Volpone and Other Plays
Page 46
151. fermentation, etc.: further alchemical processes.
152. Sol and Luna: sun and moon, i.e. gold and silver.
160. shark: swindle, cheat.
164. sort: crowd; precise: Puritanical.
167. ride: i.e. on a public cart (punishment for a prostitute).
168–9. hole: in the pillory; pay ear–rent: have your ears cut off, as punishment.
173. crewel: pun on ‘cruel’ and ‘crewel’ (worsted).
189. quodling: literally a green apple; unsophisticated youth.
191. the Dagger: a tavern of low repute.
192 familiar: familiar spirit.
193. rifle: gamble.
8. pass-time: watch; cunning-man: magician, fortune-teller.
10. broke: broached the subject.
26. chiaus: Turkish messenger.
37. angel: gold coin.
47. flush: winning hand in primero, a card game.
63. puck-fist: puff-ball – i.e. boaster.
79. crackers: fireworks. See Bartholomew Fair: v, iv, 23.
81. set:bet against.
100. ordinary: tavern; o’the score: on credit.
111–12. put six 0’ your gallants to a cloak: ‘force five out of six gamblers to pawn their cloaks’ (G. E. Bentley).
128. born with a caul: a sign of good luck. Note.
130. I’ fac: in faith.
147. tonight: last night.
173. nobles: coins.
9 plot: plan, diagram.
14 wished: recommended.
24.sophisticate: adulterate.
25.grains: grains of paradise – a kind of spice.
28–31 lily-pots, etc.: Note.
32. goldsmith: usurer.
40. fine: pay a forfeit rather than take office as Sheriff.
43. amused: amazed.
44 metoposcopy: the art of telling a man’s fortune from his forehead or face.
69 loadstone: magnet.
73. court-focus: cosmetic used by Court ladies.
79. give a say: make an assay, an attempt.
87. portogue: gold coin.
102. cor’sive: corrosive.
103. crosslets, etc.: apparatus used by alchemists.
5. trunk: speaking tube.
9. shift: change your clothes.
19. plaguy houses: houses stricken with the plague.
21. pomander: a ball containing perfume as a protection (preservative) against infection.
23. ’spital: hospital.
8 spectatissimi: literally, most gazed at; highly esteemed.
9. hollow die: loaded dice.
11. livery-punk: prostitute acting as accomplice to a confidence-trickster (ironically, unknown to Mammon, Dol Common is precisely this)
16. entrails: lining.
23 punketees: young prostitutes.
26. fire-drake: dragon.
27. Lungs: Mammon’s nickname for Face – Subtle’s ‘bellows’ and laboratory-assistant.
28. firk: stir.
29. faithful: believing (i.e. in alchemy)
36. admire: wonder
63–9 the secret, etc.: Note.
71 the players: Note.
81–3 Moses, Solomon, etc.; Note.
89–104 Jason’s fleece, etc.; Note.
95 argent-vive: quicksilver.
102 Demogorgon: Note.
9. bolt’s head: flask.
14. auditory: congregation.
23. just: exactly.
28. sanguis agni: blood of the Lamb.
48. succubae: here, concubines.
74. hyacinth: a precious stone.
76. spirit of Sol: gold
80. calvered: unknown – evidently an elaborate way of preparing fish while alive.
81. knots: a kind of sandpiper, godwits: a kind of snipe.
82. barbel: a kind of fresh-water fish.
87. be a knight: Note.
89. taffeta-sarsnet: very fine silk.
97. homo frugi: a temperate man.
6. just: exact.
42. canting: rogues’ slang or jargon.
48. covetise: covetousness.
71. hay: a net for catching rabbits; ‘coney-catching’ in Jacobean times meant confidence-tricking.
75. liquor of Mars: molten iron.
88. bolted: driven by the ferret into the net (develops metaphor in line 71).
99. kemia: vessel for distilling in.
157. means: intermediate stages.
178. bray: pulverize.
192. red man: sulphur; white woman: mercury.
193. terms: menses.
195. merds: fæces.
224. I warrant thee: ’ I promise to protect you (against Subtle’s anger).’
283. lapis mineralis: Philosopher’s Stone.
284–5. primero, gleek: games of cards.
287. danger of the quicksilver: refers to the standard treatment of venereal disease, as does sulphur: line 288.
307. fall: veil or ruff; tire: head-dress.
323. jack: a turnspit.
5. firks: runs.
