The Merry Wives of Windsor (33 page)

⁸⁴
comfort … suit
encouragement in his courtship

⁸⁵
fine-baited
tempting/alluring/skillfully baited

⁸⁸
chariness
careful preservation

⁹⁸
curtal
with a tail docked or cut off

⁹⁹
affects
aims at/loves

¹⁰³
gallimaufry
mixture (literally, stew made from a variety of odds and ends)

¹⁰³
perpend
consider

¹⁰⁵
liver
thought to be the seat of the passions

¹⁰⁵
Prevent
i.e. act now to stop Falstaff

¹⁰⁶
Actaeon
in Greek mythology, the goddess Diana turned Actaeon into a stag after he had seen her bathing; he was then killed by his own hounds

¹⁰⁷
Ringwood
one of Actaeon’s hounds

¹⁰⁷
thy
some editors emend to “his”

¹⁰⁸
the name
i.e. of cuckold (Actaeon’s horns made him a symbol of cuckoldry)

¹¹¹
foot
walk

¹¹²
cuckoo-birds
known for laying their eggs in other birds’ nests; they were associated with cuckolds because of their name, and their call was considered a warning to married men

¹¹³
Away
come away

¹¹⁷
should have borne
was to have carried

¹¹⁹
upon my necessity
when I need it

¹²²
bread and cheese
i.e. basic rations (perhaps those received in the service of Falstaff)

¹²⁴
quoth a
said he

¹²⁵
his
its

¹²⁷
affecting
affected

¹²⁸
it
i.e. it to be true

¹²⁹
Cataian
person from Cathay (China), used to mean “scoundrel”

¹²⁹
though
even if

¹³⁸
crotchets
whims/peculiar ideas

¹⁴⁰
Have with you
I’ll come with you/let’s go

¹⁴⁴
fit it
suit the part

¹⁵⁶
offer
attempt

¹⁵⁷
yoke
pair

¹⁶¹
lie
lodge

¹⁶³
voyage
sexual advances

¹⁶⁵
lie on my head
be my responsibility/fault (in his response, Ford plays on the idea of wearing a cuckold’s horns on one’s head)

¹⁶⁶
misdoubt
mistrust/doubt

¹⁶⁷
turn them
release them (language used of cattle)

¹⁶⁹
ranting
jovial/boisterous/verbally extravagant

¹⁷⁰
pate
head

¹⁷⁴
Cavaliero
knight/courtly gentleman (from the Spanish
caballero
or the Italian
cavaliere
)

¹⁷⁵
Good … twenty
good day, many times over

¹⁸⁶
contrary
different/opposing

¹⁸⁷
no jester
i.e. Evans is skilled at swordsmanship/Evans is deadly serious

¹⁸⁹
my guest-cavalier
i.e. Falstaff, who is a
guest
at the Host’s inn

¹⁹¹
protest
declare

¹⁹¹
pottle
drinking vessel containing half a gallon (about four pints)

¹⁹¹
burned sack
mulled wine/wine containing burnt sugar

¹⁹²
recourse
access

¹⁹⁴
egress and regress
right of exit and entry (legal terms)

¹⁹⁶
An-heires
of unclear meaning; possibly a partly Anglicized version of the Dutch
mynheers
(“gentlemen”) or a corruption of
ameers
or “emirs” (Arab princes or military commanders)

²⁰¹
stand on distance
attach importance to the prescribed distance between the two duelists

²⁰¹
passes, stoccadoes
thrusts (technical terms used in fencing)

²⁰²
heart
courage/spirit

²⁰³
long sword
heavier weapon (the lighter rapier was now more fashionable)

²⁰⁴
tall
brave/skillful with weapons

²⁰⁵
wag
go

²⁰⁶
scold
quarrel/wrangle

²⁰⁸
secure
overconfident

²⁰⁸
stands … frailty
relies so firmly on what is in fact his wife’s moral weakness

²¹⁰
his
i.e. Falstaff’s

²¹¹
made
did

²¹²
sound
sound the depth of/examine/make trial of

⁵
countenance to pawn
borrow money on the strength of being in my service

⁵
countenance
standing/reputation

⁵
grated upon
harassed with demands

⁶
coach-fellow
companion (literally, one of a pair of horses harnessed to a coach)

⁷
grate
prison bars (plays on
grated
)

⁷
gemini
pair

¹⁰
handle … fan
these were often made of precious material such as ivory or silver

