The locality was the new banqueting-house at Whitehall (T. of C. Acct., quoted by Sullivan, 54). The scene at first represented a Hell, whence the antimask issued. In the middle of a ‘magical dance’ it vanished at a blast of music, ‘and the whole face of the scene altered’, becoming the House of Fame, a ‘machina versatilis’, which showed first Perseus and the maskers and then Fame. Descending, the maskers made their entry in three chariots, to which the Hags were bound. They danced their first and second dances; then ‘took out the men, and danced the measures’ for nearly an hour. After an interval for a song, came their third dance, ‘graphically disposed into letters, and honouring the name of the most sweet and ingenious Prince, Charles Duke of York’. Galliards and corantoes followed, and after their ‘last dance’ they returned in their chariots to the House of Fame.
This was a Queen’s mask, danced by the Queen, the Countesses of Arundel, Derby, Huntingdon, Bedford, Essex, and Montgomery, the Viscountess Cranborne, and the Ladies Elizabeth Guildford, Anne Winter, Windsor, and Anne Clifford. Inigo Jones was responsible for the attire of the Hags, and ‘the invention and architecture of the whole scene and machine’; Alphonso Ferrabosco for the airs of the songs; Thomas Giles for the third dance, and Hierome Herne for the dance of Hags. John Allen, ‘her Majesty’s servant’, sang a ditty between the measures and the third dance.
As early as 14 Nov. Donne wrote to Sir Henry Goodyere (Letters, i. 199), ‘The King ... hath left with the Queen a commandment to meditate upon a masque for Christmas, so that they grow serious about that already’. The performance was originally intended for 6 Jan. (V. P. xi. 219), but on 10 Jan. Chamberlain wrote to Carleton (Birch, i. 87), ‘The mask at court is put off till Candlemas, as it is thought the Spaniard may be gone, for the French ambassador hath been so long and so much neglected, that it is doubted more would not be well endured’. The intrigues which determined this delay are described in the diplomatic correspondence of the French and Venetian ambassadors (La Boderie, iv. 104, 123, 136, 145, 175, 228; V. P. xi. 212, 219, 222, 231, 234; cf. Sullivan, 47, 212). Hints of a rapprochement between France and Spain had made James anxious to conciliate Henri IV. Even Anne had learnt discretion, and desired that La Boderie should be present at the mask. He was advised by Salisbury to ask for an invitation, which he did, through his wife and Lady Bedford. He had instructions from Henri to retire from Court and leave a secretary in charge if his master’s dignity was compromised. Unfortunately the Spanish ambassador leiger was reinforced by an ambassador extraordinary, Don Fernandez de Girone, and took advantage of this to press on his side for an invitation. Etiquette gave a precedence to ambassadors extraordinary, and all that could be done was to wait until Don Fernandez was gone. This was not until 1 Feb. La Boderie was at the mask, and treated with much courtesy. He excused himself from dancing, but the Duke of York took out his daughter, and he supped with the King and the princes. He found the mask ‘fort riche, et s’il m’est loisible de le dire, plus superbe qu’ingenieux’. He also thought that of the ‘intermédes’ there were ‘trop et d’assez tristes’. The Spanish influence, however, was sufficiently strong, when exercised on behalf of Flanders, to disappoint the Venetian ambassador of a promised invitation, and La Boderie was the only diplomatic representative present. Anne asked Correr to come privately, but this he would not do, and she said she should trouble herself no more about masks.
It was at first intended to limit the cost of the mask to £1,000, but on 27 Nov. Sir Thomas Lake wrote to Salisbury that the King would allow a ‘reasonable encrease’ upon this, and had agreed that certain lords should sign and allow bills for the charges (S. P. D. Jac. I, xxxvii. 96, printed and misdated 1607 in Sullivan, 201). This duty was apparently assigned to Lord Suffolk as Lord Chamberlain and Lord Worcester as Master of the Horse, in whose names a warrant was issued on 1 Dec. (S. P. D. Jac. I, xxxviii. 1). The financial documents cited by Reyher, 520, suggest that the actual payments passed through the hands of Inigo Jones and Henry Reynolds. Reyher, 72, reckons the total cost at near £5,000. This seems very high. A contemporary writer, W. Ffarrington (Chetham Soc. xxxix. 151), gives the estimate of ‘them that had a hand in the business as “at the leaste two thousand pounde”’.
Oberon, the Faery Prince. 1 Jan. 1611
1616. Oberon the Faery Prince. A Masque of Prince Henries. W. Stansby, sold by Richard Meighen. [Part of F1.]
The maskers were Oberon and his Knights, accompanied by the Faies, ‘some bearing lights’; the antimaskers Satyrs; the presenters Sylvans; some of the musicians Satyrs and Faies.
This was ‘a very stately maske ... in the beautifull roome at Whitehall, which roome is generally called the Banquetting-house; and the King new builded it about foure yeeres past’ (Stowe, Annales, 910). ‘The first face of the scene’ was a cliff, from which the antimask issued. The scene opened to discover the front of a palace, and this again, after ‘an antick dance’ ended by the crowing of the cock, to disclose ‘the nation of Faies’, with the maskers on ‘sieges’ and Oberon in a chariot drawn by two white bears. ‘The lesser Faies’ danced; then came a first and second ‘masque-dance’, then ‘measures, corantos, galliards, etc.’, and finally a ‘last dance into the work’.
This was a Prince’s mask, and clearly Henry was Oberon, but the names of the other maskers are not preserved.
Henry’s preparation for a mask is mentioned on 15 Nov. by Correr, who reports that he would have liked it to be on horseback, if James had consented (V. P. xii. 79), on 3 Dec. by Thomas Screven (Rutland MSS. iv. 211), ‘The Prince is com to St. James and prepareth for a mask’, and on 15 Dec. by John More (Winwood, iii. 239), ‘Yet doth the Prince make but one mask’.