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GLOSSARY

(The figures between brackets are those of the page and line.)


AD PRELUM TANQUAM AD PRŒLIUM (3. 5-6): 'to the press as to battle.'

ALONGST– (33. 2): along

APPLE SQUIRE– (15. 10): a harlot's attendant; pimp.

ARCADIAN AND EUPHUIZED GENTLEWOMEN– (55. 15-16): persons who, to be in the fashion, used an affected style of speech imitated from Sidney's Arcadia and Lyly's Euphues.

ARCHES– (16. 20): fluting or puckering (of the rabatos or ruffs).

A-RE– (8. 15): see GAM-UT.

B. FROM A BATTLEDORE, TO DISTINGUISH A– (10. 18): to know one thing firom another; here apparently– to be able to read. The phrase, which is very common, has not been satisfactorily explained.

BALE (OF DICE)– (46. 13): pair or set.

BANKEROUT– (47. 6): bankruptcy.

BARBARIA– (33. 2): "a countrey where dwelleth people rude and beastly."– Cooper's Thesaurus (1584). Here put jokingly for the land of barbers.

BASILISK EYES– (41. 13): malignant eyes. The basilisk was fabled to be able to kill a person with its glance.

BASTONE– (52. 21): hastinado. See note.

BEAST, THE GREAT– (49. 6 7): the common people.

BEGGED FOR A CONCEALMENT– (18. 14-15): see CONCEALMENT.

BIAS, LIKE– (10. 4): silent. "Bias holding his tongue at a feast, was termed there of a tatler to be a fool, who said, 'Is there

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any wise man that can hold his tongue amidst the wine?' unto whom Bias answered, 'There is no fool that can.'"– J. Lyly's Euphues (Works, ed. Bond, I., 279). Bias was one of the "seven wise men" of Greece.

BILL– (16. 14): used in the double sense of– (1) an account, and (2) a kind of halberd, the weapon of a watchman.

BIRCHIN LANE– (15. 16): a lane running north from Lombard Street, some distance west of Gracechurch Street. It was inhabited chiefly by drapers and dealers in clothing; especially second hand.

BIRDING-PIECE– (17. 25): a fowling piece.

BLIND– (46. 17): without a light (?).

BLISTERED– (16. 17): ornamented with puffs.

BLOCK– (34. 3): a mould for a hat.

BLOCK-HOUSE– (9. 14): a guard house, with punning allusion to the use of 'block' in the sense of stupid person, as in 'blockhead.'

BLUE CASE– (63. 14): blue coat, the usual colour for a serving man's livery.

BOOK, TO FIGHT BY THE– (33. 22): i.e., according to rules. Possibly Dekker is referring to some such work as Vincentio Saviolo his Practise, in two Books. The first intreating of the use of the Rapier and Dagger. The second, of honor and honorable Quarrels (1595).

BOOT-HOSE– (28. 11-12): hose and boots combined in one.

BRAVERY– (26. 18): gay apparel; splendour.

BUTTER-BOX– (32. 16): a cant term for a Dutchman.

CALES VOYAGE– (42. 2): the expedition under the Earl of Essex and Lord Effingham which took Cadiz (Cales) in 1596.

CANDIED– (21. 18): sugared; with allusion to the sense of 'candid.'

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CANVASSING– (23. 2): criticising; attacking.

CANE– (66. 19): a variety of tobacco.

CASE– (57. 22): dress.

CAST– (11. 22): possibly– vomit.

CASTING AWAY A LEG– (24. 29): making a bow or curtsy.

CATCHPOLE– (36. 12): sheriff's officer; sergeant.

CERUSE– (17. 22): white lead used as a cosmetic.

CHAIR– (17. 3): perhaps the name of a tavern. See note.

CHAPMAN– (49. 12): merchant.

CHARM OUT– (12. 17): sing.

CLARKE, WILL– (34. 1): Nott suggests that he may have been a notorious news writer of the time. There were at least two writers of the name who are known to us, but neither seems likely to be alluded to. Possibly 'Will, the clerk' is meant, the sense being that the church bells would be rung in the gull's honour.

CLEFT TO THE SHOULDERS– (61. 16): drunk (?) The phrase does not seem to occur elsewhere.

COAT WITH FOUR ELBOWS– (7. 17): a fool's coat with an extra pair of sleeves hanging down at the back. Compare Nashe's Have with you to Saffron Walden (Works ed. Grosart, iii., 33), "wings at his arms, like a fool's coat with four elbows."

COCKATRICE– (58. 10 ; 59. 30): a loose woman ; mistress.

CŒLUM PETIMUS STULTITIA– (8. 11-12): we seek heaven in our folly. From Horace, Cann, i., 3. 38.

