Masque

(mask.) (Lit.) A theatrical drama or gorgeous histrionic spectacle, much admired at the courts of princes during the 16th and 17th centuries. According to Holinshed's Chronicle, the first masque performed in England was at Green wich, in 1512. Shakspeare, as well as Beaumont and Fletcher, have frequently introduced masques into their plays. The taste for this kind of amusement died away in the second part of the17th cent. [s. 583]