Note 628 — VI THE MASK (continued)

Romeo and Juliet, i. 4. 38, 'I'll be a candle-holder and look on'; cf. Reyher, 90, citing W. Rankins, Mirrour of Monsters (1587), 'There were certain petty fellows ready, as the custom is in maskes, to carry torches'; Westward Hoe, i. 2, 'He is just like a torch-bearer to maskers; he wears good clothes, and is ranked in good company, but he doth nothing'; Overbury, Characters (1614, ed. Rimbault, 55, An Ignorant Glory Hunter), 'In any shew he will be one, though he be but a whiffler or a torch-bearer'.