As early as 1525 mention is made of a masque that was acted in the Hall here, which was composed by John Roo, Serjeant at the Law, and ‘sore displeased’ Cardinal Wolsey. George Gascoigne, the poet, a Member of the Inn, translated plays from the Greek (Euripides’ ‘Jocasta’--the ‘Phœnissæ’?) and Italian for the students to act. And now, in 1594, there were high festivities at Gray’s Inn, when an extravaganza was produced bearing the significant title: ‘History of the High and Mighty Prince Henry, Prince of Purpoole [Portpool], Archduke of Stapulia [Staple’s Inn] and Bernarda [Barnard’s Inn], Duke of High and Nether Holborn, Marquis of St. Giles and Tottenham, Great Lord of the Cantons of Islington, Kentish Town, Paddington, and Knightsbridge, Knight of the most Heroical Order of the Helmet and Sovereign of the same; who reigned and died A.D. 1594.’ Owing to the Hall being overcrowded on the first night, the students of the Inner and Middle Temples quitted the Hall in dudgeon, and the performance of the main piece had to be adjourned. To make up for the withdrawal of ‘The History of Prince Henry’ from the playbill, it was thought ‘good not to offer anything of account saving Dancing and Revelling with Gentlewomen.... To eke out the programme Shakespeare’s “Comedy of Errors” was then played by the players.’ Thus Gray’s Inn Hall shares with the Hall of the Middle Temple the distinction of being the only buildings now remaining in London in which, so far as we know, any of the plays of Shakespeare were performed in his own time.[66] At Shrovetide the Prince of Purpoole and his company entertained Queen Elizabeth at Greenwich. After the performance Her Majesty ‘willed the Lord Chamberlain that the gentlemen should be invited on the next day, which was done, and her Majesty gave them her hand to kiss with most gracious words of commendation to them: particularly in respect of Gray’s Inn, as an House that she was much beholden unto for that it did always study for some Sports to present her with.’ The success of this Masque was no doubt largely due to the fact that it was supposed to contain veiled allusions to many living persons of note, and that these allusions, uttered by the mimic Councillors of the Purpoole Court, were known to be written by the greatest of the sons of Gray’s Inn, Bacon himself. ‘The speeches of the six Councillors,’ says James Spedding, ‘carry his signature in every sentence.’[67] That they were written by him, and by him alone, no one who is at all familiar with his style, either of thought or expression, will for a moment doubt. The Masque prepared by Francis Beaumont, to celebrate the marriage of the Count Palatine with the Princess Elizabeth, was performed before the King and Royal Family in the Banqueting House at Whitehall (February 20, 1613), and Francis Bacon, it is recorded, then Solicitor-General, ‘spared no time in the setting forth, ordering, and furnishing’ of it.