It must of course be understood that in both the masque and ballet there was dancing; but at the period with which we are now dealing, namely the last decade of the sixteenth and first few decades of the seventeenth centuries, the technique of that art was--for stage purposes--comparatively so primitive as to make it almost a negligible quantity. There was dancing of course--that of “henchmen” and men and boys who performed a Morris, or _bouffon-dances_; and that of courtier, Court-lady, or even, it might be, a Royal personage, who would take part in the stately _Pavane_ or _Almain_, now and then unbending sufficiently to dance a _Trenchmore_ (once Queen Elizabeth’s favourite) or _Canary_. But it was all either an intrusion, alien to the general purport of the production, or else vastly overshadowed by the chief design, which was to present, with the aid of “disguisings” and elaborate “machines,” a sort of living picture or series of living pictures, expressing some mythological, allegorical episodes or complimentary idea. The chief aim was splendid pageantry; something mainly to please the eye; and secondarily to charm the ear; without making too great claims upon the intellect. Among the leading English masque writers during the period we are considering were George Gascoigne, Campion, Samuel Daniel, Dekker, Chapman, William Browne, Beaumont and Fletcher and Jonson. In France, at the Court of Henri Quatre, and under the direction of his famous minister, the great and grave Sully--who himself took part in them--some eighty ballets were given between 1589 and 1610, apart from state balls and _bals masqués_. In England among the more notable masques produced during about the same period were the following:-- 1585. The Masque of “Lovely London,” performed before the Lord Mayor. 1589. A Masque planned by order of Queen Elizabeth in honour of the wedding of King James VI of Scotland and Anne of Denmark. 1594. A Masque before Queen Elizabeth at Whitehall. 1604. A Masque by Samuel Daniel, “The Twelve Goddesses,” arranged by Queen Anne, Consort of James I, in honour of the Spanish Ambassador, at Hampton Court. 1605. “The Masque of Blackness,” by Ben Jonson (his first real masque) given on Twelfth Night at Whitehall. 1606. Ben Jonson’s “Masque of Hymen,” for the marriage of Robert Devereux, third Earl of Essex, with the Earl of Suffolk’s younger daughter, Frances Howard. 1608. Ben Jonson’s “Masque of Beauty”--a sequel to the “Masque of Blackness” at the request of the Queen Consort, who, with the Ladies of the Court, took part in the performance. This was followed in the same year by his “Hue and Cry after Cupid,” given at Court on Shrove Tuesday, in celebration of Lord Viscount Haddington’s marriage. 1609. Ben Jonson’s “Masque of Queens” at Whitehall on Twelfth Night.