Dramatis Personæ

Master ARTHURn702	gentleman, nephew of Seely
Master SHAKESTONEn703	friend of Master Arthur
Master BANTAMn704gg610	friend of Master Arthur
Master GENEROUSgg608n699	a wealthy land-owner
MISTRESS GENEROUSn713	Generous’s wife, a witch
WHETSTONEgg609n700	nephew to Mistress Generous
ROBERTn701 [ROBIN]	Generous’s groom, and Mall’s lover
SEELYn705	a wealthy land-owner
JOANn706	Seely’s wife
GREGORYn707	Seely’s son
WINNYn708	Seely’s daughter
LAWRENCEn709	Seely’s manservant
PARNELLn710	Seely’s maidservant, engaged and later married to Lawrence
DOUGHTYgg611	Seely’s neighbour, godfather to Miller’s Boy
MEG/Pegn711 [Margaret Johnson]	witch, with familiar/spirit Mamilionn715
GOODY [Frances] DICKIESONn712	witch
MAUDn714	witch, with familiar/spirit Pucklingn716
MALLn718 [Mary] Spencer	young witch
GILL/Gilliann717 [Jennet Hargraves]	another witch
Witches (3)
Invisible spiritn3439 with two greyhounds
SOLDIER
MILLER Grettyn1775	father of Doughty’s godson
BOY	Gretty’s son
BOY 2	bewitched by Goody Dickieson
Spirits (4)	Mamilion, Meg’s familiar
Puckling, Maud’s familiar
Suckling, another familiar
Mawsy, another familiar
Musicians:	Fiddlers (2)
Piper
Drummer
PEDANT
TAILOR
GALLANT
Country lasses (2)
Wedding guests
CONSTABLE
Officers (3)
Rabble

THE PROLOGUE.n1344

---

n702   ARTHUR This character's name echoes that of the high-minded ancient legendary king of Britain, and predicts the character’s final status as the heir to Generous’s estate. [go to text]

n703   SHAKESTONE This name combines the violent worrying of a predator assaulting its prey (OED shake 8c), and stone or testicle, denoting masculinity (OED 11a). Together the two parts of the name suggest a threateningly ‘macho’ display. [go to text]

gg610   BANTAM Small colourful and aggressive breed of rooster, used in cock-fighting. [go to text]

n704   BANTAM Possibly this name is designed to sound like Bentham. In Q, the name is sometimes spelled Bantham. See collation notes. Other possible modern names for this spelling are Bantin or Banton. [go to text]

n699   GENEROUS For Generous's virtues, see [LW 1.1.speech16] for a fuller description. [go to text]

gg608   GENEROUS ‘noble, of good race, excellent, of a gentleman-like disposition’ (Florio); also virtuous, liberal, and stout-hearted [go to text]

n713   MISTRESS GENEROUS Mistress Generous is a gentlewoman of good birth, perhaps an unlikely choice for a witch, but Alice Nutter, found guilty in the 1612 Pendle Forest case, was also a gentlewoman of good family and perhaps provided a very loose model for this play. [go to text]

n700   WHETSTONE The name of the character suggests his use as a base upon which the wit of others may be tested and judged. Florio indicates that ‘touchstone’ is a synonym for ‘whetstone’, and thus explains further this character’s use in the play as demonstrating the degree or worth of the other gentlemen who rub up against him. Cf OED citation for 1606, Dekker, Newes from Hell (Grosart) II. 99: ‘Some pittifull fellowes (that haue ... wittes colde as Whetstones, and more blunt)’. [go to text]

gg609   WHETSTONE grindstone, stone, dull-edged itself, against which knives and other tools may be sharpened. [go to text]

n701   ROBERT common nickname for Robert. The name is also associated with the puck or mischievous sprite, Robin Goodfellow. [go to text]

n705   SEELY The name means silly gull, or ninny; simple fool or clown. But a family named Sellar was registered in the Colne Parish Church in the Pendle Forest, and two witches from Colne (Katherine Hewitt and Alice Grey) were convicted at the Lancaster Assizes in 1612. [go to text]

n706   JOAN generic name for a rustic female; cf Shakespeare, the last line of LLL 3.1:’Some men must loue my lady, and some Joan’ (OED 1), or the final verse of the winter song at the play’s end, ‘While greasy Joan doth keel the pot’. [go to text]

n707   GREGORY OED cites two possible associative meanings: 1 a gallant; 2 a hangman. The first would suggest the rise in status presumed to benefit a prosperous landowner’s son, as we see in Arthur; and the second suggests the brutal personality inflicted on the young man by witchcraft. The name derives from the Greek word for watchful. However, the Latin form, Gregorius, came to be associated by folk etymology with grex, gregis, ‘flock’, ‘herd’, under the influence of the Christian image of the good shepherd; and associated with Roman Catholicism (several popes were named Gregory). [go to text]

n708   WINNY Usually a nickname for Winifred, the name mimics the whinny of a horse, often associated with sexually active young women, as in the hobbyhorse figure of the morris dance, and in the homophonic joke: whores/horse, similar to the hare/whore joke below in 1.1. [go to text]

n709   LAWRENCE A name used to denote a personification of indolence; the nickname, Loll, still has that implication of idleness. OED cites from 1600, Breton, Pasquil's Mad-cappe, 26: ‘Then let a knaue be knowne to be a knaue,..A Lobbe a Lowte, a heavy Loll a Logge’. ‘Lusty Lawrence of Lancashire’ proverbially denoted a man of great virility (see Barber 148b). [go to text]

n710   PARNELL The English equivalent of the Italian proper name Peronella, according to William Thomas, Principal Rules of the Italian Grammar (1550) (LEME), but OED gives ‘wanton young woman’ as a first meaning. Florio associates it with ‘pratling parnell’ (LEME), the old name for an herb now called London Pride (Saxifraga umbrosa). [go to text]

gg611   DOUGHTY intrepid, fearless; hardy, valorous [go to text]

n711   MEG/Peg Nicknames for Margaret or Marguerite, asociated with the wild daisy or bruisewort. Margaret Johnson was one of the accused witches brought down to London for a re-examination of the evidence. [go to text]

n715   Mamilion The name suggests a suckling familiar, mamilla being the Latin word for breast. Witches were supposed to make a pact with the devil in return for some power, provided they agreed to have sex with the devil, or be suckled at a nipple or nipple-like protuberance on their bodies (a pimple, a wart, a tag of loose skin, particularly if located in the nether regions). [go to text]

n712   GOODY [Frances] DICKIESON Q's spelling 'Dickison' might have been a rendering of the mildly divergent sounds of Dicconson, Dickinson, Dickenson, or Dickieson, of which only the last alternative seems to reflect the playwrights' choice. Goody was a polite mode of address to older women of the lower class, short for 'goodwife' (OED 2). Frances Dickieson was also one of the witches found guilty in Lancaster before being brought down to London for re-examination. [go to text]

n714   MAUD Maud was a nickname for Magdalen, or Maudlin, associated by 1600 with drinking, cursing, or blaspheming, and thus with any ill-mannered woman. The name also has associations with the wild herbs maudlin, sweet yarrow, or balsam. The herbal associations with many of the play's women, especially witches, suggests their association with cunningwomen or wisewomen (so-called white witches), as well as wildness and unruliness. [go to text]

