Study Edition · Essay 5
Of Masques and Triumphs
Source: The Essays or Counsels, Civil and Moral (3rd ed., 1625). Text from Project Gutenberg #575. Archaic verb forms modernized; vocabulary kept and glossed.
A lighter piece. Bacon apologises for including it among serious essays, then gives detailed advice on how to stage a court masque: a lavish evening entertainment of music, dance, costume and spectacle, performed by candlelight. It reads almost like a director's notebook from the 1600s.
23 sentences: 10 simple, 8 moderate, 5 complex. Hover a number for its paraphrase; click it for the full note.
Key Vocabulary
- masquea court entertainment of music, dance and spectacle, with masked performers
- triumpha grand pageant or procession
- elegancyelegance; good taste
- daubto smear crudely
- quireold spelling of “choir”
- dittythe words of a song
- devicethe theme or plot of a show; also an emblem
- vulgarcommon; ordinary
- treblea high singing voice
- catcha round, where voices enter one after another
- discernto make out clearly; perceive
- pulingswhimperings; feeble crying
- spangsspangles; small shiny decorations
- vizora mask
- anti-masquea comic or grotesque interlude before the main masque
- recreativerefreshing; entertaining
- justsjousts; mounted combat with lances
- liveriesmatching uniforms worn by a lord's servants
The Essay
These things are but toys, to come amongst such serious observations.1 But yet, since princes will have such things, it is better they should be graced with elegancy, than daubed with cost.2 Dancing to song, is a thing of great state and pleasure.3 I understand it, that the song should be in quire, placed aloft, and accompanied with some broken music; and the ditty fitted to the device.4 Acting in song, especially in dialogues, has an extreme good grace; I say acting, not dancing (for that is a mean and vulgar thing); and the voices of the dialogue would be strong and manly (a base and a tenor; no treble); and the ditty high and tragical; not nice or dainty.5 Several quires, placed one over against another, and taking the voice by catches, anthem-wise, give great pleasure.6 Turning dances into figure, is a childish curiosity.7 And generally let it be noted, that those things which I here set down, are such as naturally take the sense, and not respect petty wonderments.8 It is true, the alterations of scenes, so long as it is done quietly and without noise, are things of great beauty and pleasure; for they feed and relieve the eye, before it is full of the same object.9 Let the scenes abound with light, specially colored and varied; and let the masquers, or any other, that are to come down from the scene, have some motions upon the scene itself, before their coming down; for it draws the eye strangely, and makes it, with great pleasure, to desire to see, that it cannot perfectly discern.10 Let the songs be loud and cheerful, and not chirpings or pulings.11 Let the music likewise be sharp and loud, and well placed.12 The colors that show best by candle-light are white, carnation, and a kind of sea-water-green; and oes, or spangs, as they are of no great cost, so they are of most glory.13 As for rich embroidery, it is lost and not discerned.14 Let the suits of the masquers be graceful, and such as become the person, when the vizors are off; not after examples of known attires; Turks, soldiers, mariners', and the like.15 Let anti-masques not be long; they have been commonly of fools, satyrs, baboons, wild-men, antics, beasts, sprites, witches, Ethiops, pigmies, turquets, nymphs, rustics, Cupids, statuas moving, and the like.16 As for angels, it is not comical enough, to put them in anti-masques; and anything that is hideous, as devils, giants, is on the other side as unfit.17 But chiefly, let the music of them be recreative, and with some strange changes.18
Some sweet odors suddenly coming forth, without any drops falling, are, in such a company as there is steam and heat, things of great pleasure and refreshment.19 Double masques, one of men, another of ladies, add state and variety.20 But all is nothing unless the room is kept clear and neat.21 For justs, and tourneys, and barriers; the glories of them are chiefly in the chariots, wherein the challengers make their entry; especially if they are drawn with strange beasts: as lions, bears, camels, and the like; or in the devices of their entrance; or in the bravery of their liveries; or in the goodly furniture of their horses and armor.22 But enough of these toys.23
Sentence Notes
In plain English: These things are mere trivialities to include among such serious essays.
Why this phrase is worth keeping: Bacon's mock apology, in which he dismisses his subject while clearly enjoying it.
In plain English: But since royalty insists on having these entertainments, it's better that they show good taste than that money is just splashed all over them.
Why this phrase is worth keeping: A timeless rule of design: taste beats expense.
In plain English: Dancing to singing is very grand and enjoyable.
In plain English: By this I mean that the song should be sung by a choir placed up high, accompanied by a mixed group of instruments, with words that suit the theme of the show.
