BECKETT 127 



Jones and Jonson, perhaps the most charming is 

 that of "The Hue and Cry after Cupid." Venus 

 complains that Cupid has run away, and she bids 

 the Graces cry him, in those dainty, exquisite 

 lines : 



" Beauties, have you seen this toy, 

 Called Love, a little boy, 

 Almost naked, wanton, blind ; 

 Cruel now, and then as kind? 

 If he be amongst ye, say ! 

 He is Venus' runaway. 



He hath marks about him plenty, 

 You shall know him among twenty, 

 All his body is a fire, 

 And his breath a flame entire, 

 That being shot, like lightning in, 

 Wounds the heart, but not the skin." 



This Masque was celebrated with the greatest 

 magnificence, being " intended for my Lord Had- 

 dington's marriage is now the only thing thought 

 upon at Court." Five English and seven Scotch 

 Lords took part in it " it will cost them about 

 ^300 a man," writes the same pen. 



Successive Masques quickly brought Inigo Jones 

 into a prominent position in the eyes of the King, 

 the Court, and the fashionable world. 



King James, poorest of kings, while governing 

 the richest of nations dreamt of a palace grander 

 and greater than any in Europe, and soon enlisted 



