EPILOGUEn10140

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n10136   5.1 The first scene of Act 5 begins by reinforcing the characterisation of CIT-WIT as an imperturbable coward. Trying to start a fight, SWAIN-WIT bombards him with accusations of calumny; but Cit-wit claims to have spoken relative truths and COURT-WIT offers forgiveness for a slanderous statement about himself. The BOY, who enters with a message from Lady Strangelove, proves less tolerant: told that Cit-wit has accused him of theft, he throws himself upon his accuser and then, having been pulled off Cit-wit, the Boy performs his errand, which is to summon the Wits to Sir Andrew Mendicant’s house (and the next scene). Before that move is made, however, Cit-wit is transfixed and then transformed by the entrance in tandem of PHILOMEL and DAINTY, who have not been seen for two hours. A brief display of machismo by Cit-wit brings Philomel into his arms at last; and when Dainty does not respond in aggressive kind, Cit-wit treats Dainty – and the audience – to a replay of the insults which Swain-wit has been bouncing at him. One of these, delivered on the rebound from the Boy, is of being a pickpocket and cutpurse. Dainty, thinking himself to have been discovered, concedes the charges and returns the property which he has previously stolen from Swain-wit and from Cit-wit. All set off to Mendicant’s house and the next scene. This second scene opens with MENDICANT holding a letter and gloating over CHARISSA: her marriage is imminent. Lady STRANGELOVE, source of the instructions about wedding arrangements which have made Mendicant so happy, enters. With her come a PRIEST, FERDINAND (apparently asleep in his sedan-chair), and Ferdinand’s medical team, now varied by the addition of a second doctor (FREDERICK in disguise) and the substitution of a servant (GABRIEL, also in disguise): escorted by Charissa at her father’s command, these are all sent off to Ferdinand’s chamber. Mendicant remains with Strangelove, who reports that Frederick has `made himself away’ and drops hints to the audience about the meaning of her phrase. Strangelove also advises Mendicant of the approach of friends who bring revels by way of wedding celebrations. Thus anticipated, COURT-WIT, SWAIN-WIT, CIT-WIT, DAINTY, PHILOMEL and the BOY enter. Dainty’s pickpocketing is revealed to Mendicant -- and then practised upon him again, a trick which the victim interprets as an omen of further trouble. When he seeks to check on proceedings in Ferdinand’s chamber, Strangelove diverts him to the garden, whither he is pursued by PROJECTOR 1 and PROJECTOR 2, newly arrived. The Doctor returns: having reported the completion of the wedding ceremony, he is recruited by the revellers, who now begin to rehearse. Sir RAPHAEL Winterplum enters in search of Mendicant; and, in one of the funniest sequences in the play, he fails to get a straight answer from any of the amateur performers now that they are in their respective roles. The revellers exit to rehearse. Mendicant returns with the two Projectors but immediately sends them off again. He is now told by Raphael that Gabriel is about to die of the wound inflicted by Mendicant and that Raphael himself has begged the estate which Mendicant is about to forfeit as a felon. Mendicant may keep his estate provided that makes it the marriage portion of Charissa and Frederick, who now enter with Strangelove, Ferdinand and Gabriel. Mendicant flees as the revellers, now in costume, return to present a wedding masque. Their dancing is interrupted by the first Projector, who reports Mendicant to have gone mad. Accompanied by the other Projector, Mendicant returns: he wears a windmill on his head, and he is pinned all over with project patents, but he speaks as if he were addressing Parliament. The revellers lead off a dance in which the patents are pulled from Mendicant, while the Projectors are stripped of their cloaks and, thus shamed, are shoved offstage. With the young lovers united, the old fools chastened, and the trouble-makers expelled, all that remains to be tied up is the relationship between Strangelove and Ferdinand. [go to text]

n9074   convey Octavo of 1653 reads `convery'. [go to text]

gg1195   tother other (of two) [go to text]

gg5848   flim-flams, idle talk; humbug (OED n. 1 & 2) [go to text]

gg1956   sworn. promised by oath [go to text]

gs1593   forbear leave (him) alone [go to text]

gg5868   discipline instruction (OED n. 1a and 3a) [go to text]

gg5867   correction? corporal punishment (OED 4) [go to text]

gg6047   Comparatively by way of comparison; somewhat, rather (OED) [go to text]

n9090   Corineus, that wrestled and threw giant after giant over the cliffs into the sea. In Geoffrey of Monmouth's mythical British history, Corineus was a descendant of Trojan War veterans and in his own right an unbeatable wrestler. He accompanied Brutus into Albion, then inhabited only by giants. When the invaders divided the island among themselves, Corineus chose, and gave his name to, Cornwall. The indigenous population of giants was denser there than elsewhere, and Corineus entertained himself by fighting with them -- notably, Gogmagog, whom Corineus hurled over the cliff at Plymouth Hoe. Geoffrey of Monmouth's Latin narrative was mined by Michael Drayton for his Polyolbion (1622), a mythical chorography of Britain. Drayton's version of the story of `great Corineus...the strong'st of mortal men', his victory over `great Gogmagog, an oak that by the roots could tear', and his reward in being given Cornwall, is told in Song I, likely source of Brome's reference. [go to text]

n9091   peppered so full o’ the whatshacallums, that his spittle would poison a dog or a rat? Another reference, through the figure of Court-wit, to the syphilitic condition of Sir William Davenant. [go to text]

gg5851   whatshacallums, plural contraction of `what-dye-call-um', defined by the OED as an `appellation for a thing or person whose name the speaker forgets, does not know or wish to mention, or thinks not worth mentioning' [go to text]

gg5852   chrisom-child newly baptised (and thus both innocent and very young) baby: from `chrisom', a white garment or piece of cloth which is used in the Christian ritual of baptism [go to text]

n9097   I’ll make thee speak positively, or beat thee superlatively Cit-wit's escape hatch has been a plea of moral relativism -- `comparatively speaking'. Picking up Cit-wit's phrase, Swain-wit responds to its linguistic sense as the degree of an adjective or adverb -- positive (e.g., cool), comparative (cooler), superlative (coolest). [go to text]

n9240   he was singing between thy legs today Presumably this was offstage during Act 2, when the trio of Wits are reported (and heard) to be singing catches while waiting for Raphael Winterplum to go away. See [CB 3.1.speech303]. [go to text]

