1 FLAMINIO: spelled FLAMINEO in the Quarto; however, the current spelling is the accurate Italian version, found in Webster’s source, and also offers a better guide to pronunciation
2 LODOVICO: spelled LODOWICKE in the Quarto
* non-speaking parts
1 challenge to: claim for
2 nos … nihil: ‘We know these efforts of ours to be worth nothing’ (Martial, Epigrams, 13.2)
3 theatre: the Red Bull at Clerkenwell, a large, open-air theatre
4 Nec … molestas: ‘You [the poet’s book] will not fear the sneers of the malicious, nor supply wrappers for mackerel’ (Martial, Epigrams, 4.86)
5 non … dixi: ‘You cannot say more against these trifles of mine than I have said myself’ (Martial, Epigrams, 13.2)
6 sententious: full of maxims, characteristic of Seneca
7 ’liven death: make death come alive
8 Nuntius: messenger of classical tragedy who often described acts of offstage violence
1 O … ilia: ‘O strong stomachs of harvesters’ (Horace, Epodes, 3.4), referring to their love of garlic
2 Haec … relinques: ‘What you leave will today become food for pigs’ (Horace, Epistles, 1.7.19)
3 long time … tragedy: there is no record of Webster writing anything between 1605 and 1612
4 Alcestides: Webster’s misspelling of ‘Alcestis’, an otherwise unknown classical poet mentioned in Jonson’s Discoveries (pub. 1641)
5 understanding: intellectual
6 non … mori: ‘These monuments know not death’ (Martial, Epigrams, 10.2)
1 Democritus: Ancient Greek philosopher and scientist, recorded in Antonio de Guevera’s Diall of Princes (trans. 1557) as stating that the gods of reward and punishment ruled the world
2 parcels: portions
3 wolf … hungry: wolves no longer appear wolvish once their appetites are satisfied
4 pashed: smashed
1 mummia: medicine (‘physic’) prepared from mummified (usually human) flesh, proverbially difficult to swallow
2 kennel: gutter
3 phoenix: this mythical Arabian bird lived for 500 to 600 years, then consumed itself in flames and rose again from its own ashes
4 idle: worthless
1 This … buckets: both men (perhaps one on each side of Lodovico) draw from the same ‘well’ of truisms
2 tend: attend, listen to
3 3 gentle penance: i.e., banishment
4 close: secret
5 Have … you: be self-sufficient
1 adulterate: fake, with a pun on ‘adulterous’
2 painted: artificial
3 Italian cut-works: a popular kind of embroidery in which holes were cut into the cloth and stitched round
1 superficies: external covering
2 buttery-hatch: a half-door to the buttery (where provisions were stored) over which food and drink were served
3 beverage: usually ale
4 gilder: one who gilds objects for a living; gilders might suffer mercury (‘quicksilver’) poisoning, symptoms of which were tremors and insanity
5 liver: thought to be the origin of passion in the body
6 Barriers: a jousting competition conducted on either side of a low railing; Flaminio may be recalling the festivities of Christmas 1609 when Prince Henry, the future Prince of Wales, displayed his military prowess
7 moulted … hairs: feathers may have fallen off the barriers or the competitors’ helmets; hair loss is a symptom of syphilis
8 wage … hazard: he will wager even his genitals, rendering himself impotent
9 Dutch doublet: close-fitting, worn with wide breeches, suggesting the shrinking of Camillo’s penis and the enlargement of his buttocks, perhaps an allusion to sodomy
1 closet: small, private room, its entrance sometimes hidden from view
2 under-age protestation: immature wooing
3 politician: crafty person; Camillo is presumably wearing long robes
4 foot-cloth: a richly decorated cloth covering the back of a horse
5 count: a variant spelling of ‘cunt’, may have been pronounced alike
6 flaw: disagreement, with a pun on female genitalia
1 bowl booty: cheat at bowls by ganging up on another player, i.e., Flaminio and Bracciano against Camillo
2 his cheek … mistress: Bracciano’s cheek/buttock, like the weighted bowling ball, curves towards the white target, the ‘mistress’; ‘jump with’, to have sex with
3 Aristotle: synonymous with logic
4 ephemerides: tables depicting the position of the planets on a particular day
1 God boy you: contracted version of ‘God be with you’
2 horn-shavings: the cuckold was imagined to possess a pair of horns on his forehead
3 God refuse me: an oath
4 In lyam: on a leash
5 wrings: pinches, because of his cuckold’s horns
6 large ears: implying that he is an ass
1 Jacob’s staff: instrument for measuring height and distance
2 enclosures … mutton: enclosures for sheep-farming were notoriously detrimental to the poor and inspired riots (‘rebellion’); ‘mutton’ is also slang for a promiscuous woman
3 provocative electuaries: aphrodisiacs
4 uttered: issued
