The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Ben Jonson

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Chloridia (1631)

Edited by James Knowles

INTRODUCTION

Paired with Love’s Triumph, and performed on 22 February 1631, Chloridia was Jonson’s last Whitehall masque and his last collaboration with Inigo Jones. Although lines 1–3 hint at joint royal involvement, Chloridia was Henrietta Maria’s ‘presentation’ (3): rather than replicating the joint royal celebration of married chastity or Caroline pacificism, it embodied her own artistic and political agendas (Britland, 2002, 102). The myth of Chloris and Zephyrus was widely used in European court entertainments, such as the French Grand ballet de la reyne representant le soleil (1621) and the Florentine La Flora (1628) (Veevers, 1989, 176 n. 47; Britland, 2002, 91–2). There was also a more personal connection: when Duke of York, Charles had danced as Zephyrus in Tethys’ Festival (1610).

In Chloridia, Jonson develops the masque form after French models, employing a series of disparate antimasque entries followed by a grand ballet performed by the masquers. These formal innovations have often been highlighted: as early as 1909 Paul Reyher suggested that Jonson had succumbed to ‘the effect of a new French influence’ (Reyher, 1909, 184; see also Canova-Green, 1993, 223). Peter Walls, tracing Jonson’s earlier uses of terms such as ‘entry’, identifies Lovers Made Men (1617) as showing the first clear structural influence of French ballet (Walls, 1996, 231–4). Although Jonson retains the idea of ‘Antimasque’ (90) in Chloridia, the eight danced entries echo the ballet burlesque, and the grand masque (175) provides an equivalent for the grand ballet which concluded a ballet de cour, albeit in a central placing which differs from its final position in French practice (Walls, 1996, 234; cf. Canova-Green, 1993, 221–2). The antimasque also contains the Dwarf-Post’s comic prose speech, unlike the solely danced and mimed entries that typify French court ballet. It is significant that the only named dancer is Jeffrey Hudson, the Queen’s dwarf, a servant rather than a nobleman. Unlike the practice in Jacobean impromptu shows, running masques, and The Gypsies Metamorphosed, there is no breach of class decorum; and unlike The Shepherds’ Paradise (1633), a pastoral play performed by the Queen the following year, Henrietta Maria’s companions in Chloridia were members of the upper nobility rather than her maids and personal attendants (see Poynting, 2003). The high status of the performers may reflect the masque’s significance, for although it was not an official state occasion, the Venetian and French ambassadors attended ‘privately’ (see Masque Archive, Chloridia, 21).

The insistence on decorum chimes with the reformatory rhetoric of the Caroline masque, purging the court of unsavoury and disordered elements: Chloridia anticipates the theme of Charles’s masque Coelum Britanicum (1634), in which new constellations were installed to replace the lascivious originals. Shrovetide was widely associated with disorder and unbridled appetites, but here it marks the change from winter to spring, with a proper fruitfulness replacing riotous excess (Laroque, 1991, 101). Veevers (1989), 129, draws parallels with Botticelli’s Primavera, a picture owned by the Medici family. In both Ovid and contemporary erotic verse – where Chloris’s name was widely used as a poetic pseudonym for a mistress as in, for example, ‘Wanton as the Cyprian Dove’ (Ault, 1928, 53) – the goddess was compromised by Zephyrus’s uncontrolled appetite. This dimension is entirely erased in Chloridia, and moreover Cupid’s mother, Venus, is a figure strikingly absent (Britland, 2002, 99). Similarly, the traditions of Shrovetide transvestism and transgression are replaced by ‘rites’ (4), generating a sense of religiosity that is repeated in the masque’s horticultural imagery. This recalls the hortus conclusus associated with the Virgin Mary, and also reflects the Queen’s devotional preferences and patronage of gardens (Veevers, 1989, 127–30; Strong, 1979, 186–97). This garden conceals no Priapus but reveals Chloris’s exquisite bower surmounted by the eirenic rainbow, and her dances celebrate the combination of art and nature, as the flowers that ‘take th’impression from her foot’ (185) mark a ‘witty “stamping out” of beauty’ (Veevers, 1989, 176). This active role announces a distinct agenda for the masque and claims agency for its heroine.