n716   Puckling This familiar is a little version of the Puck, Pook, or Pug, a mischievous sprite or hobgoblin, considered demonic before the 16th century. Like Mamilion, this familiar is child-like, and helps to explain the witches' interest in boys. [go to text]

n718   MALL also Moll or Molly, common nickname for Mary, but often the generic name for a prostitute, or a female criminal; eg. Moll Frith, known as Moll Cutpurse, the Roaring Girl (see Middleton’s play). [go to text]

n717   GILL/Gillian This name offers a familiar or dismissive term applied to a countrywoman; eg, Ben Jonson,’s masque, Gipsies Metamorphos’d, performed 1621: ‘I can ... / Give you all your fill, / Each Jack with his Jill’ (H&S 7.607, ll. 1257-60). OED lists various meanings for a mare (if the nickname does refer to Jennet Hargreaves, a ‘jennet’ was a small Spanish horse), a flirt (gillian-flirt, or gill-flirt, a wench), a will-o’-the-wisp (or gillian-a-burnt-tail), and wild plants, gilliflowers, and especially ground ivy, called Gill-creepe-by-ground or Gill-go-by-ground (see also Gerrard’s Herbal). Many of these local names also have sexual implications. [go to text]

n3439   Invisible spirit According to the original stage directions, this role was played by J. Adson, one of the musicians working for the King's Men. See 2.4 and [NOTE n1284]. [go to text]

n1775   Gretty Full of stones, gravelly; hence treacherous or deceiful (Florio 1611, in LEME). The name refers to the practice of millers who weighed the ground grain with gravel to increase the price, or to hoard the extra grain. This scene is the only occasion a name is given to the miller, and the name itself may simply be an insult from Doughty, but it explains the hostility directed toward millers, both here and in the references to the mill haunted by witches and wildcats. [go to text]

n1344   THE PROLOGUE. The speaker of the prologue is usually an actor who is not needed in the first scene. In any case, he wears a black cloak to cover his costume and announce his function as prologue.

This prologue announces some simple 'facts' about the play: that it is based on the case of the Lancashire witches who, after being found guilty on extra-legal evidence, were brought down to London for a hearing. The London attitude, expressed here, is amusement. Only northerners would believe there were such things as witches who could transform themselves as described in the evidence; it's a 'thin' argument, and the play will demonstrate the comedy of such fantastic belief. The problematic issue for modern audiences is that the play was performed while courts were in session, and no decision had yet been made on the Lancashire case. Subsequently the witches were declared not guilty, the boy, Edmund Robinson, was discovered to be a liar (both he and his father perjured themselves in their testimony), and the women were returned to Lancaster. Did the play help secure their release or interfere in the course of justice? An open question. [go to text]

gg596   Corantoes newletters or newpapers (newspapers were banned between 1632-38, but other sources of information about current events - broadside ballads, criminal tales masquerading as true reports, plays - were not) (OED 2) [go to text]

gg597   failing lacking, unavailable [go to text]

gg598   footpost messenger, or early version of a postman, though not publicly funded [go to text]

gs90   late recently [go to text]

n691   news of foreign state English newspapers, a form of publication just beginning in the 1620s, were not allowed to report current events in England; hence the flood of (often fictitious) foreign political and military news reported for English readers. The stage did not have the same degree of censorship. [go to text]

n692   worthy relation That is, worth the telling. [go to text]

gg599   from by; out of [go to text]

gg600   ground set or establish; rely upon, especially in argument; investigate thoroughly; provide a background or basis for painting, embroidery, or other art (that is, the play is based upon the current event of the Lancashire so-called witches whose story had caught the public imagination, and who had just arrived in London for a new hearing) [go to text]

n696   scene In this context, scene means both the play currently being performed in the Globe, and the event that has captured London's interest as a social and legal phenomenon. [go to text]

n693   in agitation This phrase puns on several senses: 1. legal: set in motion; 2. theatrical: being enacted on stage; 3. emotional: disturbing or perturbing. [go to text]

gg601   project design or pattern according to which something is made (OED n, 1; now obsolete) [go to text]

n695   Those witches The four witches were Frances Dicconson or Dickieson, Mary Spencer, Jennet Hargraves, and Margaret Johnson, convicted of witchcraft in Lancaster, and ordered by the king and Privy Council to London for re-examination, on the recommendation of the judges in Lancaster and the subsequent investigation by the Bishop of Chester. [go to text]

n694   fat jailor The identity of this man is unknown, but he is probably the sheriff of Lancaster or his designated officer. As to whether the attribute 'fat' marks him as someone audiences would recognise, some factors intervene to modify meaning. Fat, as in the proverbial 'laugh and be fat', suggests fat means jolly. Or, as Gertrude said of Hamlet's exertion in the duel with Laertes, 'He's fat, and scant of breath' (5.2.227); fat may mean sweaty. [go to text]

gg602   fat (a) plump or obese; (b) of a person: affluent, wealthy; (c) displaying the characteristics of a fat animal; slow-witted, indolent, self-complacent (OED 2; 10; 11) [go to text]

gg604   argument (a) evidence; (b) logical or legal case to be made for or against a proposition or charge; (c) subject-matter for discussion (OED 1, 3a, 6) [go to text]

n697   thin The word choice indicates not only the witty contrast to the fat jailor, but also the skeptical attitude toward witchcraft presumed among literate sophisticated Londoners. [go to text]

gg603   thin flimsy [go to text]

gg606   low lower-class, of mean or rustic condition [go to text]

gg605   matter material worth thinking about, or taking action on [go to text]

gg607   raised induced; punning on conjured, invoking spirits or familiars, a crime of witchcraft [go to text]

n698   pardoned Possibly expressing the verdict the playwrights anticipate for the women brought down from Lancaster, although the play itself suggests only the guilty verdict recorded in Lancaster before the re-examination was set in London. Or the reference may suggest the play's being theatrically pardoned by the audience's applause. The epilogue in Jonson's The Alchemist suggests, for example, that the audience is a jury who can pardon the crimes of the play. Shakespeare's The Tempest also has an epilogue that asks the audience to pardon the play or players for any theatrical 'sins' by applauding. The concept was not uncommon. [go to text]

n1345   ACT 1 The first act of the play establishes the setting, the context, and the main characters. We can see in the first scene the rift between witchcraft believers and non-believers (Arthur and his friends); the rift between classes (the hare-hunting gentlemenly land-owning class, and Whetstone, the bastard who has not social place except by relatives who acknowledge him); and the old-fashioned concept of hospitality and good-neighbourliness in Master Generous, who welcomes dinner guests, maintains good relations between gentry and his wife's nephew (the bastard Whetstone), and agrees without much fuss to lend money to Arthur, on condition of a signed bond that does not put Generous's land at risk. This first scene establishes the time as just before dinner (at mid-day) after the fruitless morning's hunt, with all the gentlemen moving towards Generous's estate. [go to text]

n719   Was ever sport of expectation This line, like many of Heywood's, has scanning challenges. If 'Was' is stressed first as a trochee, then 'ever' to the end reverts to iambic feet, then the line will scan as pentameter. See subsequent notes on scanning the next few lines. [go to text]

