[3] Inigo Jones designed nine sets and eight changes of scene for the mammoth-scale production, which also saw an early use of the proscenium arch in English theatre.
[4] Saphira/Bellesa Basilino/Moramente Agenor/Genorio/Palante, played by Cecilia Crofts Fidamira/Gemella/Miranda The King Pantamora Camena, played by Anne Kirke Melidoro Martiro Bonorio Osorio Timante Votorio Romero Princess Mirabella (not acted, only mentioned by other characters) The Shepherd's Paradise deals with a mythical pastoral community dedicated to Platonic love, a refuge for unrequited lovers of both genders — "a peaceful receptacle of distressed minds."
Much of Montagu's plot, such as it is, centres upon a prince named Basilino and his bosom friend Agenor, who have a shared tendency to fall in love with the same women.
The masque also features an extended debate on the nature of love, between Martiro, who speaks for the Platonic ideal, and Moramente and Melidoro, who argue for marriage.
Fidamira is revealed as sister to both Bellesa/Sapphira and Agenor/Genorio/Palante, the lost princess Miranda; she remains chaste, but she gets to be queen of the Shepherd's Paradise at the end.
The published text of Montagu's masque may have influenced Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle in creating her play The Convent of Pleasure (1668).
[10] That manuscript features, as a Prologue, a dialogue between Apollo and Diana not included in the printed text; it also provides the identities of the courtly ladies who appeared in the masque.