5 Jubilee: a year instituted by the Roman Catholic Church in which the penal consequences of sin were avoided by various kinds of penance; it occurred every twenty-five years, with the most recent being 1600
1 Ida: sacred mountain in Crete or Phrygia, near Troy
2 Corinth: a city famous for its luxury, also slang for a brothel
3 blackbird’s bill … feather: yellow hair was judged the ideal of beauty, rather than Vittoria’s black
4 friends: lovers
5 stand: insist
6 carved to him: served him or showed him great courtesy
7 capon: a castrated cock
8 black-guard: the lowest kitchen servants, in charge of kitchen utensils when a nobleman moved residences
9 calves’ brains: foolishness; to be unseasoned with ‘sage’ implies the brain unimproved by knowledge
10 crouching in the hams: bending servilely
11 itch in’s hams: venereal disease or unfulfilled sexual desire
1 fire … glass-house: the glass factory near the Blackfriars Theatre kept its furnace constantly burning
2 foil: setting for a precious stone
3 case: legal case, female genitalia
4 philosopher’s stone: thought by alchemists to turn base materials into gold, prolong life and cure disease, with a pun on ‘stone’ as testicle
5 turtles: turtle doves, associated with faithful love
1 breeze: gadflies
2 gadding: wandering
3 coming: receptive
4 tumultuary: confused
5 quae negata grata: ‘Whatever is denied is desired’
6 adamant: magnet
7 progress: procession, taken by royal or other noble person, defined by its flamboyant self-display
1 thread: with a pun on ‘semen’
2 gull: trick
3 scurvily: rudely, crossly
4 curst: vicious, bad-tempered
5 Give credit: believe me
1 jewel: often used to describe a woman’s marital chastity or virginity
2 put in: demanded, with a sexual pun
3 lowest … bodice: i.e., over her vagina
4 grave: gravestone
5 ’crostics: acrostics, which often appeared on memorial stones
1 yew: tree associated with death, also pun on ‘you’
2 fell: fierce, cruel
3 fury: the three Furies were figures of female revenge in classical mythology, often depicted with snakes for hair
4 massy: weighty
5 phlegmatic: not easily impassioned
1 government: the act of governing
2 Exit ZANCHE: perhaps suggesting Flaminio is already involved with Zanche, against his mother’s wishes
3 blasted: blighted, withered
4 Thessaly: district of northern Greece associated with the vengeful Medea and with poisonous plants
1 princes … dials: an allusion to one of Webster’s sources for the play, Guevara’s The Dial of Princes
2 blood: bloodshed, but also reciprocal sexual desire
1 bear … stirrup: get a promotion above the role of unmounted footman
2 fain to heel: obliged to mend
1 Conspiring with a beard: insinuating himself into the affections of an older man, perhaps sexually; ‘beard’ might also be a misprint for ‘beadle’, the university official who collected fees
2 Lycurgus: Spartan lawgiver, described in Plutarch’s Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans as urging men to share their wives with other worthy men in order to produce the best children
1 crook: crooked
2 forcèd: man-made
3 subtle … snake: coiled up whilst hibernating, possibly alluding to the mythical, two-headed snake amphisbaena, which sought out cold temperatures
4 pole-cats: foul-smelling, predatory mammals, also term for a prostitute
5 cousin: used also to describe a nephew or niece
1 unicorn’s horn … spider: powdered unicorn’s horn was thought to offer protection against poison, the test for which was to place a spider inside a circle of powder and if it remained there the remedy was effective
2 Void: clear
1 awful: awe-inspiring, magnificent
2 flower: another name for a jewel in a crown
3 loose: lose
4 name: reputation
5 fetch … about: change direction
1 dunghill birds: carrion birds, i.e., Camillo
2 shift: change
3 Happily: perhaps, with a pun on ‘gladly’
4 tissue: cloth interwoven with gold or silver, only to be worn by women of high birth
5 Switzers: Swiss mercenaries, used at many European courts for protection
1 ghostly: spiritual, i.e., his confessor
2 crackers: fireworks
3 plasters: to cover the sores of venereal disease
4 new-ploughed: furrowed with rage
5 word it: argue
1 triumph … thus: in 1604 James I experimented with lion-baiting at the Tower of London, a few days before his triumphal entry into the city (see Stow’s Annals, 1605); the lion killed the dogs that were set upon it
2 passenger: abbreviation of passenger (peregrine) falcon
3 wild ducks: also a term for prostitutes
4 moulting-time: i.e., when Bracciano’s hair starts to fall out he will realize that Vittoria is no better than a prostitute
5 tale of a tub: cock and bull story, also an allusion to the sweating tubs used to cure venereal disease
6 stags … melancholic: stags (horned like the cuckold) supposedly went off to lie alone after mating, i.e., after Bracciano has finished with Vittoria he will find time (‘the season’) to meet with them
