Barriers ceremonies were often lushly decorated and costumed. As with Jonson's other masques for the Court, the sets and costumes for Prince Henry's Barriers were designed by Inigo Jones. Jonson's text for the speeches that preceded the combat involve figures of Arthurian legend. The Lady of the Lake inaugurates the work, at the site of the tomb of Merlin the Magician. Arthur participates in the form of a star above the scene. (Arthur represented James, who never took part directly in masques and entertainments.) Merlin rises from his tomb; he and the Lady condemn the contemporary decay of chivalry, but predict its restoration under the new reign of the House of Stuart. (Jones's two sets supported this theme; one was a ruined House of Chivalry, and the other, St. George's Portico.) The Lady and Merlin call forth "Meliadus, lord of the isles," (Henry). Merlin summarizes British history; then a personified spirit of Chivalry emerges, after which the barriers combat took place.