65. In the original, “Master Cotton.”

66. A Swede. The name means “trumpet-blast.”

67. In the original (early editions), “Werry well.”

68. So in original.

69. This may not be a very lucid or even very precise rendering of Verdensborgerdomsforpagtning; but this line, and indeed the whole speech, is pure burlesque; and the exact sense of nonsense is naturally elusive.

70. So in original.

71. Literally, “pack-camel.”

72. So in original.

73. So in original.

74. So in original.

75. So in original.

76. In the original “kejser.” We have elsewhere used the word “Kaiser,” but in this scene, and in Scenes 7 and 8 of this act, the ordinary English form seemed preferable.

77. So in original.

78. An allusion to the spurs with which Charles XII. is said to have torn the caftan of the Turkish Vizier who announced to him that the Sultan had concluded a truce with Russia. The boots and spurs, it would appear, have been preserved, but with the buckles missing.

79. So in original.

80. So in original.

81. So in original.

82. Mr. Cotton seems to have confounded Olympus with Parnassus.

83. So in original.

84. An allusion to the attitude of Sweden during the Danish War of 1863-64, with special reference to the diplomatic notes of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Grev Manderström. He is also aimed at in the character of Hussein in the last scene of this act. See Introduction.

85. So in original.

86. This is not to be taken as a burlesque instance of the poet’s supposed preoccupation with questions of heredity, but simply as an allusion to the fact that, in the East, thieving and receiving are regular and hereditary professions.

87. This proposal was seriously mooted about ten years after the appearance of Peer Gynt.

88. Or “ego.”

89. In original, “Pundsterling og shilling.”

90. In the original, “De har snydt——hm; jeg mener syndet, mit barn!”

91. In the previous edition we restored the exact wording of Goethe’s line, “zieht uns hinan.” We ought to have understood that the point of the speech lay in the misquotation.

92. Literally, “on the basis of.”

93. So in original.

94. Literally, “you’re looed” or “euchred.”

95. Literally, “behave as though sober and wakeful.”wakeful.”

96. Literally, “spirituel.”

97. Sidst—literally, “when last we met.”

98. “Gå udenom,” the phrase used by the Boyg, Act ii. sc. 7.

99. So in original.

100. So in original.

101. This is understood to refer to the authors of the Greek version of the Old Testament, known as the Septuagint. We are unable to account for the hundred and sixty recruits to their company.

102. See Introduction.

103. Literally, “generation.”

104. Literally, “uninterpreted.”

105. An allusion to the long period of stagnation in the history of Norway under the Danish rule—say, from 1400 to 1800.

106. See note, p. 140.

107. The pounce-box (for strewing “pounce” or sand on undried ink) had not yet been quite superseded by blotting-paper.

108. “En påholden pen.” “Underskrive med påholden pen”—to sign by touching a pen which is guided by another.