gg612   expectation anticipation (eg of pleasure) [go to text]

gg613   crossed frustrated, jinxed; (literally) run across (one's path) [go to text]

gg614   in th’ height at the peak (of its promise); at the climax or highest point [go to text]

n720   Tush, these are accidents All game is subject to. Shakestone's line is printed as prose in Q, although Arthur and subsequently Bantam speak in verse lines. As prose the line suggests a spontaneous, even extempory, interruption, possibly mollifying or irritated, responding to Arthur's exclamation. Arthur's reply, seeming to complete his own interrupted verse line, continues his sulky annoyance over the lost game. If nothing else, it demonstrates the impact of witchcraft (female sport) on male sport. The more likely explanation, however, my ingenuity aside, is that the printer failed to follow verse lines, and that the playwrights had scanned correctly. Thus Shakestone's line becomes two half-lines of verse, and elides neatly with the other verse lines, shared or not. However, Heywood is not as careful with scanning as Brome tends to be. Generally the gentlemen speak in verse, but the verse changes to prose when Whetstone enters the scene, and the conversation 'lowers' in tone. Later notes in this scene clarify the impact of Whetstone's presence, as Arthur becomes angry and petty, and his gentlemen friends become derisively jocular. [go to text]

n737   So you may call them In Q, this line seems to stand alone, but it is actually the second half of the verse line begun by Shakestone's previous speech. Shakestone's line was erroneously printed as a prose line. When it is scanned as verse, it completes the second line of Arthur's opening speech, and then starts a new verse line, to be completed by Arthur's reply. [go to text]

gg616   Chances an archaic synonym for accident; in the plural, matter which falls out or happens; a fortuitous event or occurrence; often, an unfortunate event, mishap, mischance (OED 2) [go to text]

gg615   prodigies unnatural or monstrous events [go to text]

n738   Oh, you speak this This reply is the second half of a verse line, begun in the last line of Arthur's speech just before. [go to text]

n739   Because a hare hath crossed you. Bantam's line remains a partial verse line, not completed by Arthur's reply on the next line. This hole in the scansion allows the actor playing Arthur a pause of two beats, while he formulates his argument. Clearly, as his subsequent lines demonstrate, he is angry at having both his companions dismiss his assessment of what's wrong with their hunt. [go to text]

n721   crossed See also gloss for line 2 above. Proverbially, ‘A hare has crossed your way’ (Tilley H150), the sign of bad luck or of a witch. Cf. Jonson, The Tale of a Tub (performed 1633): ‘The unlucky Hare hath crost us all this day’ (4.2.18). In the 1612 trial of the Pendle Witches, James Device claimed to have fought with hares, demons in disguise. [go to text]

gg617   course hunt, chase, especially the pursuit of hares with greyhounds (the term may also refer to the hare itself or other prey being coursed or hunted) [go to text]

gg618   covert hiding-place or shelter; in a hunting reference, this means a thicket or a hole in which the hunted animal might hide (OED 2a) [go to text]

gg619   ceased killed [go to text]

gg620   laid bet [go to text]

gg621   gage wager [go to text]

gg622   pinched nipped, or bit (an obsolete term for an animal action, esp. a dog, which attacks or seizes (prey, etc.) with the teeth or jaws) [go to text]

n740   Somewhat strange In Q, these words were part of one verse line. However, in regularising the verse to complete the pentameter begun by Arthur's previous line, Shakestone's verse line in Q becomes two half-lines here in the modernisation. [go to text]

gg625   enforce twist the meaning of [go to text]

n741   Make it plain In Q, this line seems to be a single verse line, but in fact it should be indented as the second half of the verse line begun in Shakestone's previous speech. [go to text]

n722   no borrowed eyes No glass eyes, or perhaps more metaphorically, no opinions based on what others claim to see. Arthur is touchy here: he resents being put in the wrong, as Shakestone has insinuated by disagreeing with or pooh-poohing Arthur's views. Arthur prefers plain-speaking to Shakestone's patronizing airs. [go to text]

gg623   matches equals in a pair, implying equal strength and ability [go to text]

n742   She might find These words complete the verse line begun by the previous speaker. The likely explanation is printer's error, since the rest of the line in Q scans perfectly as pentameter, and clearly should be on a separate verse line. [go to text]

gg624   meuse muset: gap in a hedge or fence through which hares, rabbits, or other animals may escape; also, the lair of a hare (now obsolete, but in the 16th and 17th centuries it frequently appeared in proverbial sayings, as 'a hare without a meuse', 'every hare has its meuse', etc. [OED 2]; rabbits, like foxes, sometimes took over badger setts or tunnels after the badger vacated the premises) [go to text]

n743   Perhaps some fox had earthed there, Although in Q this line appears as a complete verse line, in fact it should be indented to finish the verse line begun by the previous speaker. [go to text]

gg626   earthed hidden in a hole; gone to earth [go to text]

n723   And so her ’scape appear but natural And therefore her escape from you is merely natural, rather than an act of witchcraft. [go to text]

gg627   wonder prodigy, astonishing marvel, like an act of magic [go to text]

n744   Well, well, gentlemen, These words complete the verse line started by the previous speaker. Q is in error in combining these words with the next metrical line to form one long line. [go to text]

gg630   apparent visible (literally); or clear (conceptually) [go to text]

gg628   in sense having the perceptive faculty of a conscious animate being [go to text]

gg629   tossed disordered; disturbed, troubled. [go to text]

n724   give credit Arthur means 'believe', but he chooses an interesting turn of phrase for a young man in debt and about to borrow money. [go to text]

n745   Come, come, all men Contrary to Q, Bantam's words form a half-line to complete Arthur's short verse line. The sharing of verse lines throughout this argument among the three gentlemen shows their engagement in this topical matter, and ultimately, in Bantam's words in this speech and Shakestone's that follow, we see the friends agree to disagree. The subsequent line sharing among the three gentlemen affirms their class solidarity, despite the quarrel over witchcraft. [go to text]

n725   Were never of one mind Never agree, never share the same opinion. [go to text]

n746   Yes, where we purposed. Contrary to Q, this line should show that it completes the verse line begun by the previous speaker. [go to text]

gg631   purposed planned [go to text]

n747   True, the same. Contrary to Q, this line scans with the previous line to complete the verse line of the previous speaker. [go to text]

n726   unfurnished either unprovided of guests to entertain; or unprovided for guests, whom he entertains with ample food and drink. [go to text]

gg632   unfurnished unprovided [go to text]

n727   bear it That is, afford to offer hospitality on this scale. [go to text]

gg633   braver more splendid or abundant [go to text]

gg634   port dignified demeanour or manner (OED n4, 1) [go to text]

gg635   state financial prosperity of an estate or property [go to text]

gg637   unshaken secure [go to text]

n728   sells not This comment and the subsequent description of Generous's character establishes him as a gentleman, not a tradesman, and yet, as we learn shortly, he does give loans -- usually associated with merchants -- without interest, but dependent on the signing of papers. [go to text]

n729   pressed Another odd word choice: the term may also signify service under compulsion, or hiring by payment in advance; or, in the sense of exerting pressure, intended perhaps as a positive version of the more usual usurer's grip, squeezing profit out of borrowers. [go to text]

