Volpone and Other Plays (81 page)

47
.
guarded
: trimmed with braid.

52
.
except at
: take exception to.

64
.
broke
: gone bankrupt.

74
.
inspired
: inflated; infused with divine or supernatural power.

75
.
gear
: stuff.

78
.  
suburbs
: areas outside the City boundaries much-frequented by prostitutes.

80
.
laced
: streaked, striped.

80
.
conger
: eel.

81
.  
jowl
: fish-head.

90
.
weighing up
: raising up (as of a sunken ship).

96
.  
poxed
: infected with syphilis.

97
.  
playhouse poultry
: prostitutes who sought clients in the audience.

98
.  
partizan
: spear.

104
.
patch
: i.e. a sign of the pox.

108
.
cucieing-stool
: one used for ducking scolds and shrewish women.

112
.
hedge-bird
: footpad, bandit.

112
.
pannier-man
: hawker.

114
.
trendle-tail
: cur, mongrel.

117
.
Commodity
: self-interest, gain; here ‘swindler'.

122
.
piled
: diseased; bald as a result of the pox;
double-piled
refers to the pile or nap in velvet, etc.

130
.
set you gone
: get you gone.

159
.
currying
: dressing down (a horse); beating.

167
.
mallanders, quitter-bone
, etc.: scabs and diseases in the legs and feet of horses.

173
.
windgall
: tumour on the leg of a horse.

174
.
pastern
: lower part of a horse's leg.

17
.
truck
: deal.

26
.
alligarta
: i.e. alligator.

33
.
Avoid
: Be off! as in ‘Avoid, Satan!'

34
.
some late writers
: Note.

36
.
persivay
: mitigate, lessen.

39
.
tobacconist
: smoker.

56
.
fox
: sword.

72
.
Straits
, etc.: Note.

75
.
seconds
: things which assist.

90
.  
peek
: two gallons.

101
.
malt-horse
: dray-horse.

127
.
white money
: silver.

4
.  
brabblesh
: brabbles, i.e. brawls. Whit's accent throughout is ‘stage-Irish'.

11
.
monsters
: Note.

28
  
jack
: figure which strikes the bell.

9
   
cut'ork
(= cut-work); lace.

27
  
fore-right
: straight ahead.

32
  
tiller
: jouster, fighter.

42
  
heathen man
: Note.

47
peel
: baker's shovel.

54
delicjte
: pleasant.

58
striighall, the myhinchco
: synonyms for a twitching ailment in a horse's legs.

66
juniper
: burnt to sweeten and purify the air.

72
Lubberland
: Note.

78
.
famelic sense
: sense of hunger.

82
.
winny
: stay.

91
.
sincere stud
: genuiue breed.

107
.
small printed ruffs
: Note.

113
.
stone-puritan
: male Puritan (analogy with
stone-horse
= stallion).

113
.
sorrel
: chestnut-coloured.

125
.
lay aboard
: to place one's ship alongside another prior to attacking it.

131
.
hundred
: sub-division of a county.

132
.
stomacher
: an ornamental covering of stiff material worn over the bodice.

135
.
undertaker
: one who accepts a challenge.

136
.
offer at
: make an attempt at.

3
collateral
: accompanying, concomitant.

4
by-cause
: incidental cause.

27
tar-box
: box which held tar ointment for treating sores in sheep.

41
intend
: attend to.

16
pair 0' smiths
: Note.

21
scourse
: deal.

24
caroche
: a splendid carriage.

26
cheaping of
: bargaining for, haggling over.

28
again'
: against, in anticipation of.

31
civil
: civilized.

42
crack
: craze.

48
overparted
: unequal to a task (theatrical metaphor for having too difficult a role to act).

63
.
pannier-man
: a servant at the Inns of Court who earned provision from the market.

63
.
jack
: servant.

70
.
Jew's trumps
: Jew's harps.

74
.
state
: ceremony.

78
.
bobchin
: booby.

82
.
noise
: group of musicians.

84
.
masque
: company of masquern.

91
.
springe
: trap or snare for birds.

92
.
Goody
: goodwife; indicates low social status. See
Goodman
below, line 105.

104
.
qualities
: accomplishments.

107
.
Godso
: vulgar expletive (from the Italian
cazzo
= penis).

115
.
atop o' the table
: i.e. the jester's place.

122
.
baited
, etc.: Note.

124
.
motions
: puppet-shows.

125
.
trow?
: do you suppose?

127
.
engrosses
: monopolizes.

135
.
banquet
: (here) dessert.

138
.
stands me in
: costs.

146
.
pound Scotch
: worth
is. 8d
. at the accession of King James in 1603.

151
.
posy
: motto or verse.

