The Golden Age Restored, a masque, written…

The Golden Age Restored, a masque, written by Ben Jonson and designed by Inigo Jones, is first performed on January 1, 1616, almost certainly at Whitehall Palace, the largest palace in Europe, with over fifyeen hundred rooms (at one time it is the largest building in the world).

The twelve gentleman masquers are styled "Sons of Phoebus," and take he parts of great English poets of the past—Geoffrey Chaucer, John Gower, Edmund Spenser, and others.

The corresponding figures in the anti-masque are twelve "Evils," ambition, pride, avarice, etc.

The speeches are "presented" by the mythological figures standard in the masque form—in this case, Pallas Athena and Astraea are the primaries.

Pallas banishes the personified Iron Age, thus allowing the return of Astraea, goddess of Justice, and the restoration of the Golden Age.

A major theme of Jonson's text is the reform of a corrupt court—relevant at the time because the Stewart Court is suffering the aftermath of the scandal over the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury.

King James's favorite, Robert Carr, 1st Earl of Somerset, is still awaiting trial for his role in the murder when the masque is presented, and his successor as royal favorite, George Villiers, is moving into prominence as Carr's replacement.

The King is so pleased with the masque that he has a repeat performance scheduled for the evening of Twelfth Night, a few days after the initial presentation.