Gabriel sniggered. “Well, you never know what colour her ‘air’s going to be, so it’s best to look at ‘er tits, innit?”
“Tell her she can find me at Carlisle castle if she wants,” Dodd told Gabriel with dignity. “Ah’m a married man.”
Gabriel spread his hands in mock despair and turned away. “Gi’ my respects to Mr. Pickering,” Dodd shouted after him, “and ma thanks for coming out for me.” He put his hand on the horse’s withers and jumped up into the saddle and immediately felt happy and at home.
“It’s been a pleasure,” said Pickering’s voice from the kitchen door, “’av a good journey norf now, Sar’nt.”
Dodd nodded, took his hat off to Pickering, and was interested to see Pickering lifting his statute cap in return. Gabriel had already opened the courtyard gate.
Dodd came out of the gate with his remount trotting behind him, turned right to head west along Upper Ground to the horse-ferry for Westminster where he could pick up the Edgeware Road that led to Oxford. There was no point trying to cross London Bridge before the dawn broke when they would open the gates on the north side, and there was another hour to go at least.
Behind him he could now hear the outraged bawling of the new baby which was one of the happiest sounds in the world, he thought, even if it wasn’t his. That ball of rage had been cleared from his stomach by arranging for the blowing up one of Heneage’s houses, the burning and raiding of another, and reiving two good horses from him. Who knew what the court case might bring or what Sir Robert Cecil might do? So he laughed out loud, put his heels in, and cantered west along the south bank of the Thames, past the round wooden structure of the bear baiting and the scaffolding around another round building that was going up right next to it. Londoners were always building something new.
Behind him the sun rose.
Glossary
A fortiori—stronger, moreover
Alchemy—the unacknowledged illegitimate grandfather of modern chemistry; an intellectually satisfying and logical theory of matter which featured four Elements and held that gold was the pinnacle of matter and could be made to order by using the Philosopher’s Stone. Unfortunately, like many such theories, it was completely wrong. They found it was a little more complicated than that.
Apothecary—drugstore/druggist
Barnard—proposed victim of a coney-catching lay (scam)
Bartalmew’s fair—London pronunciation of St Bartholomew’s Fair. Please note that no “fair” is ever spelt “fayre”.
Boozing ken—a small alehouse, often full of thieves etc (Thieves’ Cant)
Border reiver—armed robbers on the Anglo-Scottish Border, organised in family groups called surnames who used the Border as a means of escape
Cloth of estate—a square tent of rich cloth traditionally set up over any seat occupied by a monarch
Coining—forging money
Colloped—cut into chops
Counsels—old-fashioned way of saying, trusted advice, hence Legal Counsel and Counsellor.
Cramoisie—dark purple red, a very popular colour in Elizabethan England.
Daybook—diary
Debateable Land—area to the north of Carlisle that was invaded and counterinvaded so often by England and Scotland that in the end it became semi-independent and a den of thieves, as often happens
Falling band—plain white turned down collar, Puritan style
Footpad—mugger
Henbane of Peru—an early name for tobacco
Insight—portable and saleable household goods
Jakes—outside toilet
Kinchin—child (Thieves’ Cant)
Kine—old plural of cows
Lye—the all-purpose cleaning agent, made by passing water through woodash repeatedly, a powerful alkaline. Used to make soap as well.
Mort—woman (Thieves’ Cant)
Nae blood tae his liver—it was believed that the blood in your liver gave you courage—hence lily-livered, said of those whose livers were pale. No doubt cirrhosis did make you cowardly.
Nipped that bung—stole that purse (Thieves’ Cant)
Papist—Catholic
Playing a veney—exact equivalent of a kata in Karate or pattern/tul in Taekwondo, this was a set series of sword moves practised with a partner so as to build up strength and agility. To keep the deathrate down, pickaxe handls with hilts or veney sticks were used.
Poinard—long thin duelling dagger with an elaborate hilt, big brother to a stiletto
Polearm—any weapon involving a long stick with something sharp on the end
Praemunire—the short name of the statute of Henry VIII which forbade as treason any appeal to an authority higher than the king’s—i.e. the Pope
Punk—whore
Pursuivant—literally—chaser, someone who acted for the State in tracking down spies, criminals and traitors. Often freelance.
Phlegm—mucus or snot, the cold and moist Humour, one of the four Humours of the body and a constant problem for the English who were renownedly Phlegmatic
Quod Erat Demonstrandum—as was demonstrated, QED
Red lattices—the shutters of any place selling alcohol would be painted red
Rickets—soft bones caused by Vitamin D deficiency in childhood, common among the Elizabethan upper classes if they allowed their childrens’ diet to be supervised by physicians who advised against fresh vegetables (too Cold of Humour) and fish (too lower class).
Run wood—woodwild, mad
Serjeant-at-law—a senior lawyer with special privileges, appointed by the Crown, roughly equivalent to a QC today
Starlings—the piers of London Bridge
Statute cap—blue woollen cap that all common men had to wear so as to support the wool industry—a statute more honoured in the breach than the observance
Strilpit wee nyaff—untranslateable Northern insult meaning “weakling”
Surety—a Border system whereby the headman of a surname would hand over a lesser member of his family as a hostage for the good behaviour of another member of the surname
Swan Rampant—this was indeed apparently Hunsdon’s badge and looked as described
Teuchter—incomprehensible Northern insult
To wap—to fornicate, as allegedly in “Wapping”, a notorious haunt of whores
Upright man—gang leader
Utter barrister—outer barrister. At this time a lawyer who had been called to the Bar (of the court) and could stand outside it, thus having the right to be nearer to the judge than mere attorneys or solicitors (which then meant the equivalent of ambulance-chaser). Later they became the only people who could speak before a judge in court.
Venery—persistent naughty sexual behaviour. Now called sexual addiction, very common.
Wittol—idiot
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A Murder of Crows: A Sir Robert Carey Mystery Page 28