Reference & context: Music history: “broken music” or a “broken consort” meant an ensemble mixing different families of instruments (strings, wind, lute), rather than a matched set.
Modernized: be → should be
In plain English: Acting out a song, especially as a sung dialogue, is extremely graceful. I mean acting, not dancing to it, which is cheap and common. The voices should be strong and male, a bass and a tenor with no high voices, and the words should be lofty and serious, not fussy or pretty.
Modernized: hath → has
In plain English: Several choirs placed facing each other, singing in turns and picking up the melody from one another, are very pleasing.
Reference & context: Music: antiphonal singing, where two choirs answer each other, was common in cathedrals.
In plain English: Arranging dancers so they form shapes or letters is a childish gimmick.
Reference & context: Masque dancers sometimes arranged themselves to spell out names or form emblems, an effect Bacon dismisses.
In plain English: In general, note that the things I recommend here are ones that naturally delight the senses, rather than relying on petty tricks to amaze.
Modernized: do naturally take → naturally take
In plain English: Changes of scenery, as long as they are done quietly, are beautiful and pleasing; they give the eye something new before it gets tired of looking at the same thing.
Reference & context: Theatre history: Inigo Jones, the great designer of court masques, introduced movable scenery to England in this period.
Modernized: so it be → so long as it is done; be → is
In plain English: Fill the stage with light, especially coloured and varied light. And have the performers who are going to step down from the stage move around on it first, because this draws the eye wonderfully and makes the audience enjoy straining to see what they can't quite make out.
Why this phrase is worth keeping: A real insight into suspense: we take more pleasure in what we can almost see than in what is fully shown.
Reference & context: In a masque the performers eventually came down from the stage to dance with the audience, a moment called “the revels.”
In plain English: The songs should be loud and cheerful, not twittery or whiny.
In plain English: The instrumental music, too, should be crisp and loud and well positioned in the hall.
In plain English: The colours that look best by candlelight are white, pinkish flesh-colour, and a sea-green. Little metal rings or spangles cost very little but give the most sparkle.
Why this phrase is worth keeping: The cheapest thing is the most dazzling, which echoes his earlier point that taste beats expense.
Reference & context: Bacon is thinking practically: costumes were seen only by flickering candlelight, so shine mattered more than detail.
In plain English: Expensive embroidery is wasted because nobody can see it in that light.
In plain English: The performers' costumes should be graceful and suit the wearer once the masks come off, not copies of familiar outfits like Turks, soldiers or sailors.
In plain English: Keep the comic interludes short. They usually feature fools, satyrs, baboons, wild men, clowns, animals, spirits, witches, Africans, pygmies, little Turks, nymphs, country folk, Cupids, moving statues and so on.
Reference & context: Ben Jonson developed the anti-masque as a chaotic, comic contrast to the orderly main masque. Words like “Ethiops” and “turquets” reflect the exotic stereotypes of Jacobean court shows.
In plain English: Angels aren't funny enough for the comic interludes, and hideous things like devils and giants are just as unsuitable in the other direction.
In plain English: Above all, the music for these interludes should be lively, with some surprising changes.
In plain English: A sudden release of sweet perfume, sprayed so that no drops fall on anyone, is very pleasant and refreshing in a crowded, hot, steamy room.
In plain English: Having two masques, one performed by men and one by women, adds grandeur and variety.
Modernized: addeth → add
In plain English: But all of it is worthless unless the hall is kept clear and tidy.
Why this phrase is worth keeping: The practical producer speaks: no amount of spectacle survives a cluttered room.
Modernized: except the room be → unless the room is
In plain English: As for jousts, tournaments and fights at the barrier, their glory lies mostly in the chariots in which the challengers arrive, especially if they are pulled by exotic animals like lions, bears or camels; or in the emblems and stunts of their entrance; or in the splendid uniforms of their attendants; or in the fine equipment of their horses and armour.
Reference & context: Historical: “barriers” was a form of combat in which fighters on foot fought across a wooden rail. Court tournaments under Elizabeth I and James I were elaborate costume shows.
Modernized: be → are
In plain English: But that's enough about these trifles.
Why this phrase is worth keeping: The essay ends as it began, calling its subject “toys,” a framing that is both modest and ironic.
Fun Fact
Bacon wasn't just theorising. In 1614 he paid for a lavish court show, The Masque of Flowers, reportedly spending about £2,000, to celebrate the wedding of the king's favourite, Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset, and Frances Howard. Two years later the happy couple were convicted of poisoning Sir Thomas Overbury in the Tower of London, and the prosecutor was Bacon himself. Overbury is the author of the next two pieces in this series.