for a fiery spirit page in the ''Lord's Masque''. produced the
Memorable Masque which delighted
King James, and built
Montacute House as a country retreat 's country estate was at
Blickling in
Norfolk , who insisted on precedence, by
Cornelius Johnson (
Dunrobin Castle)
Stars and Statues: The Lord's Masque After the wedding, on 14 February, a masque by
Thomas Campion was presented in the Banqueting House at Whitehall Palace. The patron of
The Masque of Lords and Honourable Maids, as
John Finet named it, was
Lord Knollys. A woodland scene in the lower part of the stage was revealed, and Orpheus and Mania had a dialogue. Mania and her twelve companion "franticks" danced a "mad measure" and left the stage to Entheus, a distracted poet. There was a song, imploring the stars to come on down: :Large grow their beams, their near approach afford them so :By nature sights that pleasing are, can not too amply show; :Oh might these flames in human shapes descend to grace this place, :How lovely would their presence be, their forms how full of grace! Sixteen fiery pages with torches danced below, and then waited to attend the male masque star dancers. As these masquers descended in a cloud, the woodland scene changed to reveal four silver women, dancers turned to stone by Jove, in niches built according to the
canons of classical architecture but gilded and set with jewels. The statues came to life, and the niches were replenished with another four women, who came to life. The masquers danced two dances together, then drew the bride and groom to dance with them. The scene changed to a classical perspective with gold statues of the couple, and a central obelisk which served as Sybilla's needle. Sybilla delivered her message in Latin, prophesying Elizabeth's imperial destiny in the union of British and German peoples. The costumes were also designed by Inigo Jones, whose source material included a 1589
pageant or intermezzi in Florence celebrating the wedding of
Christina of Lorraine and
Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. Campion's ''Lord's Masque'' was published in 1616. One song from Campion's masque, "Woo her and win her" was separately published with its music, including the lines: :Woo her and win her, he that can, Each woman hath two lovers; :So she must take and leave a man, Till time more grace discovers; :Courtship and music suit with love, They both are works of passion; :Happy is he whose words can move, Yet sweet notes help persuasion. Opinions on the performance were mixed. The ambassador Foscarini thought the masque was very beautiful and he was impressed by Inigo Jones' mechanism to make the stars dance. John Chamberlain was not invited to the ''Lord's Masque'', but heard "no great commendation". A wardrobe account includes several items for this masque, costumes for five masquers with speaking parts were made by Thomas Watson. Further celebrations included the performances of ''
The Memorable Masque of the Middle Temple and Lincoln's Inn by George Chapman, and The Masque of the Inner Temple and Gray's Inn'' by
Francis Beaumont. The
Temple and the Inns were associations of lawyers in London who trained the sons of aristocrats. Beaumont's masque was set up in the Banqueting Hall but delayed till the 20 February. Chamberlain wrote that entry to these events was not allowed to ladies wearing a
farthingale, to gain space. Both the Banqueting Hall and the Great Hall already had more scaffolds and temporary seating than usual. Twelve farthingales had been supplied by Robert Hughes for attendants at the wedding, six of taffeta and six of damask with wire and silk, and John Spens made five farthingales of changing taffeta for masque dancers.
Tournament: Running at the Ring On Monday 15 February there was a tournament of tilting and
running at the ring at Whitehall. Elizabeth, her mother, and aristocratic women watched from the Banqueting House. King James rode first. The task was the lift a hoop with a spear or lance. Prince Charles did particularly well. The performances of expert riders were appreciated for taking the ring with "much strangeness".