1
.
political
:politic, i.e. prudent, shrewd.

7
.
state-course
: Professor Horsman suggests a ‘life concerned with public affairs or welfare'.

7
.
Actum est oj him
: it's all up with him.

8
.
commonwealth's
: good citizen.

15
.
lime-bush
: bush sprayed with lime to snare birds.

24
.
mess
: group who eat together at a banquet.

44
.
pictures
:i.e. pictures of the sovereign – on coins.

63.
chimes
: sounds well, is pleasing.

71.
for and
: and also, moreover.

95
.
rub mine elbow
: show pleasure.

118
.
handy-dandy
: a game in which children guess which hand holds a concealed object.

134
.
rat-catcher's charms
: Note.

184
.
mar'l
: marvel.

188
.
handkercher
: handkerchief.

194
.
suspect
: take note of.

202
.
beneficed
: given a cleric's living.

215
.
entice, debauch
: almost synonyms in Jacobean times – hence Wasp calls them ‘fine terms' because the distinction is slight.

226
.
retchless
: heedless.

246
.
catchpoles
: officers of the sheriff

248
.
governor
: tutor.

263
.
read word
: see 1, iv, 6.

273
.
bought me
: made me his ward. Note.

276
.
disparagement
: Note.

292
.
doubt yourself
: to fear.

14
.
anatomy
: skeleton.

29
.
thet-drink
: medicine.

52
.
apocryphal
: spurious, sham – the Puritans did not accept the Apocrypha.

52
.
publican
: excommunicated person.

53
Toby's dogs
: the dogs in the Punch-and-Judy show; probably the dog which accompanies Tobias in the
Book of Tobit
in the Apocrypha.

68
.
pricks him up
: stimulates.

69
.
images
: gingerbread cakes shaped like St Bartholomew.

69
.
legend
: a collection of saints' lives.

92
.
flasket
: a long shallow basket.

103
.
thrust myself
… upon the pikes: rush into martyrdom or danger;
pikes
= bayonets.

129
.
merchant
: customer.

131
.
translated
: transformed, disguised.

6
.
Oliver
: earlier Davy.

15
.
quit you
: God requite (i.e. reward) you.

16
.
multiply you
: God increase your family

23
store
: supply.

65
.
answer
: justify, answer for.

68
.
advised
: aware.

76
.
list
: please (Folio reads ‘his list*. Herford-Simpson read ‘when him list'.)

95
.
discharged
: freed from responsibility

104
.
the Word
: the Bible.

21
.
Dorring the Dottrel
: tricking the simpleton.

32
.
muss
: scramble.

46
.
under-meal
: afternoon meal.

59
.
pulled
: plucked, tricked.

63
.
patent
: a document conferring an office or job.

64
.
reversion
: future possession, right of inheriting.

72
.
choke-pears
: coarse cider-pears.

72
.
mum-chance
: game played with dice, or cards.

77
.
carry
: lead.

89
.
lie
: lodge.

95
.
sweet bags
: lavender bags.

96
.
wrought
: embroidered.

102
found
: detected.

3
.
affects
: likes.

33
.
discourse
: rationality

36
.
to making
: to be trained.

37
.
toward
: in store for

38
.
motion
: suggestion.

42
.
tables
: writing tablets.

56
.
tender
: take care of.

57
.
equal
: fair.

82
.
difference
: distinguishing marks.

99
lime-twig
: see m, v; (here): a thief.

105
.
wrestle
: Note.

107
.
circling boy
: a thief's bully or decoy; see iv, iv.

2
.
lift
: theft, trick.

4
.
Galloway Nag
: a small, hardy Scots horse.

4
.
the staggers
: a dizziness in horses.

11
.I'
the zuds
: in difficulty.

77
waimb
: stomach.

112
.
commit
: send to prison.

117
.
in some sort
: to some extent.

125
.
exceeding
: being presumptuous.

131
.
jacobus
: gold sovereign issued at King James's accession.

142
.
commit
: see line 112, above; here pun on other sense, ';fornicate'.

153
.
tuft taffeta
: tufted or fancily woven taffeta.

166
.
flock-beds
: beds filled with wool or cotton, not feathers.

169
.
pigeon-holes
: the stocks.

178
.
man with the beard
: jug with a face on it; toby-jug.

180
.
Clerk o' the Market
: official in charge of the Fair.

199
.
purlieus
: suburbs, disreputable areas.

207
.
leaps
: sexual acts.

208
.
covering
: copulating.

12
.
What's
: for what reason is.

17
.
plover, quail
: whores.

18
.
bird o' the game
: as above.

35
.
wires
: stiffeners in ruffs.

36
.
tires, attire, dresses
.