And these are all the mighty pow'rs
You vainly boast to cry down ours;
And what in real value's wanting,
Supply with vapouring and ranting; 370
Because yourselves are terrify'd,
And stoop to one another's pride,
Believe we have as little wit
To be out-hector'd, and submit;
By your example, lose that right 375
In treaties which we gain'd in fight;
And, terrify'd into an awe,
Pass on ourselves a <o> Salique law:
Or, as some nations use, give place,
And truckle to your mighty race; 380
Let men usurp th' unjust dominion,
As if they were the better women.
NOTES ON THE LADY's ANSWER TO THE KNIGHT.
133 l Whose Arrows learned Poets hold, &c.] The poets feign Cupid to have two sorts of arrows; the one tipped with gold, and the other with lead. The golden always inspire and inflame love in the persons he wounds with them: but, on the contrary, the leaden create the utmost aversion and hatred. With the first of these he shot Apollo, and with the other Daphne, according to Ovid.
277 m While, like the mighty Prester John, &c.] Prester John, an absolute prince, emperor of Abyssinia or Ethiopia. One of them is reported to have had seventy kings for his vassals, and so superb and arrogant, that none durst look upon him without his permission.
285 Or Joan de Pucel's braver Name.] Joan of Arc, called also the Pucelle, or Maid of Orleans. She was born at the town of Damremi, on the Meuse, daughter of James de Arc, and Isabella Romee; and was bred, up a shepherdess in the country. At the age of eighteen or twenty she pretended to an express commission from God to go to the relief of Orleans, then besieged by the English, and defended by John Compte de Dennis, and almost reduced to the last extremity. She went to the coronation of Charles the Seventh, when he was almost ruined. She knew that prince in the midst of his nobles; though meanly habited. The doctors of divinity, and members of parliament, openly declared that there was some thing supernatural in her conduct. She sent for a sword, which lay in the tomb of a knight, which was behind the great altar of the church of St. Katharine de Forbois, upon the blade of which the cross and flower-de-luces were engraven, which put the king in a very great surprise, in regard none besides himself knew of it. Upon this he sent her with the command of some troops, with which she relieved Orleans, and drove the English from it, defeated Talbot at the battle of Pattai, and recovered Champagne. At last she was unfortunately taken prisoner in a sally at Champagne in 1430, and tried for a witch or sorceress, condemned, and burnt in Rouen market-place in May 1430.
378 o Pass on ourselves a Salique Law.] The Salique Law is a law in France, whereby it is enacted, that no female shall inherit that crown.
GLOSSARY
Advowtry: Adultery
Animalia: Animals (L.)
Arsie-versie: Upside-down
Aruspicy: Prophesying, fortune-telling
Bachrach: Wine from Bacharach, in Germany
Bavin: A bundle of firewood
Boutefeu: Arsonist or (literal or metaphorical) firebrand
Cacodaemon: An evil Spirit
Caldes'd: Cheated
Calendae: The 1st or 2nd of the month
Calleche: A carriage with two wheels and a folding hood
Camelion: A giraffe
Camisado: An attack by night, during which the attackers wore
shirts over their armour so they could recognise one another
Cane & Angue pejus: Worse than a dog or a snake (L.)
Caperdewsie: The stocks
Capoch'd: Pulled off the hoods
Caprich: A caprice
Carbonading: Thrashing, beating
Carroch: A stately or luxurious carriage
Catasta: The stocks
Cawdie: A military cadet
Cawdle: Soup or gruel
Ceruse: White lead used as a cosmetic
Champaign: Champagne wine
Champain: Countryside
Chous'd, choust, chows'd: Cheated
Chowse: A cheat's victim
Classis: The elders and pastors of all the Presbyterian
congregations in a district
Coincidere: To come together (L.)
Congees: Bows, curtseys
Conster: Construe, explain
Conventicle: Secret or illegal religious meetings
Covins: Conspiracies
Cucking-stool: A stool to which a malefactor (often an unfaithful
wife) was tied, to be exposed to public ridicule, or ducked in a
pond or river.
Curship: The title of being a cur — pun on "worship"
Curule: An ivory chair used as a mayor's throne
Deletory: That which wipes out or destroys
Deodand: In English law an article which had caused a man's death
was ordered by the court to be a forfeited as a deodand (Ad Deo
dandum - to be given to God). Before the reformation it or its value
was given to the Church; afterwards to the local landowner.
Dewtry: A stupefying drink made from the Indian thorn-apple
fruit.
Dialectico: A philosophical point of argument
Dictum factum: No sooner said than done (L.)
Disparo: To separate (L.)
Donzel: A young page or squire
Drazel: A slut
Ducatoon: An Italian silver coin, worth about 6 shillings.
Ejusdem generis: Of the same kind (L.)
