2 spied from she looked out from; she was seen at. The ambiguous grammar suggests that she did the spying, and that she was the object spied.
3–4 Sunday-dinner … Thursday-supper The Mother was probably entertained twice a week as an act of charity.
6 prime top, best
gallant male or female fashionable person
7 leader i.e. her ‘face’
10 single unshared
15–16 tax … folly criticize his passion as trivial folly
18 piece work, accomplishment
20 apprehension ed. (apprehension. O)
21 strangely ed. (strangly O)
23 work his peace satisfy his desires
33 stale … ware old goods, i.e. the Mother
35 absolute complete, perfect
42 court-passage ‘Passage is a Game at Dice to be play’d at but by two, and it is performed with three Dice. The Caster throws continually till he hath thrown Doubles under ten, and then he is out and loseth; or doublets above ten, and then he passeth and wins’ (Charles Cotton, Compleat Gamesters [1674], p. 167; quoted in Gill). ‘Court passage’ also suggests sexual encounters at Court; ‘three dice in a dish’ also carries a sexual insinuation.
47 new change a comical redundancy; perhaps also a reference to the so-called New ‘Change’ (an addition to the Royal Exchange), a meeting-place for merchants, opened in the Strand in 1609, which some thought unnecessary
59 tricked up dressed up
64 use custom
67 halter A halter would be made of leather (thus the pun on ‘lather’); halters are for horses, cows and people going to be hanged.
69 tricks and jiggam-bobs ornaments and knick-knacks. ‘Tricks’ also has a sexual connotation. Cf. also ‘tricked’ (1. 59) and ‘tricks’ (1. 188).
72 After at the rate of
74 let … blood reference to blood-letting as a medical cure; used here figuratively, as Livia has precisely described Fabritio’s ‘foolish zeal’
79 world’s end i.e. as far as one can go
s.d. shuttlecock ed. (shittlecock O). This edition retains the Ward’s mispronunciations; the excretory pun is explicitly invoked in ‘stool-ball’ at III.iii.87. shuttlecock … battledore The ‘shuttlecock’ is struck back and forth by a racquet, or ‘battledore’, in this precursor game to modern badminton. The Ward, at 11.
82–4, will make the equation women = shuttlecocks = whores, because women supposedly ‘shuttle’ back and forth between ‘cocks’, to ‘do’, and are ‘kept up’ by phallic ‘battledores’.
82 thing i.e. phallus
87 asked ed. (ask O)
88–9 ask … licence He will proclaim the banns of marriage publicly, and so save the expense of a special licence.
91–2 breath … pottage blowing on soup to cool it
96 plaguey guess shrewd or sharp judgement
97 ’way straightaway, immediately
105 pearl in eye whitish spot in eye, the result of a cataract or a disease like smallpox ruby i.e. pimple
106 burn or cut To ‘burn’ is a symptom of venereal disease; ‘cut’ = slang for female genitals (cf. Malvolio in Twelfth Night II.v.86–8).
109 plumped ed. (plump O)
110 hopper-rumped ‘The hopper of a mill is shaped like an inverted pyramid and has a hopping or shaking movement’ (Gill) – i.e. with large buttocks.
112 drab whore
116 have bump … belly be neither hunchbacked nor pregnant
119–25 naked … skin This custom is described in Thomas More’s Utopia, but the passage also says the male wooer should appear naked to the woman, as the Ward fears.
125 case situation; clothing
129 bum-roll a cushion worn to hold out the skirt
130 farthingale a framework of hoops, worn about the waist, which extended a woman’s dress
131 penthouse a sloping roof over a door or window. It would block the light from a merchant’s shop, hence make it more difficult to judge the quality of his goods in such a ‘false light’ (1. 133).
135 rotten stuff poor quality cloth; venereal disease
136 take work, succeed
140 so strange so much a stranger
152 tongue-discourse facility in conversation
154 merrily ed. (merely O)
163 friend lover. See II.i.153n.
