30 bag-puddings stuffed with meat and oatmeal

33-4 seven . . . sick a rather artless preparation for the news announced by Lacy in Scene 15; an indication also of how commonplace illness and sudden death were in Elizabethan England, as Dekker was later to note in his many pamphlets about the plague.

41 Godamercy thanks

48 God’s me a shortened form of ‘God save me’ (O.E.D. ‘god’ n. 8b)

50 butter-box derogatory slang for Dutchman (see note to 4.50) spreken Firk’s term for Dutch.

51 Vat . . . frister? ‘What do you want, what would you, girl?’ yow . . . yow ed. (gon . . . gon Q1)

54 Vare . . . mistress? ‘Where is your noble lady? Where is your mistress?’ edle ed. (egle Q1)

55 Cornwall alternative spelling for ‘Cornhill’, the location of Oatley’s town house (2.30)

57 stand upon needles am impatient; proverbial (Tilley, N100)

59 trick in my budget gadget in my purse; Sybil here outdoes Firk and Hodge in bawdy innuendo.

60 Yaw . . . gane ‘Yes, yes; I shall go with you’ s.d. Exeunt ed. (Exit Q1)

61 make haste again hurry back

1 sign of the Last a sign for a shoemaker’s shop

Mass a mild oath (by the Holy Mass)

5 against by

7-8 at any hand no matter what

10 By this shoe i.e. with this shoe as a model

20 Golden Ball probably a shop sign; Watling Street was one of London’s more wealthy commercial districts.

29 Saint Faith’s a church in the crypt of St Paul’s, used as a parish church by the stationers and others who lived in the neighbourhood

37 ‘Snails by God’s nails (see note to 4.69) countryman neighbour

40 a man’s thing . . . a woman’s thing genitals

43 mere complete

47 pricked stitched with my needle

49 murrain plague

50 ague-fit bout (of sickness)

66 Cripplegates Cripplegate, like Ludgate (which Simon Eyre repeatedly swears by), was one of the seven traditional gates of the city. Lame beggars frequented it; hence, perhaps, its name. Firk invokes it here to refer to Ralph’s lame condition.

68-9 wedding and hanging goes by destiny proverbial (Tilley, W232)

2 cross adverse

6 too over-fond esteem of me excessive concern for my honour

17 chance ed. (change Q1)

19 we (Q3; me Q1)

21-2 hide yourself. In ed. (hide your selfe in Q1). The punctuation in Q1 suggests a bawdy innuendo.

25 want wit in extremity lack quick wits in a crisis

29-30 Forware . . . betallen ‘Indeed, mistress, it is a good shoe; it shall do well, or you will not pay for it’

33 Fit . . . well Oatley’s remark is (no doubt unintentionally) bawdy, and Lacy’s reply interprets it as such.

34-5 Yaw . . . here ‘Yes, yes, I know that well. Indeed, it is good shoe, it is made of neat’s leather - just look, my lord’

39 come to speak (come speak Q1) I follow most editors in emending to ‘come to speak’ in order to repair the line’s metre.