''Love's Welcome at Bolsover'' is the final

masque The masque was a form of festive courtly entertainment that flourished in 16th- and early 17th-century Europe, though it was developed earlier in Italy, in forms including the intermedio (a public version of the masque was the pageant). A mas ...

composed by

Ben Jonson Benjamin Jonson ( 11 June 1572 – ) was an English playwright, poet and actor. Jonson's artistry exerted a lasting influence on English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours; he is best known for the satire, satirical ...

. It was performed on 30 July 1634, three years before the poet's death, and published in

1641 Events January–March * January 4 – The stratovolcano Mount Parker (Philippines), Mount Parker in the Philippines has a major eruption. * January 14 – Battle of Malacca (1641), The Battle of Malacca concludes with the D ...

At Bolsover

The masque was not produced by the Stuart Court in one of the royal palaces around London, as many of Jonson's notable early masques were. Rather it was staged by

William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle upon Tyne, KG, KB, PC (25 December 1676), who after 1665 styled himself as Prince William Cavendish, was an English courtier and supporter of the arts. He was a renowned horse breeder, as well as being ...

(at the time, he was the Earl of Newcastle) at

Bolsover Castle Bolsover Castle is in the town of Bolsover (), in the north-east of the English county of Derbyshire. Built in the early 17th century, the present castle lies on the earthworks and ruins of the 12th-century medieval castle; the first structure ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

, in honor of King Charles I and Queen

Henrietta Maria Henrietta Maria of France (French language, French: ''Henriette Marie''; 25 November 1609 – 10 September 1669) was List of English royal consorts, Queen of England, List of Scottish royal consorts, Scotland and Ireland from her marriage to K ...

. The Earl of Newcastle had put on a Jonson masque for his royal visitors at

Welbeck Welbeck is a village and former civil parish (now in the parish of Norton, Cuckney, Holbeck and Welbeck) within the Welbeck local voting ward of Bassetlaw District Council, in Nottinghamshire, England. It is slightly to the south-west of Work ...

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...

the year before: '' The King's Entertainment at Welbeck,'' performed on 21 May

1633 Events January–March * January 20 – Galileo Galilei, having been summoned to Rome on orders of Pope Urban VIII, leaves for Florence for his journey. His carriage is halted at Ponte a Centino at the border of Tuscany, wher ...

. It was such a success that the King requested another on his 1634 royal progress. According to

Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (; 1623 er exact birth date is unknown– 16 December 1673) was an English philosopher, poet, scientist, fiction writer, and playwright. She was a prolific writer, publishing over 12 origin ...

, the Duke spent between £14,000 and £15,000 on staging the Bolsover masque and providing for his royal guests and their attendants, which was more than double the £4,000 to £5,000 he had spent for the Welbeck entertainment the previous year. '' The Masque of Beauty'', one of Jonson's early Court masques, had cost £4,000 to stage in

1608 Events January–March *January 2 – The first of the Jamestown supply missions returns to the Colony of Virginia with Christopher Newport commanding the ''John and Francis'' and the ''Phoenix'' bringing about 100 new settlers to ...

, and was considered exorbitantly expensive at the time.

Mathematical boys

In ''Love's Welcome'', Jonson continued the mockery of

Inigo Jones Inigo Jones (15 July 1573 – 21 June 1652) was an English architect who was the first significant Architecture of England, architect in England in the early modern era and the first to employ Vitruvius, Vitruvian rules of proportion and symmet ...

that he had practiced for two decades, starting with ''

Bartholomew Fair The Bartholomew Fair was one of London's pre-eminent summer charter fairs. A charter for the fair was granted by King Henry I to fund the Priory of St Bartholomew in 1133. It took place each year on 24 August (St Bartholomew's Day) within the p ...

'' (

1614 Events January–March * January 22 – Led by Hasekura Tsunenaga, Japan's trade expedition to New Spain (now Mexico) arrives on the Mexican coast with 22 samurai, 120 Japanese merchants, sailors and servants, and 40 Spaniards and Port ...

) and continuing through '' The Masque of Augurs'' (

1622 Events January–May * January 7 – The Holy Roman Empire and Transylvania sign the Peace of Nikolsburg. * February 8 – King James I of England dissolves the Parliament of England, English Parliament. * March 12 – ...

), '' Neptune's Triumph for the Return of Albion'' ( 1624), ''

The Staple of News ''The Staple of News'' is an early Literature in English#Caroline and Cromwellian literature, Caroline era play, a satire by Ben Jonson. The play was first performed in late 1625 by the King's Men (playing company), King's Men at the Blackfriars ...

'' (

1626 Events January–March * January 7 – Polish–Swedish War (1625–1629), Polish-Swedish War: Battle of Wallhof in Latvia – Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, defeats a Polish army. * January 9 – Peter Minuit sail ...

), and ''A Tale of a Tub'' (

). In this masque, Jones is personified as "Colonel Iniquo

Vitruvius Vitruvius ( ; ; –70 BC – after ) was a Roman architect and engineer during the 1st century BC, known for his multi-volume work titled . As the only treatise on architecture to survive from antiquity, it has been regarded since the Renaissan ...

", and encourages craftsmen to dance, including a metal-smith, a woodcarver, a mason, a plumber, and a glazier, as his "true mathematical boys",

Well done my musical, arithmetical, geometrical gamesters! Or rather, my true mathematical boys! It is carried in number, weight, and measure as if the airs were all harmony and the figures a well-timed proportion!

In the pillar parlour

The masque was staged in what was called the "little castle" at Bolsover, a then-recent (Jacobean) construction. The pillared hall or parlour was furnished with five brilliantly colored paintings on the theme of The Senses. Jonson alludes to the paintings in his text, and their arrangement in the Neoplatonic hierarchy:

When were the senses in such order placed?
The sight, the hearing, smelling, touching, taste,
All at one banquet?

The show was described by local witnesses as "stupendous," more than adequate to establish Newcastle's reputation as the greatest "prince...in all the northern quarter" of the kingdom. Perhaps the most visually striking element in the masque lay in the two Cupids, ''Eros'' (Love) and ''Anteros'' (Love Returned), who descended "from the clouds" bearing fronds of palms.

Publication

The masque was published in 1641 in the second folio collection of Jonson's works, and was thereafter included in his canon, although it does not appear in Stephen Orgel's "Complete Masques of Ben Jonson". Manuscripts text of the masque are also extant, in the collection of Newcastle manuscripts including

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

Harley 4955. Lucy Worsley, ''Bolsover Castle Guidebook'' (English Heritage, 2001), p. 35.

References

External links