v. 1194. kyrtell] “Kyrtell a garment corpset, surcot, cotelle.” Palsgrave’s Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr., 1530. fol. xliii. (Table of Subst.). It has been variously explained (see notes on Henry IV. Part ii. act ii. sc. 4, Shakespeare by Malone and Boswell, xvii. 98, 99, Todd’s Johnson’s Dict., and Nares’s Gloss.), petticoat,—safe-guard or riding-hood,—long cloak,—long mantle, reaching to the ground, with a head to it that entirely covered the face, and usually red,—apron,—jacket,—and loose gown!!! The following note by Gifford on Cynthia’s Revels (Jonson’s Works, ii. 260) gives the most satisfactory account of a kirtle: “Few words have occasioned such controversy among the commentators on our old plays as this; and all for want of knowing that it is used in a two-fold sense, sometimes for the jacket merely, and sometimes for the train or upper petticoat attached to it. A full kirtle was always a jacket and petticoat, a half kirtle (a term which frequently occurs) was either the one or the other: but our ancestors, who wrote when this article of dress was everywhere in use, and when there was little danger of being misunderstood, most commonly contented themselves with the simple term (kirtle), leaving the sense to be gathered from the context.”
v. 1199. let] i. e. hinder.
Page 88. v. 1205. pullysshed] i. e. polished.
v. 1223. Jane] See note, p. 122.
v. 1225. hyght] i. e. called.
Page 89. v. 1242. saynt Jamys] i. e. Saint James of Compostella: see note on Elynour Rummyng, v. 354.
v. 1243. pranys] i. e. prawns.
v. 1244. cranys] i. e. cranes.
v. 1250. sadly] i. e. seriously, soberly.
v. 1251. gyse] i. e. guise, fashion.