Felix Kingston, Aurelian Townshend’s Ante-Masques, and the Masque at Oatlands, 1635

The Ante-Masques, a brief pamphlet, contains verses thought to have been written by Aurelian Townshend. Since the 1970s, this text has been tied to the production of Florimène, a pastoral play performed by Queen Henrietta Maria’s ladies on December 21, 1635. This attribution rests on internal evidence from the verses alone, since the pamphlet is undated, and there is no indication of its printer. In this essay, Karen Britland demonstrates that the Ante-Masques was printed by Felix Kingston. She suggests that its verses should be linked not with Florimène but with an entertainment put on for Henrietta Maria at Oatlands House in August 1635.