The masque’s agenda may have had a political as well as personal dimension. Chloridia’s formal hybridity, a combination of masque and ballet de cour, befits an occasion that celebrated royal union, the balancing of male and female principles, heavenly and earthly powers. It celebrates the products of dynastic union (the proscenium is made up of naked children playing amidst the foliage), and presents an image of ‘even’ honours at the cessation of ‘emulation’ and ‘jars’ (39, 40). However, Veevers has argued that the presence of Jealousy and Disdain alludes to previous domestic troubles between Charles and Henrietta Maria before 1628, while Britland notes the conditionality of the hymn to peace. Taking a cue from Orgel and Strong’s observation that Chloridia seems ‘more directly political’ than Charles’s Love’s Triumph (O&S, 1.56–7), Britland persuasively links it to Marie de Médicis’ struggle with Richelieu, which resulted in her exile from France in July 1631. Charles ordered that news of Marie’s defeat should be withheld from Henrietta Maria until after the masque’s performance, possibly because this negated its pacific agenda (Britland, 2002, 101). It might also explain why the second planned performance of the masque at Easter was cancelled.

It may be significant that Cupid’s disruptive force is announced by a Dwarf-Post, named a Dutch-Post in the design (Illustration 110), who is then banished with the rest of the dissentious figures. Dutch-posts and newsletters were, of course, the major source of continental news, and it seems possible that the subtle alteration between design and published text echoes a conscious, possibly diplomatic, refusal to know: as Sir John Asburnham reported, news of the ‘turmoils in France’ reached the Queen ‘which yet would not . . . be believed . . . because she has no particular advertisements of them’ (Masque Archive, Chloridia, 15; Britland, 2002, 87). Juno asks Iris, ‘what news?’ (194), presenting a contrast between base Dutch news and divinely sanctioned information. Indeed, the masque might even offer a signal from the Queen to her husband that, although she acknowledged French ‘turmoils’, she intended to remain loyal to her mother, while respecting the outward decorum necessary as the consort of a King officially at peace with France. Thus, the final victorious triumvirate of Chloris, Iris, and Juno (a figure linked with Marie de Médicis’ iconography), surrounded by the female figures Poesy, History, Architecture, and Sculpture, and supported by Fame’s striking Tacitean call to engagement, ‘The life of Fame is action’ (210), may predict a powerful new female alliance and the Queen’s determination to be a presence in the political relations between her husband and her brother, Louis XIII (Britland, 2002, 104).

No music survives for Chloridia, but there is a rich sequence of twenty-eight scene and costume sketches by Inigo Jones, including several variant designs for the Queen’s costume: the most important of these are reproduced here. Jonson’s text was printed as a quarto in 1631, and reprinted in the 1640–1 folio; The quarto printer, Thomas Walkley, was a key figure in the printing and publishing of drama and masque texts. His output included most of the post-Jonsonian Caroline masques, both of the 1631 masques, and in 1640–1, the previously unpublished sections of F2. Our text is based on the quarto, the only text printed in Jonson’s lifetime. F2 follows the quarto closely, although its half title describes the masque’s ‘Inventors’ as Jonson and Jones, perhaps echoing the quarto title page of Love’s Triumph. A modern revival of the masque was staged in the Open Air Theatre in Regent’s Park in July 1935.

 

CHLORIDIA

The King and Queen’s Majesty having given their command for the invention of

a new argument, with the  whole change of the scene, wherein Her Majesty, with

the  like number of her ladies, purposed a presentation to the  King, it was agreed

it should be the celebration of some rites done to the goddess   Chloris, who in a

general council of the gods was proclaimed goddess of the flowers, according to 5

that of Ovid, in the Fasti:

 

Arbitrium tu dea floris habe.

And was to be   stellified on earth by an absolute decree from Jupiter, who would

have the earth to be adorned with stars, as well as the heaven.   Upon this   hinge,

the whole invention moved. 10

The   ornament which went about the scene was composed of foliage, or leaves, heightened

with gold, and interwoven with all sorts of flowers, and naked children playing and climbing

among the branches; and in the midst, a great garland of flowers in which was written,

CHLORIDIA.

The curtain being drawn up, the scene is discovered, consisting of   pleasant hills, planted 15

with young trees, and all the lower banks adorned with flowers. And from some hollow parts

of those hills, fountains come gliding down, which, in the     far-off     landscape, seemed all to be

converted to a river.

Over all, a serene sky with transparent clouds, giving a great lustre to the whole work,

which did imitate the pleasant spring. 20

When the spectators had enough fed their eyes with the delights of the scene, in a part of

the air a bright cloud begins to break forth; and in it is sitting a plump boy in a   changeable

garment, richly adorned, representing the mild   ZEPHYRUS. On the other side of the scene in

a purplish cloud appeareth the   SPRING, a beautiful maid, her upper garment green, under

it a white robe wrought with flowers, a garland on her head. 25

Here Zephyrus begins his dialogue, calling her forth and making narration of the gods’

decree at large, which she obeys, pretending it is come to earth already and there begun to

be executed, by the King’s favour, who assists with all bounties that may be either urged as

causes or reasons of the Spring.

