her personal dancing'; 'much of the night being thus spent with variety of dances, the masquers made a conclusion with a second new dance'.
On departure were a speech and song by the Gardeners, and presents of a bag of linen, apron, and mantle by three country maids.
Chamberlain wrote of this entertainment to Winwood (iii. 454) on 6 May, 'The King brought her on her way to Hampton Court; her next move was to Windsor, then to Causham, a house of the Lord Knolles not far from Reading, where she was entertained with Revells, and a gallant mask performed by the Lord Chamberlain's four sons, the Earl of Dorset, the Lord North, Sir Henry Rich, and Sir Henry Carie, and at her parting presented with a dainty coverled or quilt, a rich carrquenet, and a curious cabinet, to the value in all of 1500^l.' He seems to have sent a similar account in an unprinted letter of
29 April to Carleton (S. P. D. Jac. I, lxxii. 120). The four sons of Lord Chamberlain Suffolk who appear in other masks are Theophilus Lord Walden, Sir Thomas, Sir Henry, and Sir Charles Howard.
Lord Somerset's Mask [Squires]. 26 Dec. 1613
1614. The Description of a Maske: Presented in the Banqueting roome at Whitehall, on Saint Stephens night last, At the Mariage of the Right Honourable the Earle of Somerset: And the right noble the Lady Frances Howard. Written by Thomas Campion. Whereunto are annexed diuers choyse Ayres composed for this Maske that may be sung with a single voyce to the Lute or Base-Viall. E. A. for Laurence Lisle.
The maskers were twelve Disenchanted Knights; the first antimaskers four Enchanters and Enchantresses, four Winds, four Elements, and four Parts of the Earth; the second antimaskers twelve Skippers in red and white; the presenters four Squires and three Destinies; the musicians Eternity, Harmony, and a chorus of nine.
The locality was the banqueting room at Whitehall, of which the upper part, 'where the state is placed', and the sides were 'theatred' with pillars and scaffolds. At the lower end was a triumphal arch, 'which enclosed the whole works' and behind it the scene, from which a curtain was drawn. Above was a clouded sky; beneath a sea bounded by two promontories bearing pillars of gold, and in front 'a pair of stairs made exceeding curiously in form of a scallop shell', between two gardens with seats for the maskers. After the first antimask, danced 'in a strange kind of confusion', the Destinies brought the Queen a golden tree, whence she plucked a bough to disenchant the Knights, who then appeared, six from a cloud, six from the golden pillars. The scene changed, and 'London with the Thames is very artificially presented'. The maskers gave the first and second dance, and then danced with the ladies, 'wherein spending as much time as they held fitting, they returned to the seats provided for them'. Barges then brought the second antimask. After the maskers' last dance, the Squires complimented the royalties and bridal pair.
