The New International Encyclopædia/Arcades

ARCADES, är′kȧ-dēz. A masque written by John Milton in 1634 and published in 1645. It was acted shortly after Comus, before the Countess-Dowager of Derby, wife, first of Fernando, Earl of Derby, and afterwards of Thomas Egerton, Lord Ellesmere, when she was living at Harefield, near Uxbridge. It was set to music by Mr. Lawes at the same time. In it the Countess's guests appear on the scene in pastoral habit and move toward the seat of state with a prefatory song of compliment. A “genius of the wood” then comes forward and describes the significance of the occasion, after which the piece closes with two more songs of flattery.