165 quean whore
166 plate silver dishes and cutlery
168 fair … women perhaps an allusion to the anonymous play A Warning for Fair Women (1599)
173 sojourners house guests staying with her
182 strangely greatly
185 charge responsibility, duty
188 chess Middleton was technically knowledgeable about chess; his play A Game At Chess (1624), an allegory of English/Spanish foreign relations, would become the most popular play of the period.
203 men chessmen
224 betimes at once
229–30 part … out a theatrical metaphor: to ‘be out’ is to forget the lines of a ‘part’
242 ’mends amends
248 ill condition bad manners
249 humanity humaneness
254 motioned of proposed by
257 stands for professes or defends; has an erection
258 profession an ironic reference to Guardiano’s ‘profession’ as guardian, as well as his assertion. See note at I.ii.3.
258–9 one, / And ed. (one, and O)
259–60 intentions / Are ed. (intentions are O)
264–5 No, / And ed. (No, and O)
265 men chessmen
266 set us on encourage or incite; sexually arouse
come off come through, get free; achieve sexual orgasm
277 monument a carved figure in wood or stone
281 nothing less i.e. not at all
292 rook the chesspiece, now also known as the castle. In Middleton’s time, it was also called the ‘duke’ (see 1. 300).
295 game the chessgame, but here – as throughout this scene – with an obvious sexual connotation as well
296 ere … over before I am finished with you
297 man the chesspiece; the duke offstage
299 black king the chesspiece, here associated with evil, in contrast to the ‘saintish’ ‘white king’ at 1. 305
Cry you mercy The rules of modern chess require a similar phrase if a player accidentally touches the wrong piece.
301 stroke blow; also a sexual connotation
302 pawn … back A pawn can move only forward; thus Bianca cannot escape or go back.
304 hold wager
309 simplicity … one Livia, playing black, seems to have taken ‘two’ of the white (‘simplicity’) pieces for ‘one’ of her black ones.
314 Takes your part supports your argument
317 presently immediately
321 turtle turtle-dove
323 brightness beauty
327 happiness personal well-being; good fortune
337 exalt raise; sexually arouse (continued in ‘raised’, 1. 338)
348 friend lover. See II.i.153n.
to in addition to
351 bold with be presumptuous of; take liberties with
353–8 She is in best (moral) health when she pays attention to, or feels ‘fright’ at, the ‘thunder’ (1. 353) and ‘greatest tempests’ (1. 356) of moral prohibition. She will ‘wake’ (1. 357) most when the greatest (‘fearfullest’) temptations – as now – are present.
371–2 tree … fruit an allusion to the Fall, described in Genesis 3, when Eve ate of the fruit of the tree against God’s command
376 merely completely
382 wise ed. (wife O)
388 fetch you over i.e. get the better of you
392 blind mate when your opponent places you in checkmate but does not see it, calling out only ‘check’ (Livia is the one who has blinded her opponent, of course); also a reference to the sexual mating offstage
400 flesh-fly the blow-fly, which deposits its eggs in flesh; also a sexual connotation
401 stomach sexual appetite
404 stay settle; enhance
406–8 greater … that i.e. if reward comes to one more elevated (with ‘greater title’), he will endure such a disappointment (‘cross’) in the hope of an even ‘greater’ reward later
411 to an end the end of the chessgame; the sexual climax off-stage. The Mother also understands Livia to refer to the end of life.
414 time age
415–16 madam; / H’as ed. (Madam; h’as O)
417 in’s kind in his own nature
420 blasting infection; withering under a pernicious influence
422 Infectious … mildews Mists and fog were thought to cause disease.
424 why ed. (who O)
425 that fair her beauty
427 broods hatches
428 smooth-browed i.e. hypocritical
435 His weight is deadly i.e. his soul is mortally guilty commits fornicates
437 they those who ‘commit’
438 ’em them (the strumpets)
443 Italics indicate a proverbial saying; see Tilley, K 64.
454 Had me brought me; had me sexually
461 may’t ed. (may O)
468 There lies his art As a pander, Guardiano goes ‘before’ the Duke.
471–2 sea-sick … breaking billow The implied voyage is a metaphor of the first sexual encounter.
476 wormwood water a drink prepared from the herb wormwood, known for its bitterness