n9099   [laddy]: Octavo of 1653 reads `Lady', which makes no sense in context: Cit-wit is speaking to the Boy, and Lady Strangelove is not onstage to be addressed. The Boy has mentioned her, by title, in the last speech but three, and it seems likely that that occurrence occasioned a slip by scribe or typesetter here. [go to text]

n9810   Hercules In classical mythology, Hercules was the greatest of the Greek heroes and the strongest of all mortals. Hercules successfully completed twelve tasks, most of which demanded great strength and endurance in the face of apparently impossible opposition. In addressing the Boy as Hercules, Court-wit mocks his assault on Cit-wit (who may be a coward but as an adult has the advantage of size). At the same time, moreover, Court-wit also makes a metatheatrical allusion to Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost, in which the pageboy Moth presents the figure of Hercules in the Act 5 masque. [go to text]

gg1349   revels. entertainments in royal or aristocratic households (as these were most often performed by professional acting troupes, the word was often added to the name of a company, such as the Children of the King's Revels) [go to text]

n9448   [Exit BOY.] Octavo of 1653 does not provide an exit for the Boy once he has accomplished his errand. There is nothing in the dialogue to hold him onstage for the rest of the scene; and it makes dramatic sense for the Boy not to be around for the romantic reconciliation of Philomel and Cit-wit. If he is to exit, then it seems best for him to go as soon as the lines alllow, his departure marking a break before Swain-wit has another go at Cit-wit. [go to text]

gg6047   Comparatively by way of comparison; somewhat, rather (OED) [go to text]

gg4384   churchwarden, a lay honorary officer of a parish or district church, elected to assist the incumbent in the discharge of his administrative duties, to manage such various parochial offices as by custom or legislation devolve upon him, and generally to act as the lay representative of the parish in matters of church-organization (OED) [go to text]

gs1594   dispose, control, disposal (OED n. 3, where it is noted that the phrase `at one's dispose' is very common 1600-1730) [go to text]

n9447   COURT[-WIT] talks aside with DAINTY. In Octavo of 1653, this stage direction reads `Court takes aside with Dainty’ and is placed, parenthetically and to the right, across three lines (beginning with [CB5.1.line2320] and corresponding to [CB5.1.speech890] through [CB5.1.speech892]). The emendation here corrects an obvious error -- the omission of `Swain-wit' from the stage direction. [go to text]

gg6056   Lucifer Satan, the Devil (OED 2) [go to text]

gs1595   waggery. both: jest, jocularity (OED 1); and (an innuendo suggested by the onstage situation) sexual play [go to text]

gg5288   verier truer [go to text]

gg1195   tother. other (of two) [go to text]

gg5853   flesh initiate in bloodshed (OED v. 2a) [go to text]

gg857   and if [go to text]

gg5740   jowl knock, bump, bang (OED v1. 2) [go to text]

n9811   tone ] ton [go to text]

gg6046   tone the one (of two) [go to text]

gs240   tother the other [go to text]

gg5854   abominably. greatly, terribly (OED adv. 2) [go to text]

gg1611   cozened beguiled, deceived [go to text]

gs1596   demur delay, stall for time [go to text]

gs1676   so provided that [go to text]

gg5858   cutpurse. one` who steals by the method of cutting purses, a common practice when men wore their purses at their girdles'; hence, a pickpocket, thief, robber (OED) [go to text]

gs1597   extremity. extreme severity or rigour (OED 6) [go to text]

n9576   thou shalt have it to keep up while thou art up. Swain-wit's promise might make more sense in performance than it does on the page. If the pronoun `it' here refers to stolen goods which Dainty has just returned, then Swain-wit is offering his restored property for Cit-wit to look after (and/or drawing attention to the property which has been restored to Cit-wit) as long as the fierce fit holds. [go to text]

gg5855   denomination title (OED 2) [go to text]

gg5858   cutpurse one` who steals by the method of cutting purses, a common practice when men wore their purses at their girdles'; hence, a pickpocket, thief, robber (OED) [go to text]

n9104   that draws the king’s pictures out of men’s pockets! Dainty steals coins, on which the King's portrait is stamped, from his victims' pockets. The joke plays with the double senses of `draw' (as `delineate' and as `withdraw, remove') and of `pictures' (as `image painted or drawn on a flat surface' and as `three-dimensional image'). Having seen the joke, Cit-wit will repeat it in the next scene: see [CB 5.2.speech948] and [NOTE n9265]. Dainty used a similar equivocation (playing with `draw' and `pieces') back in Act 2: see [CB 2.1.speech331] and [NOTE n8371]. [go to text]

gg5859   kindly, with sympathy, benevolence, good nature (OED adv. 2) [go to text]

n9105   in your kind, That is: as suits your sort. Dainty has asked to be treated kindly (in the sense of `humanely'), and Cit-wit responds by threatening to treat him as befits the thieving subspecies of humankind. Cit-wit, suddenly valorous, proposes that Dainty should be punished for his crimes. [go to text]

n9449   [CIT-WIT] takes PHIL[OMEL] by the hand. [CIT-WIT, PHILOMEL, COURT-WIT, SWAIN-WIT and DAINTY all exit.] Octavo of 1653 reads: `Takes Phil by the hand. Exeunt Omnes.' [go to text]

gg1892   felicity, happiness [go to text]

n9106   that the poet sings That is: matches that day which the Psalmist deems to be better than an age. The allusion is to the Judaeo-Christian Old Testament (Psalm 84:10, King James translation): 'For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand.' [go to text]

n9106   Is better than an age. That is: matches that day which the Psalmist deems to be better than an age. The allusion is to the Judaeo-Christian Old Testament (Psalm 84:10, King James translation): 'For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand.' [go to text]

gg6057   magnify glorify, extol (OED 1) [go to text]

gg5058   acceptation acceptance [go to text]

gg5860   true accurate (OED adj. 4a); genuine, not counterfeit (OED adj. 5a) [go to text]

gg6059   resounds celebrates (OED v1, 4) [go to text]

n9451   [GABRIEL] Octavo of 1653 reads `Fab.' -- a simple typographical error. It is probable that Gabriel replaces the Servant who has appeared as the Sow-gelder in the preceding scene and whose actor will return in the next scene to double Projector 2. [go to text]

n9452   He sleeps, Octavo of 1653 reads (He sleeps) but context makes quite clear that the parentheses function simply as commas here, as they do elsewhere in the text. [go to text]

gg5861   conduct. guide (OED n1. 3) [go to text]

