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Oberon, the Faery Prince. 1 Jan. 1611
1616. Oberon the Faery Prince. A Masque of Prince Henries. W. Stansby, sold by Richard Meighen. [Part of F_{1}.]
The maskers were Oberon and his Knights, accompanied by the Faies, 'some bearing lights'; the antimaskers Satyrs; the presenters Sylvans; some of the musicians Satyrs and Faies.
This was 'a very stately maske . . . in the beautifull roome at Whitehall, which roome is generally called the Banquetting house; and the King new builded it about foure yeeres past' (Stowe, Annales, 910). 'The first face of the scene' was a cliff, from which the antimask issued. The scene opened to discover the front of a palace, and this again, after 'an antick dance' ended by the crowing of the cock, to disclose 'the nation of Faies', with the maskers on 'sieges' and Oberon in a chariot drawn by two white bears. 'The lesser Faies' danced; then came a first and second 'masque-dance', then 'measures, corantos, galliards, etc.', and finally a 'last dance into the work'.
This was a Prince's mask, and clearly Henry was Oberon, but the names of the other maskers are not preserved.
Henry's preparation for a mask is mentioned on 15 Nov. by Correr, who reports that he would have liked it to be on horseback, if James had consented (V. P. xii. 79), on 3 Dec. by Thomas Screven (Rutland MSS. iv. 211), 'The Prince is com to St. James and prepareth for a mask', and on 15 Dec. by John More (Winwood, iii. 239), 'Yet doth the Prince make but one mask'.
The diplomatic tendency at this time was to detach France from growing relations from Spain, and it was intended that both the masks of the winter 1610-11 should serve to entertain the Marshal de Laverdin, expected as ambassador extraordinary from Paris for the signature of a treaty. But the Regent Marie de Médicis was not anxious to emphasize the occasion, and the Marshal did not arrive in time for the Prince's mask, which took place on 1 Jan. 'It looked', says Correr, 'as though he did not understand the honour done him by the King and the Prince.' The Spanish and Venetian ambassadors were therefore invited, and were present. The Dutch ambassador was invited, but professed illness, to avoid complications with the Spaniard. Correr found the mask 'very beautiful throughout, very decorative, but most remarkable for the grace of the Prince's every movement' (Rutland MSS. i. 426; V. P. xii. 101, 106; cf. Sullivan, 61).
None of the above notices in fact identify Henry's mask of 1 Jan. 1611 with the undated Oberon, but proof is forthcoming from an Exchequer payment of May 1611 for 'the late Princes barriers and masks' (text in Reyher, 511) which specifies 'the Satires and faeries'. The amount was £247 9s., and the items include payments to composers, musicians, and players. We learn that [Robert] Johnson and [Thomas] Giles provided the dances, and Alphonse [Ferrabosco] singers and lutenists, that the violins were Thomas Lupo the elder, Alexander Chisan, and Rowland Rubidge, and that 'xiij^n Holt boyes' were employed, presumably as fays. There is a sum of £15 for 'players