11. Sanguine: literally ruddy (flattering term of endearment).
21. gold-end man: dealer in odds and ends of gold.
30. exiled Saints: group of fanatical Puritans who moved from England to Holland.
31. discipline: form of church government.
57. professors: believers, Puritans.
21. rug: coarse cloth.
26. legs: bows.
30. a bona roba?: a fine gown (hence, a courtesan).
33. a-cop: on the top of her head.
34. fucus: a cosmetic.
54. dubbed: made knights.
64. by line: according to the rules.
87. in goods: in property; in tail: pun on legal and colloquial meanings (a) limited, conditional inheritance to certain heirs – as opposed to getting something in goods, and (b) tail suggesting a woman sexually available.
89. grains: weight.
2. Separation: the dissenting sect in Amsterdam.
17. give somewhat to: make allowance for.
38. silenced Saints: the dissenters were not permitted to preach in England.
41. aurum potabile: drinkable gold (thought to be an elixir); here it means bribery.
10. qualify: change the situation.
38. bone-ache: pox.
40. fricace: rubbing or massage.
45. parcel gilt: partly gilded articles of silver.
68. being toward: being almost in possession of.
78. scrupulous bones: doctrinal points of minor importance and interest.
87. shorten… ears: have your ears cut off as a punishment in the pillory.
95. wood: company.
113. botcher: tailor.
129. citronize: becomes yellow.
150. know: recognize the authority of.
11. party-bawd: partner-bawd or partner in bawdry.
13. slops: loose-padded breeches.
14. hoys: ships; trunks: hose.
15. pistolets: Spanish gold coins.
23. doxy: whore.
46. gnat frost: i.e. of 1608.
48. God’s gift: ’ Dorothea’ in Greek means God’s gift.
50. adalantado: a Spanish governor.
71. Verdugoship: verdugo is spanish for hangman. ‘His great hangmanship can’t speak a word of English’.
79. tire: costume.
22. angry boys: roisterers.
38. in; ablique, in circle: the lie circumstantial.
39. in diaimster: the lie direct.
47. ordinary: eating-house, tavern.
58. fly: familar spirirt
61groom-porter: a royal official in charge of gaming at Court, who kepi a free table at Christmas.
76cast: cashiered, dismissed.
85vacation: between terms at the law-courts.
87a perspective: a picture which seems to change as the spectator shifts his angle of vision.
97.woad: a blue dye.
120pellitory 0’ the wall: a herb.
123
’ cessed: assessed, for taxes.
27directly: honestly.
31Stage-direction, cittern: a guitar-like instrument, with wire strings; a zither.
33spur-royal: a gold coin.
53his suit: Face’s clothes in his disguise as Lungs.
10in rage: mad.
16state: affairs of state, politics.
19house: family.
23happiness: appropriateness.
30concumbere: fornicate.
38 Guinea-bird: whore.
57costermonger: seller of fruit.
75. unblamed: unblemished.
78. particular: familiar, personal.
84. distillation: chemistry.
103. muse: am surprised.
122. mastery: i.e. the magislerium, process of making anything into gold.
131. Friars: i.e. Bkckian, the part of London in which the comedy is located.
134. hundred: the sub-division of a county.
136. emp’ rics: experimenten, scientists.
4. Captainship: captain’s disguise.
5. a bonnibel: a beauty.
9. hit you through both the nostrils: put your nose out of joint.
29.angry: quarrel-provoking – as in ‘the angry boy’.
42myrobolane: sugar-plum.
43rivo frontis: vein of the forehead.
45linea fortunά: line of fortune (from palmistry like the terms which follow).
59. glass: crystal ball into which astrologers gazed.
60 dabchick: water-hen.
3. composition: terms.
19. overlook: look down upon.
19. (Stage-direction): Surly’s disguise is evidendy a particularly elaborate Spanish costume, hence the jokes about its ruff, etc.
21. Señores…: ’Genueman, I kiss your worships’ hands.’
26. brawn: boar’s flesh.
27. souse: ear.
32. Gratia: ‘Thanks’.
33. sets: plaits of the ruff.
34. Por dios…: ’ By God, gentlemen, a very fine house.’
40. Donzel: little Don; Entiendo: I understand.
42. portagues: gold coins.
47. Con licencia…: ’ By your leave, may I see the ladv?’
61–2.Entiendo…: ‘I understand that the lady is so beautiful that I desire the sight of her as much as good fortune in my life.’
73. doom: decision.
