1 Indifferent Moderately

3–5 Melons must be eaten at the correct stage of ripeness; when over-ripe, they are likely to cause gastric ailments. The supposed cause of Annabella’s illness corresponds with Richardetto’s erroneous diagnosis (line 8).

6 easy surfeit-water mild indigestion remedy

8 fullness of her blood sexual ripeness (compare III.ii.81 and note). This was believed to be an ailment of female virgins; the usual remedy was for the young woman to have sex as soon as possible. It is ambiguous whether Richardetto, who is only posing as a physician, makes an honestly mistaken diagnosis; it is possible that he recognizes the signs of pregnancy but conceals them in order to inveigle Soranzo into a humiliating marriage to an unchaste woman.

10 once at some point

11 ere… time before she reaches the crucial point of her illness (i.e. the stage when continued abstinence from sex will be dangerous); there is probably a latent secondary meaning, unintended by Florio, referring to pregnancy (‘the time’ being the period of confinement before giving birth)

21 lineation ed. (I’le… straight / To … to night Q)

23 Richardetto plays no part in the rest of the scene. It is possible that he exits here without witnessing the Friar’s arrival; thus in the next scene he unwittingly gives Grimaldi wrong information about the marriage arrangements.

25 still always

29 ghostly spiritual

35 a father’s dear impression This may mean a loving notion typical of fathers; or Florio may instead be saying that he bears the reproduced image (‘impression’) of his own father, and wants Annabella married so that she can ‘print off further ‘impressions’ by producing grandchildren (which is all the more important to him in view of the anxieties about Giovanni’s health which he expresses at I.iii.5–8).