n9450   [CHARISSA, DOCTOR, FREDERICK, PRIEST, FERDINAND,SERVANT and GABRIEL exit.] In Octavo of 1653 the corresponding stage direction is printed to the right, across two lines, the last of Speech No. 955 and the first of speech No. 956. It reads: `Ext.Om.Pret.Mend.& Strang.' -- that is, with abbreviations expanded, `Exeunt Omnes Præter Mendicant et Strangelove' [Let all exit except Mendicant and Strangelove]. [go to text]

gg5946   event outcome (OED n. 3a) [go to text]

n9453   He has by this time, or the priest is tongue-tied. In Octavo of 1653, this line is set in parentheses -- evidently to signal that (as is also clear from context) it is an aside. [go to text]

n9264   on Octavo of 1653 reads `no'. [go to text]

gg5947   warned summoned (OED v1. 7a) [go to text]

gs1655   revels dancing, acting, masquing [go to text]

gs1656   gallants fine fellows (ironic: see OED n. 2a) [go to text]

n9454   I missed it at my Lady Strangelove’s. In Octavo of 1653, this line is set in parentheses -- apparently to signal that it is an aside. It makes better sense, however, for the line to be part of Mendicant's reply to Cit-wit: the purse was stolen onstage in the final business of Act 2, so any audience will know what has happened to it; and he is not going to keep its theft a secret from the others onstage in this scene. [go to text]

n9265   drawn more of the King’s pictures Dainty has often stolen coins, on which the King's portrait is stamped, from his victims' pockets and purses. The joke plays with the double senses of `draw' (as `delineate' and as `withdraw, remove') and of `pictures' (as `image painted or drawn on a flat surface' and as `three-dimensional image'). Cit-wit has registered the joke in the scene immediately preceding this one: [CB 5.1.speech948] and [NOTE n9104]. Here, as is characteristic of his speech, he reiterates it. A similar quibble (involving `draw' and `pieces' was introduced by Dainty in Act 2: see [CB 2.1.speech331] and [NOTE n8371]. [go to text]

gg5166   limners painters, especially of portraits [go to text]

gg4269   fathom literally, a measurement that is the equivalent of the distance between the fingertips of each hand when the arms are outstretched to the full (roughly six-foot); figuratively, a great distance [go to text]

n9268   I have it, sir, indeed, and as your gift I’ll keep it, promising before all these witnesses, I’ll never venture for another. The joke pivots on ambiguity of pronominal reference: where Mendicant has used the word `it' to mean the pardon which he is extending to Dainty, Dainty uses that pronoun to mean the purse which he has just stolen from Mendicant during their reconciliatory embrace. Dainty then extends the joke with a second ambiguous pronoun, `another'. [go to text]

gs1600   venture risk oneself [go to text]

gg5864   expert trained by experience, skilful (OED a1, 2) [go to text]

n9107   thieves’ handsel, though. This may presage some greater loss at hand. Having just been robbed for the first time, Sir Andrew Mendicant interprets the experience as a sign that he may be about to take another, and bigger, financial hit. [go to text]

gg5865   handsel, first experience, taken as auspicious of what is to follow (OED n. 4) [go to text]

gs1603   presage portend (OED 1a) [go to text]

gg5878   expeditious speedy (OED adj. 3) [go to text]

gg5863   cast contrived, devised (OED v. 43b) [go to text]

gg5862   design plan, scheme (OED n. 1a) [go to text]

n9126   My inventions are all flame and spirit. The sense of `inventions' is ambiguous. Court-wit could be speaking of his own inventive ability (OED 4), or his inventive activity (OED 3b), or that which he has invented (OED 6). His use of the plural, however, suggests that the last of these three senses is the dominant one. He is in any case boasting: according to medieval cosmology, the great distinction of fire relative to the other three elements (earth, air and water) which constituted the universe was that only fire leapt upwards. [go to text]

n9122   extempore or in six minutes. If Court-wit stresses and aspirates the first syllable of the first word, it will be heard as `HEX', which means `six' in Greek. [go to text]

gs1598   extempore without preparation (OED adv. 1a) [go to text]

gg1766   so so (that), so long as (OED adv. and conj. 26a) [go to text]

gg5869   skip leap, spring (OED v1. 2a) [go to text]

gg5877   daintily excellent, finely, handsomely (OED adv. 1; now obsolete) [go to text]

gs1599   else, already (OED adv. 3c) [go to text]

gg5867   correction, corporal punishment (OED 4) [go to text]

gs1605   cause good, proper or adequate ground for action (OED 3a) [go to text]

gg857   And if [go to text]

gs1262   got begot, fathered [go to text]

gg5866   salved. explained away, cleared up (OED v2. 2) [go to text]

gs1595   waggery both: jest, jocularity (OED 1); and (an innuendo suggested by the onstage situation) sexual play [go to text]

n9475   [They consult.] In Octavo of 1653, this stage direction is placed, parenthetically and to the right, across the first three of the four prose lines in Strangelove's speech ([CB 5.2.speech1005]). [go to text]

gg229   pretty pleasing; good, excellent [go to text]

n9108   Women-actors now grow in request. The novelty here is that the request was beginning to be met, albeit by players from the Continent, in the London commercial theatre. Early in November 1629 a French company played at the Blackfriars: according to the Master of the Revels, in a record of which the original is now lost, what they staged there was a `farce'. More remarkable than the genre is the gender composition of the French company: as William Prynne recorded in his Histrio-Mastix, published four years after the French company's performance at Blackfriars: `They have now their female players in Italy and other foreign parts...[And] in imitation of these, some French women, or monsters rather, on Michaelmas term 1629 attempted to act a French play at the playhouse in Blackfriars -- an impudent, shameful, unwomanish, graceless, if not more than whorish attempt.' Five and a half years later, London again gave place to women performers on the commercial stage, this time the Phoenix in Drury Lane. Owned by Christopher Beeston and later known as the Cockpit, the Phoenix in 1635 was the home of Queen Henrietta Maria's men. In a document of which the original is no longer extant, the Master of the Revels recorded the French company's week-long residency there: his account suggests that their visit had involved a high level of intervention by King Charles on behalf of his Queen. See Bentley, Jacobean and Caroline Stage, VI (Oxford University Press, 1968), 23, 225-7; and Wickham et al., eds., English Professional Theatre 1580-1660 (Cambridge University Press, 2000), 526-7, 584, 632. [go to text]

