'
'We are barbarians,' said the Duke. 'We were not,' said May Dacre. 'What
are _tableaux_, or acted charades, or romances, to masques, which were
the splendid and various amusement of our ancestors. Last Christmas we
performed "Comus" here with great effect; but then we had Arundel, and
he is an admirable actor.'
'Curse Arundel!' thought the Duke. 'I had forgotten him.'
'I do not wonder,' said Mrs. Dallington Vere, 'at people objecting to
act regular plays, for, independently of the objections, not that
I think anything of them myself, which are urged against "private
theatricals," the fact is, to get up a play is a tremendous business,
and one or two is your bound. But masques, where there is so little
to learn by rote, a great consideration, where music and song are so
exquisitely introduced, where there is such an admirable opportunity
for brilliant costume, and where the scene may be beautiful without
change--such an important point--I cannot help wondering that this
national diversion is not revived.'
'Suppose we were to act a romance without the costume?' said the Duke.
'Let us consider it a rehearsal.
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