ing at first was taught to go;
And Zephyr, when he came to woo
His Flora, had his _motions_[10] too;
And thus did Venus learn to lead
The Idalian brawls, and so to tread,
As if the wind, not she, did walk,
Nor press'd a flower, nor bow'd a stalk.

"But in what," says Gifford, "was the taste of the times _wretched_? In
poetry, painting, architecture, they have not since been equalled; and
it ill becomes us to arraign the taste of a period which possessed a
cluster of writers of whom the meanest would now be esteemed a prodigy."
Malone did not live to read this denouncement of his objection to these
Masques, as "bungling shows;" and which Warburton treats as "fooleries;"
Granger as "wretched performances;" while Mr. Todd regards them merely
as "the humour of the times!"

Masques were often the private theatricals of the families of our
nobility, performed by the ladies and gentlemen at their seats; and were
splendidly got up on certain occasions: such as the celebration of a
nuptial, or in compliment to some great visitor. The Masque of Comus was
composed by Milton to celebrate the creation of Charles the First as
Prince of Wales; a scene in this Masque presented both the castle and
the town of Ludlow, which proves, that although our small public
theatres had not yet displayed any of the scenical illusions which long
afterwards Davenant introduced, these scenical effects existed in great
perfection in the Masques. The minute descriptions introduced by Thomas
Campion, in his "Memorable Masque," as it is called, will convince us
that the scenery must have been exquisite and fanciful, and that the
poet was always a watchful and anxious partner with the machinist, with
whom sometimes, however, he had a quarrel.

The subject of this very rare Masque was "The Night and the Hours." It
would be tedious to describe the first scene with the fondness with
which the poet has dwelt on it. It was a double valley; one side, with
dark clouds hanging before it; on the other, a green vale, with trees,
and nine golden ones of fifteen feet high; from which grove, towards
"the State," or the seat of the king, was a broad descent to the
dancing-place: the bower of Flora was on the right, the house of Night
on the left; between them a hill, hanging like a cliff over the grove.
The bower of Flora was spacious, garnished with flowers and flowery
branches, with lights among them; the house of Night ample and stately,
with black co