As the Italian origin of the Masque has been questioned in the latest and most elaborate investigation of the subject (R. Brotanek, Die Englischen Maskenspiele, Wien und Leipzig, 1902), it seems worth while to examine the history of the word and the circumstances of its introduction into English. Brotanek thinks that it came from the French, but it is to be borne in mind in the first place that the form masque is not found in sixteenth century English; and in the second place, that the French masque has never meant the performance but always the performer or the domino worn. Cotgrave gives masque as the synonym for “a maske for a woman,” but for “maske” without this qualification “masquerade, masquerie, barboire,” just as he gives for “mummery or mumming” “mommerie, masquerade, barboire.” Littré cites only one example of the use in French of masque for a form of entertainment, and that is from a modern author, with special reference to the English masques, which are elaborately described.