COIL– (27. 13): fuss ; to do

COLLEGE OF CRITICS– (8. 14): it is not known to what this refers. Nott quotes Ben Jonson's Epicþne (1609 10), I., i.: "a new foundation . . . of ladies, that call themselves the collegiates" ;

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but the second allusion here (45. 24) seems to show that it was an association of men. Compare also the Induction to Marston's Malcontent.

COMMODITIES, TASTES THESE– (47. 13-14): obtains these advantages.

COMPLIMENTAL– (8. 16): accomplished.

COMPLIMENT– (42.11; 44.28): accomplishment; especially polite accomplishment.

CONCEALMENT, BE BEGGED FOR A– (18. 14-15): "concealment" was the offence of holding land against the king's right; without proper title. It seems to be meant that rich men's sons were accused (probably for purposes of blackmail or with the object of getting the property made over to the accuser) of being in possession of lands to which they had no legal right. Nott's suggestion that the concealing or sheltering of adventurers and sharpers from the law is referred to, does not seem plausible.

CONJURATION– (43. 20): persuasion.

CONSTABLE– (8. 12): the joke is not quite clear ; but constables were proverbially dull-witted and a common butt of jests.

CONVENIENCY– (53. 17): convenience.

CONYCATCHER– (18. 16): cheat; sharper.

CORMORANT– (12. 1): glutton.

COS AMORIS – (17. 20): the whetstone of love. See note.

COUNTERS– (58. 3 ; 65. 26): the debtors' prisons. There were two of these: one in Wood Street, the other in the Poultry, in Cheapside. The latter is punningly alluded to as ''the Counter amongst the poultry'' (52. 20).

CROOKES HIS ORDINARY– (17. 3): the name of a tavern. Nothing further is known about it.

CROSSED, NOT MUCH– (36. 14): few of whose accounts have been crossed off as paid; hence– largely indebted.

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CUCKOO IN CHRISTMAS– (25. 30): The point of this allusion has not been explained.

CUCKOO IN JUNE– (7. 1.): the cuckoo was supposed to grow hoarse in June. See note to Pasquil's Jests in Hazlitt's Shakespeare Jest-Books, vol. iii.

CUTTER– (65. 24): tailor.

CYPRESS– (37. 3): a light, transparent material resembling crepe; a hat band of such material.

DÆDALIAN– (16. 19): "Ruffs were so termed from their manifold [labyrinthine] plaits."– Nott.

DAGGER– (17. 2): a celebrated tavern in Holborn. See note.

DAWCOCK– (51. 25): a silly fellow (lit. jackdaw).

DEAD PAY– (58. 30; 59. 1): pay for dead soldiers fraudulently drawn by their officers. See note.

DERICK– (22. 3-4): the hangman of the time.

DIACATHOLICON AUREUM– (18. 26): a laxative electuary, so called because it was a 'golden' remedy for every disease, and perhaps also because it was supposed to contain gold.

DOG YOUR HEELS– (36. 18): stick close. ''It had long been the custom, and it prevails even at this day, for the choristers, on seeing a person enter the cathedral, during divine service, with spurs on, to demand of him what is called spur money."– Nott.

DORP– (16. 12): a village.

DRAB– (45. 27): a loose woman.

DRAW– (54. 2): i.e., draw out your purse.

DUKE– (29. 11): i.e., Duke Humphrey. The tomb of Sir John Beauchamp, on the south side of the nave in St. Paul's Cathedral, was popularly supposed to be that of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester (1391-1447), "the Good Duke Humphrey," who was in reality buried at St. Albans. This tomb
G

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was a common meetingplace of gallants and others, particularly such persons as went in fear of arrest for debt, for within the Cathedral they were safe from the hands of the law. They seem to have especially congregated in the "gallery" adjacent to the tomb, presumably the south aisle of the church. Compare Dekker's Dead Term (Works, ed. Grosart, iv., 50). Hence those who could not afford dinner and were obliged to spend the mid-day hours in wandering about the Cathedral were said to "dine with Duke Humphrey."

DUNSTICAL– (11. 12): stupid; dunce like.

DUTCH CRIER– (9. 18): "the Dutch public criers made use of a drum, as ours now do of a bell."– Nott.

DUTCHMAN– (3. 13): German.

EBRITIANS– (24. 27): Hebrews. Dekker perhaps took the word from The School of Slovenrie. See extract, 1. 19.

ENCOMIASTICS– (60. 13): praises.

ENDYMION– (23. 21): I can find no authority for the statement that his sleep was of 75 years. Classical mythology makes it eternal; Lyly, in his play of Endimion, 40 years.

ENSURE– (44. 29): assure.

EQUINOCTIAL OF THE SALT CELLAR– (46. 22): the salt was placed in the middle of the table, the most honourable places being those nearest the head.

ERYNGO-ROOT– (15. 3): this was formerly used as a provocative.

ESTRICH– (50. 14): ostrich.

EXHIBITION– (46. 9): allowance of money; income.

EYE OF THE ELEMENT– (23. 30): the sun.

