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the Annotated Popular Edition of

Gammer Gurton’s Needle

by Mr. S

c. 1562-4?

Featuring complete and easy-to-read annotations.

Annotations and notes © Copyright ElizabethanDrama.org, 2018
This annotated play may be freely copied and distributed.

A Ryght Pithy, Pleasaunt, anp Merie Comedie, Intytuled Gammer Gurtons Nedle: Played on Stage, not longe ago in Christes Colledge in Cambridge. Made by Mr. S. Mr. of Art.
God Save the Queene.
The Names of the Speakers in this Comedy:	INTRODUCTION to the PLAY
Gammer Gurton.	Gammer Gurton's Needle is considered to be the
Hodge, Gammer Gurton's Servant.	second-earliest proper English comedy extant. Gammer
Tib, Gammer Gurton's Maid.	is also one of the most entertainingly - or grossly -
Cock, Gammer Gurton's Boy.	vulgar plays in the canon, but this is because of its
	earthy humour based on bodily-functions rather than
Diccon, the Bedlam.	on sex. The characters are low-brow, and the dialogue
Doctor Rat, the Curate	full of colourful dialect, all of which is explained in the
Master Baily, the Bailiff.	annotations. The action is driven by the vagabond
Scapethrift, Master Baily's Servant.	Diccon, a conniving trickster, who orchestrates all of
	the play's confusion and violence.
Dame Chat.
Doll, Dame Chat's Maid.	NOTE on the PLAY'S SOURCE
Mutes	The text of the play is taken from John Farmer's
	1906 edition of Gammer, cited below at #3, with some
	original spelling from the earliest known edition of
	1575 reinstated.
	NOTES on the ANNOTATIONS
	Mention of Farmer, Bradley, Hazlitt, Dodsley,
	Gassner, Whitworth and Brett-Smith in the annotations
	refers to the notes provided by each of these editors
	in their respective editions of this play, each cited fully
	below.
	Mention of Clements refers to the stage directions
	suggested in his abbreviated edition of the play.
	The most commonly cited sources are listed in the
	footnotes immediately below. The complete list of
	footnotes appears at the end of this play.
	1. Oxford English Dictionary (OED) online.
	2. Crystal, David and Ben. Shakespeare's Words.
	London; New York: Penguin, 2002.
	3. Farmer, John S. Gammer Gurton's Needle.
	London: Gibbings and Co., 1906.
	4. Bradley, Henry, ed. Gammer Gurton's Needle,
	pp. 195-262. From Representative English Comedies,
	Charles Mills Gayley, general editor. London: Mac-
	Millan & Co., 1916.
	5. Hazlitt, W. Carew. A Selected Collection of Old
	English Plays, Vol. III (originally published by Robert
	Dodsley). London: Reeves and Turner, 1874.
	6. Dodsley, Robert. The Ancient British Drama.
	Edinburgh: James Ballentyne & Co., 1810.
	7. Gassner, John. Medieval and Tudor Drama.
	New York: Bantam Books Inc., 1968.
	8. Whitworth, Charles W. Three Sixteenth
	Century Comedies. London: Ernest Benn Ltd., 1984.
	11. Brett-Smith, H.F.B. Gammer Gvrtons Needle.
	Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1920.
	12. Clements, Colin Campbell. Gammer Gurton's
	Needle, a Modern Adaptation. Samuel French, 1922.

INTRODUCTORY NOTES.

A. Who Wrote Gammer Gurton's Needle?

Much ink has been spent by detective-scholars trying to determine the identity of the author of Gammer. A starting point has been the notation in the play's title page, which tells us that the playwright was "Mr. S., Mr. (ie. Master) of Art.", and that Gammer was performed "not longe ago" - that is, some unspecified time before the play's publication date of 1575 - at Christ's College at Cambridge; the reasoning, reasonably enough, is that the shadowy Mr. S must have been a member of Christ's College, and that his surname must begin with the letter S.

