[V, iii, 190]. tooke—where the common Elizabethan custom of dropping the -en inflectional ending of the past participle rendered a confusion with the infinitive liable, the past tense of the verb was used for the participle. Cf. Abbott, S. G., § 343.
[V, iii, 193]. this matron—i. e., Florimel.
[V, iii, 205]. in Nouall—i. e., “in the person of Novall.”
[V, iii, 207]. Thy challenge now I answere—this phrase would indicate that Romont crosses swords with Pontalier, and after a moment of fencing runs him through; instead of striking him unawares, as the modern stage direction, “Stabs Pontalier,” would imply.
[V, iii, 226]. these—i. e., Aymer, Florimel, and Bellapert.
[Court. Song, l. 3]. first—i. e., “in the front part of,” to meet the customers and be herself an attraction and an object of display, while the husband remains “at tother end” (l. 8) of the store.
[Court. Song, l. 4].—This is a most unduly long line. It seems probable that, in the Ms. from which the play was printed, the three phrases, “A faire wife,” “a kinde wife,” and “a sweet wife,” were three variant readings, which, by mistake, were all incorporated in the text. Any one of them used alone would give a perfectly normal line.
GLOSSARY
- affection, bent, inclination, penchant. [I, ii, 32].
- allow, command, approve. [IV, i, 9].
- answere, correspond to. [III, i, 82].
- arrests, stoppages, delays. [III, i, 43].
- author, to be the author, of a statement; to state, declare, say. [IV, ii, 19].
- baffled, disgraced, treated with contumely. [IV, i, 112].
- balm, an aromatic preparation for embalming the dead. [II, i, 79].
- band, a collar or ruff worn round the neck by man or woman. [II, ii, 77]; etc.
- banquerout, early spelling of bankrupt, which was originally banke rota (see N. E. D. for variants under bankrupt), from Italian banca rotta, of which banqueroute is the French adaptation. The modern spelling, bankrupt, with the second part of the word assimilated to the equivalent Latin ruptus, as in abrupt, etc., first appears in 1543. [I, i, 127]; [ii, 88].
- black, a funereal drapery. [II, i, 51]; [ii, 117].
- brabler, a quarrelsome fellow; a brawler. [III, i, 358].
- braue, in loose sense of approbation, good, excellent, worthy, etc. [I, ii, 256]; [292]; etc.
- bumfiddles, beats, thumps. [IV, i, 140].
- cabinet, a secret receptacle; a jewel-box. [II, ii, 34].
- canniball, a strong term of abuse for “blood-thirsty savage.” [IV, iv, 185].
- Caroch, coach. [II, ii, 28]; [IV, ii, 95].
- case, exterior; skin or hide of an animal, or garments—hence, perhaps, disguise. [V, i, 73].
- censure, a judicial sentence. [I, ii, 53].—in the sense of sentence to punishment. [II, ii, 166]; [172].
- chalenge, demand. [V, ii, 88].
- change, exchange. [III, i, 117].—chang’d, [I, i, 66].
- charges, expenses. [I, ii, 191].
- charitable, benevolent, kindly, showing Christian charity. [I, i, 117].
- circumstance, the adjuncts of a fact which make it more or less criminal. [V, iii, 52].
- close, close-fitting. [IV, i, 124].
- cold, unimpassioned, deliberate. [V, ii, 86].
- coloured, specious. [III, i, 139].
- comely, becoming, proper, decorous. [III, i, 163].
- complement, observing of ceremony in social relations; formal civility, politeness. [III, i, 439].
- conference, subject of conversation. [II, ii, 139].
- conscious, inwardly sensible of wrong-doing. [III, i, 353].—aware. [V, ii, 67].
- consists, lies, has its place. [III, i, 489].
- courtesie, generosity, benevolence. [V, iii, 73].
- Courtship, courteous behavior, courtesy. [III, i, 276]; [439].
- credits, reputations, good name. [I, ii, 67].
- curiosity, elegance of construction. [II, ii, 67].
- curious, careful, studious, solicitous. [IV, i, 102].—made with art or care; elaborately or beautifully wrought; fine; “nice”. [Cit. Song. l. 5.]
