masque

Double masques, one of men, another of ladies, addeth state and variety.

This gave them the seeming of ghostly masques, undertakers in a spectral world at the funeral of some ghost.

These shows were called by various names, Pageants, Masques, Interludes, Mummings or Disguisings, and on every great or little occasion there was sure to be something of the sort.

As their grisly masque they led, And loud they sang, and long they sang,

Lermontoff's Bal Masque is based on that idea--a stupid and unnatural one, in my opinion; but he was hardly more than a child when he wrote it."

She had been led through the best galleries, had been taken to the chief points of view, had been shown the grandest ruins and the most glorious churches, and she had ended by oftenest choosing to drive out to the Campagna where she could feel alone with the earth and sky, away-from the oppressive masquerade of ages, in which her own life too seemed to become a masque with enigmatical costumes.

I smiled as I unfolded it, and devised how I would tease you about your aristocratic tastes, and your efforts to masque your plebeian bride in the attributes of a peeress.

This sense that had clung to him all day could not be fully explained by his fancy about "looking-glass land." Somehow he had not seen the real story, but some game or masque. And yet people do not get hanged or run through the body for the sake of a charade.

IN HER MONOGRAPH ON JOHN LYDGATE, Claire Sponsler makes the argument that Lydgate's masques for Henry VI were written as much for Catherine, the Queen mother, as for the young prince.