• List of illustrations; List of contributors; Acknowledgements; Note on the text; 1. Introduction David Bevington and Peter Holbrook; 2. Courtly negotiations Martin Butler; 3. Upstaging the Queen: the Earl of Essex, Francis Bacon and the Accession Day celebrations of 1595 Paul E. J. Hammer; 4. Jacobean pacifism and Jacobean masques Peter Holbrook; 5. The gingerbread host: tradition and novelty in the Jacobean masque Tom Bishop; 6. Inventing the Stuart masque Leeds Barroll; 7. Marginal Jonson Stephen Orgel; 8. Jonson, the antimasque and the 'rules of flattery' Hugh Craig; 9. 'Rival traditions': civic and courtly ceremonies in Jacobean London Nancy E. Wright; 10. The Tempest and the Jacobean court masque David Bevington; 11.'Virgin wax' and 'hairy men-monsters': unstable movement codes in the Stuart masque Barbara Ravelhofer; 12. The politics of music in the masque David Lindley; 13. Milton's Comus and the politics of masquing Barbara K. Lewalski; 14. Valediction Leah S. Marcus; Index.

"This lively and important collection of essays repositions the criticism of masques to better account for competing court allegiances which the Stuart court masque negotiated....this important volume must be praised for bringing to our attention a new way to conceive of the masque's relation to court politics, an increased appreciation for the position of women in the masque's creative process, and, indeed, a more nuanced understanding of Stuart absolutist ideology." Susanne F. Paterson, Albion