- dag, a kind of heavy pistol or hand-gun. [IV, i, 170] s. d.
- debate, strife, dissension, quarreling. [III, i, 443].
- decent, becoming, appropriate, fitting. [I, ii, 77].
- defeatures, defeats. [I, ii, 177].
- demonstrauely, in a manner that indicates clearly or plainly. [IV, i, 55].
- deserued, deserving. [II, ii, 189].
- determine, decree. [II, ii, 172].
- detract, disparage, traduce, speak evil of. [I, ii, 271].
- dis-become, misbecome, be unfitting for or unworthy of. [V, iii, 47].
- discouery, revelation, disclosure. [III, i, 91]; [V, iii, 194].
- distaste, estrangement, quarrel. [IV, ii, 1].—offence. [V, iii, 15].
- doubtfull, fearful, apprehensive. [IV, ii, 88].
- doubts, apprehensions. [III, i, 246].
- earth’d, buried. [II, i, 126].
- edify, gain instruction; profit, in a spiritual sense. [IV, i, 62].
- engag’d, obliged, attached by gratitude. [III, i, 242].
- engender, copulate. [III, i, 423].
- engine, device, artifice, plot. [III, i, 157].
- ensignes, signs, tokens, characteristic marks. [I, i, 144].
- entertaine, accept. [V, ii, 82].
- entertainment, provision for the support of persons in service—especially soldiers; pay, wages. [I, ii, 188].
- ernest, a sum of money paid as an installment to secure a contract. [V, i, 44].
- except against, take exception against. [IV, iii, 19].
- exhaust, “draw out”; not as to-day, “use up completely.” [II, i, 103].
- expression, designation. [V, i, 33].
- factor, one who has the charge and manages the affairs of an estate; a bailiff, land-steward. [I, ii, 135]. Cf. Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part I, III, ii, 147: “Percy is but my factor,” etc.
- familiar, well acquainted. [I, i, 3].
- feares, fears for. [IV, ii, 89].
- fit, punish; visit with a fit penalty. [III, i, 253].
- forespake, foretold, predicted. [III, i, 251].
- fortunes, happens, chances, occurs. [V, ii, 16].
- gallimaufry, contemptuous term for “a man of many accomplishments”; a ridiculous medley; a hodge-podge. [II, ii, 95].
- gamesters, those addicted to amorous sport. [III, i, 33].
- Geometrician, one who measures the earth or land; a land-surveyor. [IV, i, 21].
- get, beget. [I, ii, 246].
- gigglet, a lewd, wanton woman. [III, i, 308].
- honestie, honorable character, in a wide, general sense. To the Elizabethan it especially connoted fidelity, trustiness. [II, i, 115].
- horslock, a shackle for a horse’s feet; hence applied to any hanging lock; a padlock. [IV, i, 78].
- humanity, learning or literature concerned with human culture: a term including the various branches of polite scholarship, as grammar, rhetoric, poetry, and esp. the study of the ancient Latin and Greek classics. [II, i, 3].
- humour, used here in the specific Jonsonian sense of a dominating trait or mood. [I, i, 124]; [ii, 31].
- imployments, services (to a person). [I, ii, 28].
- individually, indivisibly, inseparably. [II, ii, 316].
- Infanta, the title properly applied to a daughter of the King and Queen of Spain or Portugal. [IV, i, 75].
- issues, actions, deeds. [II, ii, 198].
- kinde, agreeable, pleasant, winsome. [Court. Song. l. 4.]
- Lard, an obsolete form of Lord. [IV, i, 2]. Cf. Congreve, Old Bach., II, iii: “Lard, Cousin, you talk oddly.”
- League, probably used for Leaguer (so emended by M., f.): a military camp, especially one engaged in a siege. [III, i, 175].
- learnd, informed. [III, i, 156].
- legge, an obeisance made by drawing back one leg and bending the other; a bow, scrape. [III, i, 124].
- lively, living. [II, i, 46].—gay, full of life. [II, ii, 76].—life-like. [II, ii, 232].
- map, embodiment, incarnation. [II, ii, 136]. Cf. H. Smith, Sinf. Man’s Search, Six Sermons: “What were man if he were once left to himselfe? A map of misery.”