We see no reason to draw any conclusions on this score, but will simply identify who the candidates for authorship have been over the centuries:

(1) the earliest nominee was John Still, a cleric who began his career at Christ's College, and was later promoted to the bishopric of Bath and Wales; however, the evidence against him is strong: as Gammer editor John Farmer, who had sifted the contemporary descriptions of Bishop Still, wrote in 1906, there is "(no) evidence that he ever made a joke."³

(2) William Stevenson, a member of the faculty at Christ's College in the 1550's; the OED's numerous citations from Gammer attach Stevenson's name as Gammer's author; and

(3) John Bridges, of Pembroke College at Cambridge. The supposition that Bridges is our author is based on a 16th century letter written to him critically accusing him of having written Gammer Gurton's Needle.

A good summary of the history of this minor historical mystery can be found in the Introduction of Charles Whitworth's Three Sixteenth Century Comedies (London: Ernest Benn Ltd., 1984).

B. The Setting and Scenery of Gammer.

A reading of the play makes it very clear that Gammer takes place entirely on the street and yards in front of two adjacent houses, the first the home of our play's heroine, Gammer Gurton, and the other that of Dame Chat; Chat's house also doubles as a tavern, or alehouse, run by the same lady. Characters will enter and exit the stage either through one of the doors of the two houses, or off-stage if they are entering or exiting the scene by means of the fronting road.

Many of the scenes do not end clearly with all of the actors - no women were to play on the stage for another century - vacating the stage; our author often begins a new scene whenever a character or two enters the stage to join those already present.

The original edition of Gammer included practically no stage directions; thus, except where noted, the stage directions in this edition of the play are all provided by the present editor or other early editors; a substantial number of our stage directions are borrowed from the practical and abbreviated edition of Gammer published by Colin Clements in 1922.¹²

C. Gammer's Gleeful Scatological Obsession.

If anyone remembers Gammer today, it is likely for its incessant use of excrement and buttocks as a source of humour. Thus, we have one character unexpectedly picking a piece of cat's turd off his clothing, numerous references to arses, and most famously, perhaps the only character in all the canon who soils himself in the very worst way right on stage.

Because the play was performed at an all-male college, - women did not attend university, nor receive any formal education at all in this century - it is not surprising, and perhaps even relieving, to know that young men of almost five centuries ago were as willing to laugh at poo-poo and pee-pee jokes as they are today.

D. Oaths and Swears.

Gammer Gurton's Needle contains a dizzying range of oaths and swears, and almost all of them are of a religious nature, including many which will be familiar to any reader of Elizabethan drama, invoking the Lord's soul, heart and mother; but the observant reader will also note the presence of many unique and colourfully odd oaths, such as those invoking God's sacrament, malt and blest (ie. bliss).

As you read the play, you may observe that the characters have no aversion to explicitly mentioning God and Jesus in their oaths, although God is often replaced euphemistically with Gog and Cock. Additionally, we find a by Gis and a by Gigs, rather silly euphemisms for by Jesus. It was only later, in the first decade of the 17th century, that the explicit use of God's name on stage was banned by a statute of Parliament, so that plays printed after 1606 generally contained no such explicit expressions.

E. Gammer's Use of Dialect.

Probably the most difficult task a modern reader of Gammer may face is dealing with the heavy use of dialectical and regional words and phrases which appear densely throughout the play.

The most obvious instances of dialect are those in which the pronoun 'I' is replaced by ich, and in which common two-word combinations, such as ich have and ich am (ie. "I have" and "I am") are abbreviated (to chave and cham in our examples respectively). This aspect of dialect is identified with the good people of south-western England, but it also became the go-to means by which an Elizabethan author would give his characters a rural flavour.

We also find the occasional first-letter 'f' and 'v' of words interchanged, so that father becomes vather, but vixen becomes fixen; additionally, the author appears to take liberties in creating his own faux-dialectical words, such as glay for clay and feygh for fight, there being no authority for such modifications.