n9476   [COURT-WIT produces writing equipment and moves upstage, or to the side, with PHILOMEL and BOY. COURT-WIT proceeds to scribble in his notebook, now and then showing PHILOMEL what he has written.] In Octavo of 1653 the corresponding stage direction is placed, parenthetically and to the right, across the five prose lines of the exchange between Mendicant and Strangelove at [CB 5.2.speech1006] through [CB 5.2.1008]. It reads: `Court draws his Tables and retires to Phil, writes & sometimes shewes her.' There is no direction for the movement of the Boy, but the dialogue suggests that he stays near Philomel. [go to text]

gg6060   omen event or phenomenon regarded as a portent of good or evil (OED n. 1) [go to text]

gs1601   ominous ruinous, disastrous (OED 1c) [go to text]

gs1657   discovery. reconnaissance; viewing (OED 3b and 3c) [go to text]

n9474   [As STRANGELOVE and MENDICANT start to depart through different stage doors, PROJECTOR 1 and PROJECTOR 2 enter through the door to which she is moving.] In Octavo of 1653 the Projectors' entrance is placed between [CB 5.2.speech1009] and [CB 5.2.speech1010] -- thus, after the exit direction for Strangelove and Mendicant at the end of [CB 5.2.speech1009]. (See [CB 5.2.line2555].) The reason for moving the Projectors' entrance up to the middle of Strangelove's speech [CB 5.2.speech1009] is that the dialogue requires at least one of them to hear the second line of her speech, and it also requires her to see them. Traffic control is obviously tricky here: it would be even trickier if the full trio of Projectors were required to enter. However, the 1653 stage direction reads: `Enter two Projectors.' [CB 5.2.line2555] The actor of Projector 3 is preoccupied by another role -- probably that of the Doctor. [go to text]

n9477   [MENDICANT exits through one stage door,STRANGELOVE exits through the other stage door.] In Octavo of 1653, the corresponding stage direction is placed to the right of the last line in Speech No. 1006. It reads: `Ex. severally' -- that is, separately. [go to text]

gs1606   quit release, rescue, redeem (OED v. 6a) [go to text]

gs1602   footing. choreography, dance steps [go to text]

n9478   [He begins to devise dance steps and demonstrate them to CIT-WIT and SWAIN-WIT.] Video In Octavo of 1653 the corresponding stage direction is placed, parenthetically and to the right, across the two prose lines of Dainty's speech ([CB 5.2.speech1013]). It reads: `Practise footing.' (See [CB 5.2.line2560].) Video material from the 13 December 2008 workshop on this rehearsal-within-a-play gives an idea (perhaps exaggerated) of the visual comedy that this stage direction would set in motion: see clip . [go to text]

gg491   want lack [go to text]

gs104   trow? do you suppose? [go to text]

n9115   avouch Octavo of 1653 reads `vouch', but the OED does not give a transitive sense for this verb. For `avouch', however, it gives a sense (4) which exactly fits this context: `to acknowledge (or claim) solemnly as one's own'. The difference between the verbs being but a single letter, easily dropped in typesetting, the emendation seems justifiable as well as semantically preferable. [go to text]

n9479   Tay dee, dee..... Video Octavo of 1653 reads `Tay dee. dee, &c.' (See [CB 5.2.line2576].) Expanded to `et cetera', the abbreviation `&c.' means `and other things': it here indicates that the Doctor hums, or wordlessly sings, more than just `Tay dee, dee'. Subsequent stage directions in the 1653 octavo make clear that the Doctor carries on with this business up to and including his exit with the other performers after [CB 5.2.speech1045]. (See [CB 5.2.line2626].) Doubtless his volume would vary in performance: as General Editor Richard Cave has pointed out to the editor of The Court Beggar, this stage direction is a good example of Brome encouraging improvisation. Workshop session on 13 December 2008 demonstrated what such encouragement might foster: see clip . [go to text]

gg913   viol early forms of stringed instruments played with a bow that came in different pitches akin to the modern violin, viola or cello [go to text]

gs1608   take learn (OED v. 30) [go to text]

n9500   RAPHAEL Video In Octavo of 1653, the corresponding stage direction reads: `Enter sir Raphael.' With or without his title, Raphael is crucial to the rehearsal sequence. As actor Philip Cumbus pointed out in the workshop session on 13 December 2008, Raphael is `the microphone': he guides audience attention to one ridiculous performance after another; he is physically and verbally incongruous with each of the figures to whom he turns; and his baffled responses compound the comedy. See clip . [go to text]

n9114   [Raphael] Octavo of 1653 neglects to give a heading for this speech, but the question is obviously being asked by Sir Raphael on his entrance. [go to text]

n9499   (To COURT-W[IT]) In Octavo of 1653, the corresponding stage direction, distinguished by an open-parenthesis sign, is placed at the end of the line which it governs ([CB 5.2.speech1025]). [go to text]

gg6061   tables, notebook [go to text]

n9813   pumping his Muse. that is: seeking help from his own personal poetic source. Court-wit here presents a comic figure of dramatic inspiration hard at work. [go to text]

n9114   [Raphael] Octavo of 1653 neglects to give a heading for this speech, but the question is obviously being asked by Sir Raphael on his entrance. [go to text]

gg5872   civil of apparel: sober, decent, grave (OED adj. 10) [go to text]

n9109   Te precor, domine Doctor. `I beseech you, master doctor' is a formula for a pupil's address to a teacher. [go to text]

n9513   `Sellinger's Round' or the like `Sellinger's Round' is a country dance tune: its popularity (which has continued for centuries) is suggested here by the alternative selection. [go to text]

n9146   Charon In classical Greek mythology, Charon was the old miser whose job was to ferry newly arrived spirits of the dead across the river which surrounded the Underworld. For this service he demanded prepayment, in cash: hence the ancient Greek burial practice of putting an obol, a small silver coin, on the tongue of the deceased. Philomel's stage persona evidently expects to try paying in charm instead of cash. [go to text]

n9148   Stygian flood. This is a fancy phrase for `River Styx' in classical Greek mythology. Largest of the six rivers of the Underworld, the Styx had to be crossed by the spirits of the newly dead on arrival there. [go to text]

n9150   a sop for Cerberus In Greek classical mythology, Cerberus was a multi-headed dog who guarded the gate of the kingdom of Hades in the Underworld. His job was to keep ghosts in and intruders out, but he could be diverted by various means. In Virgil's Æneid, the Sibyl, a prophetess who advises the hero Æneas, knocks out the canine monster with a drugged lump of flour and honey (Book VI, lines 418-22). This `sop for Cerberus' became a phrase denoting a relatively worthless bribe. [go to text]

