5 led. (Q omits)
6 gameful joyful
10–11 perch … lap Plucking the golden apples borne by a tree in the Garden of the Hesperides, the daughters of Hesperus, was a common sexual metaphor; here the image is of a harvester shaking the fruit down while up the tree. Cf. The Changeling III.iii.174–5.
12 weep … ground before she loses her fertility
16 might’well spared might as well have spared
16–17 eringoes … crab All thought to be aphrodisiacs; ‘eringo’ was the candied fruit of sea holly, ‘potato’ was probably the sweet potato or yam. Cf. John Marston, The Scourge of Villainy, Satire III, ll. 67–74.
21 friend i’the common place a friend at the right time, ‘a friend at court’; literally, the court of common pleas at Westminster
31 gutters roof gutters between houses. See IV.i.286.
37 worst i.e. ‘Things can only get better from now on.’
39 humours moods, dispositions
46 (it (a) struggle (b) section of song or poem
48 fall in (a) make up after a quarrel (b) have sex
51 drouth drought
55 court Another reference to loose living in high places; cf. V. C. Gildersleeve, Government Regulation of Elizabethan Drama (1908), p. 109.
57 divorced Sir Oliver would have found it difficult, as legislation was necessary for divorce; ecclesiastical courts could grant a separation for adultery or cruelty or annulment for an illegally contracted marriage but remarriage was forbidden.
59 Marriage … destiny proverbial
68 At … censure ‘At your own cost despite any social criticism’
76 one smock i.e. very little property
77 single celibate; possibly ‘lousy’
82 outcry auction, proclaimed by the common crier
88 presently at once
clap up bills put up posters
103 almond-milk made from sweet almonds, pounded, with water, stirred into thick barley water, sweetened and boiled; used in milk puddings
104 stood me in cost me
106 pranking up dressing smartly
107 their Dyce and Bullen emend to ‘her’, but both sexes wore earrings until about 1660.
109 aught anything
129 Ware twenty miles north of London, like Brentford a trysting place for lovers legal and illicit; the Saracen’s Head inn contained the Great Bed of Ware, 10 ft 9 in (3.3 m) square, now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London
136 standing (a) being still (b) keeping an erection
137 The lacuna here and others elsewhere in the play may indicate that the actor is to ad lib, or whisper to his listener; alternatively, that the Master of the Revels may have deleted a perceived obscenity.
139 figient restless, fidgety
140 crossed jumped across a table or chair
142 joint-stool solidly constructed of pieces fitted together, often carved, about 2 ft (60 cm) high; very common. Stool-leaping was a fashionable game.
147 bad head ironic reference to cuckold’s horns
151 wife ed. (wifes Q) quick pregnant
154 even exact
faster Sir Oliver has been capering all this while.
156 physic medicine
162 since now
170 coach First introduced in 1564, coaches were popular by the early 17th century and Dekker remarks, ‘close caroaches were made running bawdy-houses’ (The Owl’s Almanac (1618), p. 8).