FOOTNOTES
[1] “Memoirs of Actors,” xvi., xvii.
[2] “The Academy,” vol. v., 1874, pp. 136-7.
[3] Shoemaking was called “the Gentle Craft,” possibly in part because the patron saints of shoemakers, St. Crispin and St. Hugh, were said to be of noble, and even royal, blood; possibly because of the sedentary nature of the occupation.
[4] A diminutive of Roger.
[5] Wasted, squandered.
[6] Regimental badge or device.
[7] Weapons and martial equipment.
[8] A gold coin, worth about three pounds twelve shillings.
[9] The quarto has “with a piece.” Piece (old Fr. bobelin) was sometimes loosely used for the shoe itself, as well as for the piece of leather used in repairs. See Cotgrave.
[10] Twiddle-twaddle.
[11] Apparently one of Eyre’s frequent improvised phrases, referring here to his wife’s trick of repeating herself, as in her previous speech.
[12] An imaginary Saracen god, represented in the old moralities and plays as of a quite ungodly tendency to violence.
[13] A nick-name, possibly, for some character of the day, used with a vague reference to King Lud.
[14] Tales told to curry favour.
[15] The groat was the silver fourpenny-piece. The simile of a cracked coin is an obvious expression of worthlessness.
[16] Little yellow spots on the body which denoted the infection of the plague.
[17] Another of Eyre’s improvised phrases, whose component parts sufficiently explain its meaning.
[18] With a vengeance.
[19] Crushed crab apples.
[20] A kind of trousers, first worn by the Gascons.
[21] A phrase from Kyd’s Spanish Tragedy.
[22] i.e. Go and be hanged!
[23] i.e. Dressing himself.
[24] Bread soaked in pot liquor, and prepared secundum artem.—Nares.
[25] Salted beef.
[26] A dog kept fastened up as a watch-dog, and therefore given to loud barking.
[27] A woman who washed and pickled pigs’ faces.
[28] Bawling.
Jolly they be;
He was so drunk he could not stand,
Drunken they be:
Clink then the cannikin,
Drink, pretty mannikin!
[30] St. Hugh was the patron saint of shoemakers, and his bones were supposed to have been made into shoemaker’s tools, for which this came to be a common term.
[31] A dish of different hashed meats.
[32] Good day, master, and your wife too.
[33] Yes, yes, I am a shoemaker.
[34] Yes, yes; be not afraid. I have everything, to make boots big and little.
[35] I don’t know what you say; I don’t understand you.
[36] Yes, yes, yes; I can do that very well.
[37] Slatterns, sluts.
[38] O, I understand you; I must pay for half-a-dozen cans; here, boy, take this shilling, tap this once freely.
[39] Cant term for a beggar.
[40] Conger-eel.
[41] Take cover.
[42] Spent; panting with exhaustion.
[43] Stupid.
[44] I’ll tell you what, Hans; this ship that is come from Candia, is quite full, by God’s sacrament, of sugar, civet, almonds, cambric, and all things; a thousand, thousand things. Take it, Hans, take it for your master. There are the bills of lading. Your master, Simon Eyre, shall have a good bargain. What say you, Hans?
[45] My dear brother Firk, bring Master Eyre to the sign of the Swan; there shall you find this skipper and me. What say you, brother Firk? Do it, Hodge.—[There were at this time two inns with the sign of the Swan in London, one at Dowgate, the other in Old Fish Street.]
[46] A coin worth about three pounds twelve shillings.
[47] “East from the Bishop of Winchester’s house, directly over against it, stands a fair church, called St. Mary over the Rie, or Overie, that is, over the water.”—Stow’s Survey of London.
[48] Finsbury was a famous practising ground for archery at this time.
[49] A name given to Dutchwomen.
[50] By the way, beside the question.
[51] German: Schelm, a scoundrel. Skanderbag, or Scander Beg (i.e. Lord Alexander), a Turkish name for John Kastriota, the Albanian hero, who freed his country from the yoke of the Turks (1443-1467).
[52] A robe ornamented with guards or facings.
[53] Stamped.
[54] Raising up, ruffling.
[55] Good day, master. This is the skipper that has the ship of merchandise; the commodity is good; take it, master, take it.
[56] The ship lies in the river; there are sugar, civet, almonds, cambric, and a thousand thousand things, by God’s sacrament, take it, master; you shall have a good bargain.
[57] Yes, yes, I have drunk well.
[58] Fr. Par Dieu. The word here means “truly.”
[59] Found, set; a play upon fond.
[60] Puppet: derived from Mahomet.
[61] Coins worth about 10s. each.
[62] Ale-kegs, made of wood; hence the need for scalding.
[63] I thank you, mistress!
[64] Yes, I shall, mistress!
[65] High-heeled cork shoes were in fashion for ladies at this time.
[67] A comparison suggested by the likeness of the flaps of the hood to the boards of a pillory, between which the head of the prisoner was fastened.
[68] The old name for Gracechurch Street before the fire of London.
[69] I am merry; let’s see you so too!
[70] Serve me, and I’ll serve thee.
[71] Yes, I shall, dame!
[72] Brighten up.
[73] Sheriff.
[74] “The three-farthing silver pieces of Queen Elizabeth had the profile of the sovereign with a rose at the back of her head.”—Dyce (Note to King John.)