n9882   To stop his yawning chaps. Beyond its dramatic function in Philomel's impersonation of the Cumaean Sibyl here, the phrase may be a quotation from John Marston's The Scourge of Villanie (1598). In Book 3, the speaker referring to Bishop Joseph Hall, asks: `What Accademick starued Satyrist / Would gnaw rez'd Bacon, or with inke black fist / would tosse each muck-heap for som outcast scraps / Of halfe-dung bones to stop his iawning chaps?' (lines 111-114) [go to text]

gg6062   yawning gaping (OED yawn v, 1) [go to text]

gg6063   chaps. jaws (OED chap n2, 2) [go to text]

n9151   Elysium. `The supposed state or abode of the blessed after death in Greek mythology' (OED 1). In his English Expositor (1616), a dictionary of difficult words, the Jacobean lexicographer John Bullokar defined it as `A supposed place of pleasure below; where Poets imagined the soules of good men did rest.' [go to text]

gg5886   heathenish pagan [go to text]

n9520   (DAINTY plays softly and DOCTOR [hums or sings] with him aside) In Octavo of 1653 this stage direction is placed, parenthetically and to the right, across four lines ([CB 5.2.line2599] through [CB 5.2.line2602]. Dainty is learning the tune which the Doctor has invented. The effect of their business would be to provide background music for Philomel's second over-the-top histrionic speech ([CB5.2.speech1030]). [go to text]

n9814   snarling triple-headed cur, that is: Cerberus [go to text]

n9152   Pluto’s In classical Roman mythology, Pluto was the ruler of the Underworld (corresponding to Hades in Greek mythology). [go to text]

gg5887   pitchy pitch-black, intensely dark (OED adj, 2a) [go to text]

n9153   Acheron. In classical Greek mythology, Acheron was one of the six rivers of the Underworld. [go to text]

n9521   What woman monster’s this? Sir Raphael's question suggests that he has only just noticed that a female character is spouting pseudo-Senecan tragic verse. Beyond the absurdity of Sir Raphael's obtuseness, there is a metatheatrical joke. In theatrical fact, Philomel is played by a boy; but in the dramatic fiction Philomel is a female character. And at this point, speaking as she does in the character of the Cumaean Sibyl, who in Book 6 of Vergil's Æneid escorts the hero AEneas to the underworld, Philomel is performing as an actress -- deemed a monstrosity by William Prynne. In Histrio-Mastix (1633), he notoriously condemned `some French women, or monsters rather, [who] on Michaelmas term 1629 attempted to act a French play at the playhouse in Blackfriars -- an impudent, shameful, unwomanish, graceless, if not more than whorish attempt'. (See Bentley, J&CS, 6, 227; and Wickham et al. 412) [go to text]

gg491   Want lack [go to text]

n9815   forkèd top The top of Mount Parnassus is forked only in literary tradition, but Court-wit here utters an error which recurs there. Misconstruing Greek references to cliffs on the mountainside above Delphi, Roman writers gave Parnassus two peaks. (In Ovid's Metamorphoses [Book I, line 316], the pair are said to pierce the sky.) Later writers interpreted them as prophecy and poetry. See H.F.Tozer, A History of Ancient Geography, 2nd ed. M.Cary (Cambridge University Press, 1935), 324-5. [go to text]

n11551   Parnassus This Greek mountain was sacred to Apollo; it was also home of the Muses and so associated with poetic inspiration. [go to text]

gg5888   whim-whams trinkets, trifling ornaments of dress (OED 2) [go to text]

n9528   Exit [BOY, CIT-WIT, COURT-WIT, DAINTY, DOCTOR, PHILOMEL,SWAIN-WIT,] fiddling, [danc]ing, singing, acting, and [so forth]. Video In Octavo of 1653, the corresponding stage direction is placed, for the most part parenthetically, to the right of five lines ([CB 5.2.line2626] through [CB 5.2.line2630]), which constitute [CB 5.2.speech1045] and the first four lines of [CB 5.2.speech1046]. It reads: `Exe. Om. Fidling, Footing, Singing, Acting &c.' -- that is, with abbreviations expanded: `Exeunt Omnes Fidling, Footing, Singing, Acting et cetera.'. As Brian Woolland remarked at the workshop session on 13 December 2008, the rehearsal sequence, `much better structured than it appears on the page,' has built up to complete chaos. (The amateur status of the majority of the performers in that workshop may have compounded the effect.) When chaos clears, the solo figure of Sir Raphael provides a contrast which is not just comical but also structural: he will move the scene on to business which will resolve the romantic stalemate in the romantic plot. Both the fun and the function of the role were noticeable in the workshop performance of it by actor Robert Lister: see clip . [go to text]

gg5889   wilderness. place of confusion and/or exclusion [go to text]

gs1734   jeer mockery (OED jeer n2, 2b) [go to text]

gg5890   brain-trick cunning device (OED) [go to text]

gg1562   mere veritable (intensifier) (OED adj. 4) [go to text]

gg5891   invention contrivance (OED 3) [go to text]

gg5892   nettle vex, provoke, annoy (OED v. 2a) [go to text]

n9154   ‘tis Octavo of 1653 reads 'tis' (without an apostrophe) [go to text]

n9527   (Aside)I hope not so. In Octavo of 1653 this line is surrounded by parentheses which signal its status as an aside. [go to text]

gs1613   touch affect (OED v. 21) [go to text]

n9144   begged. asked for: the estate of a convicted felon would be forfeited to the crown [go to text]

gg5881   yield consent (OED v. 17a) [go to text]

gs1129   remit resign, surrender [go to text]

gs1614   move propose, suggest (OED v. 30a) [go to text]

n9534   you? In Octavo of 1653, this word (with the punctuation mark) has wandered down to a line of its own, between the two first and last lines of Strangelove's speech [CB 5.2.speech1066] immediately upon her entry. The word `you' is the second word in the latter line; and the compositor's mind may have been on the stage directions around this speech. See [CB 5.2.line 2670]. [go to text]

n9533   MENDICANT stands amazed. In Octavo of 1653, this stage direction is placed, parenthetically and to the right, across three lines ([CB 5.2.line2671] through [CB 5.2.line1673]). [go to text]

gs1607   outstripped overtaken, surpassed [go to text]

gg1756   ought owed [go to text]

gg147   fly (v) run away from [go to text]