gg636   pressed eager [go to text]

gg638   good parts admirable qualities [go to text]

n748   -- A character not common In this age!-- This comment is represented in Q as a single verse line, but in fact it is two half-lines, the first being one that completes the line started by the previous speaker. The dashes show that Bantam has interrupted Arthur's praise of Generous with a spontaneous exclamation of approval. [go to text]

n749   I cannot wind him up Arthur's continuation of his praise of Generous begins with a half-line that completes the verse line started by Bantam in the previous speech. [go to text]

gg639   wind him up praise him [go to text]

n750   See who comes yonder, As this indented line shows, Shakestone completes the verse line started by the previous speaker, thus illustrating again how, despite the entrance of a disruptive element, Whetstone, the three gentlemen affirm their solidarity by completing one another's lines, and by excluding Whetstone from poetic dialogue. [go to text]

gg640   mess dinner party, the usual number of guests at a table, as in the proverbial ‘Four make up a mess’ (Tilley F621) [go to text]

n751   Tush, let him pass. This half-line (not in Q) completes the verse line started by the previous speaker. [go to text]

gg641   luring attacking; hunting down with loud noises and cries to start the game, especially the falconer's alerting his hawk to prepare to stoop on the prey [go to text]

gs207   coxcomb fool, from the hat in the shape of a cock’s comb worn by jesters (see the professional fool in Queen and Concubine) [go to text]

n730   to call our wits in question Thzat is: to question our honesty or credibility. A whetstone was hung around the necks of liars as public punishment. See Arthur's comment below on Whetstone's notoriety, and Whetstone's subsequent lines on lying. Possibly it also suggests 'to call our intelligence into question if we are seen in the company of a fool'. [go to text]

n753   He hath spied us. In Q, Bantam's line seems to be prose. However, it scans if broken into two verse lines, this one completing the previous speaker's verse as a whole pentameter line, and the other starting a new verse line. [go to text]

n752   That’s my grief Although Q combines this line with the subsequent line, clearly these words complete the scansion of the verse line started by the previous speaker. The tangles between verse and prose increase as the gentlemen's verse gets interrupted and overtaken by Whetstone's prose and his occasional failed attempts at speaking verse. As noted below, Whetstone's attempts to speak in verse do not succeed. [go to text]

gg643   grief misfortune [go to text]

gg645   out upon him! expression of anger or disgust [go to text]

n754   Let’s set the best face on’t. Shakestone's resolve here is a partial verse line, as suggested by the elision of syllables. It is the only incompletely scanned verse line of the play so far, and demonstrates how the gentlemen's level of language is spoiled by the clownish Whetstone's parody of verse -- that is, prose arranged as though it were verse -- in his first speech. In some subsequent speeches, Whetstone attempts to elevate his style, but with no success, marked by his failure to speak accurately or consistently in iambic pentameter. This is a sign of Whetstone's 'illegitimacy'. [go to text]

n755   What, gentlemen? All mine old acquaintance! A whole triplicity of friends together! Nay then ’Tis three to one we shall not soon part company. These three lines, set in Q and here as if verse, are really prose arranged as verse. But the lines demonstrate Whetstone's attempt to ingratiate himself into the gentlemen's circle as a friend -- an attempt that fails, like his verse. [go to text]

n731   Dainty Whetstone's echoes of 'sweet' and 'dainty' in his reply seems either mocking or obsequious; probably the former, since he also seems explicitly to be mocking them as dinner guests. [go to text]

gg646   Dainty fine, handsome; excellent; pleasant, delightful (OED a, 1); having a palate for fine food (OED a, 3) [go to text]

gg647   Delicate synonym for dainty, with the same food associations; also, 'wanton, blunt, foolish, which knoweth not howe to discerne things, and boasteth vainelie of himselfe' (see Thomas Thomas, Dictionarium Linguae Latinae et Anglicanae (1587) on LEME) [go to text]

gg649   brave blades smart, fashionable young men, so called from the swords or rapiers they carried as signs of their prowess (although such a reference to gallants was often familiarly laudatory, just as frequently it was contemptuous) [go to text]

gg650   lustick merry, as from drinking (obsolete, from Dutch) [go to text]

gg651   froligozone jolly, frolicsome (obsolete, from Dutch) [go to text]

gg652   make one rendezvous meet at one place (OED 4a; obsolete) [go to text]

n756   What, shall we all make one rendezvous there? You need not doubt of your welcome. These two mock-verse lines are just 'off' enough to demonstrate that Whetstone cannot rise to the gentlemen's level of verse conversation. As in his first effort, so the content of these lines attempts to insert him into the group ('we all') but fails. [go to text]

gg653   lie? (a) lodge, reside; or (b) prevaricate, tell untruths [go to text]

gg654   shift change [go to text]

n1443   I never heard that word proceed from him These lines are set as verse in Q but Arthur's second verse line is not completed by Whetstone's reply, which is a clumsy attempt at verse, without recognising the convention of completing the iambic pentameter of each line. [go to text]

n757   But wheresoever I lie, ’tis no matter for that. I pray you say, and say truth, are not you three now Going to dinner to my uncle’s? Another demonstration of Whetstone's failure to match the gentlemen's verse. Whetstone could not complete Arthur's previous verse line, and Bantam makes no attempt to complete Whetstone's false verse in the next speech. Bantam simply speaks his own iambic pentameter verse line, effectively cutting Whetstone out of the gentlemen's circle, even though all four men will be dining together shortly with Generous. The verse lines as a sequence support the division between legitimate gentlemen and the illegitimate Whetstone. [go to text]

n732   I think you are a witch A comment responding to a good guess; see Tilley W585. [go to text]

gg655   abuse (a) scratch (one method of preventing a suspected witch from doing harm was to draw the witch’s blood); (b) attack verbally (OED 7) [go to text]

gg656   beldams loathsome hags; ancient grandmothers or great-grandmothers, viewed as fearful or unnatural perhaps because of their unusually long survival [go to text]

gg657   lusty (a) pleasing in appearance, beautiful; (OED 2a) (b) full of lust or sexual desire; lustful (OED 4); both usages are now obsolete [go to text]

gg658   mother-side maternal descent; mother's side (Obs. from Old Frisian) (OED 27b) [go to text]

gg659   By-blow bastard (OED 3) [go to text]

n734   came in at the window This means he was born illegitimately. [go to text]

gg660   grannam’s grandmother's [go to text]

n735   hatch Hatch-doors, surmounted by a row of spikes, were associated with brothels, especially in the area of London known as Pict Hatch (Sugden). [go to text]

gg661   hatch half-door with an open space above; or the lower half of a divided door, which may be closed while the upper half is open [go to text]

n2229   [To ARTHUR and BANTAM] This stage direction indicates the gentlemen's sneering attitude to Whetstone: they talk here and in subsequent speeches as though Whetstone were not present and/or were unable to understand their opinions. [go to text]

n736   He hath confessed himself to be a bastard. Shakestone here reverts pointedly to verse when talking to his friends, as does Arthur in the subsequent line. Such reversions suggest class snobbery, a clear rejection of Whetstone as an upstart interloper; this very attitude is what Generous asks Arthur particularly to avoid after he lends him money for his mortgage. [go to text]