Enucleate: To explain the meaning of
Ex parte: On behalf of (L.)
Exaun: A religious establishment not under the authority of the
local bishop
Fadging: Fitting
Feme-covert: A woman under the protection of a husband ( a legal
term)
Ferk: Beat, whip
Festina lente: Make haste slowly (L.)
Fingle-fangle: A whimsical or fantastic idea
Fother: A cart-load
Fulhams: Loaded dice
Ganzas: The birds which the hero of a popular romance harnessed
to take him to the moon
Genethliack: A caster of horoscopes
Geomancy: Divination by interpreting the patterns of lines drawn
at random on the ground or on paper.
Gleave: A spear or halberd
Granado: A grenade
Grilly'd: Grilled
Grincam: Syphilis
Guep: Go on! — said to a horse or as an expression of derision.
Habergeon: A chain-mail shirt
Haut-gousts: Tasty things
Headborough: A constable
Hiccius Doctius: A nonsense word used by jugglers, conjurers etc.,
hence, any kind of trick or dishonest dealing
Hight: Called, named
Hoccamore: Wine from Hochheim, in Germany
Horary: Hourly
Huckle: The hip
Hugonots: French Calvinists
Hypocondries: The upper abdomen, between the breastbone and
the navel
Id est: That is (L.)
Idem: The same (L.)
Illation: Inference, deduction
In eodem subjecto: Thrown together in the same place (L.)
In querpo: Naked
Jobbernol(e): A thick head or blockhead
Jure divino: By God's law (L.)
Langued: Heraldic term meaning, with a tongue of a particular
colour e.g. langued gules - with a red tongue
Lathy: Thin, like a lath
Linsey-woolsey : A cloth of mixed wool and linen threads
Linstock: A stick for holding a gunner's match
L'Ombre: A card game
Longees: Lunges
Lustrations: Ceremonials of ritual purification by washing
Mainprize: To stand surety for someone
Manicon: A plant (deadly nightshade) or its extract, believed to
cause insanity when taken
Manto: Mantua, a kind of woman's loose gown
Martlet: A swallow or martin
Mazzard: The head
Meazle: A spot or pustule
Mira de lente: Wonderfully slow (L.)
Mordicus: With the teeth (L.)
Morpion: A crab-louse
Mundungus: Bad tobacco
Nare olfact: Nostril (L.)
Neat (noun): A calf or cow
Negatur: It is denied (L.)
Nimmer: A petty thief
Omnibus nervis: With every sinew (L.)
Oppugn: Attack or fight against
Orcades: The Orkneys
pacquet-male: Large wallet
Padder: A thief
Pari Libra: Equally (L.)
Pathic: Passively homosexual
Pernicion: Total ruin
Petronel: A short carbine or large pistol
Picqueer: Skirmish or quarrel
Pigsney: A term of endearment for a woman, "darling"
Plus satis: More than enough (L.)
Poesie: Poetry
Pullen: Poultry
Punese: A bed-bug
Pursy: Rich
Quarteridge: A tax or payment due quarterly
Quatenus: So far as (it is) (L.)
Quillets: Verbal points or quibbles
Rampiers: Ramparts
Rationalia: Thinking creatures (L.)
Rochet: A bishop's white gown or surplice
Satis: Enough
Sault: Jump
Scire facias: To know the appearance of (L.)
Sedes Stercoraria: Filthier seat (L.)
Seisin: A token of ownership, formally handed over when property
is sold.
Shanker: A venereal sore, chancre
Slubberdegullion: A dirty, slovenly person
Soland geese: Barnacle geese (Branta leucopsis)
Staffier: A footman
Stentrophonick: Loud, as from a megaphone
Stum: A mixture of wine and grape juice
Suggill'd: Beaten severely
Sui juris: Independently (L.)
Swound: A swoon
Synodical: Arising from or of the nature of a synod - a meeting of
bishops etc. of the Anglican Church
Tantundem dat tantidem: So much of that gives so much of this =
they are exactly the same (L.)
Tarsel: A male falcon
Theorbo: A kind of lute with two necks
Totidem verbis: In just as many words (L.)
Trapes: Tripes
Trepan: To trap
Trigon: A set of 3 signs of the Zodiac at 120-degree angles to each
other
Tussis pro crepitu: A cough for a fart (L.)
Velis & remis: By sail and oar (L.)
Veni, Vidi, Vici : I came, I saw, I conquered (L.)
Versal: Universal
Videlicet: That is, viz. (L.)
Vitiligation: Argument, quarrelling
Vizard: A mask or disguise
Welkin: The sky
Whiffler: A ceremonial guard who cleared the way for a mayor or
other official
Whinyard: A short sword
Ycleped: Named
Yerst: Erst, formerly
The