gg6064   wilfully perversely, obstinately (OED adv. 5) [go to text]

gs1735   apprehend. recognise, see (OED v. 8a) [go to text]

gg6065   wear out forget (OED wear v1, 11c, where the earliest example given for this sense dates from 1676) [go to text]

gs1736   fit sudden and transitory state of feeling (OED fit n2, 4a); paroxysm of lunacy (OED fit n2, 3a) [go to text]

n11552   Venus Venus was the Roman goddess of love, sex, lust and desire. [go to text]

n11553   Cupid, The Roman god of love was usually figured as a youth or a small winged boy with a bow and arrow. [go to text]

n9159   Sententious Sir Raphael! The adjective is ambiguous: it can mean either `full of wisdom and intelligence' (OED a, 1) or `addicted to pompous moralizing' (OED a, 4). The latter is more appropriate as a comment on Sir Raphael's immediately previous line, but he -- ever susceptible to flattery -- responds as to the former sense. [go to text]

n9578   my Italian mount Eryx or Erycus (now San Giuliano), a high mountain in northwestern Sicily. The identically named town nearby gave place to a temple of Venus, and her son (by a human, albeit a hero) Eryx was its legendary prince. The goddess had numerous other sites of veneration: the reference to this one may mock the dramatic context. Philomel-as-Venus is accompanied by her illegitimate son, Boy-as-Cupid. [go to text]

gg5894   faintly timidly (OED adv. 2) [go to text]

n11555   Hymen In classical mythology and lore, Hymen was the god of marriage, usually represented as a young man carrying a torch and veil. [go to text]

gs1737   obscurity darkness, indistinctness -- hence, concealment [go to text]

gs1237   remove. depart, withdraw, quit (this place) [go to text]

n9842   See here, the champions for the Queen of Love: In Octavo of 1653, the assignment of roles in the masque is indicated by numbers which are placed above or alongside the italicised name of each champion and are keyed to the characters' names, also italicised, in the right margin. (See [CB 5.2.line2733] through [CB 5.2.line2738].) Thus: `Courage, sent from Mars' = 1 = `Swain[-wit]'; `The Muses [s]kill from wise Apollo' = 2 = `Court[-wit]; `Mercury...his Agent' = 3 = `Dainty'; `Activity from Jupiter' = 4 = `Cit-Wit'. The assignment of the fifth role to the Doctor seems to have confused the compositor: the numeral for it is misplaced (above `Jupiter' rather than `This'), and the Moon's name is not italicised as it should be. To clarify matters for the reader, this edition has both capitalised and italicised the names of roles in the masque. [go to text]

gg1436   champions defenders; those who fight on behalf of another [go to text]

n9819   Mars In classical mythology, Mars was the god of war. His representative at the masque is Courage, presented by Swain-wit. [go to text]

n9844   MUSES’ SKILL, ] The Muses kill. Octavo of 1653 is obviously in error here. What is less certain is whether the emendation should be to a singular or a plural possessive form. The Muses were Apollo's associates, with individual names and specialisms, several of which could be argued to suit Court-wit. However, as a group their collective responsibility was for poetry and music, and it seems appropriate that Court-wit should impersonate a general skill in both. [go to text]

n9820   Apollo In classical mythology, Apollo was the god of (among many other things) arts, poetry and music -- in which he was assisted by the Muses. Apollo's representative at the masque is `the Muses' skill', presented by Court-Wit. [go to text]

n9821   Mercury, In classical mythology, Mercury (= Hermes in Greek) has a long list of responsibilities, including travel, trade, gambling and profit, both licit and illicit. The agent that Mercury sends to the masque is, appropriately, presented by Dainty. [go to text]

n9822   Jupiter In classical mythology, Jupiter (Zeus)was the chief god, who ruled the cosmos from on high but descended to take the maidenheads of numerous nymphs and young women. The representative that Jupiter sends to the masque is Activity, presented by Cit-wit. When `Activity' is construed in its sense (OED 3, now obsolete) as `physical exercise', the connection between role and character becomes obvious: Cit-wit has just been provoked into an exceptional exhibition of physical prowess and courage. Making that figure an emissary of Jupiter may be on account of Cit-wit's association with London, the pre-eminent place, and/or it may be on account of Cit-wit's recent success with Philomel. [go to text]

n9843   Moon In classical mythology, the Moon (Luna to the Romans, Selene to the Greeks) is a goddess, and she is also gendered female here. (English dramatic and literary tradition, however, sometimes personified the moon as male, the Man in the Moon, who in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream appears in the play-within-a-play marking the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta.) Her representative at the masque is one of her spies, appropriately presented by the devious Doctor. [go to text]

gg4750   action, histrionic personation; acting of plays, performance, a play (OED 12) [go to text]

n9160   rite Octavo of 1653 reads `right', which is possible: the sense would be that Philomel (as Venus) is asserting love's jurisdiction over the proceedings. However, since the speech as a whole presents the masque as a completion of a necessarily clandestine marriage ceremony, the emendation seems preferable. [go to text]

gg6066   nuptials wedding, marriage (OED nuptial n, 1a) [go to text]

gs1738   grace. charm or attractiveness belonging to ease and refinement of movement, action or expression (OED n. 1) [go to text]

n9162   enter PROJECTOR 1, Octavo of 1653 reads `Enter Projectors', but the stage direction there continues with a verb form which is singular: `breakes'. (See [CB 5.2.line2740] and [CB 5.2.line2741].) The initial responses of Ferdinand in [CB 5.2.speech 1096] (`What black tragedian's this?'), Raphael in [CB 5.2.speech 1097] (`Some nuntius sent from hell'), and Gabriel in [CB 5.2.speech1098] (`One of my master's minions, a projector') all make clear that only one Projector has entered. Another Projector will enter later in the scene. It is probable that the actor of the third is already onstage, doubling the role of the Boy. [go to text]

gs712   forbear cease, refrain (from) [go to text]

gs1615   enforce extort, compel, demand (something from someone) [go to text]

gs1739   black dismal (OED adj. 10a, where the earliest example given for this sense is from 1659). The adjective may perhaps also be taken literally, as an indication of costume. [go to text]

gg6067   tragedian’s stage-player who performs in tragedy (OED 2) [go to text]

n9161   nuntius The Latin word means `messenger'. In this context it designates the otherwise anonymous figure in both classical Greek and Roman tragedy whose function is to report, usually at great length and in heightened language, offstage deaths and other horrors. [go to text]