¹⁰
took’t upon
swore by

¹²
share
have a share in it

¹³
Reason
with good reason

¹⁴
gratis
for nothing

¹⁴
hang … me
cease to be a burden to me (
hang
plays on the sense of “put to death”)

¹⁵
a … throng
i.e. go and find a crowd where you may cut people’s purse strings with a short knife

¹⁶
Picked-hatch
a brothel or a disreputable part of London (literally, the half-door surmounted by spikes that may have characterized a brothel)

¹⁸
unconfinable
limitless/infinite

¹⁹
precise
pure/scrupulously observed

²⁰
on … hand
disregarded/to one side

²¹
fain … lurch
obliged to deceive, dodge, and cheat

²²
ensconce
hide, as in a small fort (sconce)

²²
cat-a-mountain
wildcat

²³
red-lattice
alehouse (wooden lattices painted red characterized a tavern)

²³
bold-beating
excessively presumptuous/repeatedly coarse

²⁶
relent
yield

²⁹
Give
God give

³¹
Not so
i.e. I am not a
wife

³⁴
As … born
Quickly means “just as much of an innocent maid as I was when I was born, like my mother was before me,” but actually says “just as much of a virgin as my mother was in childbirth”

³⁷
vouchsafe
permit (Quickly means something like “entreat”)

⁴⁰
ways
way

⁴²
on
go on

⁵¹
wanton
seducer/lewd person/unruly one

⁵⁵
canaries
malapropism for “quandary”; a canary was either a dance or a wine

⁵⁵
wonderful
astonishing

⁶⁰
rushling
Quickly means “rustling”

⁶¹
alligant
Quickly means “elegant”;
alligant
was a form of “alicant,” a Spanish wine

⁶⁴
eye-wink of
glance from

⁶⁵
angels
i.e. as a bribe for her help from one of the suitors

⁶⁶
sort
manner/way

⁶⁹
pensioners
“poor knights of Windsor,” who prayed for the king in return for an annuity

⁷¹
she-Mercury
female Mercury, the messenger of the gods

⁷⁵
notify
understand/take note

⁷⁹
wot
know

⁸²
frampold
sour-tempered

⁸⁶
messenger
Quickly means “message”

⁸⁸
fartuous
Quickly means “virtuous”

⁸⁸
civil modest
decent and proper

⁸⁹
miss you
miss (
you
is emphatic)

⁹³
charms
magic spells

⁹⁵
parts
personal qualities/physical features

¹⁰⁰
grace
decency

¹⁰¹
of all loves
for the sake of love

¹⁰²
infection to
Quickly means “affection for”

¹⁰⁵
list
pleases

¹⁰⁷
kind
plays on the sense of “sexually willing”

¹¹¹
nay-word
code word

¹¹⁹
distracts
bewilders

¹²⁰
punk
prostitute

¹²⁰
carriers
messengers

¹²¹
Clap
put (promptly)

¹²¹
fights
screens used during a sea battle to protect the crew

¹²²
prize
treasure/captured vessel

¹²²
whelm
capsize/sink

¹²³
Say’st … Jack?
i.e. is that how things are (Falstaff is talking to himself)

¹²⁴
look after
look at (desirously)

¹²⁶
grossly
clumsily/coarsely (puns on the sense of “fat”)

¹²⁷
so
as long as

¹²⁷
fairly
fully/well (puns on the sense of “handsome”)

¹²⁹
fain
eagerly

¹³⁵
encompassed
got hold of/got around (plays on the sense of “embraced”)

¹³⁶
via
Italian exclamation of encouragement to action

¹³⁹
make bold
am presumptuous

¹³⁹
preparation
advance warning

¹⁴¹
Give us leave
leave us please

¹⁴²
drawer
one who draws liquor/a tapster

¹⁴⁷
sue
beg

¹⁴⁷
charge
burden—i.e. with expense

¹⁴⁸
plight
condition/health

¹⁵⁰
unseasoned
unseasonable/ill-timed

¹⁵²
on
go forward

¹⁵⁵
carriage
carrying (of it)

¹⁶³
discover
reveal

¹⁶⁶
register
record

¹⁶⁷
sith
since

¹⁷⁴
observance
attentiveness/dutiful service

¹⁷⁵
engrossed
gathered

¹⁷⁵
fee’d
employed

¹⁷⁷
largely
generously

¹⁷⁸
would have given
would like to have given to her

¹⁸¹
means
methods/resources/wealth

¹⁸¹
meed
reward

¹⁸⁴
flies
flees

¹⁸⁴
substance
wealth/ body (as opposed to
shadow
)