Scene IV.—
2. [Pastry.] That is, the room where pastry was made. Cf. pantry (Fr. paneterie, from pain), the place where bread is kept, etc. Staunton quotes A Floorish upon Fancie, 1582:—
"Now having seene all this, then shall you see hard by
The pastrie, mealehouse, and the roome whereas the coales do ly."
S. uses pastry only here. For the double meaning of the word, cf. spicery (Fr. épicerie), which was used both for the material (Rich. III. iv. 4. 424) and the place where it was kept.
4. [Curfew-bell.] As the curfew was rung in the evening, the only way to explain this is to assume that it means "the bell ordinarily used for that purpose" (Schmidt). In the three other instances in which S. has the word (Temp. v. 1. 40, M. for M. iv. 2. 78, Lear, iii. 4. 121), it is used correctly.
5. [Bak'd meats.] Pastry. S. uses the term only here and in Ham. i. 2. 180. Nares says that it formerly meant "a meat pie, or perhaps any other pie." He cites Cotgrave, who defines pastisserie as "all kind of pies or bak'd meats;" and Sherwood (English supplement to Cotgrave), who renders "bak'd meats" by pastisserie. Cf. The White Devil:—
"You speak as if a man
Should know what fowl is coffin'd in a bak'd meat
Afore it is cut up;"
that is, what fowl is under the crust of the pie. Good Angelica perhaps means Lady Capulet, not the Nurse; and, as Dowden suggests, Spare not the cost seems more appropriate to the former. It may, however, be the Nurse, who here seems to be treated as a kitchen servant—perhaps to avoid the introduction of another character.
6. [Go, you cot-quean,] etc. Several editors give this speech to Lady Capulet; on the ground that the Nurse is not present, having been sent for spices. It has also been suggested that a servant would not venture to be so impudent to her master; but, as we have seen, the Nurse is an old and petted servant who is allowed a good deal of liberty. For the same reason she may not have gone for the spices at once, but may have lingered, gossip-like, to hear what Capulet had to say. A cot-quean is a man who meddles with female affairs; used by S. only here.
11. [Mouse-hunt.] A woman-hunter. For mouse as a term of endearment, see Ham. iii. 4. 183, L. L. L. v. 2. 19, and T.N. i. 5. 69.
13. [Jealous-hood.] Jealousy; the abstract for the concrete; used by S. only here.
16. [Drier logs.] For the kitchen; not a slip like that in i. 5. 30.
21. [Logger-head.] Blockhead. Cf. L. L. L. iv. 3. 204: "Ah, you whoreson loggerhead!" So logger-headed; as in T. of S. iv. 1. 128: "You logger-headed and unpolish'd grooms!"