PREFACE. The debatable land which is occupied by the subject of the present volume has never been thoroughly explored by English writers. Our dramatic and musical historians, preoccupied as they were by questions of greater interest and weightier import, and tacitly subscribing to Bacon's dictum that "these things are but toyes to come among such serious observations", have been able to make but improvised and desultory excursions into its territories. Hence it is that the task of making a thorough exploration has been left to a German, and we are indebted to Dr. Oscar Alfred Soergel, of the University of Halle, for the first attempt at an adequate discussion of the Masque as a whole, in its origin, development, and decay. To his admirable little monograph, Die Englischen Maskenspiele, Halle, 1882, I desire to express my obligations. In fixing the dates of the several performances I have consulted with advantage Mr. F. G. Fleay's valuable works on the stage. In the case of dates from January 1 to March 24, it should be noted that throughout the book the year is assumed to begin on January 1, and not on March 25. The text of each masque is printed in full, but in the case of the Masque at Lord Haddington's |