78. Señores…: ‘Gentlemen, why so much delay?’
80. Puede…: ‘Can it be that you are making fun of my love?’
91. Por estas…: ‘By this honoured beard –’
93. Tengo…: ‘I fear, gentlemen, you are playing some trick on me.’
98. fubbed: cheated.
100. tawed: soaked in preparation for tanning.
10. garb: carriage, deportment.
18. scheme: horoscope.
29. eighty-eight: i.e. 1588, the year of the destruction of the Spanish Armada.
33. cry: refers to the street-cries of hawkers.
47. Exchange: shopping area in the City.
50. goose-turd: yellowish-green (colour of goose’s droppings).
53–4. Que es…: ‘What’s the matter, gentlemen, that she does not come? This delay is killing mel ’
56–7. Por todos…: ‘By all the gods, the most perfect beauty that I have seen in my life!’
63–4 El sol…: ‘The sun has lost its light compared to the splendour this lady brings! God help me!’
69. Porque…: ‘Why don’t you come closer?’
71. Por: ‘For the love of God, why this delay?’
76. Señora…: ‘Madam, my person is entirely unworthy to come near such beauty.’
80. Señora…: ‘Madam, if you will, let’s go in.’
92. figure: Subtle’s pun is based on ‘figure’ meaning horoscope.
16. tongue of Eber: Hebrew; of javan: Greek.
34. close: secret.
54. honest: pure, chaste.
103. case: costume, disguise (i.e. servant’s livery).
110. virtue: ability.
3. clap: calamity or fall, with overtones of venereal disease.
21. coitum: intercourse.
29. cart: the punishment for bawds was to drive them publicly through the streets.
33. parcel: partial, part.
48. ephemerides: almanacs of astrology.
16. foist: rogue, trickster.
23. mauther: young woman.
32. damned himself: sworn.
39. trig: coxcomb.
40. Amadis de Gaul: a chivalric hero.
45. tim: abusive term; exact meaning uncertain.
53. seventy-seven: Note.
68. suit: costume; players: actors.
71. Hieronimo: avenger-hero of Thomas Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy.
96. looked: thought, expected.
110. quiblins: jokes, verbal quibbles.
116. liberties: suburban areas outwith the City’s jurisdiction; slums.
122. purchase: loot, booty.
1. resort: visiting, coming and going.
6. knave: servant (i.e. Jeremy alias Face).
11. teaching i’ the nose: preaching with a nasal intonation, like a Puritan.
12. bills: advertisements, posters.
21. ging: assembly, gang.
22. motion: puppet-show. As in Bartholomew Fair, throughout.
25. fleas; i.e. a flea-circus.
19. threaves: droves, crowds.
20. Eye-bright: probably the name of a tavern in the area.
32. through the black pot: through too much drinking.
2. chancel: temple.
34. cockatrice: whore.
50. punk devise: perfect harlot, pun on point-device.
62. deceptio visus: an optical illusion.
14. coil: row.
41. Woolsack: a tavern.
42. Dagger: another tavern; frume’ty: a sort of porridge made of wheat boiled in milk.
43. Heaven, Hell: also names of taverns.
44–5. mumchance, etc.: games of chance.
47. gleek, primero: card games.
68. Hieronimo’s cloak: theatrical costume in the Spanish style as promised earlier.
84. cunning-man: magician.
88. flitter-mouse: bat.
89. Pigeons: The Three Pigeons, a tavern at Brainford.
114. single-money: small change.
119. girdles: sashes; hangers: for swords.
126. right: truth.
131. determines: terminates.
148. flock-bed: mattress stuffed with wool rather than feathers; i’ the fock-bed and buttery: ‘when asleep and when eating’.
12. birding: thieving.
38 They enter (Stage-direction): i.e. the inner rooms.
42 ’ Madam with a dildo’: part of a popular ballad.
56 harquebusier: musketeer.
79 younkers: youths.
80. tits: girls.
85. hearken: search.
94. sometimes: formerly.
100. have the seal: i.e. of God’s approval.
127. dubbed boy: young knight.
128. mammet: puppet: touse: beat.
131 feize: flog.
135 stoop: a term in falconry. Kastril = Kestrel, a hawk.
144 jovy: jovial.
152 candour: honesty, integrity.
159. decorum: according to the rules of artistic and dramatic propriety.
164. country: jury.
4.faction: the Puritans; toys: rubbish, trifles.
5.babies: dolls.
8.particular wrong: satire directed at individuals rather than types.
12.fairing: a present bought at a fair.