The Wise-Woman of Hogsdon Footnotes1
bale pair.
Notes
2 twenty marks a mark was worth 13s. 4d.
3 cross coins bearing a cross on the reverse, hence various quibbles.
4 Gracious Street i.e. Gracechurch Street.
5 “&c.,” here and elsewhere, means that the actor may add more to the same effect, if he please.
6 to intend i.e. attend to.
7 fancy love.
8 say nay, and take them “maids say nay, and take it,” was a proverbial saying.
9 conceit idea.
10 I’ll be with thee to bring... in this phrase—of which Dyce says that no satisfactory explanation has been given—“to bring,” has apparently the force of “wholly” or “thoroughly.”
11 little whiting-mop young whiting.
12 a Sir John a priest.
13 queasy squeamish.
14 fore-speaking bewitching; or, possibly, prophesying.—Halliwell.
15 ’recting a figure the practice of astrology.
16 Erra Pater usually the name of a certain mythical astrologer of the “Wandering Jew” type; sometimes, however, as here, applied to an almanac.
17 Statute of Winchester the celebrated Statute passed in 1285: to what clause in the Statute reference is made is not clear.
18 cutting Dick a bully of the time: “cutting” often has the sense of “swaggering.”
19 sad serious.
20 be with you i.e. God be with you.
21 the Counter there were two prisons of this name, one in Wood Street, the other in the Poultry.
22 tasted her tested her disposition.
23 Jack Drum’s entertainment “Tom or John Drum’s Entertainment, a phrase signifying ill-treatment, or turning an unwelcome guest out of doors.”—Halliwell.
24 Sir Boniface “sir” was applied to all University men who had taken their B.A. degree.
25 nidgets idiots.
26 no bones i.e. no difficulties.
27 ready with a wet finger i.e. with as much ease as any light substance is caught up by moistening one’s finger.
28 catched a clap met with a mischance.
29 common gossips sponsors.
30 tell count over.
31 pocas palabras “few words.”
32 murrey a dark red colour.—Halliwell.
33 play at hoodman-blind blind man’s buff.
34 in a woe sorrowful.
35 bobbed tricked.
36 fitters pieces.
37 a toy whim.
38 choke-pear... popering a pear brought from Poperingues in Flanders; the choke-pear was a coarse variety.
39 cope chop or exchange.
40 the woman killed with kindness an obvious allusion to Heywood’s own masterpiece.
41 Bristowe stone more usually called a “Bristol diamond.”
42 branched figured.
43 limit i.e. appoint.
44 I was, sir, of Peterhouse there is a tradition that Heywood himself was a Fellow of Peterhouse, Cambridge.
45 I proceeded in Oxford i.e. to his degree, his college, as he tells us, being Brazenose.
46 Genes Genoese.
47 Lusty Juventus there is an old interlude entitled Lusty Juventus, printed about the year 1560.
48 St. George’s Fields... Tuttle, Finsbury he mentions three well-known duelling resorts.
49 Stafford law “he has had a trial in Stafford Court” was a way of saying “he has been beaten or ill-treated,” Cotgrave. Florio uses the expression “Stafford-law”=braccesca licenza.
50 apply thou defend yourself.
51 i.e. much good may it do you!
52 beso las manus kiss the hands.
53 Sir Pandarus Pandarus was the prince of go-betweens; hence the word “pander.”
54 colour excuse.
55 brock a term of contempt; a brock is a badger.
56 Cheap Cross at Cheapside, with a statue of the Virgin on it. It was removed in 1643, by Puritan influence, on account of the reverence which it received from Catholics.
57 take me with you i.e. let me understand.
58 jack crafty fellow.
59 It is to be understood that the occupants of the various inner rooms see and hear all that transpires between Young Chartley and Luce without being themselves seen or heard.
60 Is not a speech lost here?
61 i.e. on pain of losing his blessing.
Notes
2 balm the consecrated oil used at coronations. Shakespeare has the expression: “’Tis not the balm, the sceptre and the ball.”
3 be countant i.e. held accountant.
4 estates nobles.
5 humorously oddly.
6 mome blockhead.
7 laugh, Democritus the laughing philosopher of Abdera:
Perpetuo risu pulmonem agitare solebat
Democritus.—Juvenal, x., 33-4.
8 curst shrewish.
9 “Rome” was pronounced like “room.”
10 generously of such noble blood.
11 he was: by power divine the old editions miss the point by reading “he was by power divine.”
12 coach-naves wheels, properly part of the axle.
13 timeless untimely. This passage is corrupt.
14 sparkled scattered.
15 trifurk three-forked.
16 rubs obstacles: originally a term used at the game of bowls.
17 ballater maker of ballads
18 sansing bell i.e. sanctus bell.
19 moe more; i.e. others.
20 lose waste.
21 the water that God Mercury makes i.e. a cosmetic lotion containing mercury.
22 being taken with the manner caught in the act. Cowel says, “manner or mainour denotes the thing that a thief taketh or stealeth.”
23 doom decree.
24 prevent forestall.
25 buckle contend.
26 traversed thoroughly examined.
27 attaint accusation.
28 topping lopping off.
29 where i.e. whereas.
30 suburbians the suburbs of London were formerly the chief resort of loose women.
31 holly holy.
32 hatchel heckle or dress.
33 with Duke Humphrey dine i.e. not dine at all. “This phrase is said to have arisen from part of the public walks in Old St. Paul’s called Duke Humphrey’s walk, where those who were without the means of defraying their expenses at a tavern were accustomed to walk in hope of procuring an invitation.”—Halliwell.
34 hey ho a favourite ballad-burden.
35 cocket pert.
36 Attalia Heywood was probably thinking of Horace’s Attalicæ condiciones.
37 pounded i.e. penned up.
38 upse freeze strong beer, imported from Friesland: hence to drink upse freeze was to drink hard.
39 tassaker from tasse? Hence a cup or goblet.
40 manage management.
41 lavoltoes a dance in the course of which the woman, after being turned round several times, sprang up as high as she could with her partner’s assistance.
42 wheel i.e. a spinning-wheel.
43 rebatoes i.e. turn your ruffs into loose collars.
44 frontlets forehead-bands.
45 rails short mantles.
46 billements head and neck ornaments.
47 bongraces shades to preserve the complexion.
48 There is no dash in the original; the singer evidently substituted the refrain for the omitted word.
49 This song also occurs in Heywood’s Challenge for Beauty.
50 cony-wool rabbit skin.
51 shag rough hair.
52 monmouth a kind of flat cap.
53 chapine chapines were shoes with very high soles, worn by ladies to make them look tall.
54 humorous damp.
55 stars i.e. candles.
56 tread not too hard for disturbing i.e. lest you should disturb.
57 staves-acre a kind of larkspur used to kill lice.
58 opinion reputation.
59 defend forbid.
60 uncrazed unbroken.
61 mechal adulterous.
62 stare starling.
63 This catch, which jokes in such a ribald fashion over Tarquin’s crime, furnishes a pointed example of the way in which the dramatists of the period pandered to the tastes of the less refined among their audiences.
64 to my death to fall to let fall, as often to be found in Shakespeare.
65 infinite i.e. infinite numbers.
66 buckler defend.
67 battle battalion.
68 tire tear, like a beast or bird of prey.
69 bulk body.
70 constant resolute.
71 snaky “snake” was often used as a term of contempt.
72 single monomachy “single monomachy” is rather an absurd pleonasm.
73 garboils tumults.
74 with one scorns i.e. that scorns.
75 rock-sampier samphire.
The Rape of Lucrece Footnotes1
makes legs bows.