1 Homer’s frogs: in The Battle of Frogs and Mice, a burlesque poem attributed to Homer, the frogs carry bulrushes as pikes
2 discretion: judgement
3 Dansk: Danish, famous for their military music
1 lapwing: a proverbially precocious bird, thought to run as soon as it is hatched
1 habit: costume, but also behaviour
1 Devotion: Isabella means marital devotion, but Bracciano chooses to misunderstand her meaning as religious duty
2 cast … up: tally our sins and good deeds
3 Take your chamber: go to your room
4 that Italian: Italians were notoriously jealous; Isabella claims that this emotion is so unnatural to her it is a foreign word (even though she was historically Italian)
1 cassia: a kind of cinnamon, renowned for its sweet smell
2 bandy factions: conspire
3 haunted out: pursued, followed
4 To meet … Rome: in the historical source, Isabella did have a lover
5 Polack: Polish men famously shaved their heads except for the forehead; a worthless person
1 fly-boat: a pinnace or fast sailing boat
2 latest: last
1 weal: good
2 To better what is naught: to exceed what is immoral, i.e., Isabella’s upbraiding her husband is worse than his infidelity
1 honest: chaste
1 a thousand ears: i.e., the theatre audience
2 manet … repostum: ‘It shall be treasured up in the depths of my mind’ (Virgil, Aeneid 1.26); the line expresses Juno’s anger at being passed over by Paris in favour of Venus; unlike Juno, whose revenge contributed to the Trojan wars, Isabella feigns anger to prevent war
1 stomach: pride, vexation
2 turn in post: return post-haste
3 Those … speak: a common proverb, found in Seneca’s Phaedra, 607
4 stibium: metallic antimony, used as an emetic or poison
5 cantharides: Spanish fly, applied to create blisters, but poisonous when ingested in large quantities
1 Candy: Crete, whose inhabitants were supposed to eat poisonous snakes, i.e., death
2 property: a tool, with allusion to a stage prop
3 quack-salving: peddling fake medicines
4 confessed … non plus: acknowledged a previous prosecution for debt, was taken into custody and so escaped whipping
5 cozened … execution: tricked by someone pretending to be his creditor and forced to pay all that was supposedly owed
6 cornet: wind instrument
7 lamprey: eel-like fish with holes on the side of its head
8 Ireland … poison: according to myth, St Patrick banished all poisonous animals from Ireland
9 Spaniard’s fart: a Spaniard called Don Diego was famous for farting in St Paul’s Cathedral
10 Saint Anthony’s fire: a skin disease or possibly slang for flatulence
1 bloodshed: bloodshot
2 chirurgeon: surgeon
3 gargarism: gargle or mouth-wash
4 lights: lungs
5 by scruples: in small quantities
6 politic strain: a cunning device, with a pun on ‘strain’ meaning strong muscular effort, alluding to his attempt at vaulting
7 engine: means
8 one … shoulders: rather than use a wooden platform, one man would lift another up to the noose; Flaminio may be insinuating that Bracciano will similarly dispatch the Doctor when he has made use of him
1 emblem: moral allegory in the form of an illustration and explanatory text
2 word: motto
3 ‘Inopem … fecit’: ‘Abundance has rendered me poor’ (Ovid, Metamorphoses, 3.466)
4 ‘Plenty … horns’: i.e., by being made a cuckold many times over Camillo has lost his own sexual potency, or referring to Bracciano as the stag whose sexual activity has resulted in venereal disease and impotence
1 old tale: taken from The Fables of Esop in English (1596)
2 banns: public notice given in church of an intended marriage
3 change the air: leave this place
4 cornucopia: horn of plenty, a symbol of fertility, here meaning his cuckold’s horns
1 ranger: gamekeeper
1 sister: either used here as a courtesy title or indicating that Webster has confused Monticelso with Isabella’s real-life brother, who was also a cardinal
2 want: lack
3 sere: dry, withered
1 necromancer: magician, conjurer
2 juggle: play tricks
3 windmills: fanciful schemes
4 squib: firework
5 curtal: a horse with its tail docked; a horse called Morocco was famous in 1590s London for its tricks, including counting money and playing dead
6 ream: realm, and quantity of paper
7 figure-flingers: horoscope-casters
8 lie … goods: horoscopes were sometimes consulted to locate property
9 fast and loose: unscrupulous
10 fustian: invented, i.e., gibberish
1 Strike … ground: the music was probably heard from under the stage
2 quaintly: skilfully
3 boon: prosperous
1 in … week: caught
2 sit upon: judge, with sexual pun
3 tickler: chastiser, provoker
4 tilting: a form of jousting, but also sexual intercourse
5 private: secret, intimate
6 public: open, promiscuous
7 ferret them: hunt them down, ferrets being used to catch rabbits
