The Pantheon Masquerade
"I went to the Pantheon Masquerade last night, & did not rouse the great Magninac [Kinloch's valet] from his slumbers in my fauteuil till past five this morning._ I never in my life saw such a scene before, the building in itself is magnificent, but the profusion of looking glasses, & the happy disposition of lamps of every imaginable colour gave it the air of an inchanted Palace_  add to this an assemblage of Turks, Indians, Spaniards, Gypsies Warriors Witches, devils, Milkmaids, Shepherds, Captive Princesses & Chimney-sweepers, all wich pell mell together, some singing, some dancing, some disputing, & some making love_ I was accosted by a Witch, who, upon examining the lines of my hand, told me whence I came, & in a manner who I was; this surprised me very much, but I was still more astonished when upon her introducing me to a Persian Princess, & A French Marquis, they both called me by my name: I soon found out the Marquis to be a lady, whom I made love to for two or three hours together, without having the remotest idea of who I was speaking to. I was so fond of my My Marquis, that I would not quit her any more, & we danced together in such a set as one would never have thought to find in the same place_ There was the Great Turk footing it away with a Frier, a Flower girl & the devil_  in short the whole was grotesque beyond Every thing_ It is astonishing how untied the tongue is the Moment one has a Mask upon one’s face_ Just before we went I prevailed upon My Marquis to unmask, & recognized a young Lady whom I had never spoken to but once or twice, & who would have thought herself a lost woman if I had come within half a yard of the extremity of her hoop at any other place; If I kist her hand once, I kist it a thousand times, & I had been tender enough to Melt a heart of stone; however no sooner did She unmask, than I began to observe that - the building was very magnificent, that a Masquerade was a very agreeable thing, in short, I began to be as insipid as One is constrained to be vis à vis an English Lady who is not an old acquaintance_ The Witch I at length discovered to be the wife of Mr C: Boone, whom I am well acquainted with, but whom I would not have held the same conversation to at any other place upon any consideration."
- Francis Kinloch to Johannes von Müller, May 6th (or 7th or 8th) 1777
Kinloch paints such a vivid picture of a masquerade held at the Pantheon in London! Masquerades seem to have been a common occurrence at the Pantheon, and some 18th and 19th century art pieces provide additional imagery of these character-filled events.
The below print was made by Charles White in 1773, and it depicts a masquerade at the Pantheon. While the print is satirical in nature, it does give a general idea of what Kinloch would have experienced and shows the inner architecture of the Pantheon.
The below piece "Pantheon Masquerade" by Rudolph Ackermann, John Bluck, Auguste Charles Pugin, and Thomas Rowlandson shows a similar scene. However, this piece was created in 1809, so it depicts the Pantheon after it had been rebuilt following a fire in 1792. It also reflects the fashion of a later era.
Kinloch does not give a description of his own outfit, so we can only imagine how he dressed for the occasion. Since he had only recently arrived in London and did not mention an elaborate costume, it is possible that he wore a basic mask with some standard formal wear (boring).
An important language note: the phrase "make love" had a different meaning in the 18th century. It referred to the act of wooing or courting a person rather than the physical act of sex (thanks to @my-deer-friend for sharing this information). While Kinloch detailed several of his sexual encounters in other letters to Müller, this description is surprisingly chaste. Still, I do find it interesting that Kinloch was infatuated with a woman dressed as a marquis - he even seems to have thought she was a man at first! Feels like a very bisexual choice on his part. Although his interest in the woman quickly faded after the seductive secrecy of the mask was removed... That being said, cross dressing was not uncommon at 18th century masquerades. Rictor Norton gives a great description of this practice here. As written by Janet Couloute, masquerade attendees could "transgress social, class, sexual and racial boundaries." Compared to other social gatherings of the time, masquerades allowed for a certain freedom of expression.
The C. Boone referred to in Kinloch's letter is presumably Charles Boone, the brother of Thomas Boone. Thomas Boone was Kinloch's guardian and was basically a second father to him, so one can only imagine the awkwardness that Kinloch felt at realizing he had actually been conversing with Thomas Boone's sister-in-law throughout the night.