The First Song

30

ZEPHYRUS

Come forth, come forth, the gentle Spring,

And carry the glad news I bring

To earth, our common mother:

It is decreed by all the gods

 The heaven of earth shall have no odds, 35

But one shall love another.

Their glories they shall mutual make,

Earth look on heaven for heaven’s sake;

Their honours shall be even;

All  emulation cease, and jars; 40

Jove will have earth to have her stars

And lights, no less than heaven.

SPRING

It is already done, in flowers

 As fresh and new as are  the hours,

By warmth of yonder sun; 45

But will be multiplied on us,

If from the breath of Zephyrus

Like favour we have won.

ZEPHYRUS

Give all to him: his is the  dew,

The heat, the  humour –

SPRING

All the true- 50

Belovèd of the Spring!

ZEPHYRUS

The sun, the wind, the verdure –

SPRING

All,

That wisest Nature cause can call

Of  quick’ning any thing.

At which, Zephyrus passeth away through the air, and the Spring descendeth to the earth 55

and is received by the   NAIADES, or     NAPAEAE, who are the Nymphs, Fountains, and

Servants of the season.

The Second Song

FOUNTAINS

Fair maid, but are you come to dwell

And tarry with us here? 60

SPRING

Fresh fountains, I am come to tell

A tale in yond’ soft ear,

Whereof the murmur will do well,

If you your parts will bear.

FOUNTAINS

Our purlings wait upon the Spring. 65

SPRING

Go up with me, then; help to sing

The story to the King.

Here the Spring goes up, singing the argument to the King;

and the Fountains follow with the  close.

SPRING

Cupid hath ta’en offence of late 70

At all the gods, that of the state

And in their council he was so deserted,

Not to be called into their  guild,

But slightly passed by, as a child.

FOUNTAINS

Wherein he thinks his honour was  perverted. 75

SPRING

And though his mother seek to season

And rectify his rage with reason,

By showing he lives yet under her command,

Rebellious, he doth disobey,

And she hath  forced his arms away – 80

FOUNTAINS

To make him feel the justice of her hand.

SPRING

Whereat the boy, in fury fell,

With all his speed is gone to hell,

There to excite and stir up Jealousy,

To make a party ’gainst the gods, 85

And set heaven, earth, and hell at odds –

FOUNTAINS

And raise a chaos of calamity.

The song ended, the Nymphs fall into a dance to their voices and instruments, and so return

into the scene.

The Antimasque

90
 

First Entry

A part of the underground opening, out of it enters   a DWARF-POST from hell,

riding on a   curtal, with cloven feet, and two   LACKEYS. These dance, and make the first

entry of the antimasque. He alights and speaks.

POSTILION

 Hold my stirrup, my one lackey; and look to my curtal, the other. 95

Walk him well, sirrah, while I  expatiate myself here in the report of my office.

Oh, the Furies! How I am joyed with the title of it! Postilion of hell! Yet no

 Mercury, but a mere  cacodemon, sent hither with a packet of news. News!

Never was hell so furnished of the commodity of news! Love hath been lately

there, and so entertained by  Pluto and Proserpine and all the  grandees of the 100

place as it is there perpetual  holiday, and a cessation of torment granted and

proclaimed for ever! Half-famished  Tantalus is fallen to his fruit, with that

appetite as it threatens to undo the whole company of  costermongers, and

 has a river afore him, running excellent wine.  Ixion is loosed from his wheel

and turned dancer, does nothing but cut  caprioles, fetch  friscals, and leads 105

 lavoltas with the  Lamiae!  Sisyphus has left rolling the stone, and is grown

a master bowler — challenges all the prime gamesters,   persons in hell, and

gives them odds — upon  Tityus his breast, that, for six of the nine acres, is

counted the  subtlest bowling-ground in all  Tartary. All the Furies are at a

game called  ninepins, or  kayles, made of old  usurers’ bones, and their souls 110

looking on with delight, and betting on the game. Never was there such

freedom of sport.  Danaus’ daughters have broke their bottomless tubs and

made bonfires of them. All is turned triumph there. Had hell-gates been kept

with half that  strictness as the entry here has been tonight,  Pluto would have

had but a cold court, and Proserpine a thin  presence, though both have a vast 115

 territory. We had such a stir to get in, I and my curtal and my two lackeys

all ventured through the  eye of a Spanish needle, we had never come in else,

and that was by the favour of one of the guard who was a woman’s tailor, and

held ope the passage. Cupid by commission hath carried Jealousy from hell,

Disdain, Fear, and Dissimulation, with other goblins, to trouble the gods. 120

And I am sent after, post, to raise Tempest, Winds, Lightnings, Thunder,

Rain, and Snow for some new exploit they have against the earth, and the

goddess Chloris, queen of the flowers, and mistress of the Spring. For joy of

which I will return to myself, mount my  bidet in a dance, and   curvet upon

my curtal. 125

The speech ended, the Postilion mounts his

curtal, and with his lackeys,

danceth forth as he came in.

