Note 524 — V THE MASK

Cf. Marlowe, Edward II, 55 'He haue Italian maskes by night'. 'Mask' seems to be derived from a Teutonic root related to Lat. macula, and means a 'net' or 'stain'. Both 'maske' and 'maskel' are M.E. forms; but I do not find the word used in connexion with disguisings, either for the performance or for the vizard, before 1512. Halle's book was unfinished at his death in 1547, and for him 'maske' and its derivative 'masker' are regular for the performance and the performer. He also uses a 'masker' (i. 215), a 'maskery' (i. 209), 'in maskeler' (i. 209), 'apparel of maskery' (i. 217), and 'maskyng apparel' (i. 171, 217; ii. 220). For the face-mask he retains 'viser'. The Revels Accounts for 1512-22 use 'maskeller' or 'meskeller' as noun abstract and adjective, and 'maskelyng' or 'meskellyng' as adjective or participle. 'Masking garments', and 'a maske' for the performance first appear in a Revels document of 1539. In those of Cawarden's time 'maske' and its derivatives are established. Jonson (cf. p. 176) seems responsible for stereotyping the spelling 'masque', which, however, Lyly (cf. Works, ii. 103) had used before him.