Time, but the Auditors may return to their
Dwellings in London before Sunset, or at least before it be _Dark_." The
foregoing is from Stow, and this Act was made in the reign of Elizabeth.
The Virgin Queen does not seem to have cared much about this enactment,
as we find that on Sunday, the 24th September, 1592, she and her Court
attended a play at Oxford.

As Tragedy and Comedy progressed on the English stage, Pantomime, as far
as it was associated with the dumb shows in the early English drama,
became, little by little, a thing of the past.

We have seen, and traced, from the Creation of this planet, and through
succeeding ages, how Pantomime has always flourished; we have seen also
how the Interlude gave way to the Comedy; we will now see how this love
of light entertainment formulated in this country by the Interlude, and,
about the same time, by the Italian Masque Comedy, the progenitor of
Pantomime (referring to the whole as a spectacle), and the forerunner in
France, also of that other form of light entertainment known as the
French Vaudeville, cultivated by Le Sage and other French writers of
note.

To go to the bed-rock for our facts, and for the innovation of all this,
it is necessary in thought, and perhaps as well in spirit, to journey to
Italy.

CHAPTER X.

The Italian Masque--The Masque in England--First appearance in this
country of Harlequin--Joe Haines as Harlequin--Marlowe's "Faustus"--A
Curious Play--The Italian Harlequin--Colley Cibber,
Penkethman--Shakespeare's Burlesques of the Masque--Decline of the
Masque.

In Italy the Masque entertainment long held sway, and was a light form
of amusement, consisting of Pantomime, music, singing, and dancing, and
an adaptation of the _Fabulae Atellanae_ of ancient Italy. The
performers wore masks, also high-heeled shoes, fitted with brass or iron
heels, which jingled as they danced. This ancient custom to present-day
stage dancers will doubtless be of interest. Masks, like on the stages
of the Greeks and the Romans, were used, hence the title Mask, or
Masque, as it is sometimes written both ways. In the days of Elizabeth
the custom was also practised in the Elizabethean Masque. The Masquerade
and the Masked ball, or _Bal-Masque_, are survivals of this ancient
custom.

Crossing the Alps, if the reader will accompany me, the Italian Masque
Comedy we find was already known in France in the fifteenth century. In
the days of Mary de Medici ballets w