1 conies: rabbits; to catch ‘conies’ also meant to trick fools out of money or have sex with women
2 witches … spirits: witches were thought to feed their familiars with their own milk or blood
3 prodigal: wastefully spent
1 chamois: leather jerkins worn under armour
2 builder: used for building
3 mandrake: a medicinal plant that supposedly shrieked when it was pulled from the earth, the sound inducing madness in the hearer
4 the poorest … strikes: the least of their dislikes appears to injure superficially, but does mortal harm
1 lame: also implying impotence
2 poulter: traders in poultry, who went to market early in the morning and so were associated with falling asleep on horseback, also with a sexual connotation
3 He looks … blackbird: an allusion to the wide Spanish ruff
1 Domine … corruptissimam: ‘Lord Judge, turn your eyes upon this plague, the most corrupt of women’
1 auditory: audience, includes spectators at the Red Bull Theatre, some of whom may have been sitting on the stage
2 credit: reputation
3 give aim: in archery, to let the shooter know how near the target they are
4 connive: direct, but also ‘to be complicit with’, casting suspicion on the judges’ impartiality
5 diversivolent: strife-wishing, a nonce word
1 concatenation: plot
2 projections: schemes
3 exulceration: punishment; literally, the lancing of an ulcer
4 bills: prescriptions, often included a long list of difficult words
5 proclamations: royal commands, often expressed in high-flown terms
6 Come up: are vomited
7 like stones … physic: overheated birds were thought to be cured by eating stones
8 Welsh: often assumed to be an incomprehensible language
1 fustian: coarse cloth, also inflated language
2 buckram: coarse linen used for lawyers’ bags
3 graduatically: like a graduate, a nonce word
4 Sodom and Gomorrah: biblical cities destroyed by flame as punishment for the inhabitants’ sins, particularly unlawful sexual practices; the image of fruit made of ashes derives from Deuteronomy 32:32
1 scarlet: colour of clerical and legal robes
2 character: a formal description of a character type; Webster contributed several to an edition of Sir Thomas Overbury’s Characters (1615)
3 coz’ning: deceiving
4 tributes: taxes
1 surgeons: the barber-surgeons were legally allowed the bodies of four executed criminals per year on which to demonstrate anatomy; they may have ‘begged’ more
2 guilty: with a pun on ‘gilt’, golden
3 sample: stand as a parallel or match
1 prodigy: strange occurrence
2 rushes: leaves used as a floor covering in private houses and on the stage
3 Wound up: corpses were usually wrapped in a winding sheet
4 bespoke: ordered
1 Tartar: synonymous with cruelty and barbarism
2 scandals: disgraces
3 of force: of necessity
4 Perseus: in classical mythology Perseus saved Andromeda from a sea monster and cut off the head of Medusa; synonymous with masculine courage and virtue in Jonson’s Masque of Queens (1609)
5 to the point: in every detail, with a pun on the point of a sword
6 strict-combinèd: closely allied
7 palsy: trembling
1 cozen: cheat
2 sword: the sword of Justice
3 temper: Monticelso’s anger, and the process of tempering metal to make a sword
1 coat: i.e., his profession of cleric
2 post-boys: letter-carriers
3 challenge: lay claim to
4 moil: mule
5 Nemo … lacessit: ‘No one injures me with impunity’
1 gilded pills: apothecaries sometimes covered their pills in gold to justify a higher price
2 Casta … rogavit: ‘She is chaste whom no one has solicited’ (Ovid, Amores 1.8.43), though originally used to persuade a woman to take many lovers
3 want: lack
4 dog-days: characterized by oppressive heat; a time when lust and other malignant influences dominate
1 intelligencing ears: i.e., those of an informer or spy
2 choke-pear: unpalatable pear, rebuke
3 Venice: the historical Vittoria was born in Gubbio; Webster may have chosen Venice because of its reputation for courtesans
4 julio: silver Italian coin, with a possible pun on ‘Doctor Julio’, who arranged Camillo’s death
5 ware … light: the goods being so worthless, unchaste
1 balladed: popularized in a ballad
2 sureties: those who make themselves liable for another’s appearance at court
3 blazing … princes: comets were thought to portend the fall of princes
4 house of convertites: institution for reformed prostitutes, like Bridewell in London
1 By patent: the patent or monopolies system granted individuals the control of a particular trade; it was notoriously used by James I to raise funds
2 maw: throat
1 horse-leech: thought to have two tongues, synonymous with the rhetorician
1 palsy: trembling
1 gave me suck: breastfed me; the nobility generally used wet nurses, though there was a growing demand in conduct literature that mothers nurse their own children