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FASHIONATE– (34. 6): fashionable.

FASHIONS– (16. 23; 37. 12): a vulgar variant of farcy or farcin, the horse disease. Here used with a pun on the ordinary meaning of the word.

FENCER– (18. 16): fencing master. They were notorious bullies and blackguards. Nott considered that it meant a receiver of stolen goods, but this sense is perhaps hardly so early.

FLAPDRAGON– (11. 20): "small combustible bodies (they may be formed of almonds) set on fire, floated in a glass of liquor and swallowed while burning."– Nott.

FLOCKS– (30. 22): refuse of wool, used for stuffing mattresses, etc.

FRANCE– (43. 9): Nott thinks that a part of the tennis court was called France. I have, however, been unable to find other instances of its use in this sense.

FREEZELAND– (25. 11): for Friesland, to favour the equivoque.

FRENCHMAN– (30. 6): "Allusion is here made to a certain disease, so frequently noticed by Shakespeare [and almost every other Elizabethan writer] for its depilatory effects."– Nott.

FROLIC– (11. 20): "Humorous verses circulated at a feast."– N.E.D., but the quotations are not convincing. They were clearly something passed round the table.

GALLERY– (66. 28): a display of fencing (?).

GALLERY COMMONER– (49. 15): a spectator in the gallery, one of the cheapest parts of a theatre.

GALLIGASKIN– (16. 16): a kind of wide hose or breeches.

GALLOWAY NAG– (41 . 9): a small Scotch horse.

GALLONIUS– (15. 13): a public crier in Rome circa B.C. 140, proverbial for his wealth and luxurious mode of life.

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GAM-UT A-RE – (8. 15): the two lowest notes of Guido d'Arezzo's musical scale. Compare The Taming of the Shrew, III., i. Used to signify the whole scale, as A B C to mean the whole alphabet.

GATHERERS– (50. 3): money takers at the doors of theatres.

GEAR– (18. 11): matter; affair.

GERMANIES'– (11. 17): Germans'. See note.

GIRD– (8. 30): sneer.

GIRDER– (50. 25): sneerer; satirist.

GLOBE– (17. 14): there seems to be an allusion to the Globe theatre, which was in or near Paris Garden.

GLOVE– (11. 20): "some kind of drinking vessel."– N.E.D. (with no other instance).

GOLDEN ASS– (16. 25): an allusion to the well known romance of Apuleius. In 1600 Dekker had collaborated with Chettle and Day in a play of The Golden Ass, and Cupid and Psyche, not now extant.

GOOSECAP– (9. 1 ; 28. 20): booby; noodle; numskull.

GOTHAM– (28. 24): this village, in the south west corner of Nottinghamshire, was notorious for the foolishness of its inhabitants, about whom many ludicrous stories were current. See the Merry Tales of the Mad Men of Gotham in Hazlitt's Shakespeare Jest-Books, vol. iii.

GRAVE MAURICE– (42. 6): Maurice of Nassau, the second son of the Prince of Orange, who succeeded Robert, Earl of Essex, as general in chief of the United Provinces in 1588.

GREAT– (16. 2 ; 36. 5): to be 'great' in anyone's books was to be largely in debt to them.

GREEN GOOSE– (59. 5): gosling.

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GROBIANISM– (3. 10): the characteristics of the hero of Frederick Dedekind's Latin poem of Grobianus. See Introduction under 'Source.'

GROGRAM– (35. 24): a coarse fabric of silk, mohair, or wool, or of these mixed with silk ; often stiffened with gum.

GROUNDLING– (49. 15): a spectator who occupies one of the cheapest places in a theatre, generally standing room in the yard.

GROUTNOLL– (13. 8): blockhead.

GULL– Dekker uses the word in the somewhat unusual sense of an ignorant, boorish person trying to pose as a town gallant. The common meaning is– fool, one easily cheated ; sometimes also – fop.

GULL– (54. 7): vb. Cheat ; trick.

HAND– (44. 26): handwriting.

HANDFULL– (17. 1): a measure of four inches, the same as 'handbreadth.'

HANDKERCHER– (35. 27): handkerchier.

HANGED (OF RAPIERS)– (47. 25): put on ; suspended to the belt by the cords termed 'hangers.'

HANNIBAL– (9. 10): the allusion is to Hannibal's passage over the Alps, when, according to Livy, he used vinegar to split or dissolve the rocks and make a road for his army.

HAPPILY– (51. 6; 58. 29; 65. 14): haply; perhaps.

HARE-HUNTER– (31. 23): hair hunter; an equivoque.

HAZARD– (46. 8): a card game.

HEIR– (31 . 25): punning on 'hair.'

HEDGE-CREEPER– (26. 11): a crafty vagabond and thief.

HELEN'S CHEEK– (17. 19): see note.

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HELIOGABALUS– (15. 17): a Roman Emperor, A.D.218-222, famed for his insane luxury.