- mome, blockhead, dolt, fool. [Court. Song, l. 13].
- monument, sepulchre. [I, ii, 212].
- moue, urge, appeal to, make a request to. [IV, iv, 11].
- next, shortest, most convenient or direct. [V, i, 37].
- nice, petty, insignificant, trifling. [III, i, 442].
- note, show forth; demonstrate. [III, i, 504].
- Obiect, bring forward in opposition as an adverse reason, or by way of accusation. [IV, iv, 174].
- obnoxious, liable, exposed, open, vulnerable. [III, i, 354].
- obsequious, prompt to serve or please, dutiful. [V, iii, 90].
- obseruers, those who show respect, deference, or dutiful attention; obsequious followers. [IV, iv, 43].
- Orphants, obsolete corrupt form of Orphans. [I, ii, 206]. It survives in dialect. Cf. James Whitcomb Riley’s Little Orphant Annie.
- overcome, usually, “conquer”, “prevail”; but here, “out-do”, “surpass”. [I, i, 187].
- parts, function, office, business, duty. Formerly used in the plural, as here, though usually when referring to a number of persons. [I, i, 9]; [ii, 9]; [V. iii, 39].—qualities. [IV, iv, 105].
- pious, used in the arch. sense of dutiful. [I, i, 101].
- practicke, practical work or application; practice as opposed to theory. [II, i, 2].
- Praecipuce (mis-print for precipice), a precipitate or headlong fall or descent, especially to a great depth. [III, i, 464].
- presently, immediately, quickly, promptly. [IV, iv, 89].
- president [variant of precedent], example, instance, illustration. [V, iii, 226].
- preuent, anticipate. [I, i, 64]; [ii, 17]; [IV, ii, 32].
- Prouince, duty, office, function; branch of the government. [I, ii, 23].
- punctual, punctilious, careful of detail. [IV, i, 42].
- purl, the pleat or fold of a ruff or band; a frill. [II, ii, 77].
- quick, alive. [I, ii, 178].
- Ram-heads, cuckolds. [II, i, 31].
- recent, fresh. [II, i, 19].
- roaring, riotous, bullying, hectoring. [IV, i, 203].
- sawcily, formerly a word of more serious reprobation than in modern usage: “with presumptuous insolence.” [I, ii, 106].
- scandall, to spread scandal concerning; to defame. [I, ii, 58].
- sect, class, order. [V, i, 79].
- seene, experienced, versed. [III, i, 268].
- seruant, a professed lover; one who is devoted to the service of a lady. [II, ii, 40]; etc.
- seruice, the devotion of a lover. [III, i, 81]; [IV, iv, 107].
- set forth, adorned. [IV, iv, 106].
- skills, signifies, matters. [I, ii, 286].
- snort, snore. [Court. Song. l. 12.]
- soft, tender-hearted, pitiful. [II, i, 23].
- sooth’d, assented to; humoured by agreement or concession. [V, i, 55].
- Spittle, hospital. [III, i, 210]. Cf. Shakespeare, Henry V, II, i, 78; V, i, 86.
- spleene, caprice. [I, i, 49].
- state, estate. [II, ii, 294]; [III, i, 24]; [IV, iv, 178]; [V, iii, 119].
- submisse, submissive. [I, i, 179].
- take, charm, captivate. [I, ii, 206].
- taske, take to task; censure, reprove, chide, reprehend = tax. [I, ii, 64].
- temper, temperateness, calmness of mind, self-restraint. [V, iii, 40].
- theorique, theory; theoretical knowledge, as opposed to practice. [II, i, 2].
- Thrift, here used in the old sense of prosperity or success. [I, i, 170].
- toyes, whims, caprices, trifles. [III, i, 442].
- vncivil, unrefined, ill-bred, not polished. [III, i, 490].
- vailes, perquisites. [V, i, 83].
- Visitation, visit. [II, ii, 310].
- wagtaile, a term of familiarity and contempt; a wanton. [II, ii, 7].
- where, whereas. [I, i, 71].
- wittoll, a man who knows of his wife’s infidelity and submits to it; a submissive cuckold. [V, iii, 99].
- wreake, vengeance, revenge. [IV, iv, 183]; [V, ii, 43].