Note 35 — THE MASQUE OF “TIME VINDICATED”[28]
Reading edition
It may perhaps be worth while to quote some of the words put into the mouth of “Fame” when “the whole Scene opens,” and Saturn sitting with Venus is discovered above, and certain “Votaries” come forth below, “which are the chorus,” shortly before “the Masquers are discovered.”
“Within yond’ darkness, Venus hath found out That Hecate, as she is queen of shades, Keeps certain glories of the time obscured, There for herself alone to gaze upon As she did once the fair Endymion. These Time hath promised at Love’s suit to free As being fitter to adorn the age. By you [i.e., King James] restored on earth, most like his own; And fill this world of beauty here, your Court.”
What were the “certain glories of the time obscured” which Time had “promised at Love’s suit to free” is matter for speculation.