Volpone and Other Plays
Page 45
94. advices: bulletins.
95. coat: party.
96. relations: reports.
106. I hold myself in no small tie unto my fortunes: I count myself fortunate.
113. vulgar grammar: Note.
114. he that cried Italian to me: my Italian teacher.
118. of ingenuous race: of good family.
3. the dear tongues: the main languages (of Europe).
4. mountebank: Note
5. quacksalvers: quacks.
12. cabinet counsellors: intimate advisers.
13. only languaged men: the best linguists.
15. terms and shreds: impressive-sounding jargon, miscellaneous quotations, etc.
24. phant’sied: depicted.
39. the Portico to the Procuratia: the arcade of the residence of the Procurators – important state officials.
41. cold on my feet: forced to sell things cheap.
44. Buttone: another mountebank.
48. ground ciarlatani: pavement-quacks, without platforms; charlatans.
49. feats of activity: acrobatic feats.
51. Tabarine: the zany in a troupe of Italian comedians.
60. scartoccios: scraps of paper used to wrap up medicines, etc.
62. oppilations: obstructions.
70. canaglia: the rabble, or scum (canaille).
75. Terra Firma: Venetian territory on the mainland.
79. magazines: warehouses.
79. moscadelli: muscatel wines. 81. cocted: boiled.
92. malignant humours: Note.
100 ff. mal-caduco: epilepsy; tremor cordia: palpitation of the heart; retired nerves: shrunken sinews; the stone: kidney trouble; strangury: urinary complaint; hernia ventosa: flatulence caused by hernia; iliaca passio: intestinal pains; torsion of the small guts: gripes; melancholia hypocondriaca: the ‘black bile’, chronic depression.
110. Zan Fritada: a famous comedian, whose name Volpone borrows to address his own zany, Nano.
114. Hippocrates, Galen: Greek physicians.
121. sassafras: a stimulant.
122. guacum: a drug obtained from a resinous wood.
145. simples: herbal ingredients. 148. decoction: boiling to extract.
148. flies in funto: goes up in smoke.
159. balloo: a game played in Venice with a large ball.
171. gossip: here, god-father, companion.
180. gazet: a Venetian coin (a penny).
186. tart of palate: with a keen sense of taste.
191. aches: has two syllables in the song.
199. moccenigo: coin of little value.
201. the banner of my front: the banner on the mountebank’s stage listing his miraculous cures.
201. bate a bagatine: take off a penny.
208. a double pistolet: a valuable gold coin.
6 to make your properties: to take over as your stage.
7. vent: chimney
28. horn him: cuckold him.
33. your epilogue: Note.
4. his strained action: his excessive theatrical performance.
4. his dole of faces: his range of facial expressions.
12. toad-stone: Note.
17. fricace for the mother: literally, massage for a fit of hysteria, but here used with suggestive overtones.
18. mount: become a mountebank; again with suggestive sexual overtones.
21. cittern: zither.
24. dowry, Dutchman:Notes.
55. a conjurer: Note.
57. lock: chastity-belt.
58. backwards: at the rear of his house.
70. anatomy: Note.
14. th’ osterìa: the inn.
14. a tumbling whore: ‘tumbling’ here suggests both acrobatic dancing and ‘tumbling in the hay’.
20. fasting spittle: the spittle of someone who is fasting, or starving.
27. At extreme fees: at huge cost.
29. cataplasm: poultice, or plaster.
42. delate: report.
47. present him: give him what he requires.
55. quean: whore.
59. God’s so: Note.
75. is not engaged: has no ulterior purpose (i.e. is not one of Volpone’s ‘clients’).
84. make your count: be assured.
10. the mystery: the skilled craft or profession; a science: a systematic field of learning recognized by universities, academies, etc.
11. liberally professed: widely practised like an academic discipline.
14. town-art: art of getting one’s living by knowing one’s way around the city.
18. kitchen-invention and some stale receipts: culinary skill and old recipes.
19. the groin: this suggests a cook-pander.
20. fleer: smile sycophantically.
21. legs and faces: bowing and scraping.
28. present to any humour, all occasion: prepared to cope with any whim and any event (i.e. thoroughly opportunist).
29. change a visor: literally, change a mask; adopt any attitude or play any part.
23. spin my own poor raiment: keep myself in clothes.
28. mining: undermining.
35. personated: impersonated or acted.
28. this: Lady Would-be.
29. the other: Celia.
20. bird-eyed: staring.
37. fucus: a skin cosmetic.
47. golden mediocrity: Note.