n758   Howsoever I was begot, here you see I am, And if my parents went to it without fear or wit, What can I help it? Whetstone's attempt at verse here with its approximation of early Elizabethan fourteeners, contrasts to Arthur's elegant verse, directed at his friends, and referring to Whetstone as though he were not present. The insult forces Whetstone into the position of self-justification. The result for Arthur, Shakestone, and Bantam is that they speak mostly in prose, even after Whetstone leaves the stage, until they converse with another gentleman, Master Generous. The implication is that Whetstone lowers the tone of the company, an effect that outlasts the duration of direct contact. [go to text]

n1584   Very probable, for as he was got without fear, so it is apparent he was born without wit. Arthur's rudeness here in mocking Whetstone is actually prose, although the quarto sets the lines as verse. But the lines do not scan. This is a good example of how Whetstone's presence lowers the tone of the gentry he apes. It implies something unstable about the class system. [go to text]

n764   some private business Whetstone's remark comments on the apparent asides the three gentlemen exchange before this speech, in which the speakers refer to Whetstone as ‘he’, thus excluding him from the conversation. Whether they mean him to hear their rude remarks, or whether they believe him capable of understanding them even if he hears them, is moot. In any case, Whetstone has noticed their exclusive behaviour, and has taken offence, as his later request that his aunt help him with a revenge plan testifies. [go to text]

n765   my stomach is now much upon twelve The English then had dinner at noon, and supper, a lighter meal, in the evening. The growls of Whetstone’s stomach are the clock chimes that tell the hour. See Tilley S872. [go to text]

gg1355   set seated (at the table) [go to text]

gg672   fare (n) ‘diet, victualls, meat and drinke’ [go to text]

gg673   fare (v) eat and drink [go to text]

gg668   forerunner harbinger sent before to prepare the way and herald the approach of great men (OED 1a) [go to text]

n759   And you know it is his custom to fare well, And in that respect I think I may be his kinsman. And so farewell, gentlemen. I’ll be your forerunner To give him notice of your visit. In Whetstone's final quatrain in this scene, we see again prose masquerading as verse, with Whetstone trying to maintain his status as Generous's nephew. He fails once more to impress the gentlemen, although his play on words (fare well, farewell) and his insistence on informing Generous of their arrival reinforces his status-by-proxy as a member of the family. [go to text]

gg671   entire bind, much oblige [go to text]

gs92   entire this formal leave-taking is reciprocated in Whetstone’s ‘I have been ever bound unto you’ [go to text]

gs93   perfect a term usually used of actors who know their lines [go to text]

gg675   noverint term applied to a scrivener (the phrase Noverint universi per praesentes [Let all men know by these present], begins most writs) [go to text]

gg676   universi all men [go to text]

gg677   per praesentes by these [people who are] present [go to text]

n1583   Farewell, As in praesenti. Arthur's annoyance at Whetstone's pretentions is represented in prose, as are the comments of his friends that follow this speech. As the companions recover from their meeting with Whetstone, they also return to verse, just before Master Generous enters. [go to text]

gg678   As in praesenti 'as in the present tense': the beginning of a Latin verse used as a mnemonic for verb forms [go to text]

gs94   As in praesenti the likely pronunciation, 'Arse', really implies ‘an ass in the present instance’, the sort of pun used frequently by playwrights; eg Ben Jonson, Every Man Out of his Humour, Induction 176-78, describing a bad audience: 'How monstrous and detested is’t to see/ A fellow that has neither art nor brain/ Sit like an Aristarchus, or stark ass' [go to text]

gg681   scrivener’s Latin the small amount of Latin a law clerk would need to know [go to text]

gg682   accidence grammar dealing with the inflection of verbs [go to text]

gg679   mentiri non est meum; literally, to lie is not for me (that is, I cannot tell a lie, I am incapable of lying) [go to text]

gg680   ignaro ignoramus (Latin: literally, I don’t know) [go to text]

gs95   parts (in the plural) qualities of mind, intellectual abilities, gifts, or talents (OED n1 15) [go to text]

gs96   all in one strain (as part of the idiomatic expression, 'all of [or in] one strain') the phrase suggests 'entirely limited to one line of thought or patter, incapable of subtle variation' [go to text]

n1347   Of the same affinity with the rest. Arthur's half-line completes the verse-line begun by Shakestone. [go to text]

n1359   he is Correction of printer's error: he his (Q) [go to text]

n1585   Either of his aunt or his uncle. This line is set as prose in Q, but scans as verse. The return to verse also acts as an early warning system for the arrival of Master Generous, the good man. [go to text]

n1348   Either of his aunt or his uncle. This verse-line was set as prose in Q, but scans as verse. The return to poetic lines is the early warning signal for the arrival of Generous. [go to text]

gg837   compliment greeting [go to text]

gg933   name (v) repeat [go to text]

n990   purpose as I speak (I) mean what I say. Generous establishes himself here as a forthright plain speaker who disdains the fashionable rhetoric of flattery or grovelling; hence his refusal to hear apologies from guests who drop in unexpectedly or at short notice. [go to text]

n1586   Nor do I love that common phrase of guests, As ‘We make bold’, or ‘We are troublesome’, ‘We take you unprovided’, and the like. I know you understanding gentlemen And, knowing me, cannot persuade yourselves With me you shall be troublesome or bold, But still provided for my worthy friends, Amongst whom you are listed. This diffident or perhaps irritable statement of preference expresses Master Generous's views of people who visit unexpectedly, apologizing for the trouble they cause their host, despite the well-known fact that Generous likes his friends to drop in and prides himself on always being prepared to share his table. He's annoyed by such conventional expressions such as ‘We are taking advantage of you’; ‘We are a nuisance’; or ‘We are embarrassing you by dropping in when you don't have enough food to serve us’. The fact is that guests who know their host also know that he is never put off by unexpected visitors, never finding them a nuisance, and never found without enough to serve them. Thus, he cuts off polite protests from his friends. [go to text]

n1349   Noble sir, Q represents these words as heading a long verse line, but in fact they complete the scansion of Generous's previous line, leaving a full pentameter line to follow it. [go to text]

n1350   And, gentlemen, These words complete the scansion of Arthur's previous line; and the rest of Q's line now stands alone as an iamblic pentameter line. [go to text]

n991   by my kinsman That is, from my relative, Whetstone. [go to text]

n992   usher Usually an official or servant who has charge of the door and admits people to a hall, but in this case Generous, as the master, takes on this duty as the act of a welcoming host. The usher or chamberlain of a great house has the duty of walking before a newly arrived guest of high rank, leading him into the household to mark his status. Again, Generous shows his humility and nobility of conduct in taking on this role, which he might have delegated to a servant. [go to text]

n993   excuse your fare That is, apologize for what I serve you. [go to text]

n994   falls out so poor (It) turns out to be a scanty meal. [go to text]

gg934   common hostess’ mistress of a public tavern or ordinary eating-house. [go to text]

n1351   Take what you find, and so. In Q, these words were tacked onto the previous line, ignoring the scansion of the verse. [go to text]

