premise: a <mask> to jealousy, lust, or ambition
hypothesis: the best context for <mask> here is A person or thing destroyed or sacrificed in the pursuit of an object, or in gratification of a passion; but not A mark, thus [&frown; or &smile; ], connecting notes that are to be sung to the same syllable, or made in one continued breath of a wind instrument, or with one stroke of a bow.