[I.19] ’A made a finer end,] To make a fine end is not an uncommon expression for making a good end. The Hostess means that Falstaff died with becoming resignation and patient submission to the will of Heaven.
[I.20] ——an it had been any christom child;] i.e., child that has wore the chrysom, or white cloth put on a new baptized child.
[I.21] ——turning o’ the tide:] It has been a very old opinion, which Mead, de imperio solis, quotes, as if he believed it, that nobody dies but in the time of ebb: half the deaths in London confute the notion; but we find that it was common among the women of the poet’s time. —Johnson.
[I.22] ——I saw him fumble with the sheets,] Pliny, in his chapter on the signs of death, makes mention of “a fumbling and pleiting of the bed-clothes.” The same indication of approaching death is enumerated by Celsus, Lommius, Hippocrates, and Galen.
[I.23] ’A could never abide carnation;] Mrs. Quickly blunders, mistaking the word incarnate for a colour. In questions of Love, published 1566, we have “yelowe, pale, redde, blue, whyte, gray, and incarnate.”
[I.24] Shall we shog off?] i.e., shall we move off—jog off?
[I.25] Let senses rule;] i.e., let prudence govern you—conduct yourself sensibly.
[I.26] ——Pitch and pay;] A familiar expression, meaning pay down at once, pay ready money; probably throw down your money and pay.
[I.27] ——hold-fast is the only dog,] Alluding to the proverbial saying— “Brag is a good dog, but Holdfast is a better.”
[I.28] ——caveto be thy counsellor.] i.e., let prudence be thy counsellor.