 

Second Entry

 CUPID, JEALOUSY, DISDAIN, FEAR, and DISSIMULATION, dance together.

Third Entry

130

The   Queen’s dwarf, richly appareled, as a PRINCE OF HELL, attended by six INFERNAL

SPIRITS. He first danceth alone, and then the spirits, all expressing their joy, for Cupid’s

coming among them.

Fourth Entry

  Here the scene changeth into a horrid storm out of which enters the nymph TEMPEST, 135

with four WINDS. They dance.

Fifth Entry

LIGHTNINGS, three in number, their habits   glistering, expressing that effect in their

motion.

Sixth Entry

140

THUNDER alone, dancing the tunes to a noise, mixed, and imitating thunder.

Seventh Entry

RAIN, presented by five persons all swollen and clouded over, their hair   flagging, as if they

were wet, and in their hands balls full of   sweet water which, as they dance, sprinkle all the

room. 145

 

Eighth and last Entry

Seven with rugged white heads and beards, to express SNOW, with flakes on their garments

mixed with hail. These, having danced, return into the stormy scene whence they came.

Here,   by the providence of Juno , the tempest on an instant ceaseth, and the scene is changed

into a delicious place, figuring the bower of Chloris where, in an arbour feigned of goldsmiths’ 150

work, the ornament of which was borne up with   terms of satyrs, beautified with   festoons,

garlands, and all sorts of fragrant flowers. Beyond all this, in the sky afar   off appeared a

  rainbow. In the most eminent place of the bower sat the goddess   CHLORIS, accompanied

with fourteen NYMPHS, their apparel white, embroidered with silver, trimmed at the

shoulders with great leaves of green embroidered with gold, falling one under the other. And 155

of the same work were their bases, their     head-tires of flowers mixed with silver and gold, with

some   sprigs of egrets among, and from the top of their dressing, a thin veil hanging down.   All

which beheld , the Nymphs, Rivers, and Fountains, with the Spring, sung this rejoicing song.

   

Third song

RIVERS SPRING} FOUNTAINS

Run out, all the floods, in joy with your  silver feet, 160

And haste to meet

 The enamoured Spring,

For whom the warbling fountains sing

The story of the flowers,

Preservèd by the  Hours 165

At Juno’s soft command, and Iris’ showers,

Sent to quench Jealousy, and all those powers

Of Love’s rebellious war;

Whilst Chloris sits a shining star

To crown and grace our jolly song, 170

Made long

To the notes that we bring

To glad the Spring.

Which ended, the goddess and her nymphs descend the   degrees into the room, and dance the

entry of the   grand masque.   After this, another song by the same persons as before. 175

 

Fourth Song

RIVERS FOUNTAINS}

 Tell a truth, gay Spring, let us know

What feet they were,  that so

 Impressed the Earth, and made such various flowers to grow!

SPRING

She that led, a queen was at  least, 180

Or a goddess, ’bove the rest,

And all their graces in herself expressed!

RIVERS FOUNTAINS}

 Oh, ’twere a fame, to know her name!

 Whether she were the root,

Or they did take th’impression from her foot. 185

The masquers here dance their second dance. Which done, the farther prospect of the scene

changeth into air, with a   low   landscape, in part covered with clouds. And in that instant, the

heaven opening, JUNO and   IRIS are seen, and above them many   airy spirits sitting in the

clouds.

 

Fifth Song

190

JUNO

Now Juno and the air shall know

The truth of what is done below

 From our  discoloured bow.

Iris, what news?

IRIS

The air is clear, your bow can tell, 195

Chloris renowned, Spite fled to hell;

The business all is well.

And Cupid sues –

JUNO

For pardon, does he?

IRIS

He sheds tears

More than your  birds have eyes.

JUNO

The gods have ears. 200

Offences made against the deities

Are soon forgot –

IRIS

If who offends be wise.

