These three pieces, the Masque of the Inner Temple and Gray's Inn by Beaumont, the Cœlum Britannicum of Carew, and the Inner Temple Mask or Circe of Browne, are of the more ambitious class, that aim to be read, and may be pronounced, perhaps, upon the whole, the best specimens of the Mask, in it's stricter sense, that are to be found. They are far below such a work as Comus; but considered as an inferior species of composition, of no great extent, and, two of them, with a courtly purpose, they possess no small portion of poetry; and may be characterized, the first by fancy and elegance, the second by a lofty strain of sentiment, and the third by a certain full and reposing luxury.

To complete the sketch on the present subject, a specimen may be quoted, from each of these pieces, of the three principal features of the Mask,-it's shew, it's personification, and it's songs. Beaumont has prefaced his with the following Device or Argument,"

which contains an analysis of the entire performance,

and will exhibit at once the main fabric of a Mask :

"Jupiter and Juno, willing to do honour to the marriage of the two famous rivers, Thamesis and Rhine" (an allusion to the Princess Elizabeth and the Elector Palatine) employ their messengers severally, Mercury and Iris, for that purpose. They meet and contend. Then Mercury, for his part, brings forth an antimasque, all of spirits or divine natures, but yet not of one kind or livery, because that had been so much in use heretofore, but, as it were, in consort, like to broken music;-and preserving the propriety of the devise, for that rivers in nature are maintained either by springs from beneath or showers from above,he raiseth four of the Naiades out of the fountains, and bringeth down five of the Hyades out of the clouds, to dance. Hereupon, Iris scoffs at Mercury, for that he had devised a dance but of one sex, which could have no life; but Mercury, who was provided for that exception, and in token that the match should be blessed both with love and riches, calleth forth out of the groves four Cupids, and brings down from Jupiter's altar four statues of gold and silver to dance with the

nymphs and stars, in which dance the Cupids being blind, and the statues having half life put into them, and retaining still some of their old nature, giveth fit occasion to new and strange varieties both in the music and paces. This was the first anti-masque.

"Then Iris, for her part, in scorn of this high-flying devise, and in token that the match shall likewise be blessed with the love of the common people, calls to Flora her confederate (for that the months of flowers are likewise the months of sweet showers and rainbows) to bring in a May-dance, or rural dance, consisting likewise not of any suited persons, but of a confusion or commixture of all such persons as are natural and proper for country sports. This is the second anti-masque.

"Then Mercury and Iris, after this vieing one upon the other, seem to leave their contention; and Mercury, by the consent of Iris, brings down the Olympian knights, intimating, that Jupiter having after a long

discontinuance, revived the Olympian games, and summoned thereunto from all parts the liveliest and activest persons that were; had enjoined them, before they fell to their games, to do honour to these nuptials. The Olympian games portend to the match celebrity, victory, and felicity.

"The fabric was a mountain with two descents, and served with two traverses. At the entrance of the king the first traverse was drawn, which was a pendant of a hill to the life with divers boscages and grovets upon the steep or hanging grounds thereof; and at the foot of the hill, four delicate fountains running with water, and bordered with sedges and waterflowers.

"Iris first appeared; and presently after, Mercury, striving to overtake her. Iris appareled in a robe of discoloured taffeta, figured in variable colours like the rainbow, a cloudy wreath on her head, and tresses. Mercury in doublet and hose of white taffeta, a white

hat, wings on his shoulders and feet, his caducens in

his hand, speaking to Iris as followeth :

Mercury. Stay, stay,

Stay, light-foot Iris, for thou striv'st in vain;

My wings are nimbler than thy feet.

Dissembling Mercury! my messages

Ask honest haste, not like those wanton ones

Your thund'ring father sends.

Mer.

Stay, foolish maid!

Or I will take my rise upon a hill,
When I perceive thee seated on a cloud
In all the painted glory that thou hast,
And never cease to clap my willing wings,
Till I catch hold of thy discoloured bow,
And shiver it, beyond the angry pow'r

Of your curst mistress to make up again.

Iris. Hermes, forbear. Juno will chide and strike.
Is great Jove jealous that I am employed

On her love-errands? She did never yet
Clasp weak mortality in her white arms,
As he hath often done.

&c. &c.