HEMLOCK, CHEW NOTHING BUT– (9. 7-8): Nott considered this equivalent to "Go, poison yourself."

HETEROCLITE– (8. 7): oddity ; eccentric person.

HIEROGLYPHIC, MYSTICAL– (11. 25): probably 'occult power' is meant.

HIGH DUTCH– (63. 12): German.

HOBBY– (33. 17): a small horse or pony.

HOBBY-HORSE– (47. 27): pony.

HOOP– (11. 19): a kind of drinking vessel, or a measure of drink.

HORNBOOK: a leaf of paper containing the alphabet (and generally the Lord's Prayer and a few simple words) covered with a thin sheet of horn for protection, and mounted on a square piece of wood with a handle (see the initial letter on page 1*). It was used for teaching children their letters. Hence elementary primer.
[* The initial letters have been omitted. LDH]

HORSE THAT WENT UP ST. PAUL'S STEEPLE– (38. 5): we learn from Dekker's Dead Term (Works, ed. Grosart, iv., 49) that this took place in the year 1600. There is also an anecdote about it in the same author's Jests to make you Merry (Works, ii., 288). Nott thinks that this must have been the famous performing horse of Banks, frequently referred to in Elizabethan literature, but there seems no evidence for this.

HUMPHREY, DUKE: see DUKE.

ILLE EGO QUI QUONDAM– (17. 29): 'I am he who once . . .' Part of the first of four probably spurious lines prefixed to the first book of Virgil's Aeneid. "In allusion, I suppose, to his former satirical tracts."– Nott.

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IN ARTE BIBENDI MAGISTER– (10. 3-4): 'master in the art of drinking.' Perhaps in allusion to the treatise of Vincentius Obsopeus de Arte Bibendi, 1536.

INDIAN CHIMNEY– (29. 9): chimney for the fumes of tobacco.

IN DISPETTO DEL FATO– (7. 16): 'in defiance of fate.'

INGLE– (65. 13): boy favourite (in a bad sense). Nott says 'crony,' but I do not think there is any authority for this explanation.

IN PLANO– (17. 17): 'on the flat.'

IN SUMMA TOTALI– (37. 10): 'altogether.'

INTO– (39. 14): unto.

ISLAND VOYAGE– (42. 2-3: the expedition sent in 1597 to capture the Azores, under Essex, Howard, and Ralegh.

ISLANDERS– (34. 9): people who walk the aisles (of St. Paul s). Punning on the usual sense of 'islanders.'

ISLE OF GULLS– (9. 13): there is probably an allusion to the play of this name by John Day, printed in 1606.

IVY-BUSH, BEAT THE SAME– (60. 17): frequent the same tavern. A bush of ivy hung up over a door was a general sign that wine was sold within.

JACKS– (27. 10): the pieces of wood which plucked the strings of the virginals when the keys were depressed. See also PAUL'S JACKS.

JADE– (31. 13): horse.

JENNET– (41. 9): a smal1 Spanish horse.

JET– (8. 2): vb. swagger.

JOBBERNOWL– (28. 25): blockhead.

JOHN IN PAUL'S CHURCHYARD– (34. 2): Nott thinks that this was probably the name of a well known hatter, but there is perhaps some joke that escapes us.

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KELLEY, EDWARD– (8. 26): alchemist and necromancer (fl. 1555 95), associated with the celebrated Dr. Dee.

KEMP, WILLIAM– (10. 26): a popular comic actor and dancer (fl. 1600).

KYNOCK, ST.– (42. 9): I can learn nothing of this– probably fictitious– personage.

LAURET– (12. 30): laurel. Either a mistaken form or, as seems more probable, a mere misprint. Grosart explains the word as 'laureate' but this appears to make no sense.

LICKERISH– ( 15. 12): tempting to the palate.

LIEN– (30. 21): lain.

LIN– (52. 28): stop.

LOB– (11 . 8): country lout.

LOG– (34. 20): See SERVING MAN'S LOG.

LOGGER-HEAD– (9. 14-15): a blockhead.

LOOBY– (12. 4): an awkward fellow.

LORD CHANCELLOR'S TOMB– (38. 25): the tomb of Sir Christopher Hatton (1540-91), in St. Paul's. It was one of the finest monuments there.

LORDS' ROOM– (50. 6): an apartment or box in a theatre, near the stage.

LURCH– (47. 3): vb. Cheat; trick.

MALCONTENT– (28. 8): a person who professed discontent with the state of society or with the government.

MANDILION– (26. 12): a kind of outer coat, generally without sleeves.

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MARTIN'S, ST.– (28. 10): compare "Shoemakers Hall in Saint Martin's," Pappe with an Hatchet (Works of J. Lyly, ed. Bond, iii., 400, 38). The editor notes "a burlesque locality'" but see Stow's London, ed. Strype, Bk. I., 242: "The Shoemakers and Curriers of Cordwainer Street removed, the one to St. Martin's Le Grand, the other to London Wall." This was before 1603, but the exact date is not given.

