The Merry Wives of Windsor (35 page)

⁶¹
having
wealth, means

⁶¹
wild … Poins
i.e. Prince Henry and Poins, who appear in Shakespeare’s
Henry IV
plays

⁶²
region
social standing

⁶³
knit a knot
secure/repair

⁶⁴
substance
wealth

⁶⁴
simply
i.e. as she is, with no dowry

⁶⁸
monster
i.e. Falstaff, imaged here as a so-called monster exhibited at a fair

⁷²
anon
shortly

⁷³
hearts
fine friends

⁷⁴
canary
sweet wine from the Canary Islands (in Ford’s response, he plays on the sense of “lively dance”)

⁷⁵
pipe wine
wine from the wooden cask (
pipe
puns on the sense of “musical instrument”)

⁷⁶
make him dance
i.e. make him leap/beat him

⁷⁶
gentles
gentlemen

⁷⁷
Have with
we shall come

²
buck-basket
laundry basket (to
buck
is to wash)

⁶
charge
instructions

⁸
hard
close

⁸
brew-house
outhouse for brewing beer

¹¹
whitsters
bleachers of clothing

¹¹
Datchet Mead
meadow between Windsor Little Park and the River Thames

¹⁸
eyas-musket
young hawk that has not been fully trained

²²
Jack-a-Lent
figure or puppet of a man traditionally pelted during Lent

²⁵
liberty
i.e. unemployment

²⁵
turn me away
sack me

³³
humidity
dampness/collection of fluids (i.e. Falstaff)

³³
pumpion
pumpkin

³⁴
turtles from jays
turtledoves (proverbially faithful) from brightly colored birds (i.e. loose women)

³⁵
Have … jewel?
a slightly adapted line from Philip Sidney’s sonnet sequence
Astrophil and Stella

³⁶
period
goal/climax

³⁹
cog
cheat/flatter

³⁹
prate
prattle/brag

⁴⁷
ship-tire
ornamental headdress shaped like or inspired by a ship

⁴⁸
tire-valiant
elaborate headdress

⁴⁸
Venetian admittance
accepted as fashionable in stylish Venice

⁴⁹
kerchief
simple head covering

⁴⁹
become
suit

⁵²
absolute
perfect

⁵²
firm … foot
confident tread

⁵³
semi-circled farthingale
semicircular boned petticoat worn underneath the back of the dress

⁵⁴
Fortune … friend
i.e. Nature has favored Mistress Ford with beauty but Fortune has prevented her from being a lady (Falstaff continues to imply that he could raise her estate)

⁶⁰
hawthorn-buds
i.e. budding courtiers/affected young gallants

⁶¹
Bucklersbury
street in the City of London known for shops selling medicinal herbs

⁶¹
simple time
midsummer, when herbs (simples) were most readily available

⁶⁶
Counter-gate
gate to the Counter, a debtor’s prison in Southwark

⁶⁶
reek
smoke/foul smell

⁶⁷
lime-kiln
kiln for making mortar

⁷⁴
blowing
puffing

⁷⁵
presently
immediately

⁷⁶
ensconce me
hide myself

⁷⁷
arras
large tapestry wall-hanging

⁸¹
undone
ruined

⁸³
well-a-day
expression of regret

⁸⁴
to
as

⁸⁶
Out upon you!
expression of frustration and condemnation

⁹⁷
clear
innocent/free from blame

⁹⁸
friend
lover

⁹⁹
amazed
stunned

¹⁰⁰
good life
i.e. existence as a respectable woman/reputation

¹⁰⁵
stand
waste time (saying)

¹⁰⁷
conveyance
contrivance to get Falstaff out of the house

¹¹¹
whiting-time
bleaching time

¹²⁰
dissembling
deceptive

¹²³
cowl
(tub or basket)

¹²³
cowl-staff
pole used by two people to carry a

¹²⁴
drumble
move sluggishly

¹³¹
what … do
what business is it of yours

¹³²
You … buck-washing
a proper concern of yours is it to interfere with washing clothes

¹³³
Buck
laundry, but Ford puns on the senses of “stag,” whose horns represent cuckoldry, and “lecherous man”

¹³⁴
of the season
in the rutting season

¹³⁶
tonight
i.e. last night

¹³⁷
chambers
inner rooms/bedrooms

¹³⁸
unkennel
drive out

¹³⁹
uncape
uncover (or perhaps a printer’s error for “escape” or “uncase”)