1 as distracted: the stage conventions of madness included disordered dress and speech
2 ostler: groom, stable boy
3 linings: underclothes
4 forty … Poland: Poles were famously poor
5 piles: haemorrhoids, the treatment of which is the basis for the doctor’s wealth, and the wooden foundations of the Venetian house
1 diversivolent: strife-wishing; Flaminio uses the Lawyer’s own word against him
2 gudgeons: small fish
3 under the line: at the equator
4 salary: reward
5 full pitch: highest point in the bell-tower
6 well may: with good reason
7 commeddled: mixed together, contaminated
8 policy: intrigue
9 first bloodshed: i.e., Cain’s killing of Abel, anticipating Flaminio’s murder of his brother
1 mushrooms: young upstarts
2 Wolner: a famous glutton who died from eating raw eel
3 screech-owl: a bird of ill-omen
4 wind: find out about
5 purchased: obtained
1 stigmatic: ignominious, suggesting villainy
2 ingeniously: often used to mean ‘ingenuously’
3 raven: another bird associated with death
4 crowner’s: coroner’s
5 faggots: bundles of sticks
6 lousy: infested with lice
1 gentle: fit for a gentleman
2 melancholic … midnight: hares were believed to be cold-blooded, and therefore melancholic, and to sleep all day and feed at night
3 witch’s … blood: witches were also believed to be melancholic
4 strappadoed: a form of torture, being lifted from the ground by one’s hands when they were tied behind one’s back
5 felly: part of a wheel rim
1 forfeited … debt: i.e., in prison
1 break: break your promise, go bankrupt
2 stick by you: remain in your memory
3 Ud’s death: by God’s death – an oath
1 undermining: laying mines as a military strategy
1 fowler: a hunter of fowl
2 quoted: set down
3 intelligence: information gained by spies
4 jealous: vigilant
1 presents … book: since he proceeds to turn the pages, Monticelso may show Francisco the book, but not yet hand it over to him
2 taking up commodities: to avoid the prohibitions on high interest rates ‘rogues’ lend cheap goods at a highly inflated price
3 politic bankrupts: men who feign bankruptcy to avoid creditors
4 put off: pay for
5 scriveners: notaries, also brought moneylenders and clients together
1 tribute … England: in the tenth century the Welsh were ordered by King Edgar to pay a tribute of three hundred wolves per year to the English
2 Irish … heads: Elizabeth’s officers paid a bounty for heads in the Irish rebellions
1 leash: equivalent to three, used in hunting
2 laundress: provide laundry workers for the army, synonymous with prostitution
3 declarations: official proclamations
4 wrested: stirred
5 quick: lively, agile
6 pregnant: fertile
7 juggler: conjurer, magician
8 idleness: delusion
1 Irish: notoriously bloodthirsty
2 Flectere … movebo: ‘If I cannot change the will of heaven, I shall release hell’ (Virgil, Aeneid, 7.312)
1 scruple: jot, thought that troubles the conscience
1 Ud’s foot: by God’s foot – an oath
2 coffined: enclosed
3 juggling: deception
4 conveyance: means of communication, but also a document by which property (i.e., Vittoria) was transferred
5 lees: dregs
6 uncontrollèd: not under anyone else’s authority
1 halter: noose, echoing the use of ‘hang’, wishing that Francisco be hanged instead
2 willow: sign of a rejected lover
3 bed-straw: fruit was often ripened in straw
4 lines … line: the written line overpowers (‘convinces’) his lines of age, i.e., wrinkles
5 atheists: refers to the fact that Francisco has invoked the pagan gods
6 atomies: tiny particles
7 irregular: disorderly
8 disease: syphilis, its symptoms included hair loss
9 changeable stuff: fabric that appears to change colour depending on the angle, i.e., watered silk
10 water: tears
1 bloodhound: as a pander, the ‘blood’ he pursues is also sexual desire
2 brave: defy
3 stand: withstand
4 run: move away, ooze
5 neck broke: an allusion to Camillo’s fate
6 Russia: thought to punish bankrupts by beating them on the shins
7 sallet: salad; this and the fig were both forms of poisoning
8 ply your convoy: get on with your business
9 courtesy … Ulysses: in the Odyssey Polyphemus, a Cyclops, promised Ulysses the favour of being eaten last (9.369–70)
10 turves: turfs
1 characters: cabbalistic signs
2 comment: commentary
3 receiver: an official who received petitions for Parliament, also a pimp
4 God’s precious: by God’s precious blood – an oath
5 cabinet: casket containing private letters and jewels
6 Confusion on: damn
7 reclaimed: a falconry term, meaning called back after being released
8 bells: attached to the hawk’s legs to help them be reclaimed
1 lovely: amorous, attractive
2 beheld the devil in crystal: proverbial for deceiving oneself
3 Woman … wolf: proverbial
4 adamants: magnets
5 Irish: supposedly hired women to mourn the dead, synonymous with false grief