[75] The flap of a hood trimmed with fur or sheep’s wool.
[76] i.e. For the twenty Portuguese previously lent.
[77] Herrick, who was a goldsmith’s apprentice in London during the time when this play was performed, seems to have appropriated these words of Eyre’s, and turned them into rhyme in these lines:—
While we’re in our prime,
And old, old age is afar off;
For the evil, evil days,
Will come on apace,
Before we can be aware of.”
[78] A song or catch for three voices. In the original, the two Three-Men’s Songs are printed separately from the rest of the play, and the place for their insertion is only very uncertainly indicated.
[79] I thank you, good maid!
[81] “Forward, Firk, thou art a jolly youngster. Hark, ay, master, I bid you cut me a pair of vamps for Master Jeffrey’s boots.” Vamps; upper leathers of a shoe.
[82] A play upon “vamps,” which sometimes has this meaning.
[83] What do you want (was begehrt ihr), what would you, girl?
[84] Where is your noble lady, where is your mistress?
[85] Yes, yes, I shall go with you.
[86] “At the west end of this Jesus chapel, under the choir of Paul’s, also was a parish church of St. Faith, commonly called St. Faith under Paul’s.”—Stow.
[87] A corruption of “God’s nails.”
[88] Indeed, mistress, ’tis a good shoe, it shall fit well, or you shall not pay.
[89] Yes, yes, I know that well; indeed, ’tis a good shoe, ’tis made of neat’s leather, see here, good sir!
[90] Honeykin (?); poor honey, poor creature.
[91] “Rest you merry.”—Shak., Romeo and Juliet, Act I, Sc. 2.
[92] i.e. Diggers for information.
[93] i.e. Stretchers of the truth, fibs.
[94] A stone in St. Swithin’s (now cased in the wall of the church), which marked the centre from which the old Roman-roads radiated.
[95] A small conduit near the Royal Exchange.
[96] A pretty sight. See p, 74, l. 1. Compare Shakespeare’s “Love’s Labour’s Lost,” Act III., Sc. 1, 136, and Act IV., Sc. 1, 144.
[97] Terms used in a common children’s game, the point being to discover in which of the two hands some small object was hidden.
[98] A sweet biscuit, similar to a macaroon.—Nares.
[99] Fitted.
[100] In any public affray, the cry was “Clubs, Clubs!” by way of calling for help (particularly by the London ’prentices).—Nares.
[101] A piece of lace with a tag, which fastened the busk, or piece of whalebone, used to keep the stays in position.
[102] Whipped.
[105] Barrels.
[106] In suspense.
[107] i.e. Swaggerer.
[109] Pass, push about from one to the other, in drinking.
[110] “A dish, made of milk, eggs and sugar, baked in a pot.”—Webster.
[111] A steak cut crossways for broiling.
[112] Bands or collars for the neck.
[113] Flaps; as resembling the hanging chaps of a hound.
[114] The allusion is, no doubt, to Kyd’s Soliman and Perseda, and to Marlowe’s Tamburlaine, though these were long after Eyre’s time.
[115] Magpie.
[116] Tamerlane (Tamburlaine), Cham, or Khan of Tartary. Compare Shakespeare’s Much Ado about Nothing, Act II. Sc. i.
[117] “A.D. 1419. This year Sir Symon Eyre built Leadenhall, at his proper expense, as it now appears, and gave the same to the City to be employed as a public granary for laying up corn against a time of scarcity.”—Maitland, ii., p. 187.
[118] Merry-making.
[119] Portentous.
[120] A red Spanish wine, made at Alicant.
[121] By our lady.
[122] Ballad-makers.
[123] i.e. Readily. Compare Gull’s Horn Book, Notts Ed. p. 160.
[124] Grandee.
[125] A contemptuous term for an old man of means.
[126] The superstitions about this plant, its fancied resemblance to the human figure, led to its being frequently alluded to in this way.
[127] Query Whimlings—idiots.
[128] Wide of the mark.
[129] Scurfy.
[130] Bosom friend.
[131] “Aunt” was a cant term both for a prostitute and a bawd.—Dyce.
[132] Cheat.
[133] i.e. An idiot. The phrase had its origin in the practice of the crown granting the custody of idiots and their possessions to persons who had interest enough to secure the appointments.
[134] Foolish.
[135] i.e. For love’s sake.
[136] Bet.
[137] Hands.
[138] The shopkeeper’s common cry at this period.
[139] An exclamation of contempt, equivalent to “a fig for.”—Dyce.
[140] Proverbial term for a simpleton.
[141] Milksop.
[142] Beat.
[143] Thieves’ slang for a man who shams madness to gain his ends. Compare Dekker’s Bellman of London, Grosart, sc. III., p. 101.
[144] i.e. Not fully dressed.
[145] A stick used for plaiting ruffs.
[146] Sideboard.
[148] A common ejaculation of contempt.
[149] A corruption of “God’s my pity.”—Dyce.
[150] A gold coin worth about ten shillings. The play upon the word was one of the commonest puns of the time.
[151] A docked horse.
[152] Spiced and sweetened wine.
[153] Half a gallon.
[154] A roll of fine bread.
[155] A sprightly dance.
[156] Prostitutes.
[157] Rabbit-skin.
[158] i.e. Retires to the background.
[159] Cheat.
[160] Hysterics.
[161] Paltry.
[162] Respectfully.