n995   and so And that's it -- with a hint of 'take it or leave it'. Generous makes it clear that he, as a plain speaker, will not say more or offer more. [go to text]

n1352   Sir without flattery Completes the verse line begun by the previous speaker. [go to text]

n996   banished hospitality Hospitality, a moral character in Wilson's play, Three Ladies of London, c. 1583, fifty years before the writing of The Late Lancashire Witches, was in fact banished. The implication is that Generous is old-fashioned in an admirable way. [go to text]

n997   In that you please me not. Generous reprimands Arthur because he has already said he hates flattery. [go to text]

gg935   beholden grateful [go to text]

gg1979   prove aver, avouch, call to witness (see Robert Cawdrey, A Table Alphabetical (1604) on LEME); also allegate or allege (Henry Cockeram, English Dictionary (1623) on LEME); give a demonstration of (OED v, 2) [go to text]

n1353   Wherein, good sir? This line scans, but acts as an extra-metical interpolation, rather than part of the flow of intersecting shared lines. [go to text]

n1354   In few I shall. Generous completes the scansion of the verse line started by the previous speaker. [go to text]

gg1356   In few in a few words [go to text]

gg936   kindred sake kindred's sake (for a similar construction, see mother-side) [go to text]

gg938   wink at shut your eyes to; ignore [go to text]

n998   these his wants These shortcomings of his; these things that are lacking in him. [go to text]

gg942   friends a term used loosely to mean family and household (Arthur uses the word ‘friends’ in its modern sense a few lines later, referring to his companions Shakestone and Bantam) [go to text]

n1355   Presume it, sir. This line completes the scansion of the verse line begun by the previous speaker. [go to text]

gs116   friends in its modern sense, companions [go to text]

gg483   sack white wine from Spain: sack is derived from 'sec', and usually meant a dry white wine; hence Falstaff's enjoyment of 'sack and sugar' [go to text]

gg939   afford supply or furnish from its own resources; give what is asked for [go to text]

gg940   press squeeze, urge or compel (OED v1, 8a) [go to text]

gg941   motion formal proposal or request (OED n, 13b) [go to text]

gg943   manor estate, including not only land and principal dwelling, but also fees or rents payable to the owner of the property [go to text]

n999   one slips no advantages That is, to someone who neglects no opportunity to make money. The holder of the mortgage may appropriate the rents and other income of the property, if Arthur cannot pay the debt. [go to text]

gg944   become bound co-sign a loan [go to text]

n1000   usurer Since the state set the rate for lending money, the term usurer does not imply a stranglehold of extraordinarily high interest. In 1633/4, the rate was 8%; modern credit cards can be as high as 24%. The point here is that the usurer is unlikely to forgive the debt, if Arthur cannot meet the payments. [go to text]

gg945   usurer moneylender [go to text]

n1001   Provided, to have the writings in my custody Under the condition that, in return for lending the money to Arthur, Generous keeps the bond himself. That is, in the event of financial disaster, in which Arthur might lose his manor to the usurer, Generous’s own land could not also be confiscated by the usurer, and Arthur would still owe money to Generous. [go to text]

n1356   Sir, he hath — In Q, not a separate line. Here, this line completes the verse line begun by the previous speaker. [go to text]

gg269   discourse (n) conversation; or topic of conversation [go to text]

gg946   governed family well-managed household [go to text]

gg947   ridge horizontal edge or line in which the two sloping sides of a roof meet at the top; the uppermost part or coping of a roof [go to text]

gg948   groundsels foundation timbers, or lowest timbers in a house’s framework [go to text]

gg949   retrograde contrary to the order of nature (in the astrological sense of moving counter to the rotation of planets and signs, thus connoting something abnormal) [go to text]

gg950   preposterous backwards, literally suggesting that the posterior has gone before; hence, ‘out of order, backward, arsiversie, cleane contrarie to all good order and due rule and formall fashion’(Florio, LEME) [go to text]

n2249   discourse the manner? That is: discuss the situation at the Seely house in more detail. [go to text]

n1357   The good man In Q, not a separate line. Here, the words complete the scansion of the verse-line begun by the previous speaker. [go to text]

gg1359   presumes takes no liberties; fears to take advantage of (eg, a family relationship) (see OED 6) [go to text]

n1587   prepared courtesy A carefully readied and customary expression of respect by action or gesture, esp. to a superior; particularly an action of inclining, bowing, or lowering the body in a submissive manner (see OED courtesy n., 8). The addition of 'prepared' suggests a fear of not behaving as expected. [go to text]

gg952   groom manservant, but in the seventeenth century taking on the more specific meaning of servant who takes care of horses [go to text]

gg953   man manservant [go to text]

gg954   rare extraordinary, bizarre [go to text]

gs187   wonder amazement [go to text]

n2250   1.2 The second scene continues the idea of household and neighbourhood relations: Arthur's uncle, old Seely, wards off the attempts of his neighbour, Master Doughty, to restore sanity to the estate. The Seely household is upside-down, with the old ruled by the young, and the masters ruled by their servants -- a situation produced by witchcraft. Old Seely no longer controls his own finances, and therefore cannot lend his nephew Arthur money for his mortgage. In fact, his son Gregory chides him even for thinking of doing such a thing. The only issue the household agrees on is the upcoming wedding of the two servants, announced at the end of the act. Doughty's reaction to the madness of the household prepares the audience for his later role as 'witch-finder'. [go to text]

gg956   fondness folly; want of sense or judgement [go to text]

gg957   serve treat [go to text]

n1003   conjure a devil out of him That is, thrash him. Doughty is not yet aware that witchcraft is the source of the household problems. [go to text]

n1004   make my foot my head Proverbial, and similar in implication to a world made ‘retrograde’ and ‘preposterous’. The head of the household should not exchange places with a son or a servant: the metaphor of the body indicates the impossibility of such a condition. The body metaphor is frequently invoked to justify the control of man over wife, as well as parent over child, employers over employees, and ruler over subjects; an extended example appears in Coriolanus, 1.1 90 ff, when Menenius tells the ‘pretty tale’ of the body and its members. See also Tilley F562. [go to text]

n1005   devilish Confounded, mean-minded. Doughty does not literally think the devil is in the boy at this point. [go to text]

n1358   It is an office that I am but weakly versd in, to plead to a son in the father’s behalf. Bless me, what looks the devilish young rascal frights the poor man withal! In Q, set as verse. But the lines scan only very roughly, and there is no reason for a sudden reversion to verse when these neighbours have been conversing in prose. This edition sets the dialogue as prose. [go to text]

n1588   Very handsome. Doughty's speech appears on the previous line at the end of Gregory's last line in Q. [go to text]

gs117   serve work as a servant (for someone), either as an apprentice or as a bondsman for a stated period of time (usually seven years) [go to text]

gg958   advocate lawyer [go to text]

gg959   oratory professional advice, exercising eloquent rhetoric according to set rules, as in the legal code (OED n2, 1b) [go to text]

gg1360   impeach impede, hinder, prevent (OED 1; obsolete) [go to text]

n1006   look off on’t Look away. In Q, 'of' means 'off', a common (mis)spelling. Gregory and Doughty are talking at cross-purposes. Gregory is ashamed and angry because a visitor sees that his father misbehaves despite frequent correction; Doughty is annoyed and embarrassed that a son should misbehave by treating his father so unnaturally. [go to text]