1 foxes: known for their unpleasant smell, but used in the cure of palsy
2 preferment: promotion
3 Weeping … crutches: an echo of Mark 9:45
1 Lethe: a classical river, its waters prompted forgetfulness
2 poniards: daggers, i.e., angrily
3 not matches: not symmetrical, i.e., she regrets her beauty
4 blown up: shattered, destroyed by a mine
1 impostume: abscess, festering sore
2 mercer: dealer in silks, velvets and other expensive fabrics
3 toused: rumpled
4 frowardness: perversity
5 stand not long: do not hold out long in the hunt
6 full cry: pursuit, weeping
7 quat: hare’s squatting position when cornered
1 groats: pennies
2 broom-men: road-sweepers
3 takes use: collects interest
4 Hand: fondle
5 ferret … blowing: blowing on a ferret was supposed to loosen its grip
6 forgetful: causing forgetfulness
1 shoot: descend a river, sexually penetrate
2 still: always
3 Grecians … horse: the Greeks entered the besieged city of Troy by hiding in a wooden horse
1 Barbary: a country in North Africa, associated with barbarousness
2 gullery: deception
3 conclave: place where cardinals meet to elect a new pope
4 lay her post-horse: supply her with horses (those kept for hire at inns)
5 barber-surgeon: barbers also served as dentists in this period
1 brave: finely dressed
2 several: various
3 Rhodes: the Maltese ambassador
4 St Michael: one of the French ambassadors, dressed in silver and white
5 Golden Fleece: the Spanish ambassador, dressed in crimson and gold
6 Holy Ghost: dressed in a cape of silver, orange and white
7 Annunciation: the Savoy ambassador, wearing white and purple, with a gold collar
8 Garter: dressed in crimson and purple with a jewelled chain around the neck and a gold garter on the left leg
1 meat is dressed: food is prepared
2 scrutiny: the taking of individual votes
3 admiration: choice by divine instruction; each cardinal kneels before his preferred candidate
1 De nuntio … quartum: ‘I bring you tidings of great joy. The Most Reverend Cardinal Lorenzo de Monticelso has been elected to the Apostolic See and has chosen for himself the title of Paul IV.’
2 Vivat … Quartus: ‘Long live the Holy Father Paul IV’
3 fond: foolish, infatuated
1 Concedimus … peccatorum: ‘We grant you the Apostolic benediction and remission of sins’
2 Ta’en the sacrament: received Holy Communion to support his oath
1 sowing: scattering, with hopes to reap
2 out of measure: excessively
3 resty: stubborn, restive
4 career: a gallop brought up short
5 ’sault: leaps and vaults
6 ring-galliard: circular manoeuvre
7 jade: an ill-tempered horse
1 form: outward appearance
2 puling: weak, sickly
3 loose: unchaste
4 plummet: ball of lead attached to a line, for measuring depth, i.e., money
1 Candy: Crete
2 Capuchins: an order of monks, deriving from the Franciscans, who wore long, pointed hoods
1 Glories … light: a favourite couplet of Webster’s, taken from Alexander’s Alexandrean Tragedy and reused in The Duchess of Malfi, 4.2
2 ANTONELLI: despite beginning the play as one of Lodovico’s two partners in crime, Antonelli plays no part in the murders and his inclusion here may be an error
3 sorrow: grieved, regretful
1 presence: presence chamber, where a monarch or noble received visitors
2 saddle: a Catholic called Edward Squire was executed in 1598 for poisoning the Queen’s saddle
3 hazard: peril, also the inner wall of a tennis court
1 What difference … Duke and I: particularly true, given that they are both Italian dukes with fair skin
2 If … equally: borrowed from Stefano Guazzo’s Civil Conversation (English translation, 1581)
3 soldier … churches: unemployed soldiers were often forced into beggary, but needed a licence to avoid arrest
1 arras: tapestry (for hiding behind)
1 maker of almanacs: fortune-teller
2 man … ears: proverbial
3 cools: abates
4 your love … heats: this, and the reference to Zanche as ‘gipsy’, recalls Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra
5 heat: become lustful, infected with venereal disease
1 satin: perhaps with a pun on ‘Satan’
2 painting … clothes: i.e., the attractions of other women
3 shoemakers … drawers-on: the shoemaker puts shoes on feet; bacon draws on thirst
4 haggard: a wild female hawk, also a promiscuous woman
5 stews: brothel
6 clapped by th’heels: imprisoned in iron chains or the stocks
7 Strike i’th’ court: punishments for this included having one’s right hand cut off
1 bed-staff: a stick for making the bed, but also possibly a male companion
2 light: thieving, unchaste
3 Must … fruit: proverbial
4 feathers: indicating his transformation into a courtier
5 choleric: angry, produced by an excess of choler
1 Like … two ways: Oedipus’ sons Eteocles and Polinices were killed in their struggle to claim his throne; at their joint funeral the flames parted to show their ongoing hatred
