Volpone and Other Plays (77 page)

58
.
backwards
: at the rear of his house.

70
.
anatomy
: Note.

14
.
th' osterìa
: the inn.

14
.
a tumbling whore
: ‘tumbling' here suggests both acrobatic dancing and ‘tumbling in the hay'.

20
.
fasting spittle
: the spittle of someone who is fasting, or starving.

27
.
At extreme fees
: at huge cost.

29
.
cataplasm
: poultice, or plaster.

42
.
delate
: report.

47
.
present him
: give him what he requires.

55
.
quean
: whore.

59
.
God's so
: Note.

75
.
is not engaged
: has no ulterior purpose (i.e. is not one of Volpone's ‘clients').

84
.
make your count
: be assured.

10
.
the mystery
: the skilled craft or profession;
a science
: a systematic field of learning recognized by universities, academies, etc.

11
.
liberally professed
: widely practised like an academic discipline.

14
.
town-art
: art of getting one's living by knowing one's way around the city.

18
.
kitchen-invention and some stale receipts
: culinary skill and old recipes.

19
.
the groin
: this suggests a cook-pander.

20
.
fleer
: smile sycophantically.

21
.
legs and faces
: bowing and scraping.

28
.
present to any humour, all occasion
: prepared to cope with any whim and any event (i.e. thoroughly opportunist).

29
.
change a visor
: literally, change a mask; adopt any attitude or play any part.

23
.
spin my own poor raiment
: keep myself in clothes.

28
.
mining
: undermining.

35
.
personated
: impersonated or acted.

28
.
this
: Lady Would-be.

29
.
the other
: Celia.

20
.
bird-eyed
: staring.

37.
fucus
: a skin cosmetic.

47.
golden mediocrity
: Note.

52.
seed-pearl
: a stimulant for the heart made of crushed seed-pearla dissolved in liquid.

54.
elecampane root
: the root of a medicinal plant.

61.
Bugloss
: another herb.

74.
concent
: harmony.

104.
politic bodies
: countries.

125.
coætanei
: exact contemporaries.

12.
presented
: given a present.

36.
primero
: a card-game.

3.
they prevent us
:i.e the various other ‘clients'

4.
his horns
: the horns of a cuckold.

21.
move
: urge.

34.
my engagements
: my business commitments.

35–6.
the necessity of those means
: the necessity of adopting certain methods (i.e. becoming Volpone's sole heir through Celia's prostitution);
my recovery
: my
financial
recovery.

60.
prints
: Note.

99
.
rochet
: a kind of fish.

104
.
aquafortis
: nitric acid.
105
cor'sives
: other corrosives.

126
.
quit
: acquit.

127
.
coming
: forthcoming.

144
.
cope-man
: dealer.
153
.
hornèd flood
: Note.

158
.
jovial plight
: cheerful spirits; but the word-play suggests Jovial also –Jove, the seducer of maidens.

165
.
SONG
: Note

184
.
serene
: ‘A light fall of moisture or fine rain after sunset in hot countries, formerly regarded as a noxious dew or mist.' –
O.E.D
.

191
.
more orient
: of greater value.

220
.
antic
: grotesque dance.

230
.
the Grand Signior
: the Sultan of Turkey.

17
.
the brand
: No e.

19
.
boring
: Note.

8
.
phrase
: way of speaking. By
‘your
phrase' Sir Politic means ‘one's', but Peregrine takes – or pretends to take – it personally.

10
.
themes
: general topics.

12
.
garb
: appearance, bearing.

30
.
So as I still might be a saver in ' em
: obscure.

29
.
metal
: material.

34
.
preposterous
: unconventional.

46
.
projects
: speculative enterprises.

60
.
hoy
: a kind of trading-boat.

64
.
defalk
: cut or lop off (here, show a profit).

73
.
pension
: i.e. for service to the State.

89
.
put case
: supposing.

97
.
t' enjoy them
: to keep them (tinder-boxes).

106
.
the Lazaretto
: a quarantine hospital.

114
.
venture
: put up the money for.

141
.
ragion del stato
: affairs of state.

142
.
moccenigo
: a coin worth little.

144
.
cheapened
: haggled over.

7
.
the party
: i.e. the ‘cunning courtesan' Mosca told her of in III, v, 20.

47
.
light land-siren
: irresponsible harlot.

64
.
use this
: behave like this.

73
.
the queen-apple
: Peregrine is saying one side of her nose is red.

2
.
quest
: claim.

4
.
callet
: prostitute.

16
.
use me
: let me be of service to you socially; but Lady Would-be is being too inviting, as ‘conceive' suggests.

23
.
freshmanship
: inexperience.

1
.
carriage of the business
: way to tackle the business.

5
.
burden
: refrain in a song – i.e. something memorized, in his case ‘his lines'.

