Performing devotion in The Masque of Blacknesse.
| Publisher | Rice University |
| Publication | Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900 |
| Subject | Literature/writing |
| Format | Magazine/Journal |
| ISSN | 0039-3657 |
| Issues per Year | 4 |
| Volume | 47 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Published | 2007-03-22 |
| Role | Type | Name |
| Person | Works | Ben Jonson |
| Author | n/a | Molly Murray |
On Twelfth Night, 1605, Dudley Carleton attended a performance of Ben Jonson's Masque of Blacknesse, an entertainment that not only featured James I's queen, Anne of Denmark, but also originated in her conceit: "to haue [the masquers] Black-mores at first." (1) Jonson, collaborating for the first time with Inigo Jones, fulfilled the queen's wishes with a story of river gods, sun kings, and African nymphs (to be played by Anne and her ladies) in search of miraculous "blanching." Carleton did not admire the conceit, assuring Ralph Winwood that "you cannot imagine a more ugly Sight then...
[This journal article is 9612 words long]
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