Line 78. Ladds of mettall.—Cf. 1 Henry IV. ii. 4, 13.
Line 80. No vertue extant.—Cf. 1 Henry IV. ii. 4, 132, where virtue = bravery, physical courage. The porter's use of the phrase sounds like a quotation.
Line 97. A the stampe.—Halliwell gives "Stamp, a tune," and quotes from MS. Fairfax, 16, "Songes, stampes, and eke daunces." Cf. also Midsummer Night's Dream, iii. 2, 25.
Line 98. Windsuckers.—This old name for the kestrel, or wind-hover, is of tolerably frequent occurrence. It is used metaphorically of a person ready to pounce on anything. "There is a certain envious windsucker that hovers up and down" (Chapman).
Line 101. I pre, sequor.—Literally, "Go before, I follow." The porter supplies a free translation in the words "one of your consorte." Cf. the use of the phrase "to be hail-fellow-well-met with anyone."
Line 109. Condolent here means expressing sorrow. For this sense see Wood, Ath. Oxon. (R)—"His vein for ditty and amorous ode was deemed most lofty, condolent, and passionate."
Line 110. Suffocat.—The porter's substitute for sufficit; though, strictly speaking, the o should be long.
Line 111. I tickle them for a good voice.—Besides the ordinary metaphorical meaning of to flatter, tickle sometimes = to serve one right, to make one pay for a thing. For this sense see 1 Henry IV. ii. 4, 489, "I'll tickle ye for a young prince, i' faith;" and cf. Ibid. ii. 1, 66. Probably the expression has a similar force here.
Line 114. Butterd beare.—Ale boiled with lump-sugar, butter, and spice.
Line 122. Act in conye.—The adjective incony, with the apparent sense of fine, delicate, is used twice by Costard in Love's Labour's Lost (iii. 136, iv. 1, 144) and also in Marlowe's Jew of Malta, iv. 5—"While I in thy incony lap do tumble." Other examples are rare, and I have not found any instance of an adverbial use. A second, though much less probable interpretation of the passage is suggested by the frequent use of cony as a term of endearment to a woman (cf. Skelton's Eleanor Rummyng, 225—"He called me his whytyng, his nobbes, and his conny"). If, however, "act in conye" were equivalent to "act as woman," i.e. take a female part, examples of analogous constructions should be forthcoming.