Here, out of the earth ariseth a hill, and on the top of it, a globe, on which   FAME is seen standing

with her trumpet in her hand; and on the hill, are seated four persons, presenting   POESY,

HISTORY, ARCHITECTURE, and SCULPTURE , who together with the Nymphs,   Floods, 205

and Fountains, make a full choir, at which Fame begins to mount, and moving her   wings

  flieth, singing, up to heaven:

FAME

Rise, golden Fame, and give thy name a birth –

CHORUS

From great and generous actions, done on earth.

FAME

The life of Fame is action.

CHORUS

Understood 210

That action must be virtuous, great, and good!

FAME

Virtue itself by Fame is  oft protected,

And dies despisèd –

CHORUS

Where the  Fame’s neglected.

FAME

Who hath not heard of Chloris and her bower?

Fair Iris’ act, employed by Juno’s power 215

To guard the Spring, and prosper every flower

Whom Jealousy and Hell thought to devour?

CHORUS

Great actions, oft obscured by time, may lie,

Or envy –

FAME

But they last to memory.

POESY

We that sustain thee, learnèd Poesy, 220

HISTORY

And I, her sister, severe History,

ARCHITECTURE

With Architecture, who will raise thee high,

SCULPTURE

And Sculpture, that can keep thee  from to die,

CHORUS

All help  to lift thee to eternity.

JUNO

And Juno through the air doth make thy way, 225

IRIS

By her serenest messenger of day.

FAME

Thus Fame ascends by all degrees to heaven:

And leaves a light here brighter than  the seven.

CHORUS

Let all applaud the sight.

Air first, that gave the bright 230

Reflections, day or night!

With these supports of Fame

That keep alive her name!

The beauties of the spring,

Founts, rivers, everything: 235

From the height of all,

To the waters’ fall

Resound and sing

The honours of his Chloris to the King.

Chloris, the queen of flowers, 240

The sweetness of all showers,

The ornament of bowers,

The top of  paramours!

Fame being hidden in the clouds, the hill sinks and the heaven closeth.

The masquers dance with the lords.

245

 THE END

 The names of the masquers as they sat in the bower: 

