Love Restored was aJacobean eramasque, written byBen Jonson; it was performed onTwelfth Night, 6 January1612, and first published in1616.[1] TheDictionary of National Biography says of the masque, "This vindication of love from wealth is a defense of the court revels against the strictures of thepuritan city."
Compared to Jonson's previous masques for theStuart Court,Love Restored was unusual in several respects.Love Restored could be called a "budget" masque, in that its total bill was only in the hundreds of pounds rather than the thousands; specifically, it cost only £280.[2] In this it was different from Jonson's earlier masques likeThe Masque of Blackness and others, though similar to the immediately preceding masque,Love Freed from Ignorance and Folly. Even more unusually,Love Restored was staged without the participation ofInigo Jones, who had designed the costumes, sets, and stage effects of the prior masques. Aristocratic amateurs of the Court danced ten roles, personifications of Honour, Courtesy, Valour, etc.[3] Speaking parts were filled by "the King's Servants," professional actors of theKing's Men.
The masque is dominated by a long conversation amongRobin Goodfellow and other mythical figures. "Masquerado," the presenter, apologizes for the lack of music and the generally meager values of the presentation.Plutus, the god of wealth, is pretending to beCupid, and Robin exposes him and offers to lead Masquerado to the real god. Robin also narrates the difficulties he had in gaining entry to the masque – he had to "go through more than forty disguises" in his attempt to get in – a passage that has been taken to indicate the tactics that people actually employed to gain entry to masque performances in the era.[4]
The text of the masque was published in thefirst folio collection of Jonson's works in 1616, and was reprinted in thesecond folio of1640 and in later collections.