gs1616   minions, dependents, hangers-on (OED nI, 1a) [go to text]

gs1675   fantastic full of fantasy, mad [go to text]

n9113   [Strangelove] Octavo of 1653 assigns this speech to `La.', a heading which can designate only Lady Strangelove. [go to text]

gs707   projects, planned or proposed undertaking; a scheme, a proposal [go to text]

gs1617   suits, petition, supplication, entreaty, especially one made to a prince or other high personage (OED n. 11a) [go to text]

gg5896   patents, licences conferring the sole right to manufacture, sell, or deal in a product or commodity (OED nIII, 3), so called after the documents conferring such rights -- `letters patent', meaning `letters [which could be] shown' [go to text]

n9575   a windmill on his head, Mendicant's headgear probably derives from James Shirley's The Triumph of Peace, a masque staged at Whitehall in February 1634. (See Introduction.) Both the text of the masque and the description printed with it suggest the source of the windmill in Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quixote. (Neither, however, reports properties and costumes for it in such delicious detail as distinguishes their accounts of the various Projectors who appear earlier in the antimasque. See [NOTE n10121].) The description reports: `a Windmill, against which a phantasticke Knight with his Lance, and his Squire arm'd seem'd to make their attempts...moving forward in ridiculous shew and postures' (The Triumph of Peace... third impression, [London: John Norton for William Cook, 1663[4], sig. A2). The masque text gives a massed entrance for `A Windmill. A phantastique Knight. and His Squire arm'd' and then a stage direction: `The phantastique Adventurer, with his Lance makes many attempts upon the Windmill, which his Squire imitates: these hauing exprest their folly, and gone off...' (sig. C2). [go to text]

n9535   PROJECTOR [2]. Octavo of 1653 reads `the other Projector'. [go to text]

gg5899   A hall Make room! Clear the way! (OED n1. 12) [go to text]

gg5897   monopolist! person who holds, or seeks to acquire, exclusive rights over the manufacture or sale of something [go to text]

n9579   You commonwealth’s informers, lead me on. Bring me before the great assembly. See, Fathers Conscript, I present all I have For you to cancel. Mendicant asks to be brought before `a great assembly' and immediately makes clear that he intends an assembly of lawmakers: `Fathers conscript' is the title by which the Roman Senate was addressed. The lawmakers in question are English parliamentarians. Monopolies were at the top of the list of grievances which were perforce left unresolved by the Parliament which opened on 14 April 1640 and but was dissolved three weeks later. The Parliament which opened on 3 November 1640 quickly moved against monopolists, including a number of Members of Parliament. See Introduction [go to text]

gg5898   cancel. annul (a legal document), render void or invalid, by drawing cross-hatched lines across it (OED v. 1a) [go to text]

n9166   device. Octavo of 1653 reads `devise', then a possible spelling for the noun in the sense here as `contrivance'(OED n, 6). [go to text]

n9164   the taking of poor John and barrel-cod alive, and so to preserve ’em in salt water for the benefit of the fishmongers. Poor John is smoked fish (usually hake, according to the OED), and barrel-cod is pickled fish. A project for catching these preserved foods alive would approximate one for growing spaghetti. [go to text]

gg3452   City, The City of London, the ancient capital and commercial area with its own system of power and government; often contrasted with the Royal Court, based a few miles down the Thames at Westminster and Whitehall, a rival base of power, authority, and culture [go to text]

gg5900   cleave! split, hew (OED v1. 1) [go to text]

gg6068   matches pieces of cord, cloth, paper, wood, etc., dipped in melted sulphur so as to be readily ignited with a flint, and used to light a candle or lamp, or to light fuel (OED match n2, 2a) [go to text]

gg6069   tinder-box. box in which materials for making fire were kept [go to text]

n9165   link-boys’ Octavo of 1653 reads `link-boyes'. Rendering this as a possessive plural (rather than singular) seems preferable in context, close to clearly plural `Forrainers'. A link-boy was a torch-bearer, hired to illuminate the way along the streets of London. [go to text]

n10142   But no cries to escape: ’Tis for a peace. A levy on all London streetcries (with some criers taxed more heavily than others, but none to escape taxation altogether) may be expected to reduce noise levels in the City. [go to text]

gs1628   censures. formal judgements or opinions of an expert, referee, etc. (OED 2) [go to text]

gg5901   Powers, influential people, rulers (OED n1. 8a) [go to text]

n9845   lower house that is, the inferior branch of a legislature consisting of two houses (OED). Since re-entering the scene at Speech No. 1101, Mendicant has continued to speak as if he were addressing Parliament, of which the lower (and elected) house is the Commons. [go to text]

gg103   presently. immediately (OED adv. 3); without delay [go to text]

gg5902   dismantle uncloak (OED v. 1) [go to text]

n9536   In the dance they pull [the patents from MENDICANT and the cloaks from PROJECTOR 1 and PROJECTOR 2,] who appear all ragged. At the end of the dance [PROJECTOR 1 and PROJECTOR 2 are shoved through the stage doors]. In Octavo of 1653, these sentences read: `In the Dance they pull off his Patents; And the Projectors Clokes, who appeare all ragged. At the end of the Dance the Projectors thrust forth.' [go to text]

gg5946   event outcome (OED n. 3a) [go to text]

gs1619   esteem. (n) estimation, judgment (OED n. 2) [go to text]

gg885   leave, permission [go to text]

n9537   While they dance, the rest confer. In Octavo of 1653 this stage direction is printed to the right, across two lines ending on [CB 5.2.line 2809]. Just who may be the `they' who dance is not completely clear: the dialogue requires that Dainty and Philomel dance (for old times' sake, and by permission of Cit-Wit!); and comic convention requires that Charissa and Frederick join the dance as young lovers, with Mendicant and Gabriel coming in as reconciled father and trusty servant. Raphael, Ferdinand, Strangelove, Cit-wit and Swain-wit are required to confer rather than dance. The Doctor and Dainty are probably making music together again, as they were through an earlier part of the scene. It is not clear what either the Boy or Court-Wit may be doing at this point, but both are required for the Epilogue, in which the Boy speaks and Court-Wit is addressed by Swain-wit. [go to text]

n9167   protestation, Octavo of 1653 reads 'potestation', which makes minimal sense as 'authorisation'. The context, however, is better suited by 'protestation' in the sense defined by John Bullokar in his English Expositor (1616), a Jacobean dictionary of difficult words: 'A declaration of one's mind' . [go to text]

