by Ben Jonson
1.stage–keeper: the principal stage–hand; for his duties see lines 46–8, below.
8.arras: tapestry hanging or curtain.
11.humours: here, idiosyncracies, distinctive oddities of types and classes of people.
13.sword-and-buckler: ruffian.
25.sir reverence: with apologies, with respect (contraction of‘save your reverence’).
26.tiring-house: dressing-room; the backstage area, behind the tiered façade of the play-house, where the actors dressed.
31. Inns 0’ Court: Note.
36. cloth-quarter: Note.
37. vermin: fleas.
41. book-holder: prompter.
44. understanding: a pun referring to the ‘groundlings’ – those spectators standing in the pit immediately below the stage.
47. bears: the Hope theatre also featured bear-baiting.
51. meridian: fullest stretch of the stage-keeper’s understanding.
57. counterpane: opposite of an indenture.
78. censure: judgement.
80. six pen’orth, etc.: refers to the price of admission.
85. the lottery: Note.
89. contagion: infection, i.e. repeating one’s neighbour’s opinion.
91. commission of wit: authorized body of critics.
109. eauipage: array, dress.
112. meditant: etc.; burlesque of heraldic terms.
115. servant-monster: Note.
128. Mirror: paragon. Note.
134. challenge: accuse.
138. preposterously: in the wrong order.
139. suffrage: approval.
143. decorum: literary term for fitness or appropriateness as between the form and the content of a work of art.
148. commodity: quantity.
8. device: verbal ingenuity.
9. ames-ace: double ace, the lowest throw on two dice.
l2. quirk: quip.
12. quiblin: quibble, pun.
16. Jack: servant or labourer.
19. convince: overcome, impress.
20. beaver: hat of beaver fur.
34. again’: in anticipation of.
35. Unary: a sweet wine.
38. poet-suckers: young poets.
38. gossips: friends.
4. apprehend: think.
7. lace: stripe.
15. melicotton: a peach grafted on a quince.
25. hood, chain: signs of rank (i.e. Mistress Overdo takes pride in her husband’s office).
33. tokenworth: a farthing’s worth.
43. nativity-water cast: here used of prediction by means of a horoscope.
44. cunning-men: here fortune-tellers; elsewhere in Jonson magiciansand other charlatans.
46. sen’night: week.
62. painful: diligent.
62. sweet singers: Puritans.
65. malmsey: a sweet wine.
65. aqua cœlestis: cordial.
72. Beast: i.e. the Beast of Revelation, 13.
76. kembed: combed.
77. proselyte: preacher.
1. ta’en sou: hunting torn for taken refuge or being run to earth.
11. lyam-hounds: blood-hounds.
14. pluck hair o’ the same wolf: drink again today; modern version ‘hair of the dog that bit you’.
27. stained: tipsy.
47. fall in: become reconciled.
52. apple-John: an apple eaten when shrivelled after two years keeping; pun on apple-squire – pimp.
54. respective: respectable, conscious of manners.
56. come about: come round to my opinion.
60. drawing after: hunting by the scent.
61. tripe or trillibub: entrails; used as a mocking term for someone fat.
64. buff: leather, skin.
76. quartan ague: a fever in which a paroxysm occurs every fourth day; malaria.
77. spinner: spider.
79. ’fore: in preference to; Professor Horsman’s emendation of ‘for’ in Polio.
88. moderates: prendes, arbitrates.
89. sentence: pronouncement, wise saying.
93. apostle-spoon: silver spoon – often gift at baptism – with an apostle portrayed on the handle.
94. caudle: a warm and nourishing drink for invalids.
95. conveyed her estate: made her estate over to someone else.
116. spiced: over scrupulous.
116. bridals: wedding feasts.
117. morrises: morris-dances.
128. blue-starch-woman: laundress (suggesting to the Puritans luxury and display; see Ananias on ‘that idol, starch’, The Alchemist, III, ii, 823.)
135. profession: declared religious faith.
138. prevented: forestalled.
6. clerk: cleric.
2. God you: God give you.
6. saved by my book: Note.
16. Numps: familiar contraction of Humphrey.
21. mark: thirteen shillings and fourpence.
32. keeps such a coil: makes such a fuss.
37. both-hands: guardian, nurse.
49. turd i’ your teeth: an insulting exclamation; turd = shit.
51. glisters: clysters, enema-tubes.
51. I wusse: certainly; I know for sure.
53, velvet-custard: custard = an open meat (or fruit) pie; here, a pie-shaped hat.
59. stale: initiate (of animals).
68. puddings: sausages (usage still current in Scotland – e.g. ‘black puddings’).
73. carman: carter.
73. I find him not talk: I do not distract him with conversation.
75. bees: crazy notions; cf. ‘bees in his bonnet’.
78. hood: the sign of Overdo’s office as a Justice.