The Queen
Countess of Carlisle Countess of Oxford Lady Strange Countess of
Berkshire 250
Lady Anne Cavendish Countess of Carnarvon Countess of
Newport		 Lady Penelope
Egerton
Mistress Porter Mistress
Dorothy
Savage		 Lady Howard Mistress
Elizabeth
Savage		 Mistress
Anne Weston		 Mistress
Sophia Cary
Title-page 8 Shroue-tide 22 February.
10 Vnius . . . erat Ovid, Fasti, 5.222: ‘The earth was of a single colour’ (Lindley). This refers to the sowing of seeds by Chloris: see 4n., 18n.
12 Thomas Walkley (fl. 1618–58) also published Love’s Tr., and in 1640–1 was the publisher responsible for issuing the previously unprinted sections of F2.
9 1630.] Q; 1630. / The Inventors. Ben Johnson. Inigo Jones. F2
2 whole . . . scene Perhaps a reference to the new possibilities offered by the development of the fly gallery (platforms above the stage from which scenes and machinery could be manipulated). Clearly, the scenic effects were a major part of how the King and Queen conceived of this masque, but they also seem to have caused friction between Jonson and Jones (see 203–4n.).
3 like . . . ladies There were fourteen ladies to match the fourteen gentlemen of Love’s Tr., performed on 9 January 1631.
3 King, it] this edn; King. It Q
4 Chloris The goddess Flora. Chloris, a nymph, was abducted and seduced by Zephyrus, and became Flora, goddess of flowers. She was the first to sow seeds on earth and her actions brought new colours to the world (see title-page motto and 184n.). Her tale is told in Ovid, Fasti, 5.183–224. Chloris is also ‘the chiefest nymph of all’ crowned with olive branches accompanying Elisa in Spenser’s Shepheardes Calendar (April, 122); E. K. says her name ‘signifieth greenness’ as she was given dominion over ‘all flowers and green herbs’ as her dowry (Spenser, 1989, 75, 82).
7 ‘You, goddess, have dominion over flowers’ (Lindley): Ovid, Fasti, 5.212.
8 stellified turned into a star.
9–10 Upon . . . moved.] on a separate line in Q
9 hinge The cardinal point or central thesis of a discussion (OED, 4b).
11 ornament The elaborate proscenium arch with its central cartouche (13–14). A design for part of the border survives (O&S, 2.423), showing children amidst stylized foliage. Both elements pertain to the main representation of the Queen as Chloris, a symbol of natural and marital fertility.
15 pleasant hills For Inigo Jones’s design for the scene, squared up ready for enlargement by the painters, see Illustration 107. Jones’s first sketch is in O&S, 2.424–5. Jones derived the design from Giulio Parigi’s set for Mount Ida in Il Giudizio di Paride (The Judgment of Paris; Florence, 1608).
17 far-off] Q (farre-of); farre-off F2
17 far-off distant, remote.
17 landscape] Q (Land-shape)
17 landscape Still an unusual word in 1631, as the spelling ‘land-shape’ (Q and F2) recognizes. Cf. Blackness, 16.
22 changeable Showing different colours (OED, 3a); Orgel suggests ‘iridescent’.
23 ZEPHYRUS The west wind; seen as a gentle wind, often presented as a boy bearing flowers. He married Chloris (Smith, 1984, 259). For Jones’s costume design, see Illustration 108.
24 SPRING For Jones’s costume design, see Illustration 109.
35 Heaven will not be superior to earth (Lindley). Cf. the relationship between earth and heaven in Carew’s Coelum Britannicum (1634).
40 emulation] Q (aemulation)
44 ‘Fresh as the hours’ or ‘as new as day’ were common idioms: see New Inn, 4.3.31, and cf. ‘Song of Welcome’ (6.656), written possibly for Charles’s visit to Welbeck in 1633.
44 the hours Cf. 165 and note.
49 dew Jove also receives his ‘due’ in the gifts of worship and honour offered in the rites of Chloris.
50 humour moisture.
54 quick’ning bringing to life (v. = to quicken).
56 NAIADES Nymphs of springs, rivers, and wells. For Jones’s costume design, see O&S, 2.433.
56 NAPAEAE Nymphs of wooded dells; from the Gr. νάπη.
56 napaeae] Q (Napeæ)
69 close conclusion of a musical phrase, cadence (OED, n.2, 2).
73 guild company, fellowship (OED, 1c, citing this passage).
75 perverted overthrown, ruined.
80 forced . . . away i.e. disarmed him. Jones’s costume design (O&S, 2.436) shows Cupid without bow and arrows.
91 First Entry Walls (1996), 234, notes a French-influenced shift here towards a series of danced and mimed entries only loosely bound by the heading Antimasque. ‘Entries’ of this sort were the staple of ballet burlesque and ballet de cour, where the poetic elements were often subordinated to a sequence of uninterrupted danced entrances.
92 a DWARF-POST a dwarf-courier. For Jones’s design, see Illustration 110, where the ‘cloven feet’ are, in fact, claw feet. The design is labelled ‘Dutch Post’ on the mount. Caroline masques made extensive use of dwarves (see the designs in O&S, 1.266, 304, and 391). The Queen’s dwarf, Jeffrey Hudson (see 131), appeared in ‘The Shrovetide Masque’ (1633) (Ravelhofer, 1999, 83), Luminalia (1638), Salmacida Spolia (1640), and the ‘antemasques’ for Florimène (Townshend, Masques and Poems, ed. Brown, 110, 112–13). The ‘Rabelaisian Masque’ (1627) required Hudson and four dwarves (O&S, 1.391; Knowles, 2000, 93, 130 n. 59).