A unique approach to this edition of Gammer is to restore the original spelling of a word whenever the original spelling suggests a variation in actual pronunciation; for example, we will keep ere written as or, and heard as hard, wherever these words were printed this way in the original 1575 edition of the play, even though all subsequent editions of Gammer which modernize the play's spelling publish or and usually heard.

F. Some Frequently Appearing Vocabulary.

Speakers of English frequently take recourse to a number of pause-phrases which parenthetically indicate an individual's frame of mind - I believe, you think, don't you know: "The governor, I think, is not so tall" (such expressions are part of a larger category of sentence organizers called discourse markers).

16th century English used some older words in these types of phrases, and these words appear repeatedly in this play:

1. trow = to believe, suppose; examples: I trow, trowest now.

2. ween = to expect, think; example: ich ween.

3. wot = to know; examples: ich wot, I wot not.

Some other unusual words upon which our author depends heavily include the following:

4. warrant = guarantee, assure; used especially in phrases such as I warrant you, ie. "I guarantee it", or "I assure you".

5. dress = used to mean "to treat", "to beat", and once even "to dress a wound", in addition to its modern meaning of "to attire".

6. hold = to wager.

Finally, we point out that the word and could be used to mean either "and" or "if". Mr. S. uses and in both senses regularly.

G. Gammer's Rhyme Scheme.

The overwhelming majority of the play is written in rhyming couplets. Happily for the reader, the meter is completely irregular, or non-existent, and the number of syllables per line varies: this is a blessing, because otherwise the play would quickly begin to sound like a Dr. Seuss book, and the regular rhythm and rhyme would grow rapidly tiresome, indeed exhausting.

As it is, the lines generally contain anywhere from 10 to 13 syllables; and as mentioned, thanks to there being no meter to speak of, - that is, no regular rhythm - the dialogue comes across as a little more natural, and you probably won't even be conscious of the rhyming.

An interesting feature of the playwright's versifying is that he sometimes chose to use an obscure or rarely used alternative spelling or form of a word in order to make a rhyme work; for example, he uses streite instead of street in order to rhyme with sprite, and britch for breech to rhyme with stitch.

Having said all that, we recommend you not get hung up on the rhyming as you read our play; The author used rhyming couplets only as a frame, or skeleton, on which to build Gammer, so we suggest that you will enjoy Gammer a great deal more if you do not think about the rhyming at all.

