bration of the pending nuptials of the son of Sir Lionel with the 
daughter Beatrice of Sir Hubert, doubtless some magnificence 
was given the setting. But the masque is quickly broken up by a 
challenge to a duel;—feigned and prearranged. Altogether the 
reader is given to know very little of how the masque went. Cer- 
tainly the action does not seem to allow great elaboration of the 
dance, but that could have been shaped to the will of the actors. 
Twice in The Malcontent are we presented with a masque. The 
first, in which the elaborate evolutions of ‘““The Brawl” were about 
to be danced, was interrupted and not carried out. The second 
closes the play. Mercury is the master of the revels. In the 
midst of a song to the accompaniment of cornets, the masque of 
four crowned Dukes, dressed in white robes, enters. They choose 
their ladies, and dance and chat to the accompaniment of cornets. 
It is not a highly successful show, and fully justifies Jonson in 
not including Marston with himself, Chapman, and Fletcher as 
the only ones who could write a masque. . 
- The indications in the plays for singing, music, and dancing 
as cited above, though amply substantiating Gerschow’s state- 
ment of the Queen’s requirements, cover only the incidental prac- 
ticing of these arts. The chief exhibitions in music and singing 
had nothing to do with the plays, as already noted in the evidence 
from the Diary. It is probable also that musical entertainments 
were given exclusive of dramatic performances. For later, in 
certain articles of agreement concerning the conduct of the Chil- 
dren of the King’s Revels at Whitefriars,? a company modeled 
after the Blackfriars organization, there is special provision made 
concerning the receipts from musicales as well as plays. 
. Also, the special “show’’® presented at Court Feb. 6, 1601, is 
for only one separate masque by 
121 . 
*“Next himself, only Fletcher 
and Chapman could make a Mask.” 
—Notes of Ben Jonson’s Conversa- 
tions with William Drummond of 
Hawthornden, January, 1619 (ed. 
David Laing, Shakesp. Soc. Pub., 
1842), 4. 
It is doubtless upon the eminent 
success of Chapman’s masques in 
the plays of the Blackfriars Boys 
that Jonson gave him this praise, 
Chapman is now known. Certainly 
either Jonson or Chapman prepared 
the special “show” presented before 
the Queen by the Children Feb. 6, 
1601, for no other poets were then 
employed to prepare their plays, and 
no others were turning out that sort 
of work. 
*See complete work, vols. I, III. 
8 Supra, 115'. 
235 