2 geese: prostitutes who followed the progress, with a pun on ‘gesses’ or stopping-places
1 turn your gall up: become more angry; Flaminio expresses surprise because bloodletting was supposed to cure anger
1 Fetch … lips: borrows from the death of Cordelia in Shakespeare’s King Lear
1 screech-owl: bird of ill-omen
1 my younger boy: younger sons were famously disgruntled, given that they would not inherit the estate
2 graz’d: lost in the grass (‘grassed’), also wounded
3 beaver: the lower part of a helmet’s face-guard
1 black lake: Acheron, a black river in the classical hell
1 bar: barrier, at which they have been fighting onstage
2 screech-owls: referring to the doctors who predict his death
1 comet … carrion: all portents of doom
2 Franciscans: both Franciscan monks and followers of Francisco
3 extreme unction: sacrament involving the anointing of the dying, but here also poison
4 cabinet: private room, perhaps the curtained discovery space
1 stepmothers’ graves: another example of false grief, stepmothers standing in the way of the children’s inheritance
2 within … th’ verge: within twelve miles of court, ruled over by the Lord High Steward
3 like a wolf … poultry: the ‘wolf’ is an ulcer, usually treated by applying raw meat; there may be a pun on poultry/paltry
1 conveyed … territories: exporting money was a serious offence; Henry VIII issued a statute forbidding it
1 blame: blameworthy
2 raven: another bird predicting death
3 dog-fish: a small shark
4 dog-fox: a male fox
5 linguist: one who knows many languages, a rhetorician
1 the ropes: a tightrope
2 whipped: trimmed
3 halter: the rope, indicating that Flaminio deserves hanging
4 orris: iris root, used for whitening and perfuming hair, reflecting Vittoria’s status as a bride
5 pastry: a place where pastry is made
1 crucifix … candle: symbols of hope and comfort to the dying; the murderers perform the Commendatio Animae or ritual commending of the soul to God
2 Attende … Bracciane: ‘Listen, Lord Bracciano’
3 Domine … infernali: ‘Lord Bracciano, you were accustomed to be guarded in battle by your shield; now this shield [the crucifix] you shall oppose against your infernal enemy’
4 Olim … animarum: ‘Once with your spear you prevailed in battle; now this holy spear [the hallowed taper] you shall wield against the enemy of souls’
5 Attende … dextrum: ‘Listen, Lord Bracciano, if you now also approve what has been done between us, turn your head to the right’
1 Esto … periculi: ‘Rest assured, Lord Bracciano: think how many good deeds you have done – lastly remember that my soul is pledged for yours if there should be any peril’
2 Si … laevum: ‘If you now also approve what has been between us, turn your head to the left’
3 A slave … master: the Commendatio animae ought to commend Bracciano’s soul to God
1 conscience: inmost thought
2 broke … poisoned: probably a reference to the Earl of Leicester, who was suspected of attempting to poison his wife, Amy Robsart, and of having her thrown down the stairs in order to clear a path for his marriage to Elizabeth I; according to the pamphlet Leicester’s Commonwealth (1584) he employed a poisoner named Doctor Julio
3 winter plague: a plague that could survive winter was regarded as particularly deadly
4 copperas: a sulphate of copper, iron or zinc
5 quicksilver: mercury
1 true-love knot: a noose, also recalls Francisco’s fake courtship of Vittoria
2 snuff: proverbial description of death as a candle going out in a snuff
3 woman-keeper: nurse, often suspected of killing their patients
4 pest-house: plague hospital
5 quaintlier: more skilfully
1 dispend: spend, exhaust
2 I … city: a scheme to create a new river that would provide Londoners with water had begun in 1608
3 moonish: changeable
4 he that … worst: he that runs up the most credit pays most for it
5 quaint: ingenious
6 saffron: supposed to cause merriment, but fatal in large doses
7 jumps on ice: is precarious
1 descant: expound
2 blasted: struck down by supernatural force
3 infernal: devil
4 make up sport: complete our entertainment
1 wash … white: proverbial, based on Jeremiah 13:23
1 laurel: the plant from which victory wreaths were woven
2 better favoured: more good-looking
3 dottrels: proverbially stupid birds
4 tallants: talons, talents
5 wot: know
1 Anacharsis: a Scythian philosopher, killed by his brother with an arrow; Webster has him confused with Anaxarchus, who was pounded to death in a pestle and mortar because he challenged the authority of a tyrant
2 cullis: health-giving broth
3 In decimo-sexto: i.e., in a smaller version; a decimo-sexto page was one sixteenth of a full sheet of paper
4 presence: presence chamber
1 Castle Angelo: the Castel Sant’Angelo in Rome was the site of the real Vittoria’s imprisonment