	THE PROLOGUE.	The Prologue: WARNING: the Prologue summarizes the complete plot of our play, so save your reading of it for last, unless you want to ruin the suspense for yourself! The Prologue, sometimes called a Chorus, is a device used to introduce the play to an audience, and is recited by a single actor.
1	As Gammer Gurton, with many a wide stitch,
2	Sat piecing and patching of Hodge her man's britch,	2: piercing = mending.^2 man's = servant's. britch = ie. breech, or breeches, probably referring to a loose garment worn like trousers, but only reaching below the knee.^1 The playwright used this alternate spelling to rhyme the word with stitch.
	By chance or misfortune, as she her gear tossed,	= the sense is "worked on her mending". gear = could mean business, stuff, or clothing.^1
4	In Hodge' leather breeches her needle she lost.	= Hodge's; Hodge is another of Gammer's servants.
	When Diccon the Bedlam had hard by report,	= Diccon is a beggar; see the note at the beginning of Act I.i below. hard = heard.
6	That good Gammer Gurton was robbed in this sort,	= manner.
	He quietly persuaded with her in that stound	7: persuaded with her = ie. "persuaded Gammer"; the combination persuaded with, meaning "used persuasion on", was common in the 16th and 17th centuries. in that stound = in that moment;^1 though Farmer and Gassner suggest stound here takes its alternate meaning of "crisis" or "difficult time".
8	Dame Chat, her dear gossip, this needle had found;	= read as "that Dame Chat". = female friend.
	Yet knew she no more of this matter (alas),	9-10: "but Gammer is as ignorant of what happened to
10	Than knoweth Tom, our clerk, what the priest saith at mass.	the needle as Tom the clerk is of what the priest is saying at Mass." Because the priest recites the mass in Latin, Tom the lay officer of the local church (clerk),^1 who presumably was without formal education, would not comprehend it at all. This is the first of several lines in the play that suggest the characters might be Catholic; the English Reformation had taken place during the 1530's, but Mary I's reign (1553-8) brought about a violent pro-Catholic backlash, before official-English policy returned to the Protestant fold with Elizabeth's ascension in 1558.
	Hereof there ensued so fearful a fray,	= from this.^1
12	Mas Doctor was sent for, these gossips to stay,	= Master. = ie. a cleric. = comfort or support.^1
	Because he was curate, and esteemed full wise,
14	Who found that he sought not, by Diccon's device.	14: "who found that which he was not looking for, thanks to Diccon's scheme (device).
	When all things were tumbled and clean out of fashion,	15: ie. "when the entire matter reached its climax, having dissolved into a big mess". out of fashion = out of shape.^1
16	Whether it were by fortune, or some other constellation,	= ie. fate, referring to the position of the stars with respect to the influence they were believed to maintain over the affairs of man.^1
	Suddenly the needle Hodge found by the pricking,	= ie. being stuck by it.
18	And drew it out of his buttock, where he felt it sticking.
	Their hearts then at rest with perfect security,	= ie. without any further anxiety.
20	With a pot of good nale they stroke up their plauditè.	20: nale = alternate Middle English spelling for ale.^1 stroke up their plaudite = appealed to the audience for applause.

