16–17 What… time? Gaspero is shocked that Antonio needs two trades – goldsmiths and cooks – to fortify him so soon after his marriage.

18 surgeon … pothecary If Antonio needs these additional trades, he’ll be on his last legs.

20 strumpet sojourner i.e. Florida, his kept mistress, ‘sojourner’ suggesting the temporariness of the arrangement

21 nobles coins worth 6 shillings and 8 pence (about 33p.). For a perspective on Florida’s going rates see A Mad World My Masters III.iii. 150–1, where Follywit scorns the ‘two-shilling brothel, / Twelvepenny panderism’.

22 panada rich bread pudding

34–6 ed. (I … a-hundred / Gentlewomen; … yeere, MS)

36 friend lover

38 rocking in the cradle

42 Francisca rechecks her calculations here.

43–52 prose ed. (verse in MS)

43 venturing gambling or investing sexually (as in the term ‘merchant adventurers’)

46 once This could be ‘oure’ in MS.

48 come by water … backdoor Riverside Thames houses could be entered thus unobserved from the street.

50 chewets minced meat or fish pies

51 currant ed. (Curran MS)

egg-pies Eggs were regarded as aphrodisiacs.

55 junkets feastings, merrymakings

55–6 fared / The better i.e. he has had better ‘fare’ – the food and gifts Aberzanes brought – and he has benefited since Aberzanes’ and Francisca’s discretion has kept his family reputation intact

61–2 powder … voyage i.e. Antonio would have Almachildes and his family sent as far away as possible from Francisca

61 powder up preserve meat by salting

65 i.e. she’s had no sex because of Sebastian’s charm

75 gamester gambler for money and sexual pleasure. See the play by James Shirley entitled The Gamester.

80 toy trifle

81 knights’ … town The wives of knights came to London with their husbands; the beginnings of the ‘Season’, the social focus on London, has been traced to this period. Knights and gentry would come up to London from the shires to transact business and litigation during the legal Term-times. There was also an increase in the number of knights in the reign of James I because the king sold knighthoods to wealthy citizens.

84 pagans Tobacco smoking was customary among Native Americans and colonisers. King James published a polemic against smoking entitled A Counterblast to Tobacco.

86 pipers pipe-smokers

87–8 statute … fiddlers Chambers, vol. 4, pp. 324, 337, records statutes against wandering minstrels in 1598 and 1604.

105 Quicker a pun on the speed of conception and the live (quick) baby in the womb mothers i.e. subject to ‘the mother’, hysteria

106 else if it is not believed

108–9 Isabella has to bid for Antonio’s attention repeatedly.

114 good bit her pregnancy, which reins in her desire for marriage

118 for I’ll bet for

120 shirts Francisca is going to need old cloths for childbirth.

127 See Appendix (p. 89) for the music and two further verses of this song.

138 spoils corrupts

139 s.d. bags with food, the ‘bakemeats’ inside

139–40 ed. (that… comes / with … borne MS)

144 canary light, sweet wine from the Canary isles

156 travail labour

157 office court official

163 s.d. From now on until the final scene Sebastian appears in disguise as Celio.

165 entertained received into employ

166 liking approval