2 tower yonder: the audience might think of the Tower of London in which Arbella Stuart had lately been imprisoned for marrying without James I’s permission
3 flaming: Flaminio puns on his own name
4 without: outside
5 smoor: suffocate
6 winding … corpse: wrapping it in the winding sheet, leaving the face uncovered
7 watching … dead: the practice of staying with the dead through the night, with candles burning, was dying out in England
1 traverse: a curtain at the back of the stage, covering the discovery space
2 superstitious: excessive
3 rosemary: an evergreen herb, symbolizing immortality and remembrance
4 bays: laurel leaves, associated with fame and supposed to protect from lightning
5 foolish: not making sense
1 rue: evergreen shrub, symbolizing sorrow and repentance
2 Heart’s-ease: pansy, representing thoughts and tranquillity
3 I pray … myself: Webster is clearly recalling Ophelia in Hamlet, 4.5
4 Can … out: echoes Macbeth, 5.1
1 lute: mad Ophelia carries a lute in Q1 Hamlet and perhaps Cornelia does so here
2 robin … wren: both birds were thought to cover up dead bodies
3 dole: rites
4 wolf … again: the wolf was believed to dig up the corpses of those who had been murdered and thence to act as an agent of revenge
5 summed: reckoned
6 store: perhaps indicating his corpse
7 shut up shop: Cornelia might have retreated to the discovery space where she now draws the curtain
1 maze: labyrinth, confusion
2 try: experience
3 cassock: long coat or cloak worn by soldiers; a leather version was often worn by stage ghosts
4 cowl: monastic hood
5 mockery: counterfeit, absurdity
6 starry gallery … dungeon: probably gesturing to the gallery of the theatre and the ‘hell’ space below the stage
7 shadows: insubstantial persons, actors
1 presently: immediately
2 career: gallop at full speed
3 Ruffin: a name for a devil
4 blowze: a fat, red-faced woman, which Zanche is not
5 wormwood: a bitter-tasting plant
1 I … brother: according to Genesis, Cain was accursed after slaying his brother Abel and became the first exile
2 case: a pair
1 at a dead lift: in a sudden emergency
2 He did … to it: perhaps alluding to King Herod, who ordered his wife Mariam to be killed; Webster may have known Elizabeth Cary’s The Tragedy of Mariam (1613)
1 candied: sugared
2 stibium: antimony, a poison
3 despair… off: unlike other sins, despair tastes bitter yet we drink it, prompting suicide
1 winter plums: hard fruit, i.e., bullets
2 grammatical: conventional, merely following the rules
3 Feminine: i.e., weak
4 exclamation: emphatic speech
1 taster: a servant who tastes his master’s food and drink to detect poison
2 physic: medical science
3 cupping-glasses: surgical vessels, heated and then placed on the body to draw off blood
1 O Lucian … purgatory: Lucian’s Menippos includes such examples of great men’s absurd fates
2 tagging points: fixing metal tips on the laces that held together Jacobean clothing
3 hair buttons: Caesar was famously bald
4 blacking: boot polish, here sold by Hannibal, who was black-skinned
5 lists: strips of cloth
6 Pippin: a variety of apple; the correct French spelling of the king’s name is Pepin
7 scruples: small degrees
1 Styx: river in the classical underworld, used by the ancients to swear by
2 ominous star: a comet, thought to foretell the fall of princes
3 springe: snare for trapping birds and small mammals
4 short: without his tail
5 braches: bitches (female dogs)
1 Scotch holy-bread: sodden sheep’s liver
2 drive … body: treatment of suicides who were then buried at crossroads
3 reaches: plots, contrivances
4 artillery yard: in 1610 the Artillery Gardens at Billingsgate became a popular resort for gentlemen and merchants to practise shooting
1 For one … night: Danaus learned in an oracle that he would be killed by one of his brother’s fifty sons; he married his fifty daughters to those sons and ordered them to kill their husbands on the wedding night; only Hypermnestra refused
2 horse-leeches: bloodsuckers, rhetoricians
3 instruments: i.e., Vittoria and Zanche
4 masque: Jacobean courtly entertainment, usually featuring masked dancers; often used to bring revenge tragedy to a close, e.g., Middleton’s The Revenger’s Tragedy
5 matachin: sword dance, with masks and elaborate costumes
1 idle: foolish, irrelevant
2 Do … form: executioners conventionally sought their victim’s forgiveness beforehand
3 train: tail of the comet, but also attendants
1 Conceit: the imagining of death, female vanity, the conception of a child
2 falling sickness: epilepsy
1 Toledo … fox: different kinds of short sword
2 cutler: a trader in knives and cutting implements
3 tent: clean out the wound to heal it, but also ‘heal’ Flaminio by stabbing him again
4 blood: sexual passion, kinship