n9846   She’s a wise widow by’t: for sure enough, she saw something in his mad naked fit, when he put her to’t, to choose a husband by, won’t out of her thought yet. Recollecting that Strangelove is a widow and therefore sexually experienced, Swain-wit surmises that she must have found Ferdinand attractive when he attempted to rape her. [go to text]

n10140   EPILOGUE Conventions of printing here somewhat obscure the fact that once Strangelove has spoken the last lines of dialogue ([CB 5.2.speech1138]), she moves directly into the Epilogue ([CB5.2.speech1139]), which is addressed to the audience. The Epilogue is remarkable in several respects. It is distributed among fully six speakers (Strangelove, Ferdinand, Cit-wit, Philomel, Boy, and Swain-wit): the first three address their counterparts among the audience, and all of them remain in dramatic character from the play. Swain-wit, boorish and bullying as ever, contrives to have the last word and the longest speech: he seizes the floor, summarises what others would have said (had he let them), and turns the Epilogue into a lengthy vindication of both Brome as playwright and William Beeston as entrepreneur. [go to text]

gs1678   suffrages expression or token of approval (OED 5b) [go to text]

gg5968   dandling pet, fondling (OED n) [go to text]

n9559   clap. The joke of these alternatives depends upon the quibble on the word `clap' meaning both `applause' and `gonorrhea'. [go to text]

gg5967   at appealing to, soliciting (OED pre, 3c) [go to text]

n9558   Phoebean Octavo of 1653 reads `Phebean'. The primary sense here is `related to (Phoebus) Apollo as god of the sun and of poetry' (OED). Both of these fields of Apollonian activity are in play here: in the appeal on behalf of `our poet' and in the casting of that appeal as a metaphor of plants responding to sunlight. [go to text]

gg6071   bride wedding feast (OED 1) [go to text]

gg6070   clapped up. hastily settled (OED clap v1, 13b); applauded [go to text]

n10141   spectators Octavo of 1653 reads `(spectators)'. The parentheses here may indicate tone or manner of utterance drawing attention to the word. The OED cites usage from 1586; but thirty years later John Bullokar included it in his dictionary of difficult words, many of which were relatively new to the language (An English Expositor [London: John Legatt, 1616]). His definition of `spectator' is `beholder'. [go to text]

n10139   your Octavo of 1653 reads `you'. [go to text]

n9554   why so! This is an expression of content or acquiescence (OED `why' IV, 7d). Octavo of 1653 punctuates this phrase with a question mark (and without an intermediate comma), but it is no more interrogative than its modern idiomatic equivalents, `so what' or `what then'. [go to text]

gs1677   countenance position, standing, dignity (OED n. 10) [go to text]

gs1740   carry manage (OED v. 22a); do [go to text]

gg2874   curious skilful, clever, inventive (OED curious a, 4) [go to text]

n9553   poets that give these plays as the Prologue said, and money too, to have ’em acted The particular target here is once again Sir John Suckling and his subsidy, in 1638, of the production of his first finished play, Aglaura. In violation of economic practice in the professional theatre of the time, instead of the playing company paying him a flat fee for his playtext, Suckling paid them to stage it: the fact that payment had been in theatrical kind -- new costumes -- reduced neither the offence to Brome nor the expense to Suckling. See: the Introduction to this edition; and John Freehafer, `Brome, Suckling, and Davenant's Theater Project of 1639', Texas Studies in Literature and Language, X (1968). [go to text]

gg5963   interludes, stage plays (OED n. 1) [go to text]

n9555   aught Octavo of 1653 reads `ought', which is the archaic form of this pronoun meaning `anything whatever' (OED `aught' n2, A). Modern usage here would be `for all you know'. [go to text]

n9580   they bought ’em of University scholars tho’, This suggestion is yet another jibe at Sir John Suckling's playwriting, particularly of Aglaura: see Introduction. [go to text]

gg5966   owning laying claim to (OED v. 3b) [go to text]

gg5728   but only [go to text]

gs746   as because [go to text]

n9556   neither. The negation and connection of this adverbial conjunction both work backwards (see OED `neither' adv & conj, 2a). The phrase 'show their wits in owning other men's, and that but as they are like neither' could be paraphrased 'show their intelligence in claiming other men's and make such claims only because they are stupid'. [go to text]

n9557   this small poet That is, Richard Brome. In explaining -- at some length -- why he will not beg for the author of The Court Beggar, Swain-wit is doing just that. Despite the informal style of his speech, Swain-wit's ploy, for which the technical term is 'asservatio' ['swearing off'], has an impeccable pedigree in classical rhetoric. Perhaps best known among English dramatic examples, however, is Antony's speech over Caesar's corpse in Act 3 scene 2 of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar: `I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.....' [go to text]

gg5964   vents vends or sells (something) (OED notes that this form was very common c. 1600 to c. 1670) [go to text]

n9581   his by whose care and directions this stage is governed, who has for many years both in his father’s days, and since, The reference is to William Beeston [aka Hutchinson] (1610/11?-1682) and his father Christopher (1579/80-1638), actors and theatrical impresarios whose careers included the management of the Cockpit (or Phoenix) in Drury Lane and the company of boy players which bears the better known of their surnames. See introduction. [go to text]

gg414   grace (n) 'a short prayer either asking a blessing before, or rendering thanks after, a meal' (OED n. 20) [go to text]

gs1741   pates brains (OED pate n1, 2) [go to text]

gg5965   dryfats. large vessels (casks, barrels, tubs, cases, boxes) used to hold dry things (as opposed to liquids) (OED) [go to text]

gs1680   jigs light performances or entertainment of a lively or comical character; dramatic farces. [go to text]

n9560   Tom Hoyden o’ Tanton Deane. This is the alternative title of Richard Brome's Sparagus Garden. [go to text]

gs1679   motion, show, entertainment (OED n. 8a) [go to text]

gg1431   slops baggy breeches or hose, often called Dutch slops (OED n1. 4a) (the title page of Middleton and Dekker's The Roaring Girl has an illustration of Mary Frith dressed in slops (available on EEBO); the portrait of Sir Martin Frobisher (painted by Cornelius Ketel, 1577, owned by the Bodleian, and available online) illustrates the slops often worn by sailors: see http://elizabethangeek.com/costumereview/image.mhtml?image_id=58 [go to text]

gg5969   netherstocks stockings: `nether' meaning `lower', `netherstock[ing]s' were hose which covered the lower part of the leg [go to text]

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