References to yellow bands and yellow starch recur in plays of the 1615–18 era, by Middleton and others – A Fair Quarrel, The Widow, More Dissemblers Besides Women, Albumazar, The Queen of Corinth, The Devil is an Ass, and Christmas, His Masque. (Robert Davenport's plays of uncertain date, The City Nightcap and A New Trick to Cheat the Devil, also contain such references.) The World Tossed at Tennis is unique in that it refers not only to white and yellow starch but to red, green, and blue starch too. Were these other colours worn in ruffs and cuffs in the years around 1620? The text of the masque suggests this was so, though supporting evidence is thin.
