by the largeness of the room, the hangings, And other rich adornments, glistring through The sable masque of night, sayes it belongs To one of means and rank: no servant stirring?

The points in which it resembles the regular spectacular masques, as well as those in which it differs from them, will be alike evident from the analysis given above.

"The Triumph of Virtue" would be a better name for this perfect little masque, for its theme is that virtue and innocence can walk through any peril of this world without permanent harm.

There were the names, in the junior class, of Tom Carew, noted for his amatory songs and his one brilliant masque,Tom Killigrew, of pleasant humor, and no mean writer of tragedy,Suckling, the wittiest of courtiers, and the most courtly of wits,Cartwright, Crashaw, Davenant, and May.

I seem to see the supper-room of some Elizabethan castle after an elaborate royal masque.

Possibly I ought to add a fourth, the masques at court; but their influence in large measure duplicated that of the Italian drama, and cannot be distinguished from it.