MEDITERRANEAN AISLE– (34. 5): the middle aisle of St. Paul's. Compare Dekker's Dead Term: "And thus doth my middle aisle show like the Mediterranean Sea, in which as well the merchant hoists up sails to purchase wealth honestly as the rover to light upon prize unjustly."– Works, ed. Grosart, iv., 51. Also "Come, let's walk in Mediterraneo."– Every Man out of His Humour, iii., I.

MINGLE-MANGLE– (18. 19): mixture.

MIST LANGUAGE– (59. 16-17): Nott explains as "wine, (quasi drunken language) derived from the offuscating effects of wine upon the senses."

MITHRIDATES– (18. 19): he is supposed to have invented an antidote against all poisons. The recipe, which is given by Celsus, contains about forty different drugs.

MITTIMUS– (64. 11): a warrant for arrest.

MODICUM– (11. 26): something eaten to provoke thirst.

MOME– (13. 8): a ninny ; dolt.

MOMUS– (9. 7 ; 49. 23): the personification of censure ; a carping critic.

MONTH'S MIND– (10. 8): a strong inclination.

MOORDITCH– (17. 29): part of the old city moat. These moats had been much neglected and had become very foul. Several attempts had from time to time been made to cleanse them, the most recent having been in 1606.

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MOWS– 'MAKES HIS MOWS AT' – (31. 11): derides; also, by a pun, mows or cuts down. See note.

MULLINEUX– (17. 15): a famous globe maker, a friend of Hakluyt. A pair of his globes are now in the library of the Middle Temple.

MUSTACHIO– (22. 5): moustache.

NATURAL– (22. 16): idiot.

NEW-PAINTED GATES– (29. 13): this alludes to the custom of the Lord Mayor, on coming into office, of redecorating his official residence. Compare "their cheeks sugar candied and cherryblushed so sweetly, after the colour of a new Lord Mayor's posts, as if the pageant of their wedlock holiday were hard at the door."– Nashe's Piers Penniless (Works, ed. Grosart, ii., 43).

NINNYHAMMER– (10. 16; 33. 6): a simpleton.

NON MINUS VENEFICA QUAM BENEFICA – (22. 21): 'not less harmful than baneficial.'

NOUL– (32. 16): head.

ONLY– (31. 3): chief; "great."

ORDINARY-PAY– ([44]. 15): "all who pay at the ordinary." – Nott. This seems, however, to have been a term for the pay of soldiers engaged in guarding fortified places, etc, as distinct from that which they received on active service. Compare Cotgrave (1650), s. v. morte payes: "Souldiers in ordinary pay, for the guard of a Fortresse, or frontier Towne, during their lives."

O-YES – (9. 19): proclamation. From the words used by the crier to call attention (Fr. oyez, hear!).

PAINTED-CLOTH RHYMES– (21. 13): " hacknied sage sentences, such as are found spouting in scrolls from the mouths of figures worked or painted on tapestry."– Nott.

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PAIR OF CARDS– (46. 12): pack of cards.

PAIR OF VIRGINALS– (27. 10): set of virginals. The expression is frequent, though the virginals were in reality but one instrument.

PARCEL-GREEK, PARCEL-LATIN– (23. 1): partly Greek and partly Latin.

PARCELS– (42. 17): fragments; scraps.

PARIS GARDEN– (17. 11): a bear garden on the south bank of the Thames, contiguous to the Globe Theatre. It was named after Robert of Paris, who, in the time of Richard II., had a house there.

PARMIZANT– (11. 19): a kind of drink, or a way of drinking (?) The word also occurs in Dekker's Seven Deadly Sins of London (Works, ed. Grosart, ii., 19), but has not been explained.

PASQUIL'S MADCAP– (17. 28-9): satirist. Pasquil or Pasquin was a name given to a certain statue of a gladiator in Rome on which it became customary to hang satirical or libellous poems against persons in authority. A book by Nicholas Breton entitled Pasquil's Mad-cap, appeared in 1600; the second part is stated to have been "finished by his friend Marphorius." Is it possible that Dekker had some hand in it?

PATENT FOR STARCH– (16. 22): such a patent for the sole manufacture and sale of starch was granted to Sir John Packington in 1594 or 1595. (Stow's London, ed. Strype, 1720, bk. v., p. 177.)

PAUL'S– (1. 19, etc.): St. Paul's Cathedral. It was used at this time as a general rendezvous. See DUKE.

PAUL'S JACKS– (35. 8; 38. 30; 39. 4): automatons which struck the hour.