52. seed-pearl: a stimulant for the heart made of crushed seed-pearla dissolved in liquid.
54. elecampane root: the root of a medicinal plant.
61. Bugloss: another herb.
74. concent: harmony.
104. politic bodies: countries.
125. coætanei: exact contemporaries.
12. presented: given a present.
36. primero: a card-game.
3. they prevent us:i.e the various other ‘clients’
4. his horns: the horns of a cuckold.
21. move: urge.
34. my engagements: my business commitments.
35–6. the necessity of those means: the necessity of adopting certain methods (i.e. becoming Volpone’s sole heir through Celia’s prostitution); my recovery: my financial recovery.
60. prints: Note.
99. rochet: a kind of fish.
104. aquafortis: nitric acid. 105 cor’sives: other corrosives.
126. quit: acquit.
127. coming: forthcoming.
144. cope-man: dealer. 153. hornèd flood: Note.
158. jovial plight: cheerful spirits; but the word-play suggests Jovial also –Jove, the seducer of maidens.
165. SONG: Note
184. serene: ‘A light fall of moisture or fine rain after sunset in hot countries, formerly regarded as a noxious dew or mist.’ – O.E.D.
191. more orient: of greater value.
220. antic: grotesque dance.
230. the Grand Signior: the Sultan of Turkey.
17. the brand: No e.
19. boring: Note.
8. phrase: way of speaking. By ‘your phrase’ Sir Politic means ‘one’s’, but Peregrine takes – or pretends to take – it personally.
10. themes: general topics.
12. garb: appearance, bearing.
30. So as I still might be a saver in ’ em: obscure.
29. metal: material.
34. preposterous: unconventional.
46. projects: speculative enterprises.
60. hoy: a kind of trading-boat.
64. defalk: cut or lop off (here, show a profit).
73. pension: i.e. for service to the State.
89. put case: supposing.
97. t’ enjoy them: to keep them (tinder-boxes).
106. the Lazaretto: a quarantine hospital.
114. venture: put up the money for.
141. ragion del stato: affairs of state.
142. moccenigo: a coin worth little.
144. cheapened: haggled over.
7. the party: i.e. the ‘cunning courtesan’ Mosca told her of in III, v, 20.
47. light land-siren: irresponsible harlot.
64. use this: behave like this.
73. the queen-apple: Peregrine is saying one side of her nose is red.
2. quest: claim.
4. callet: prostitute.
16. use me: let me be of service to you socially; but Lady Would-be is being too inviting, as ‘conceive’ suggests.
23.freshmanship: inexperience.
1.carriage of the business: way to tackle the business.
5.burden: refrain in a song – i.e. something memorized, in his case ‘his lines’.
14.mummia: substance made from Egyptian mummies, or from corpses, and used as a drug.
15.this buffalo: Corvino, with his cuckold’s horns.
9. example: precedent.
31. frontless: shameless.
48. extirp: wipe out.
108.mere portent of nature: utter monster.
118.partridge: widely regarded as a lecherous bird.
3. hyena: regarded as a treacherous, deceitful beast. Hyena’s tears would be like crocodile’s tears.
13. pertinacy: evidently a malapropism.
32. strappado: a form of torture.
85. stale: decoy; forged practice: contrived plot.
97. sols: coins.
119. jennet: high-spirited horse.
45. face or colour like to truth: appearance of truth.
51. fleshed: hardened.
55. prodigies: monsters, ‘holy terrors’.
66. living: means of livelihood.
71. the other: i.e. your prostitution of Celia to Volpone.
74. doubt this advocate: mistrust Voltore.
81. put in: entered in the inventory.
89. Bountiful bones: Note.
91. worthy this age: so that be deserves to be like this in his old age.
97. reform: revise.
1. brunt: confusion.
3. this fled moment: the time immediately preceding this.
4. Cavè: Beware.
16. make me up again: put me in my old spirits.
4. our trade: i.e. legacy-hunting.
32. rare: rarely, i.e. ‘Did not your advocate plead exceptionally well?’
46. contrary: contradict.
50. Draw it to certain heads: arrange his subject-matter under headings.
51. vehement figures: emphatic figures of speech.
52. shift a shirt: change his shirt (i.e. Voltore gesticulated like a man changing his shirt; or possibly, sweated so much as to require a fresh shirt).
70. take upon thee: act in such a way.
88. dull: foolish, insensible.
90. clarissimo: Venetian nobleman (i.e. Corbaccio).
91. crump you like a hog-louse with the touch: curl up like a louse when it is touched.
93. rope and dagger: Note.
