Sivut kuvina
PDF
ePub

330: 141. all a case. It is all the same. 151. Like Phobus... boy. A further line from the same poem by Waller.

331: 173. in things of common application. In the affairs of everyday life. - 187. douceurs, ye sommeils du matin. Sweetnesses, ye morning naps.

...

333: 252. hogs' bones, hares' gall . cat. A playful exaggeration of some of the popular nostrums of the day.

334: : 275. Barbadoes waters. A cordial flavoured with orange-peel.

335: 331. an unsized camlet. Camlet was a light stuff of wool and linen, formerly from the East. Unsized, that is, unstiffened, not sized. - 332. noli prosequi. To be unwilling to prosecute. An acknowledgment by the plaintiff that he will not - press a suit further.

336:345. my dear Lacedemonian. Applied to Petulant on account of his power as an epitomizer of words " as Witwoud says. 353. and Baldwin yonder. The name of the fox in the beast-epic Reynard the Fox, also applied to the ass by Chaucer. 354. A Gemini you. Gemini, the name for the twin

[ocr errors]

stars Castor and Pollux was often used of pairs of things.

337: 6. Borachio. A villain, follower of Don John, in Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. Borachio is the Spanish term for a leather wine bottle, hence used for a drunkard. 339: 79. bastinadoed with broomsticks. That is, beaten on the soles of the feet.

34090. Salopian. An inhabitant of Salop or Shropshire. 346 14. a ballad-monger. : A seller of ballads. In eighteenth-century London these were sold upon the streets by itinerant pedlars. 14. Frisoneer gorget. A piece of apparel for the neck, a kerchief, made of Frisoneer, perhaps the same word as Frison or frieze, a woollen stuff originally made in Friesland. The word Frisoneer does not apparently occur elsewhere.

347:36. a cast servingman. A servingman that has been discharged. — 46. and been put upon his clergy. Forced to plead the benefit of the clergy, or privilege of exemption from capital punishment because of an ability to read and write. 47. meddle or make. Have anything to do with the affair. 54. Abigails and Andrews. Abigail was a common name for a lady's maid; Andrew for a valet. 55. Philander. A lover in Ariosto's Orlando Furioso ruined by the lustful Gabrina. Here merely a lover with an uncomplimentary allusion to Foible.

56. I'll Duke's-place you. Marry you in a hurry as they do at
Duke's-place, Aldgate, where St. James's Church was situated, a
place notorious for irregular marriages. 60. a Bridewell-
bride. A loose woman committed to a prison for vagrants and
social criminals. The prison was supposed to stand over the well
of St. Bride.

351:55. a brass counter. A small piece of metal used as a
token and in accounting.

35293. in a quoif like a man-midwife. The legal costume
of the day included a hood. 97. doomsday-book.

of England taken in 1086.
used for blistering.

[ocr errors]

----

A survey

102. cantharides. A medicament
105. the Temple. One of the Inns of

Court, where students at law were educated.

354: 151. exceeding the barbarity of a Muscovite husband.
The Russian was often used in the eighteenth century as the
symbol of roughness and cruelty. 152. from his Czarish
majesty's retinue. An allusion to the visit of the Czar, Peter
the First, three years before. - 171. while the instrument is
drawing. While the agreement is being drawn up.

---

357 259. By'r Lady. By Our Lady. 272. o' the quorum.
Certain justices of the peace whose presence was essential to
constitute a bench.

358 13. an old fox. A colloquial name for a sword.

15.

a mittimus. A command in writing to a jailer to keep the per-
son in custody in close confinement; here the vellum upon which
such an order might be written.

359 29. bear-garden flourish. A flourish suitable for a bear-
garden. Bear-baiting formed one of the lowest types of amuse-
ment in seventeenth-century London. These places were the
scenes of many brawls.

360: 79. Messalina's poems. Messalina was the wife of the
emperor Claudian. Her name is constantly associated with
incontinence.

364: 212. paid in kind. In order to realize the full sense of
this play upon words one must bear in mind that the idea of
children was seldom separated from the word kind.

THE MOURNING BRIDE

367. Neque enim . . sua. For no law is more just than that contrivers of death should perish by their own act. For de Arte Armandi we should read Ars Amatoria.

378: 102. If for my swelling heart. If my swelling heart permits.

380: 169. Through

.. fire. One is forcibly reminded by this passage of the concentric rings of Dante's hell. The idea is

taken from the tenth book of Plato's Republic.

381: : 222. and every limb . . . admiration. power it had in looking on with wonder.

Exercise all the

383: : 10. sad weeds. Mourning garments. -12. daughters of affliction. So were called the wailing women in ancient Jerusalem.

384: 51. I wo' not. I would not.

387: 157. to pay devotion here. That is, to Zara. The speech was accompanied by some appropriate gesture.

389: 19. As to some object frightful. This is to be taken with the phrase, "Then forward shot their fires," that is, the fires of his eyes.

396: 144. on my father's lead. The lead in which the dead body was encased.

[blocks in formation]

402: 150. Divinity. Here used for a divine being. : 34. that winks and wakes by turns. asleep and awake.

405:

419: 61. the cry. The full pack.

That by turns is

421 128. I have discovered practice. This method of expressing the relation which would now be expressed by the possessive case was common before the present usage in regard to the possessive case had gained full sanction.

427: 326. Ye winds . . . witness. From the next speech of Manuel it appears that Almeria faints or seems to faint after making this speech.

[ocr errors]

428: 377. amuse. Here used in the sense of divert the attention of, deceive, beguile. 379. One to my wish. The exclamation of Gonsalez as he catches sight of Alonzo. - 381. i' the way. To be found.

433: 82. like the raging dog-star, scorch the earth. Sirius,

the dog-star, was supposed by classical tradition to exercise great control over the weather.

444 10. like parish searchers . . . expired. Parish searchers were people whose duty it was to find out and report the causes of death in a parish.

GLOSSARY

Terms readily found in an unabridged dictionary, an encyclopædia, or a gazetteer are for the most part not included in this list.

Abuse, deceive.

Anan, anon.

Earnest, money paid to bind a

bargain.

Antegoa, probably Antigua, one Ephemeris, a calendar of predic

[blocks in formation]

Causes, cases at law.

Choose, do as you like.

Fond, foolish.

Forecast, foresight, calculation.
Frisoneer, probably Frisian.

Chairman, carrier of a sedan chair. Gadsbud, an attenuated form of

Chopping, lusty, huge, bouncing.

Clog, hinder.

Coats, petticoats.

Cockatrice,

God's blood.

Gadsobs, an affected oath for

God's sobs.

Gazette, a newspaper.

a fabulous serpent Gill-flirt, saucy flirt.

said to kill by its look. Colbertine, a kind of open lace

work.

Gorget, a scarf worn about the throat and bosom.

Colour, a trick, a piece of decep- Hardly, with difficulty.

tion.

Composition, agreement.

Consort, concert.
Convince, persuade.

Cowage, a sharp, nettle-like plant.
Crips, an absolete form of crisp.

Diacodian, preferably diacodium,
a syrup prepared from poppy-
heads and used as an opiate.
Disease, to deprive of ease.
Double, possible of being misun-
derstood, ambiguous.
Doubt, suspect.

Honest, virtuous.

Horn-book, an old-fashioned A B C card.

Ignorant, ignoramus.

Informed, furnished with certain qualities.

Intercessor, one who pleads for another.

Jealous, suspicious.
Journey-work, day labour, work
as an apprentice.

[blocks in formation]
« EdellinenJatka »