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PAUL'S STEEPLE– (38. 1): the tall, pointed spire of St. Paul's was struck by lightning on the 4th of June, 1561, and burnt down as far as the stone work, leaving only a square tower, which seems to have remained in a somewhat ruinous state. Money was frequently collected for its restoration, but when at last work was commenced it was stopped by the Great Fire, in which the church itself was destroyed.

PAUL'S WALKS– (33. heading): the aisles of St. Paul's.

PENNY GALLERIES– (49. 15): the cheapest places at a theatre.

PERCH, TO TURN MEN OVER THE– ([22]. 23): to kill them.

PERFECT– 'TO BE PERFECT IN' – (11. 30; 47. 15): to know thoroughly.

PERINADO – (65. 12): the word seems to be otherwise unknown, but it was evidently synonymous with INGLE (q.v.).

PERSIAN LOCK– (50. 21 ): see note.

PIERS PLOWMAN– (17. 7): used here as representing a simple, abstemious person.

PIPE-OFFICE– (8. 29): I am unable to explain this passage. There was an office of the name in the Court of Exchequer, which dealt with leases of crown lands, etc. Whether there is any allusion to this, I cannot say. Dekker is, of course, playing on the idea of the tobacco pipe.

PITCH-FORK– (17. 6): table fork. They were introduced about this time from the continent, where they had been in use many years previously.

PLATO'S COCK– (25. 29): the plucked cock, which Diogenes declared to fulfil Plato's definition of a man (a two-footed, featherless creature). The story comes from Diogenes Laertius.

PLAUDITIES– (7. 13; 49. 6): (pronounced as three syllables) applause.

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POINT TO, UPON– (52. 11): about to.

POLITICLY– (43. 2): artfully.

POLLING– (32. 18): cropping.

POLYPRAGMONIST– (8. 28-9): a busybody.

POPINJAY– (9. 30): a parrot; a gaily coloured imitation parrot, used as a mark for archery, hence a coxcomb, fop.

PORTINGALE– (42. 2): Portugal. The Portingale voyage was the unsuccessful expedition sent in 1589, under Sir John Norris and Sir Francis Drake, to replace Don Antonio on the throne of Portugal.

POST, IN– (47. 29): in haste.

POTICARY– (44. 24-5; 65. 28): apothecary.

PREFER– (36. 14): show off.

PRESENT– (51. 21): represent.

PRICKSONG– (27. 8): (1) written music, or (2) a descant or counterpoint as distinguished from a cantus firmus; contrapuntal music in general.– Cent. Dict.

PRIMERO– (46. 8; 65. 6): a card game.

PRINING IRON– (44. 18): apparently an instrument for picking out the burnt tobacco. Nott thought it to mean tobacco stopper.

PRIZE– (54. 5; 66. 28): a fencing match or display of arms. Dekker is referring to the fact that in such contests the winner is sometimes decided upon beforehand.

PROBATUM EST – (18. 25): 'it has been tried.'

PROFACE, TO BID– (11. 30): to wish "good luck" or "much good may it do you."

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PUBLIC AND PRIVATE PLAYHOUSES– (50. 3-4): see Collier's Hist. of Eng. Dram. Poetry (1879) vol. iii., 140, for the distinction between these. In general, it may be said that the private theatres were smaller and more expensive; they were also entirely roofed over, while the public ones were partially open to the sky.

PUDDING– (66. 19): a variety of tobacco.

PUNK– (1. 9; 47. 8; etc.): a loose woman; mistress.

PUT OUT MONEY UPON HIS RETURN– (47. 18-19): adventurers about to set out on a journey frequently staked large sums of money on condition that if they returned in safety they were to receive from two to ten times the amount deposited.

QUALITY– (60. 22): characteristic.

QUAT– (57. 6): a young man (lit. a pimple; spot).

QUICKSILVER– (28. 8): apparently here used for a lackey or errand boy. There is a character of this name in Chapman, Jonson, and Marston's play of Eastward Ho (1605),but he is a prentice, not a servant.

QUIETUS EST – (66. 3): acquittance.

QUILTED– (32. 22): padded.

QUOIT– (36. 22): toss; throw. For a note on the custom of giving 'spur money' see under DOG.

RABATO– (16. 20): a kind of ruff or collar.

RASHER O' TH' COALS– (11. 25-26): a fried or broiled slice of meat, probably salted, eaten to provoke thirst.

RID AWAY– (64. 29): were lost.

RIFLING– (61. 20): dicing party. A variant of 'raffling.'

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RING– (44. 27): a method of taking tobacco; or perhaps the trick of forming rings with the smoke.

ROUGH-FOOTED DOVE– (28. 14): one with feathers on its legs.

ROWSA– (11 . 18): a bumper.

RUBBING– (52. 9): "Hath put on his stage face, by rubbing the usual paint on his cheeks."– Nott. The word 'quaking' seems, however, to suggest that his want of colour was due to nervousness. The prologue appears, at least sometimes, to have been spoken, not by one of the regular actors, but by the author or his representative.

