Note 218 — SCENE VI.
Reading edition
[See Dyce's "Shakespeare Glossary," in v. A whiffler was originally a player on a whiffle or fife in a procession, and hence was a name applied to the boys who walked (generally with flags) in the procession on Lord Mayor's Day.]
Bachelors whifflers should properly be young men free of the company. They attend on the Lord Mayor's Day, and are supposed to be out of their apprenticeships the preceding year. They are considered by the company they belong to pretty nearly in the same point of view as a gentleman considers the upper servants he keeps out of livery.—N.
In some companies, I am well informed, the children are named The Whiflers.—Reed (note altered).