BECKETT 125 



Inigo Jones paid his first visit to Italy. This journey 

 is said to have been paid for by William, Earl of 

 Pembroke, though Inigo Jones's chief biographer is 

 strongly opposed to the idea that he had any liberal 

 patron. The language of the quotation from his 

 own book is certainly not that of a man supplied 

 with money by a patron, nor does it sound like that 

 of a man who spent his youth as a " Joiner in 

 Islington," " a maker of hobby-horses." The 

 fashion in vogue for Masques during the reigns of 

 King James I. and King Charles L, brought Inigo 

 Jones first into notice; for "Whitehall, during 

 these reigns, vied with the Ducal Palaces of 

 Florence, Urbino, and Ferrara, in the pomp and 

 beauty of its Masques." Two great artists were 

 found in England to produce these Masques with 

 the most consummate art : Ben Jonson, who 

 brought to the task all his great learning, and 

 wrote the words, or libretto, in which some of his 

 most exquisite lyrics are to be found ; and Inigo 

 Jones, the disciple of Palladio and the architect of 

 Whitehall, who carried out the scenic effects 

 called by Ben Jonson " Machinery," with more 

 than a master's hand. They were assisted by an 

 Italian composer, one Alfonso Ferrabosco, who 

 wrote the music, and " by an English chores- 

 grapher, Thomas Giles, who arranged the dances 

 and decided the costumes." 



Masques were looked upon with favour by even 