¹⁴⁰
contented
calm/satisfied

¹⁵²
taking
agitated state

¹⁵⁴
need of washing
i.e. as he may have urinated or defecated in fright

¹⁵⁷
strain
nature

¹⁶¹
try
test

¹⁶⁴
carrion
old bag/whore

¹⁷⁰
compass
achieve/embrace

¹⁷²
use
treat

¹⁷⁹
presses
large cupboards

¹⁸⁴
distemper … kind
bad temper/disordered mind of this sort

¹⁸⁷
as … desires
as I could possibly wish for (unintentionally punning on the sense of “as I could desire sexually”)

¹⁹⁶
a-birding
hunt small birds using a

¹⁹⁷
hawk
to drive them into leafless bushes

²⁰³
remembrance … host
i.e. let us remember the revenge we have planned on the Host for the trick he played on us over the duel

²
turn
refer

⁴
be thyself
i.e. take matters into your own hands

⁶
state … expense
my estate being damaged by my spending

⁶
galled
made sore through chafing

⁸
bars
obstacles

⁹
riots
wasteful/dissipated lifestyle

⁹
societies
companionships

¹³
speed
prosper

¹⁷
stamps
coins (stamped with an image)

²⁴
Break
interrupt

²⁶
I’ll … on’t
i.e. I’ll do it one way or another (a
shaft
is a slender arrow used in a longbow, while a
bolt
is the shorter, thicker one used in a crossbow)

²⁶
’Slid
by God’s eyelid (a common phrase)

²⁶
but venturing
only a matter of having a go

²⁷
dismayed
frightened; Slender’s reply suggests that he does not understand the word

³³
ill-favoured
ugly

³⁷
thou … father
i.e. remember that you had a valiant father/a father who once wooed a woman; Slender misunderstands this as a prompt for conversation with Anne

⁴⁵
come … long-tail
come what may (literally, refers to a horse/dog with either a docked or a long tail)

⁴⁸
jointure
marriage settlement provided for the wife by the husband in the event of his death

⁵⁴
will
wish (Slender understands the legal sense of the term; there may also be a play on the sense of “sexual desire”)

⁵⁵
’Od’s heartlings
by God’s dear heart

⁶⁰
motions
urgings

⁶¹
happy … dole
i.e. may the man who gets you be happy with his lot

⁶⁶
haunt
hang around

⁷⁶
for that
because

⁷⁸
Perforce
of necessity

⁷⁸
checks
rebukes/obstacles

⁷⁸
manners
means of behaving (to me)

⁷⁹
advance the colours
raise the flag (as if toward an opposing army)

⁸¹
yond
yonder

⁸⁴
set quick
buried alive (up to the neck)

⁸⁹
affected
inclined

⁹⁶
once
at some point

⁹⁷
There’s
i.e. there’s money

¹⁰³
sooth
truth

¹⁰⁵
speciously
malapropism for “specially”

¹⁰⁵
of
be on

³
quart
i.e. two pints

³
toast
piece of hot toast sometimes added to wine

⁴
barrow
barrow-load

⁸
slighted me
tipped me contemptuously

⁹
blind bitch’s puppies
the newborn, blind puppies of a bitch

¹¹
down
sink

¹²
shore was shelvy
banks were sloping

¹⁵
mummy
dead flesh

¹⁹
reins
kidneys

²¹
cry you mercy
beg your pardon

²⁴
pottle
drinking vessel containing half a gallon (equivalent to four pints)

²⁶
Simple
plain/unmixed (with eggs) I
’ll
I’ll have

²⁶
pullet-sperm
chicken seed (i.e. eggs)

³¹
ford
river water

³³
take on with
rant at, berate

³⁴
erection
malapropism for “direction” (i.e. instruction; Falstaff’s response brings in the architectural and phallic senses)

³⁸
yearn
move to compassion

⁴³
frailty
moral frailty (contrasted here with Falstaff’s supposed resolution in keeping his appointment with Mistress Ford)

⁴⁸
miss
fail to meet

⁵⁸
sped you
were you successful

⁵⁹
ill-favouredly
poorly

⁶⁰
determination
intention/decision

⁶¹
peaking cornuto
skulking/mean-spirited cuckold

⁶²
’larum
alarm/agitation

⁶³
comes me
comes (
me
is an intensifier)

⁶⁴
protested
declared (love)

⁷⁶
Rammed
perhaps, coming after
buck
, with a play on “ram” (male sheep, horned like the buck, and also associated with lust)