n1360   Dissimulations In Q, appears at the end of the previous verse-line, disrupting the scansion. [go to text]

gg960   Dissimulations hypocrisies; dissembling acts that conceal the truth [go to text]

gg1980   mended improved [go to text]

n1361   His son to this. Part of the previous verse line in Q, but disrupting the scansion. This edition starts a new verse line. [go to text]

n1362   All shall be mended, son! Not a separate line in Q, although the scansion of shared lines demands it. This edition corrects the lineation. [go to text]

n1363   Content yourself! But this time forget This edition corrects the lineation which Q treated as one verse-line: 'But this last time forget but this last fault!' [go to text]

n1364   But this last fault! This edition treats as the start of a new line; part of the previous line in Q. [go to text]

n1365   Yes, for a new one tomorrow! Completes the verse-line begun by the previous speaker in this edition. [go to text]

n1007   if my father’s dog Doughty's description is similar to Cordelia's in King Lear, when she describes the ill-treatment her father suffered in the storm: 'Mine enemies' dog though he had bit me / Should have stood that night against my fire' (4.7.36-37). [go to text]

gg961   heinous grievous, grave, severe (obsolete) [go to text]

gg1361   jeering uttering derisive mockery; scoffing [go to text]

n1366   Well, sir, you now shall be a judge for all your jeering Was it a fatherly part, think you, having a son, to offer to enter in bonds for his nephew, so to endanger my estate to redeem his mortgage? This edition, prose. In Q, set as verse, but it cannot be scanned. [go to text]

gs208   dotage senility, feeblemindedness caused by old age (OED 1) [go to text]

n1008   prodigal sire Video The prodigal son tale was very popular in this period; as in the biblical story, the wastrel son returns home when he has spent all he has, repents, and is welcomed and celebrated by his father. Here the narrative line is inverted to a prodigal father who tries to waste his estate, but his son prevents it -- and also refuses to accept the father's repentance as genuine. The model for this inversion may be Beaumont's The Knight of the Burning Pestle. In the latter play, the spendthrift father Merrythought has a philosophy of living for the moment, and refuses to allow his materialistic wife and son to re-enter his house at the play's end until they sing a song of frivolity, promising to spend what they have instead of hoarding up for the future. Although Old Seely does not measure up to Merrythought's prodigality, Gregory fears that even simple expenditures for pleasure might lead to the waste of the estate. Here is an extract from a workshop exploring this sequence of inversions [go to text]

gg963   ale alehouse [go to text]

gg964   club share of a group charge or billing, especially in a tavern [go to text]

gg965   wine wine-bar, or tavern, on analogy with 'ale' for 'alehouse' (not in OED) [go to text]

gg966   tester sixpence [go to text]

gg1981   piper one who plays the bagpipes [go to text]

gg967   civilly lawfully, as permitted by the town's civil code [go to text]

n1043   left it Stopped doing it; that is, stopped spending money with friends in local entertainments. [go to text]

n1050   eight double-ringed tokens New farthings and tokens worth a farthing had just been coined in 1634, because of losses caused by counterfeits. Copper farthings were minted by the state, and lead tokens worth a farthing were issued by merchants (when they needed to make change). The new coins had double rings on either side, with the inner rings beaded (Barber). The total loss for Seely was very small: twopence. [go to text]

gg968   a rubbers at bowls a set of games of lawn-bowling, in which the players compete for the best two out of three, or some other predetermined numbers [go to text]

n1055   curate As one entrusted with the cure of souls, or parson of the parish, he was not usually considered a bad companion. But the Seely world is the world upside-down and classifies the curate with other local layabouts. [go to text]

n1059   have a rod for the child Video Proverbially, spare the rod and spoil the child (Tilley R155).

This sequence, in which Doughty defends Old Seely against Gregory's accusations and chastises the young man, was taken as the basis of a workshop with the actors. Two different takes were recorded for this scene [go to text]

n1063   did he make it cry? That is, did Gregory make old Seely cry? The usage is early modern baby-talk, referring to or talking to a child as 'it'. [go to text]

gg969   stroke rod, or stick to beat with [go to text]

gg970   meddle with your own matters mind your own business [go to text]

n1068   it has stood the property has been held [go to text]

gg971   look take care, ensure [go to text]

n1079   con yeow tell? can you say? do you suppose? The playwrights seem to have had a lot of fun reconstructing Lawrence's (and later Parnell's) northern dialect with phonetic spelling. [go to text]

n1087   Yie, whick way, con yeow tell? —[To GREGORY and old SEELY]But what the foul evil doon ye? Here’s sick an a din! Yes, which way (or how), do you suppose? -- But what the hell are you doing? Here's such a din (loud noise)! Note that ‘yeow’ is singular, here addressing Gregory, and ‘ye’ is plural, including both Gregory and Seely. [go to text]

gg972   fellow customary title of address or reference to a servant or other person of humble station (obsolete) [go to text]

n1109   Yie, sir, and what ma’ yoew o’that? He maintains me to rule him, and I’ll deu’t, or ma’ the heart weary o’the weamb on him. Yes, sir, and what do you make of that? He maintains me to rule him, and I’ll do it or make his heart tired of being inside him (weary of the womb of him). [go to text]

gg973   maintains pays, usually including room and board [go to text]

n1110   the man overcrows his master’s coxcomb A barnyard analogy of cocks' squawking over who rules the roost: the servant shouts down his master. The reference to crowing and coxcomb also implies that both are fools. [go to text]

gs185   coxcomb Doughty refers both to the fool's cap and to the barnyard cock's crowing, when he puns on Old Seely's folly and the manservant Lawrence's power over the master, who 'overcrows' or raises his voice to intimidate the other men in the household. [go to text]

n1111   telling him his own Telling him off; reprimanding him. [go to text]

gs118   maintains sides with (in an argument) [go to text]

n1112   I forbodden yeow to meddle with the old carl and let me alone with him; yet yeow still be at him. He served yeow but weel to baste ye for’t, ant he were stronk enough, but an I saw foul with ye, an I swaddle ye not savourly, may my girts brast. I forbade you to meddle with the old churl and let me handle him, but you still are at him. He would have given you what you deserved to thrash (baste, OED v.3) you for it, if he were strong enough, but if I catch you doing this again (fall foul with you) and don’t beat you up (swaddle, OED 3) with relish (savourly), may my guts burst! ‘Baste’ comes from a kitchen analogy, usually ’rib-baste’ as one would baste roasting meat, suggesting repeated infliction of pain. ‘Swaddle’ is a military synonym, as in Florio: ‘to rib-baste, to bang, to beate, to swaddle, to cudgell, to smite’ (EMEDD). ‘Fall foul’ also has the military sense ‘as of adverse Troops, which on a sudden or by chance, fall foule on one another’ after failing to strike decisively at an earlier encounter. Lawrence, in other words, is a threatening presence, far more of a physical bully than Gregory, who has refuge in sarcasm. [go to text]

n1113   Yie, at your command, anon. Lawrence is clearly as capable as Gregory of speaking sarcastically. [go to text]

