Masque

Masque, a species of dramatic performance, much in vogue in England towards the close of the 16th and the beginning of the 17th century. It was in fact the favourite form of private theatricals at the time. The masque appears to have originated in the practice of introducing, in any solemn or festive processions, men wearing masks, who represented either imaginary or allegorical personages. At first it was simply an 'acted pageant,' as in the well-known progresses of Queen Elizabeth; but gradually it expanded into a regular dramatic entertainment, and in the hands of men like Fletcher and Ben Jonson attained a high degree of literary beauty. Jonson's masques were represented at court, and were greatly relished. The taste for masques died out under Charles I., to whose reign belongs the noble Comus of Milton (1634). English Masques, edited by H. A. Evans (1897), contains ten pieces by Jonson, and others by Daniel, Campion, Beaumont, Shirley, and Davenant.