86. cross and pile: a toss-up.
102. gib-cat: tom-cat.
106. little long-coats: children in petticoats.
112. reading: interpretation.
9. ’Sprecious; by God’s precious blood.
12. exorbitant: abnormal, troublesome.
14. Marrygip: the oath’by Mary of Egypt’, confused with ’gee up!’to ahorse.
15. French-hood: a fashionable head-dress.
17. Regent: deputy for a governor. See I, iv, 79.
46. cosset: pet lamb, spoilt child.
58. fidge: fidget, move restlessly.
74. over-buy: pay too much for; here, buy too much of.
84. ’Slid: by God’s eyelid.
93. Sir Cranion: crane-fly or daddy-long-legs.
98. contumacious: quarrelsome, insubordinate.
110. stone, testicle.
112. Cather’ne-pear: mall, early pear; see IV, ii.
119. tamers: hinderers.
125. quality: social rank; Cokes then uses ‘qualities’ to mean moral characteristics.
127. apprehension: understanding.
138. motion-man: puppet-master.
148. cut thy lace: i.e. of her bodice or stays.
150. makt me unready: undress.
151. strait-laced: both with stays or bodice tightly laced and careful in morality.
154. elect: predestined to heaven.
158. mother: Jacobean pun on literal and metaphorical meanings – pregnancy and hysteria.
8. unclean beast: Puritans took the Old Testament literally.
15. motion: urging, prompting.
54. spice: species, kind.
56. high places: biblical association with the worship of idols, as in Leviticus, xxvi, 30 (Horsman).
68. face: outward appearance.
98. away with: agree with.
2. commonwealth: the commonweal, the general good.
3. fitted: equipped, disguised.
6. quorum: those justices of the peace whose presence was necessary to constitute a bench.
15. dog-killer: man appointed to kill stray dogs as suspect carriers of the plague, especially in hot summers.
32. pursuivant: official with powers to execute warrants for arrest.
32. seminary: recusant priest trained in europe in a catholic seminary.
34. intelligen
ce: information.
35. intelligencers: informers.
39. pie-powders: Note.
1. pestilence-dead: as deserted as if the plague had closed it (as happened in 1603).
15. parcel-poet: past poet.
15. inginer: inventor, deviser of shows.
16. cattel: property.
17. arsedine: imitation gold-leaf used to decorate toys.
18. take down: humiliate.
19. charm: subdue.
31. gilt: ‘Gold leaf was used to decorate ginger-bread (hence Trash’s jibe at Leatherhead’s “arsedine”)’ – Professor Horsman.
36. wading: staggering.
46. faucet: tap for drawing liquor out of a barrel.
56. secretary: a confidant.
65. changeling: stupid or ugly child left by fairies in exchange for an attractive one.
69. stot: a stupid, clumsy person (Horsman’s leading of stole).
71. pinnace: go-between or whore.
81. incubée: incubus - possibly here the offspring of a human being and an evil spirit.
89. colts-foot: a herb used to adulterate tobacco.
90. be to seek: be at a loss.
91. advance: raise.
95. skink: pour.
125. aunt: gossip or old woman; here possibly euphemism for bawd.
134. handsel: first takings of the day - thought to be lucky. Jordan: derisive nickname; literally, chamber-pot.
1. she-bear: ursa is Latin for bear.
5. heavy hill: i.e. Holborn Hill, part of the route from Newgate to the gallows at Tyburn.
13. horse-leeches: literally farriers or bloodsuckers; figuratively predatory persons.
23. vapours: Note.
28. horn-thumb: the thimble worn by a cutpurse to protect his thumb from the knife’s edge.
35. toy: whim.
39. after-game: a second game played to give the loser a chance of reversing the result of the first.
43. motion: physical exertion.
44. tusk: meaning uncertain; ’show the teeth’ (Partridge), ’form into a tuft’ (Horsman).
44. dibble; a spade-beard.
52. found’ring, etc: an eruptive disease caused by overeating or overwork; in horses it is caused by allowing them to drink when overheated.
54. keep state: act as befits your dignity; act royally.
55. taken up: reduced.
7. mousetrap: the Tinderbox-nian is synonymous with the Mousetrap-man in ’The Persons of the Play’.
7. tormentor: trap.
12. Ferret, Coney: underworld jargon for confidence-trickster and dupe.
14. Goose-green: yellowish-green, symbolizing pride.
20. mart: marketing.
35. purchase: booty.
36. conveyance: theft.
43. fly…toa mark: hawking term used when a falcon indicates to the falconer the spot where its prey disappeared from view.
53. smocks, whimsies: wenches.
58. passionate: sorrowful.
58. wept out an eye: a sign that a pig is nearly roasted.
63. policy: craftiness.
65. strange woman: biblical phrase for harlot.
68. store: plenty.
9. comfortable bread: sustaining, or possibly spiced (i.e. ginger-), bread.