III. artificer: skilled craftsman (i.e. at teasing the legacy-hunters).
7. velvets: velvet curtains, or bales of velvet.
9. traverse: a curtain, or a screen made of fabric.
11. Is his thread spun?: euphemism for ‘Is he dead?’, referring to the three Fates who spun, measured, and then cut the thread of a man’s life.
21. i’ their garters: a pun on ‘hanging’.
25. Old glazen-eyes: a reference to Corbaccio’s spectacles.
32. salt: salt-cellar.
51. wittol: complaisant cuckold.
58–59. extraordinary: i.e. Corvino isn’t really a cuckold, because Celia only appears to be adulterous.
63. his fear eyes: another reference to Corbaccio’s spectacles.
68. the three legs: a reference to Corbaccio’s walking-stick.
102. lettuce: thought to be a laxative.
105. habit of clarissimo: nobleman’s robe.
114. commendatori: Court officials.
42. play-books: plays printed in quarto.
45. frail: a rush basket in which figs, raisins, etc., were packed.
51. engine: invention.
55. fitted: designed.
73. Godso: an expletive. Note.
76. funeral: burning. See above, lines 60–61.
77. motion: puppet-show; see also Bartholomew Fair.
78. term: period when the law-courts were sitting, and roughly equivalent to ‘the London season’. Smithfield was the site of Bartholomew Fair.
82. the fable of all feasts: i.e. people will ‘dine out on’ the story of Sir Pol’s misadventure.
83. freight: topic; gazetti: news-sheets.
84. ordinaries: taverns.
2. sever: tell apart.
4. My made me: my assumed role.
6–7. My Fox…: reference to a children’s game, Fox-in-the-hole.
8. case: covering, disguise.
9.composition: bargain.
17.over-leavened: puffed-up.
25. a’known: publicly recognized (as the heir).
2. make legs: bow, humble himself.
10. Pescheria: fish-market.
12. customed: much frequented.
18. candle-rents: rents from decaying property.
1. in our habit: dressed like people of our class (i.e. as a clarissimo).
2. gun-stones: cannon-balls made of stone.
12–14. moral emblems: Note.
15. privilege of the place: safety of a public street.
17. chequins: gold buttons.
27. basilisk: a reptile thought to be able to kill with a look.
5. biggen: a lawyer’s skull-cap.
8. familiar: evil spirit.
11. quirk: trick, legal quibble.
10. possessed: possessed by a devil.
27. gaped: yearned.
6. gave it second: seconded it.
7. sear up: stop bleeding by cauterizing with a hot iron.
9. kitlings: kittens. 16. crotchets: whims.
9. possession: being possessed internally by a devil.
10. obsession: being controlled from without by a devil.
25. crooked pins, etc.: Note.
85. uncase: cast off disguise. 87. substance: wealth.
91. chimera: originally, in Greek mythology, a monster, part lion, part goat, part serpent.
115. bane: destruction. 116. Saffi: sergeants, bailifis.
120. Incurabili: incurables.
125. mortifying: Note.
139. the Berlina: the Venetian stocks.
8. professors: practitioners.
29. copy: copiousness.
1. the sickness hot: the plague (being) virulent; refers to the year 1609.
4. punk: prostitute.
6. Coz’ners: tricksters, confidence-men.
10. figures: horoscope.
11. flies: familiar spirits.
12. Stone: the much sought after Philosopher’s Stone, which could turn everything into gold.
9. humours: for Jonson’s physiological–psychological theories, see note to Volpone, II, ii, 92 (page 467), and the general introduction, p. 10.
3–4. Lick figs: Note.
17. Friars: Blackfriars, a fashionable part of London, scene of the comedy’s action.
18. vacations: Note.
19. suburb–captain: bawd or pander, brothels being located in suburbs or low quarters, outwith the City’s jurisdiction.
29. Roman wash: an ointment for venereal disease?
35. kibes: chilblains.
36. felt of rug: hat made of coarse felt.
44–5. stills, etc.: see note on alchemical terms.
52–3. chippings, dole–beer: Note.
54. vails: tips.
55. post–and–pair: a game of cards.
64–80. Thou vermin, etc.: Note.
74. quarrelling dimensions: Note.
79. projection: Note.
96. erecting figures: casting horoscopes.
97. taking… glass: divining by means of a crystal globe.
110. republic: common–weal – i.e. our fraternity.
111. brach: bitch.
116. menstrue: menses used as a solvent.
&nbs
p; 121. dog–bolt: worthless person.
139. term: one of the periods when the law–courts were sitting; the London social ‘season’.