MASFEBO. 152 MASQUERADE. Egyptiens de I'ipoque pharaonique. In 1874 he was appointed professor of Egyptology in the Col- lege de France as the successor of E. de Rouge. In 1875 was published his L'Uistoire ancicnnc dcs peuplcs de rUiUnl, which was the first attempt to present, from monumental sources, the history of the ancient East as a whole, and to exliibit the relations e.isting in antiquity between the peoples of Western Asia and the Xile Valley. In the course of the next five years Maspero wrote a number of valuable memoirs on Egj'ptian pliilolog^'. history, and archieology, the most im- portant being: "De quelques navigations des pjgyptiens sur la nier Erythrce" (Rcnic II ix- iorique, 1878) ; "La grande inscription de Beni- Hassan" {liecueil de Travaiix, 1878); "Rceit de la campagne de Mageddo sous Thoutm6s 111." (Recueil de Travaux, 1879-80). He received the decoration of the Legion of Honor in 1879, and in 1882 was made an officer of the Legion. In 1880 he was sent by the French Government to Egypt at the bead of the Mission Archeologique, which, under his skillful management, developed into a school for the prosecution of advanced studies in Eg>-ptologv- and kindred subjects. On the death of Marictte in 1S81, Maspcro was ap- pointed his successor as director of the excava- tions and antiquities of Egypt. His excavations, though less extensive than those of his prede- cessor, were more methodical, and he is entitled to special credit for his successful efforts for the preservation and protection of the monuments of Egj'pt. In 1883 he became a member of the Academic dcs Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres. In June, 188G, leaving Grebaut as his successor in Egj'pt, he returned to Paris and resumed his chair at the Collfge de France, assuming at tlie same time tlie direction of Egj'ptologieal studies in the Eeole dcs Hautes Etudes. In 1899 he re- turned to Egypt to resume the position which he had resigned in ISSfi. Maspero's works are veri- numerous. In addition to those already mentioned, some of the most important are: Bymne au Sil (1808) ; IJtiidrfi Cfjuptieiiiics (1879- 91) ; Les conlcH populaircs de VEgypte ancienne (1882, 2d ed. 1890); Mdmoirc stir qurJques papyrus du Louvre (1883); L'arch(oIo(jir I'-pyp- iictine (1887: Eng. trans, by Amelia B. Edwards, New York. 1887) ; Les momies roynles dr Drir- el-Bahari (Paris, 1889) ; Lectures historiques: Egi/pte ct Isstirie (1890) : Eludes de miitholoft'ie el d'archfolofiie ^miplienties (1892-98). Maspero's Histoire nneicnne des peuptes de VOrirnt has been frequently reedited. In the edition of 1894- 99 the author treats the whole range of ancient Oriental history in three profusely illustrated volumes. English translations, edited by Sayce, are entitled: The Daum of Cirilization: Eoypt and Chnldwa (2d ed. London, 1890) ; The Slruq- gle of the yulimis: Erj)/pt. Syria, and Assyria (New York. 1897) : anil The Passitifj of the Em- pires SnOXM B.C. (New York. 1900). Ataspero edited several posthumous works of ilariette. as also the valualile Mriiioivrs de la mission fran- Caise au Caire (Paris. 1884 et seq.), and in 1879 assumed the editorial direction of the Rceueil de IraraiiT relnlifs A la philologie et Varehfologie fgypliennes et nssiiriennes (Paris, 1870 et seq.). It was in this journal (vols, i.- xiv. ) that he published the text and translation of the inscriptions engraved upon the walls of the jiyramids of the fifth and sixth dynasties at Saq- qara (i|.v.). He has also ]iublislied a large number of valuable papers in various scientific journals. See also Egyptology. MASQUE (Fr., mask), or MASK. A species of dramatic entertiiinnient much in vogue in England in the sixteenth and seventeenth cen- turies, so named from the masks (q.v. ) which were originally worn in it. It was introduced during the reign of Henry Vlll. in imitation of some of the Italian allegorical pageants of the period, and was at the same time a development of the festive processions of the city of London and of the royal progresses. Around the acted pageantry of the mythological and allegorical personages in these there grew up regular dra- matic performances in which music and dancing were prominent and which were comparable to the ballets of the French Court. (Sec Ballet.) JIasques were in their time the favorite form of private theatricals, though the elaborate and expensive style in which they were usually given limited them for the most part to the homes of the nobility and the Court. They were at their best in James I.'s day. Ben Jonson, above all, made the masque a thing of literary beauty, in which his classic learning and graceful fancy united to furnish royal amusement. As spec- tacles, masques were largely an all'air of costume and of scenic design, to which the architect Inigo Jones lent his aid. The taste for this style of entertainment died away under Charles I.; yet to his time belongs Milton's Comus. In this, how- ever, though it was made to be acted, the masque has become a literary form practically inde- pendent of actual presentation, and as such it has survived to our day. Consult: Evans. Eng- lish Masques (London,' 1897); Greg. A Lis,t of Masques, I'agrants, ete., supplementary to a list of English Flays (London, 1902) ; Soergcl, Die cnfilischen M a si- ens pi el e (Halle. 1S82) ; Brotanek, Die enylischen Mashcn»piele (Vienna and Leip- zig, 1902) ; Symonds. Shalcspere's Predecessors in the English Drama (London, 1884) ; Ward, Eng- lish Dramatic Literature (London, 187.51. MASQUERADE (Fr., from Sp., Port, mas- eariiild, mascpieraili', from mascara, mask). The disguise effected by wearing a mask or strange apparel, or the assembly itself of persons masked and disguised with fantastic dress. In early times the masquerade often accomi)anied religious observances : it was a feature of the Greek Bac- chanalia and the Roman Saturnali;i. and fan- tastic costume, at least, is known to have been worn at the Jewish feast of Purini. The Druids when proclaiming the New Year (q.v.) masked and disguised in women's robes, the skins of beasts, etc. During the Middle .ges masquerades characterized by gieat frivolity and extrava- gance Avere held in the churches in spite of the attempts of the Fathers to do away with them. Even the priests took part in them. Of this nature were the feast of fools (q.v.) and other burlcscpiing festivals, n'calling the heathen Sa- turnalia, They bore dilTercnt names in dilTer- ent countries and were continued until the six- teenth century. Such was probably the origin of the masked ball, an exclusive form of masquer- aile which was introduced into the French Court bv Catharine de" Medici, It found its way to England in the reign of Henry VIII,. but did not reach any of the coiirfs of Germany fill the end of the seventeenth century. The hal eostunu' is a very modified and much less objectionable form