RUFFLED BOOT– (8. 8): one with a large turn down top.

SALAD– (59. 1): used with a play on the two meanings: (1) a dish of lettuce, and (2) a military head-piece.

SALERNZ, THE UNIVERSITY OF– (21. 13): a famous medieval school of medical science at Salerno. Its more important precepts regarding the care of the health were embodied in a Latin poem, which, under the title of Regimen Sanitatis Salerni, became exceedingly popular. This is anonymous, but is said to have been the work of Joannes de Mediolano, an Italian physician who lived in the latter half of the eleventh century.

SATURNIAN AGE– (16. 27): the primitive world.

SATURNIST– (31. 29): a person of a morose or gloomy temperament.

SCONCE– (28. 27): head.

SEPULCHRE, ST.– (39. 5): one of the best known of the churches without the walls, near Newgate.

SERGEANT– (41. 14): sheriff's officer; bailiff.

SERVING MAN'S LOG– (34. 20): probably a block or bench upon which serving men sat.

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SEVEN WISE MASTERS– (7. 18): the 'seven wise men' of Greece, namely, Solon, Chilo, Pittacus, Bias, Periander, Cleobulus, and Thales.

SEVENTEEN PROVINCES– (42. 10): the United Netherlands.

SHARERS– (55. 7): the members of a theatrical company who shared the risks and profits of the undertaking.

SHAVING– (61 . 27): roguery; cheating.

SHEARS– 'THERE WENT BUT A PAIR OF SHEARS BETWEEN THEM'– (16. 8): "there" i.e., they were both cut from the same stuff.

SHIP OF FOOLS– (9. 27): the Narrenschiff, a famous German satirical poem descriptive of the various kinds of fools, by Sebastian Brant; first printed in 1494, translated into English by Alexander Barclay, 1509.

SHITTLECOCK– (55. 17): shuttlecock.

SHOEING-HORN– (11. 26): something eaten to provoke thirst. Compare Nashe's Lenten Stuff: "[red-herring] is a shoeing-horn for a pint of wine over-plus."– Works (ed. Grosart, v., 245).

SHOT– (60. 21): tavern reckoning.

SHOULDER-CLAPPING– (53. 18): arrest.

SIDNEY, SIR PHILIP– (38. 27): his epitaph may be read in Stow's London (ed. Strype, 1720, bk. iii., p. 161). The tomb shared between him and Sir Francis Walsingham was considered unworthy of their renown. Hence was made a rhyme:

"Philip and Francis have no Tomb,
For great Christopher takes all the Room."

(Stow, as above, p. 160.)


SINGER, J[OHN]– (10. 26): a noted actor and jig-maker (fl. 1594-1602).

SI QUIS – (37. 29): an advertisement for anything lost; notice or announcement of any kind.

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SIT BREVIS, AUT NULLUS, TIBI SOMNUS MERIDIANUS– (21. 15): 'let your mid-day sleep be short or none at all.' A quotation from the Regimen Sanitatis Salerni, see SALERNE.

SITHENCE– (49. 17): since.

SKELDER– (47. 22): swindle.

SKILL'S NOT– (35. 27; [54. 10]; 64. 3): matters not

SKINKER– (11. 17): one who serves drink; a drawer, tapster.

SLOP– (16. 16): trousers.

SNAKE-PROOF– (9. 10): proof against envy and malice.

SNORT– (22. 18): snore.

SOLES, SINGLE AND SIMPLE– (18. 2): 'Single-soled' meant poverty striken. There is here some vague play upon the sense of 'soul.'

SOMETIME– (59. 4): sometimes.

SOMMER, WILLIAM– (8. 9): the famous jester of Henry VIII, (d. 1560), more correctly called 'Sommers.' His 'wardrobe' was of course his fool's dress.

SPAWLING– (12. 15): spitting about.

SPENDING ENGLISHMAN– (30. 7): "A joke is here intended, which I think I can catch; but perhaps it is one that needs not be inquired into."– Nott.

SPINSTERS OF DESTINY– (31. 2): the fates.

SPUR-ROYAL– (64. 28): a gold coin issued by James I, and worth about 16s.

STATE OF CAMBYSES– (50. 13): throne of Cambyses. The character seems to have been proverbial for magnificence, perhaps owing to the popularity at an earlier date of Preston's play of Cambyses (1569-70).
H

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STEPHEN, KING– (16. 5): Alluding to a stanza in the ballad 'Take thy old cloak about thee,' in Percy's Reliques, etc. The verse is:

"King Stephen was a worthy peer,
   His breeches cost him but a crown;
He held them six pence all too dear,
   With that he called the tailor 'Lown!'"

This stanza with another occurs in Othello, II., iii.

STOOL– (51. 19): It was customary for the more fashionable spectators to sit on stools on the stage.

STOOP– (11. 18): a tankard; flagon; or its contents.