Colonialism as entertainment Chapman's
Memorable Masque was performed in the Great Hall of Whitehall Palace on 15 February. The roof of the hall and its cupola can be seen in
Wenceslaus Hollar's engraving of the palace. The masquers arrived in procession and King James made them go around the tilt yard for the benefit of the royal audience. The
Memorable Masque was produced for the
Inns of Court by
Edward Phelips, the
Master of the Rolls and
Richard Martin, a lawyer who worked for the
Virginia Company, with
Christopher Brooke, and the
Attorney General,
Henry Hobart of
Blickling. Edward Phelips paid Inigo Jones £110 for his work on the masque. Prince Henry had been George Chapman's patron, and was interested in
Virginia, and a settlement
Henricus had been named in his honour. Phelips had been Henry's chancellor and was a director of the
Virginia Company. Martin Butler detects in the masque the kind of colonial ambition which Henry had preferred, but King James would avoid for its potential for conflict with Spain. Possibly, George Chapman and Francis Beaumont had been preferred as authors in 1612 by Prince Henry, looking for writers sympathetic to his ideals. The masque represented
Virginian peoples on the stage, while introducing the theme of gold mining from
Guiana based on the voyages of
Walter Ralegh, conflating two colonial ventures. Chapman had responded to the promise of Guiana's gold and imperial venture in 1596 with a poem,
De Guiana, Carmen Epicum. In the poem Chapman outlines a female and Elizabethan England that would be a sibling and a mother to Guiana in "a golden world". A marshal attending the performers and audience, "Baughan", was probably the usher of Queen Anne, who had previously fought with
Edward Herbert over a hair ribbon worn by a maid of honour,
Mary Middlemore. A drawing by
Inigo Jones for a torchbearer at the masque, held at
Chatsworth, shows a man wearing a feathered head dress, derived partly from a woodcut of
Cesare Vecellio. The procession to the palace was led by 50 gentlemen, followed by mock-baboons, actors in Neapolitan suits and great ruffs. The musicians arrived in triumphal cars adorned with mask-heads, festoons, and scrolls. They were dressed as "Virginean priests" with "strange hoods of feathers and scallops about their necks" and "turbans, stuck with several-coloured feathers". The masquers were dressed in "Indian habits" as "Virginian Princes". Their feathers and head attires were bought from a haberdasher, Robert Johns. They wore olive-coloured masks, and their hair was "black and large waving down to their shoulders". Each horse was attended by two "Moores", African servants, who were dressed as Indian slaves. Foscarini wrote that there were 100 Africans, dressed in the blue and gold costume of Indian slaves. The scene in the hall, designed by Inigo Jones, was a rock with winding staircases visibly veined with gold. On one side was a silver temple of fame, on the other a grove with a vast hollow tree, the resort of baboons. Plutus the deity of wealth spoke, and the rock opened. The Priests sang and a gold mine was revealed. Plutus compared rocks to flinty-hearted ladies. The wit Capriccio entered with bellows, metallurgy in mind, and to swell his head, an image from an
emblem of
Cesare Ripa. He spoke of an island in the South sea, Paena, perhaps
Bermuda although Virginia was commonly called an "isle". Plutus challenged him for stealing from his mine. A troop of baboons entered and danced, then returned to the tree. Honor called forth the Virgin Knights, and so twelve masquers appeared, the "Virginian Princes". The final song was
A Hymne to Hymen, for the most time-fitted Nuptials of our thrice gracious Princess Elizabeth. The masque advocates the religious conversion of the Virginians before the extraction of mineral wealth. "King James and all his company were exceedingly pleased, and especially with their dancing", so Chamberlain heard, and the King praised the Masters of the Inns, "and strokes", or gives "thanks to", "the Master of the Rolls and Dick Martin, who were chief doers and undertakers". Edward Phelips had to deal with one lawyer who refused to return his masque costume.
Olympic Knights Student lawyers at the Inns wrote to their parents for money to contribute to the masques at the wedding.
Francis Bacon was responsible for Beaumont's masque. The masquers approached the palace on the river (twice, because the exhausted King dismissed them the first time). The Olympic Games were staged for the marriage of Thames and Rhine, on
Mount Olympus. Once again, statues encased in gold and silver were returned to life. The next scene was a country May dance with servants and baboons. Then the upper part of the mountain was revealed with two pavilions bedecked with the armoury of fifteen Olympian knights. The knights came down the mountain, danced, and when a song invited each of them to catch a nymph, they danced with ladies from the audience. On 21 February there was a banquet in a new dining room adjacent to the Whitehall Banqueting House, over the North Terrace. The bill was paid by the Lords who had failed at the running of the ring, each contributing £30. Chamberlain called the venue the new Marriage-Room, which was suitable for dining and dancing. He said the masquers from the Inns of Court were invited (perhaps they dined in Banqueting House). On 22 February King James left London for
Theobalds. Anne went to
Greenwich Palace on 26 February. Charles and the Elector went to Cambridge, and Newmarket where the royal lodging started to subside while James was in bed. Nothing more was heard of a masque planned by Elizabeth and her entourage, to involve herself and fifteen maidens, mentioned by Antonio Foscarini in October 1612, and probably abandoned after the death of Prince Henry. An account of the festivals published in Heidelberg omits Beaumont's masque and quotes instead in French from what must be Prince Henry's planned masque. This entertainment is now known as the
Masque of Truth. It would have been more overtly religious than the others, featuring the union of the world with England in reformed Protestant faith. The Queen of Africa would have been presented to truth personified, Alethiea. The master of court ceremony,
John Finet later published his observations, which detail the complicated struggles between ambassadors for precedence. He noted a confrontation between the French ambassador's wife and the Scottish
Countess of Nottingham, who already enjoyed a reputation for international incidents. As the ambassador's wife was directed to a place at dinner deemed inappropriate by the Countess, she grasped her hand and would not let her go all through the meal. ==Departure==