93, 125 curtal A small horse, usually with a docked tail (OED, 1). The costume design appears to show a hobby-horse; the actor ‘wears’ the horse’s body, with his feet protruding beneath.
93 LACKEYS Footmen who ran alongside a coach or horse. Jones’s design (Illustration 111) shows two lackeys wearing commedia dell’arte masks, hats, and long feathers, tabards, and with claw feet.
95 POSTILION Post boy or fast messenger (OED, 2). Also, a rider (OED, 3).
96 expatiate myself (1) roam (OED, 1); (2) speak at length (OED, 2).
98 Mercury The messenger god, but he also conducted souls to Hades (Smith, 1984, 152). Cf. Lovers MM, 18–25.
98 cacodemon evil spirit.
100 Pluto and Proserpine King and Queen of the underworld. Proserpine was abducted by Pluto but spent only half the year in Hades, the rest on earth. She was associated with the spring.
100 grandees Persons of high rank; originally Spanish or Portuguese noblemen. Cf. Alch., 3.3.51.
101 holiday The spelling in both Q and F2, ‘holy-day’, emphasizes the sacred nature of proper recreation, perhaps an echo of the Book of Sports (1616) and the controversy that was developing in the 1630s (see Marcus, 1986, 5).
102 Tantalus Tortured by standing up to his neck in water, yet unable to drink, and with fruit just beyond his reach and so unable to eat. His punishment was for either feeding the gods with the body of his son, Pelops, or stealing their ambrosia.
103 costermongers fruit-sellers, usually in the street.
104, 106, 114 has] Q (ha’s)
104 Ixion Punished by being bound to a burning wheel (for murdering a kinsman and attempting to seduce Hera).
105 caprioles capers (a kind of leap in dancing).
105 friscals A brisk movement, or caper, in dance (from It. frisco).
106 lavoltas The volta (la volta) was a lively dance; ‘a kind of turning French dance’ (Florio, 1611, 608).
106 Lamiae Monstrous creatures, half-serpent, half-women, who ate travellers and drank blood.
106 Sisyphus Punished by perpetually having to roll a stone uphill which continually rolled back down again.
107 persons] Q (Parsons)
107 persons personages, great people.
108 Tityus his breast Tityus was a giant son of Zeus; the bowling game is played on his chest.
109 subtlest most deceptive, probably because of its slope. H&S compare Cor., 5.2.20–1: ‘Like to a bowl upon a subtle ground, / I have tumbled past the throw.’
109 Tartary The underground prison of the Titans (Tartarus) and supposed to be far below even Hades.
110 ninepins . . . kayles skittles.
110 kayles] Q (keilles)
110 usurers’ bones Dice made from the bones of usurers (OED, Bones, 5a). Cf. East. Ho!, 2.2.162.
112 Danaus’ daughters The Danaides were 50 daughters of a king of Argos; 49 of them murdered their husbands. They were punished by having to fill perpetually leaking pots in hell (Smith, 1984, 73–4).
114 strictness . . . tonight This may have been an extension of the orders given for Love’s Triumph and reported by Pory to Puckering, 13 January 1631 (Masque Archive, Love’s Tr., 10).
114 Pluto] Q (state 2); to Q (state 1)
115 presence The group of attendants who formally waited on the monarch, or the presence-chamber itself (OED, 1).
116 territory.] F2; territory Q
117 eye . . . needle Spanish needles had a reputation for fineness; the implication being that Hudson and his companions can thread through the narrowest spaces. Cf. Devil, 1.1.58. See also Matthew, 19.24.
124 bidet small horse, or pony.
124 curvet] Q (coruet)
124 curvet leap; the term is a specific, technically demanding jump for horses in manège.
128, 130, 134, 137, 140, 142 ] 2 Entry, 3 Entry . . . 7 Entry Q
129 CUPID . . . DISSIMULATION The second entry is the only one for which a complete set of designs survive (O&S, 2.436–8). They show ‘Cupid without bow or quiver’ (O&S, 2.436) and the four female figures: for Jealousy, Disdain, and Dissimulation, see Illustrations 112–14. Jealousy, in particular, eschews the usual iconography (a robe of eyes and ears) and, instead, wears a chaplet of flowers, probably heliotrope, based on a passage in Ripa (Gilbert, 1948, 146–8).
131 Queen’s dwarf Jeffrey Hudson. See 92n. and Fort. Isles, 270n.
135 Here . . . storm An important technical innovation; this is the first masque that depicts changing weather. See O&S, 2.428–9, for Jones’s design for the scene.
138 glistering glistening. Cf. Milton’s Comus, 92 SD.
143 flagging drooping, becoming limp (from the water).
144 sweet water Sugared water perfumed with rose water, coriander, ginger, and other spices. H&S, 10.688, provide a sample list of ingredients.
146 Eighth] 8 Q
149 by . . . Juno by the power of the queen of the gods. Juno is depicted in Jones’s design (O&S, 2.449) with her regal attributes of crown and sceptre, and follows closely the sources used in Hym., 212–19, marginal notes 25–8. Her crown of lilies and roses would be particularly appropriate after 1625. Cf. 188 below (Gilbert, 1948, 148–53).