14
.
mummia
: substance made from Egyptian mummies, or from corpses, and used as a drug.

15
.
this buffalo
: Corvino, with his cuckold's horns.

9
.
example
: precedent.

31
.
frontless
: shameless.

48
.
extirp
: wipe out.

108
.
mere portent of nature
: utter monster.

118
.
partridge
: widely regarded as a lecherous bird.

3
.
hyena
: regarded as a treacherous, deceitful beast. Hyena's tears would be like crocodile's tears.

13
.
pertinacy
: evidently a malapropism.

32
.
strappado
: a form of torture.

85
.
stale
: decoy;
forged practice
: contrived plot.

97
.
sols
: coins.

119
.
jennet
: high-spirited horse.

45
.
face or colour like to truth
: appearance of truth.

51
.
fleshed
: hardened.

55
.
prodigies
: monsters, ‘holy terrors'.

66
.
living
: means of livelihood.

71
.
the other
: i.e. your prostitution of Celia to Volpone.

74
.
doubt this advocate
: mistrust Voltore.

81
.
put in
: entered in the inventory.

89
.
Bountiful bones
: Note.

91
.
worthy this age
: so that be deserves to be like this in his old age.

97
.
reform
: revise.

1
.
brunt
: confusion.

3
.
this fled moment
: the time immediately preceding this.

4
.
Cavè
: Beware.

16
.
make me up again
: put me in my old spirits.

4
.
our trade
: i.e. legacy-hunting.

32
.
rare
: rarely, i.e. ‘Did not your advocate plead exceptionally well?'

46
.
contrary
: contradict.

50
.
Draw it to certain heads
: arrange his subject-matter under headings.

51
.
vehement figures
: emphatic figures of speech.

52
.
shift a shirt
: change his shirt (i.e. Voltore gesticulated like a man changing his shirt; or possibly, sweated so much as to require a fresh shirt).

70
.
take upon thee
: act in such a way.

88
.
dull
: foolish, insensible.

90
.
clarissimo
: Venetian nobleman (i.e. Corbaccio).

91
.
crump you like a hog-louse with the touch
: curl up like a louse when it is touched.

93
.
rope and dagger
: Note.

III
.
artificer
: skilled craftsman (i.e. at teasing the legacy-hunters).

7
.
velvets
: velvet curtains, or bales of velvet.

9
.
traverse
: a curtain, or a screen made of fabric.

11
.
Is his thread spun?
: euphemism for ‘Is he dead?', referring to the three Fates who spun, measured, and then cut the thread of a man's life.

21
. i'
their garters
: a pun on ‘hanging'.

25
.
Old glazen-eyes
: a reference to Corbaccio's spectacles.

32
.
salt
: salt-cellar.

51
.
wittol
: complaisant cuckold.

58–59
.
extraordinary
: i.e. Corvino isn't really a cuckold, because Celia only appears to be adulterous.

63
.
his fear eyes
: another reference to Corbaccio's spectacles.

68
.
the three legs
: a reference to Corbaccio's walking-stick.

102
.
lettuce
: thought to be a laxative.

105
.
habit of clarissimo
: nobleman's robe.

114
.
commendatori
: Court officials.

42
.
play-books
: plays printed in quarto.

45
.
frail
: a rush basket in which figs, raisins, etc., were packed.

51
.
engine
: invention.

55
.
fitted
: designed.

73
.
Godso
: an expletive. Note.

76
.
funeral
: burning. See above, lines 60–61.

77
.
motion
: puppet-show; see also
Bartholomew Fair
.

78
.
term
: period when the law-courts were sitting, and roughly equivalent to ‘the London season'.
Smithfield
was the site of Bartholomew Fair.

82
.
the fable of all feasts
: i.e. people will ‘dine out on' the story of Sir Pol's misadventure.

83
.
freight
: topic;
gazetti
: news-sheets.

84
.
ordinaries
: taverns.

2
.
sever
: tell apart.

4
.
My made me
: my assumed role.

6–7
.
My Fox
…: reference to a children's game, Fox-in-the-hole.

8
.
case
: covering, disguise.

9
.
composition: bargain
.

17
.
over-leavened
: puffed-up.

25
.
a'known
: publicly recognized (as the heir).

2
.
make legs
: bow, humble himself.

10
.
Pescheria
: fish-market.

12
.
customed
: much frequented.

18
.
candle-rents
: rents from decaying property.

1
.
in our habit
: dressed like people of our class (i.e. as a
clarissimo
).

2
.
gun-stones
: cannon-balls made of stone.

12
–14.
moral emblems
: Note.

15
.
privilege of the place
: safety of a public street.

17
.
chequins
: gold buttons.

27
.
basilisk
: a reptile thought to be able to kill with a look.

5
.
biggen
: a lawyer's skull-cap.

8
.
familiar
: evil spirit.

11
.
quirk
: trick, legal quibble.