gs206   anon at once, forthwith, instantly (obsolete) [go to text]

n1114   How trow yeou that? A fine world when a man cannot be whyet at heame for busy-brain’d neighpours! What makes you think so? A fine world when a man cannot be quiet at home because of busybody (meddlesome, interfering) neighbours! Lawrence's abrasive manner indicates his certainty that he is the head of this household. [go to text]

gg800   Heyday an exclamation indicating surprise [go to text]

n1115   law in Lancashire Lancashire retained its own legal system up to the mid-nineteenth century (Egan), possibly because it is in border territory, and not that far from the more centrally located Carlisle, where centuries earlier Romans had built Hadrian’s Wall to keep out the invading Scots. Parts of the wall are still visible today. The dialect spoken by Parnell and Lawrence has clear affinities with Scottish/Lowland dialects. [go to text]

n1116   which is fit first to depart the house or the world that is, who should have to leave home or die first, a question of proper precedence and female authority. In this upsidedown world, the answer isn't clear, but the implication is that the mother should leave, since she will die first anyway. [go to text]

n1117   Do you say the daughter, for that word I say the mother If you say the daughter, to be contrary I say the mother. [go to text]

gg976   discretion discernment, judgement (OED 2, 3) [go to text]

gg977   take such courses follow the lines by which things run; go with the flow (originally referring to the course of a river); behave by taking the path of least resistance [go to text]

gg1362   sort turn out so as to answer or accord with one's wish, desire, etc. (OED v1, 7c) [go to text]

gg978   dressings head-dresses [go to text]

gg1067   fit habit suitable gown or outfit [go to text]

n1121   weyward sisters Weird sisters, witches who seem to control fate, so called in Macbeth 1.3.30 and elsewhere. [go to text]

n1122   looks green (All) seems pale, sickly, or bilious, which is indicative of her own ill-humour or sickness. (This was especially common in adolescent girls assumed to suffer from green-sickiness, or anemia, thought then to be the disease of virgins who develop sexual desires.) [go to text]

gg1068   white girl favourite, pet, or darling, coined by analogy to ‘white boy’ [go to text]

n1130   my conversion Turning or directing my attention to some new object, here a song (OED 2b). [go to text]

gg1113   deft handsome (Dialect)(OED 3) [go to text]

n1131   with a fa la la, fa la la, langtidown dilly A nonsense refrain, playing on words of endearment (dilly means darling; dilly-down is duck-down, and the refrain may come partly from calling ducks to gather in a farmyard). Given the amorous content of the song, the refrain may prompt the listeners’ imagination, and perhaps was accompanied by lewd gestures and movements, inviting the audience to join in. Nonsense ballad refrains generally mean anything at all, especially anything indecorous or suggestive that perhaps should not be said directly. Meaning depends on context and the singer's delivery. [go to text]

gg1114   toying playing, trifling, esp. amorous dalliance [go to text]

n1132   So wide i’ th’ waist and her belly so high That is, pregnant. [go to text]

n1133   Thus wodden yeou doone and I were dead, but while I live yoeu fadge not on it. Is this aw the warke yeou con fine? This is all you would do if I were dead, but while I live, you won’t get away (fadge, succeed) with it. Is this all the work you can find? [go to text]

gg1117   old wife old woman [go to text]

gg1116   unhandsomeness unattractive or unseemly clothing [go to text]

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

gg1119   list wish, please [go to text]

gg1121   Dress attire with head-dress [go to text]

gg1120   lessen unless [go to text]

gs144   dress treat (a person) ‘properly’, esp. (in ironical use) with deserved severity; hence, give a thrashing or beating, chastise; reprimand severely, scold (OED 9) [go to text]

gg1122   with a wanion with a plague, with a vengeance [go to text]

n1134   hark thee — Listen. This interrupted request may be interpreted in various ways. Doughty's aside that follows allows the audience to observe either some kind of pleading by the women with Parnell, or the sudden intervention by Lawrence, interrupting Joan and Winny, to tell Parnell his good news. [go to text]

n1135   humours Affectations. Originally the word defined medical combinations of the four humours, which governed mental and physical health. Here, the word means bizarre behaviour, verging on madness. [go to text]

n1136   no few Quite a few; several. Lancaster was the site of several well-known witch trials in 1612 (see Potts), as well as the 1633/4 cases. See introduction. [go to text]

gg1124   thonk thank (dialect) [go to text]

n1138   [To LAWRENCE] Parnell's brusque comment does not seem to be a response to Joan's and Winny's attempts to make her listen to their excuses. No one else has asked her to be quiet, but Lawrence may have mimed this request in order to make her listen to his news. [go to text]

gg1123   awd old (dialect) [go to text]

gg1125   shoin shoes (dialect) [go to text]

gg1126   whyet quiet (dialect) [go to text]

gg1127   sicky such (dialect) [go to text]

n1139   prattle, Parnell He plays on her name. See note on Parnell in the cast list (n710 note: Parnell). [go to text]

n1140   Aw’ comed about a’ ween ’a’ had it. Wotst thou what, Parnell? Wotst thou what? All has come about as we would have had it. Do you know what, Parnell? [go to text]

n1141   What’s the fond wexen waild, trow I? What, is the fool (OED fond n 2 B) going crazy (waxing wild), I suppose? [go to text]

n1142   our love shall be at an end for ever, and a day, for we mun wed, may hunny Paradoxical phrasing: 'our love shall be ended forever and a day, because we may wed, my honey'. Lawrence means that the term of their engagement is finally over, since they can now marry as planned. But the phrasing plays into the old joke that people are in love before they marry, but fall out of it pretty quickly once they are married. [go to text]

n1143   What the deowl ayls the lymmer lown? Bin thy brains broke lowse, trow I? What the devil ails the the knavish lout? Thy brains are broken loose, I guess? [go to text]

n1144   Sick a waddin was there never i’ Loncoshire as ween couple at on Monday newst Such a wedding was never in Lancashire as we two will have next Monday. [go to text]

gg1128   sickerly truly [go to text]

gg1129   jaum joke with, mock [go to text]

gg1130   flam trick, deceive, or mock (still current in ‘flim-flam’) [go to text]

gg1131   book the bible [go to text]

gg1132   concloyded concluded (dialect) [go to text]

n1145   aw house and lond and aw all house and land and all [go to text]

n1589   Awa’, awaw! Parnell's cries are on the same line as Lawrence's last, in Q. [go to text]

n1146   Awa’, awaw! From this line, Parnell becomes increasingly more hysterical with excitement, squawking like a barnyard hen, incoherent at the prospect of approaching matrimony. [go to text]

gg1133   sijourners lodgers, guests [go to text]

gg1134   frendibleness friendliness (dialect?) [go to text]

gg1135   agone begone (dialect); go away [go to text]

n1594   both our hands on’t That is, both Seely and Gregory offer to shake hands with the bride. [go to text]

gg1115   ifackins trivial oath amounting to 'in faith', 'by my faith' [go to text]

gg1137   bespeak invite [go to text]

gg1138   ’parelments apparel [go to text]

gg1139   trickly smartly, finely [go to text]

gg1140   trim furnish with what is necesary for a wedding; dress up [go to text]

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