13. chapmen: customers.
24 roaring: riotous.
26. ’slud: by God’s blood.
47. guarded: trimmed with braid.
52. except at: take exception to.
64. broke: gone bankrupt.
74. inspired: inflated; infused with divine or supernatural power.
75. gear: stuff.
78. suburbs: areas outside the City boundaries much-frequented by prostitutes.
80. laced: streaked, striped.
80. conger: eel.
81. jowl: fish-head.
90. weighing up: raising up (as of a sunken ship).
96. poxed: infected with syphilis.
97. playhouse poultry: prostitutes who sought clients in the audience.
98. partizan: spear.
104. patch: i.e. a sign of the pox.
108. cucieing-stool: one used for ducking scolds and shrewish women.
112. hedge-bird: footpad, bandit.
112. pannier-man: hawker.
114. trendle-tail: cur, mongrel.
117. Commodity: self-interest, gain; here ‘swindler’.
122. piled: diseased; bald as a result of the pox; double-piled refers to the pile or nap in velvet, etc.
130. set you gone: get you gone.
159. currying: dressing down (a horse); beating.
167. mallanders, quitter-bone, etc.: scabs and diseases in the legs and feet of horses.
173. windgall: tumour on the leg of a horse.
174. pastern: lower part of a horse’s leg.
17. truck: deal.
26. alligarta: i.e. alligator.
33. Avoid: Be off! as in ‘Avoid, Satan!’
34. some late writers: Note.
36. persivay: mitigate, lessen.
39. tobacconist: smoker.
56. fox: sword.
72. Straits, etc.: Note.
75. seconds: things which assist.
90. peek: two gallons.
101. malt-horse: dray-horse.
127. white money: silver.
4. brabblesh: brabbles, i.e. brawls. Whit’s accent throughout is ‘stage-Irish’.
11. monsters: Note.
28 jack: figure which strikes the bell.
9 cut’ork (= cut-work); lace.
27 fore-right: straight ahead.
32 tiller: jouster, fighter.
42 heathen man: Note.
47 peel: baker’s shovel.
54 delicjte: pleasant.
58 striighall, the myhinchco: synonyms for a twitching ailment in a horse’s legs.
66 juniper: burnt to sweeten and purify the air.
72 Lubberland: Note.
78. famelic sense: sense of hunger.
82. winny: stay.
91. sincere stud: genuiue breed.
107. small printed ruffs: Note.
113. stone-puritan: male Puritan (analogy with stone-horse = stallion).
113. sorrel: chestnut-coloured.
125. lay aboard: to place one’s ship alongside another prior to attacking it.
131. hundred: sub-division of a county.
132. stomacher: an ornamental covering of stiff material worn over the bodice.
135. undertaker: one who accepts a challenge.
136. offer at: make an attempt at.
3 collateral: accompanying, concomitant.
4 by-cause: incidental cause.
27 tar-box: box which held tar ointment for treating sores in sheep.
41 intend: attend to.
16 pair 0’ smiths: Note.
21 scourse: deal.
24 caroche: a splendid carriage.
26 cheaping of: bargaining for, haggling over.
28 again’: against, in anticipation of.
31 civil: civilized.
42 crack: craze.
48 overparted: unequal to a task (theatrical metaphor for having too difficult a role to act).
63. pannier-man: a servant at the Inns of Court who earned provision from the market.
63. jack: servant.
70. Jew’s trumps: Jew’s harps.
74. state: ceremony.
78. bobchin: booby.
82. noise: group of musicians.
84. masque: company of masquern.
91. springe: trap or snare for birds.
92. Goody: goodwife; indicates low social status. See Goodman below, line 105.
104. qualities: accomplishments.
107. Godso: vulgar expletive (from the Italian cazzo = penis).
115. atop o’ the table: i.e. the jester’s place.
122. baited, etc.: Note.
124. motions: puppet-shows.
125. trow?: do you suppose?
127. engrosses: monopolizes.
> 135. banquet: (here) dessert.
138. stands me in: costs.
146. pound Scotch: worth is. 8d. at the accession of King James in 1603.
151. posy: motto or verse.
1. political:politic, i.e. prudent, shrewd.
7. state-course: Professor Horsman suggests a ‘life concerned with public affairs or welfare’.
7. Actum est oj him: it’s all up with him.
8. commonwealth’s: good citizen.
15. lime-bush: bush sprayed with lime to snare birds.
24. mess: group who eat together at a banquet.
44. pictures:i.e. pictures of the sovereign – on coins.
63. chimes: sounds well, is pleasing.
71. for and: and also, moreover.
95. rub mine elbow: show pleasure.
118. handy-dandy: a game in which children guess which hand holds a concealed object.
134.rat-catcher’s charms: Note.
184. mar’l: marvel.
188. handkercher: handkerchief.