NOTES

CAXTON'S ORIGINAL PREFACE

1 installed

2 Polichronicon. An outline of universal history by a medieval monk, Ranulph Higden.

3 Bochas. Boccaccio's book, Concerning the Fall of Great Men.

4 Galfridus. Geoffrey of Monmouth who wrote in Latin a history of Britain. He lived during the first half of the twelfth century.

5 knowledge

6 undertook

7 beguiled

THE PRINTER TO THE GENTLE READER

1 since his departure over sea. Spenser returned to Ireland in 1591. 2 sundrie others, etc. These poems Ponsonby apparently never obtained. They seem to have disappeared before they were published. Perhaps they were never written.

PREFACE TO SHAKESPEARE'S FOLIO

1 Stationer. All books which had been approved by the official censors were listed in the Stationers' Register. The authors are here referring to the licensing of books and the fees required.

2 Black-Friers. This was the theater where many of Shakespeare's plays were first presented.

3 surreptitious copies. Some of these copies were compiled from players' books or from stenographic notes taken down during a performance. Consequently, they were likely to be inaccurate. Although the compilers claim that the first folio is taken directly from Shakespeare's own manuscript, scholars think that they have stretched the truth considerably. Frequently the readings they give are not so good as those of the stolen editions.

BACON

1 In studio rei, etc. In his zeal to increase his possessions, it was apparent that not the profit of avarice was sought but the means of benevolence.

2 expect the prime of markets. Bacon refers to the man who has so much capital that he need not sell his products until prices are high.

3 in sudore vultus alieni. In the sweat of another's brow.

testamenta et orbos tanquam indagine capi. Wills and orphans were caught as if by legacy hunting.

5 It is better dealing, etc. The chances for success are greater in dealing with a man who has many desires than with one who is well supplied.

6 If a man deal with another upon conditions, etc. If a man makes a contract, he cannot expect further business after he has fulfilled the contract unless he can show further need for his services.

Ignavum fucos pecus a prœsepibus arcent.

the drones, a lazy horde. Georgics IV: 168.

They drive from the hives

8 in sudore vultus tui comedes panem tuum. In the sweat of thy brow thou shalt eat thy bread.

in sudore vultus alieni. In the sweat of another's brow.

10 orange-tawny bonnets. The laws of the Middle Ages forced the Jews to wear certain colors. Orange was one of these.

11 concessum propter duritiem cordis. A concession on account of hardness of heart.

12 vena porta. The portal vein of the liver.

13 Utopia. Bacon refers to Sir Thomas More's Utopia published in the previous century.

SHAKESPEARE

1 still. Constantly.

2 my wealthy Andrew dock'd in sand. A richly laden ship stranded on the beach. "Andrew" may have been derived from Andrea Doria, an admiral of Genoa.

3 Vailing. Lowering.

two-headed Janus. As Janus was the guardian of the gates, which looked two ways, he was represented with two heads. He also opened the year. Hence the first month was named after him.

5 Nestor. The most serious and wisest of the Greeks at the siege of Troy. He had no sense of humor.

6 if you be remembered. If you recall.

7 be-mete. Measure.

8 bill. Bill meant weapon as well as statement or order.

9 conceit. Idea, thought.

JONSON

1 A member of the Grocers' Company

2 plan

3 recommended

He has his maple block, etc. This is an excellent description of a druggist's shop of the better class. The druggist not only sold tobacco but also taught the unlearned the new art of smoking. The tobacco was shredded on the maple block. The silver tongs were used to hold the coal from the fire of juniper, which was kept continually burning so

that the customers could light their pipes. To serve the customer as well as to sell him was the aim of the better merchants in 1625 as in 1925. 5 usurer

6 wear the livery

7 be sheriff

8 amazed

9 A branch of physiognomy

10 be seen

11-12 on your stall, a puppet, etc. Subtle tells Drugger to use as a sign or advertisement a doll moved by some device to attract attention. He suggests that Drugger can appeal to the ladies by having the doll apply rouge to its face.

17 gold coin worth about $15.

18 my almanack. In some of the old almanacs the days which were unlucky for buying or selling were specially marked. Drugger wants Subtle to mark his almanac in this way so that he will know on what days to trade.

EARLE

1 neat silk strings. It was customary in the seventeenth century to place books on the shelves with the leaves at the front. The two sides of the binding were tied with strings frequently made of silk.

2 Euphormio. Euphormio was the pseudonym taken by John Barclay, a satirist of the early seventeenth century. In his Satyricon he attacked the Jesuits and the Puritans.

3 his Tutor gives him Money. The tutors supervised not only the pupils' studies but also their finances.

4 Gentleman-Critic in Pedigrees. An expert in tracing genealogies and an authority on coats-of-arms and other matters pertaining to the Herald's College.

5 Ingle. The term used to designate those students who cultivated the acquaintance of noblemen.

No man speaks more and no more. No man talks more without saying anything new.

7 misinterpreted sense of Scripture. "Godliness is profitable unto all things." I Timothy iv: 8. "Godliness with contentment is great gain." I Timothy vi: 6.

