Note 532 — V THE MASK
Reading edition
Il Schifanoya to Castellan of Mantua (V. P. vii. 11), 'As I suppose your Lordship will have heard of the farsa performed in the presence of her Majesty on the day of the Epiphany, and I not having sufficient intellect to interpret it, nor yet the mummery performed after supper on the same day, of crows in the habits of Cardinals, of asses habited as Bishops, and of wolves representing Abbots, I will consign it to silence.... Nor will I record the levities and unusual licentiousness practised at the Court in dances and banquets, nor the masquerade of friars in the streets of London.'