Note 204 — THE MASQUE.

Antimasque] “An Antimasque, or, as Jonson elsewhere calls it, ‘a foil, or false masque,’ is something directly opposed to the principal masque. If this was lofty and serious, that was light and ridiculous. It admitted of the wildest extravagancies; and it is only by Jonson that attempts are sometimes made to connect it, in any degree, with the main story.” Gifford’s note on B. Jonson’s Works, vol. vii. p. 251. The praise which Gifford would confine to Jonson may certainly be extended to Middleton.