151 terms of satyrs Statues with armless upper bodies, terminating in a pillar below; here with a head of a satyr. Cf. ‘French term’, Dekker, The Magnificent Entertainment, 221. O&S 2.441–2 show possible sketches for one of these.
151 festoons] Q (Festones); Pestones F2
152 off] F2; of Q
153 rainbow Associated with Iris (cf. 188, 193 below), a symbol of peace and harmony (Genesis, 10.13). Part of the covenant between God and man symbolized by the rainbow included both the continued appearance of spring and human fruitfulness (Genesis, 8.22, 9.7). See also the Strand arch in King’s Ent.
153 CHLORIS Illustration 115 shows the finished design, and Illustration 116 is an alternative design. Jones’s annotations suggest that ‘several fresh greens’ mixed ‘with gold and silver’ would be ‘most proper’ for the goddess. The seven sketches in O&S, 2.441–8, trace the development of the design which may also have served for the attendant nymphs (esp. Illustration 116). It has also been argued that the costumes draw directly on designs by Daniel Rabel for the French ballet de cour (Canova-Green, 1993, 256).
156 head-tires] head-’tires Q (subst.)
156 head-tires head-dresses.
157 sprigs of egrets i.e. herons’ feathers.
157–8 All which beheld,] All which beheld] off-set and flush right in Q
159 Third song] Song. 3. Q
159, 177, 183 sh] brackets, this edn; SHs set above text, Q
160 silver feet In Homer, ‘silver-footed’ is an epithet of Thetis.
161–2, 164–5, 170–1, 172–3 ] one line in Q
165 Hours Daughters of Jupiter, Eunomia (Law), Dike (Justice), and Irene (Peace), who embodied the seasons, spring, summer, and winter. They were also porters at the gates of heaven (Gilbert, 1948, 123–4; Smith, 1984, 117).
174 degrees steps.
175 grand masque Probably an anglicization of the French grand ballet. See Walls (1996), 234.
175 After . . . before.] set as three lines, centred in Q
176 Fourth song] Song. 4, Q
177–9, 180–82, 183–5 ] bracketed as triplets Q
178 that so] F2; that-so Q
179 Impressed Pressed so as to leave a mark upon (OED, v.1).
180 least] Q; lest F2
183 Oh, ’twere] F2; O’ it were Q
184 Chloris was the first to sow seed (Ovid, Fasti, 5.221). See 4n.
187 low landscape A design by Jones (O&S, 2.430–1) shows mountains and hills ‘in part covered with clouds’ (187). The ‘low’ scene is designed to accentuate the spectacular effect of the rising mountain and the ascent of Fame (206–7).
187 landscape] Q (Land-shape)
188 IRIS Juno’s messenger, identified with the rainbow. For Jones’s design, see O&S, 2.449.
188 airy] Q (aery); aëry F2
190 Fifth song] Song. 5. Q
193–4, 197–8 ] H&S; one line in Q
193 discoloured bow i.e. the rainbow. See 153n.
200 birds . . . eyes Juno’s bird was the peacock.
203 FAME See Illustration 118. Three sketches (O&S, 2.450–1) show the evolution of this figure, seen balanced on a globe, perhaps derived from the iconographic attributes of Fortune. Here Fame carries a trumpet: cf. News NW, 305n. and Time Vind., 1. Cf. the figures of Good and Ill Fame in the emblematic frontispiece to Ralegh’s History of the World (Illustration 125 and Und. 24).
204–5 POESY . . . SCULPTURE Four female figures of unknown appearance, though possibly largely drawn from Ripa (see Gilbert, 1948, 200, 121–2, 45–6, 212–13). Gilbert (200) argues that the slighting references to these figures in the ‘Expostulation’ suggests they were Jones’s creations; on the F2 title-page for this masque Jonson reasserts his priority by ordering the ‘Inventors’ with himself before Jones. The stress on Architecture and Sculpture, and their ranking alongside Poesy and History, certainly suggests a claim to equality of effort on Jones’s part.
205 Floods Rivers. For Jones’s design, see Illustration 117, and Gilbert (1948), 107.
206–7 wings flieth, singing,] Lindley, Masques; wings, flyeth, singing Q, F2
207 flieth, singing O&S, 2.451, observe that this was the first time this had been achieved, and that Jones may have relied on the new fly gallery.
212, 218 oft] F2; of’t Q
213 Fame’s neglected Based on Tacitus, 4.38: ‘All other things come at once to princes. One thing they must seek insatiably: a glorious memory. For in contempt of fame is the contempt of virtue’ (trans. Tom Cain). Jonson reuses the line in Queens, 606, and Gypsies (Burley), 837–8. Cf. Sej., 1.502 (H&S).
223 from to die Greek idiom. H&S parallel Spenser’s Ruins of Time, 428–9: ‘not to have been dipped in Lethe lake / Could save the son of Thetis from to die’.
224 to lift] Wh; lift Q, F2
228 the seven the Pleiades.
243 paramours female lovers. The term has both devotional and chivalric connotations (see OED, 2b, 2c).
246–7 ] G (subst.); in Q and F2 245 follows 246
247 The names of the masquers For biographical details, see the full list in vol. I, Masquers and Tilters.
248–55 ] list placed on a separate page at right angles to the main text in Q; following the text after a rule in F2
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