STOW'S CHRONICLE– (38. 22): The Summary of English Chronicles, first published in 1565, or The Chronicles of England, first published in 1580, and frequently afterwards with the title of The Annals of England.

STRAWLING– (28. 15): straddling (?). See note.

STROSSER– (16. 18): a kind of tight trousers.

SUPPLEMENTS– (44. 7-8): supplies; or perhaps additional advantages.

SWOUND– (38. 13): swoon.

TABLE– (3. 14): a panel for painting on.

TABLES– (18. 4; 66. 12): tablets for memoranda.

TABLE-BOOKS– (37. 17): See TABLES.

TABLE-MEN– (8. 24): The usual meaning is chess or draughtsmen here possibly players at these games may be meant. It has been suggested that 'gaily apparelled servants' are intended.

TAKE UP MONEY– (45. 28): borrow or, perhaps, collect money due.

TARLETON, R.– (10. 26): a celebrated comic actor and improviser of doggrel verse (d. 1588).

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TERM– (3. 5): London was much fuller and more busy during the four law terms than at other seasons. It was therefore customary to publish books, especially those of a popular nature, at these times.

TESTER, TESTON– (45. 22; 52. 14): a coin of the value of six pence.

THEATRE DU MONDE – (17. 11): possibly this may be an allusion to the Theatram mundi of P. Boaistuau, first published in 1566, but many geographical works had similar titles, as, for example, the well known Theatrum Orbis Terraram (1570), by the Italian geographer, Ortelius.

THIRTY IN THE HUNDRED– (1. 10): thirty per cent interest.

THRUMMED CAP– (32. 17-18): a cap made of thrums, or waste yarn.

TIMONISTS– (19. 3): followers of Timon of Athens. See note.

TOOTING– (22. 19): peering; prying.

TOTALIS – (60. 29): total

TRAVERSE– (60. 29): dispute.

TROJAN, AN HONEST– (31. 7): a good fellow; boon companion. There is a play on the word Greek above: a 'merry Greek' is also a boon companion, jovial fellow.

TROUBLED WITH TWO OFFICES– (43. 1): Nott says "This alludes to the prohibition by law to hold two benefices, or two lay offices together, without a dispensation; and such dispensation was not so easily obtained as now. Our gallant therefore is directed to affect having the means of procuring persons this dispensation, from his intimacy with the great."

TRUMPETS– (52. 10): trumpets were sounded thrice as a signal that the play was about to begin.

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TURKS– (31. 18): Compare the account by T. Sanders of a disastrous voyage to Tripoli in 1583, in Hakluyt's Principal Navigations, vol. ii., part i., p. 187. The ship's company were taken prisoners and were 'forceably and violently shaven, head and beard.'

TWELVEPENNY ROOM– (9. 2): the best places at a theatre.

UNICORN'S HORN– (26. 8): The substance sold as 'unicorn's horn' was considered an infallible antidote against poison, and as such fetched a very high price. It seems to have been the fossilised tusk of some animal, but probably more than one substance went under the name. Compare Sir Thomas Browne's Pseudodoxia Epidemica, bk. iii., ch. 23.

UNWITTINGLY– (43. 19): See note.

UPSY-FREEZE– (11. 17-18): 'in the Frisian manner'; probably some custom connected with drinking. It was thought by Nott to be a kind of drink, but see 'upsee Dutch' in the Century Dictionary.

VAUNT-COURIERS– (25. 6): avaunt couriers; fore runners.

VETUS COMŒDIA– (21. 3): the old comedy, i.e., satirical and topical drama.

VIRGINALS– (27. 10): a spinet or harpsichord.

VOIDER– (17. 8 ; 47. 23): a basket used to carry away the remnants of a meal.

WALKS– (34. 17): the aisles of St. Paul's, used as a fashionable promenade.

WET FINGER, WITH A– (60. 12): easily, at a call or sign. The origin of the expression has not been satisfactorily explained.

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WE THREE– (51. 9): An allusion to the old humorous picture of two boobies, with the inscription 'We three, Loggerheads be,' the spectator being, of course, the third.

WHIFF– (44. 27): a method of taking tobacco, perhaps inhaling.

WHIFF DOWN– (33. 20): swallow down.

WINES– (44. 25): the rarer wines, especially varieties of sweet wine, were at this period generally sold by apothecaries. See note.

WOODCOCK– (11. 5): a simpleton. The bird was popularly supposed to have no brains. The reference at 25. 27, to Pliny's being unable to catch them in his springes has not been explained. Nott suggests that it merely means that he omitted the bird altogether in his Natural History, but Pliny's 'attagen' is generally taken to be the same bird.

WOODROFFE, KIT– (38. 4-5): nothing further seems to be known about this person.

YARD– (51. 29): the uncovered standing room in the public theatres.

ZOILUS– (9. 6): a grammarian famous for his strictures on Homer; hence, a carping critic.

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