MILTON

1 quadragesimal and matrimonial. Milton refers to the practice of fasting during Lent, the forty days before Easter, and to the Episcopal doctrine concerning matrimony. The Puritans wished to cleanse the church of all doctrines which savored of Catholicism.

2 fabulous dragon's teeth. The Greek myth of Jason and the Golden Fleece told how armed men sprang from the dragon's teeth which Jason sowed.

3 foolish

4 severe 5 require

6 early form of violin

"Arcadias. Arcadia was the title of a pastoral romance written about 1500 by Sannazaro, an Italian Humanist. It was imitated in Spain by Jorge de Montmayor, whose Diana appeared in 1524, and in England by Sir Philip Sidney in his Arcadia. The Puritans objected to the pastoral romances because they were based on the theory of "eat, drink, and be merry."

8 it. The licensing ordinance.

9 Philistines. Cf. I. Samuel xiii: 19-20.

10 star-chamber. The Star-chamber court was abolished in 1641.

11 sophisms and elenchs of merchandise. The booksellers apparently used false but plausible arguments in their sales talks and thus deluded their customers.

BUNYAN

1 the ware of Rome. The doctrines of the Catholic Church, which England and Germany repudiated at the Reformation.

2 purchase

3 crazy men

4 hinder

DRYDEN

1 Holland. Holland was the great rival of England in the East India trade.

2 blood should circularly flow. William Harvey (1578-1675) had recently made his great discovery of the circulation of the blood.

3 Idumæan Balm. Dryden obtained this idea from Virgil who wrote in the Second Book of the Georgics, “India alone gives black ebony: the frankincense-tree belongs to none but the Sabeans. Why should I mention to you balsams exuding from the fragrant wood, and the berries of the evergreen acacia?" (tr. by A. H. Bryce).

4 our second Punic War. England had fought her first war with the Dutch on this question of trade under Oliver Cromwell (1652-54). Although Dryden hoped that this Second War would be like the Second Punic War which ended in a Roman Victory over Hannibal, he was disappointed. The Dutch fleet entered the Thames in 1667.

5 Saturn. According to the Latin Poets Saturn founded an empire in Italy after he was exiled by his son, Jupiter, who usurped his throne.

6 ocean leaning on the sky. At the end of the earth the ocean was supposed to meet and lean on the sky. In explaining this passage Lowell uses the American slang phrase "jumping-off place."

"The venturous merchant, etc. Dryden closes his poem with a prophecy of the commercial greatness of England. This bright future, when tradesmen should seek her shores and she should rule the ocean, was unfortunately delayed for some years. The Dutch remained a formidable rival until the next century.

PEPYS

1 Sir J. Cutler. Sir John Cutler was a grocer of London, who had two statues erected to his memory. Pope satirized him as "sage Cutler." 2"Audley's Way to be Rich." "The way to be Rich, according to the practice of the great Audley, who began with 200 L. in 1605, and dyed worth 400,000 L. November, 1662." This was one of the earliest books on how to amass a fortune. Audley seems to have been the Rockefeller of his day. Under November 23, 1662 Pepys noted: "I hear today old rich Audley is lately dead, and left a very great estate, and made a great many poor familys rich, not all to one."

3 Sir W. Batten. Sir William Batten's name occurs many times in the Diary. He was a Commissioner of the Navy and a member of Parliament. He was thus associated with Pepys in business.

4 Sir. W. Pen. Sir William Pen was a Vice-Admiral and a Commissioner of the Navy. He was second in command in the War with Holland in 1665.

5 Sir J. Lawson. Sir John Lawson, an admiral, was mortally wounded in 1665.

6 Mr. Kirton. Joseph Kirton, a bookseller, whose shop was in St. Paul's Churchyard at the sign of "The King's Arms."

7 Sir W. Rider. Sir William Rider acted with Pepys and several others as one of the Commissioners for Tangier. Pepys dined at his house frequently.

8 Sir John Bankes. Sir John Bankes was a rich merchant who lived in Lincoln's Inn Fields. When Pepys was accused in 1673 of having an altar and crucifix in his house, Sir John Bankes testified in his favor before the House of Commons.

9 Oliver. Oliver Cromwell.

10 Lady Jemimah and Paulina Montagu, and Mrs. Elizabeth Pickering. The daughters and niece of Pepys' cousin and patron, the Earl of Sandwich.

11 "Sir Martin Marall." Under August 16, 1667 Pepys wrote "My Wife and I to the Duke's playhouse where we saw the new play acted yesterday, "The Feign Innocence, or Sir Martin Marall'; a play made by my Lord Duke of Newcastle, but, as everybody says, corrected by Dryden." 12 "The Indian Queene." An heroic play by Sir Robert Howard and Dryden, which was first acted on January 27, 1664. When Pepys first saw it on February 1, 1664, he was much pleased with the acting of Anne Marshall.

13 New Exchange. Many of the retail shops moved westward from the center of London to the Strand after the great fire of 1666.