	ACT I.
	SCENE I.
		Settings of the Play: there are no settings provided in the original edition of Gammer: we will assume the stage is furnished with the facades of two adjacent houses, the first belonging to the elderly Gammer Gurton, and the other to Dame Chat, who also runs a tavern out of her home. The entire play takes place either directly in front of either of the two houses, or on the street fronting them.
	Enter Diccon the Bedlam from off-stage.	Entering Character: Diccon is an itinerant beggar; he is identified in the character-list as a Bedlam, which could mean one of two things: (1) he had been a patient at Bethlehem Hospital, London's famous insane asylum, but, having partially recovered, had been released, and as such, is licensed to beg;^7 or (2) when the religious houses were dissolved during the Reformation, all of the poor who had been provided for by these houses were forced to now roam the country begging for provisions. Many of these vagabonds notoriously pretended to be mad in order to elicit greater sympathy from the populace, and as such were known as "Abraham-men" or "Bedlam-beggars".^6 We may note that Diccon is fully functional, even if he ignores normal social conventions.
		Diccon is a nickname for Richard. In Shakespeare's Richard III, an anonymous note insultingly referring to the King as Dickon was submitted to the Duke of Norfolk, warning him not to trust Richard. The original edition of Gammer does not list character entrances, but rather simply lists the names of the characters who take part in a given scene at the top of each scene. Characters will enter and exit the stage either through one of the doors of the two houses, or off-stage if they are entering or exiting the scene by means of the fronting road. All character entrances and departures are the suggestions of either the present editor or earlier editors.
		Act I, Scene i: the first scene comprises a brief monologue, as Diccon addresses the audience.
1	Dic. Many a mile have I walked divers and sundry ways,	= a common formula meaning simply "various".^1
2	And many a good man's house have I been at in my days;
	Many a gossip's cup in my time have I tasted,	3-4: Diccon remembers the food and drink he has
4	And many a broach and spit have I both turned and basted,	received thanks to the generosity of others gossip's cup = a sweet drink flavored with nutmeg and mixed with ale and roasted crab-apples, originally served at baptisms, but later also at special occasions generally.^29 broach and spit = synonyms for the pointed instrument used to pierce and rotate meat above a fire.^1
	Many a piece of bacon have I had out of their balks,	5: Diccon refers to the bacon he has received or more likely stolen from many a household. balks = beams or rafters, or horizontally-laid poles, used to hang things from.^1,6
6	In ronning over the country with long and weary walks;	= unusual 16th century alternate spelling for running.
	Yet came my foot never within those door cheeks,	= door-posts, the vertical side posts on either side of a door.^1
8	To seek flesh or fish, garlick, onions, or leeks,	= ie. meat.
	That ever I saw a sort in such a plight,	9-20: Diccon describes the uproar that he witnessed moments ago in the household of Gammer Gurton. That = "where" or "in which". sort = company or group of people.
10	As here within this house appeareth to my sight.	10: Diccon casts a glance to, or perhaps gestures towards, Gammer's house behind him.
	There is howling and scowling, all cast in a dump,	= thrown into a state of perplexity.^1
12	With whewling and puling, as though they had lost a trump.	12: whewling = moaning or howling.^1 puling = whining or complaining. lost a trump = lost a play at the obsolete card game known as trump.^1
	Sighing and sobbing, they weep and they wail;
14	I marvel in my mind what the devil they ail.	= wonder. = ie. "ails them."
	The old trot sits groaning, with alas and alas!	15: trot = hag, decrepit old woman, meaning Gammer. with alas and alas = ie. she sits there crying out "alas!" repeatedly.
16	And Tib wrings her hands, and takes on in worse case.	= Tib is Gammer's maid. = exhibits great distress.^1
	With poor Cock, their boy, they be driven in such fits,	= ie. servant boy.
18	I fear me the folks be not well in their wits.	= of sound mind, the opposite of "out of their wits".^1
	Ask them what they ail, or who brought them in this stay?	= ie. "I asked them". = "to this condition or situation."
20	They answer not at all, but "alack!" and "wellaway!"	= "do not answer me". = an ancient cry of lament.^1
	When I saw it booted not, out at doors I hied me,	21: "when I saw how useless it was (booted not) to expect an answer, I hurried out the door".
22	And caught a slip of bacon, when I saw none spied me,	= ie. stole. = thin strip.^1
	Which I intend not far hence, unless my purpose fail,
24	Shall serve me for a shoeing horn to draw on two pots of ale.	24: shoeing horn = older name for a shoe horn, which along with its still modern meaning was also used to refer to an appetizer,^1 but more likely referring here to something that can "facilitate a transaction" (OED, def. 2b), meaning that Diccon expects to trade the bacon for alcohol. pots = pot was common term for a drinking vessel.
		Scene Endings in Gammer Gurton's Needle: the scenes of our play do not always end sharply with all the characters exiting the stage; when one or more characters newly join those already on stage, our author usually begins a new scene. Hence Diccon remains on stage as Hodge enters the stage to begin Scene ii.
	ACT I, SCENE II.
	[Still on Stage: Diccon, standing on the street.]	Still on Stage: whenever characters remain on stage from the end of the previous scene, such will be noted in a stage direction in brackets, all added by the editor.
	Enter Hodge from off-stage. Sometime before line 32, Gammer and Tib enter from Gammer's house and sit down on dejectedly in their front yard.	Entering Character: Hodge is a servant of Gammer Gurton's, and specifically a farm or field labourer.^4 Hodge is returning home after having spent the day toiling on Gammer's lands, but he first runs into Diccon on the street. We may note that Hodge is an ancient nick-name for Roger, and that Hodge in fact came to be used as the typical or conventional name of a farm-worker.^1,4 Most of the play's characters, and Hodge particularly, speak with a distinct rural dialect. This dialect is marked primarily by the following three characteristics: (1) use of the pronoun ich for 'I'; (2) the use of numerous contracted words beginning with 'ch', which stands in for the pronoun 'I'; examples include cham for "I am" and chad for "I had" (these types of words were employed in the south-western counties);^3 and (3) the occasional interchanging of 'v' and 'f' at the beginning of a word; Farmer suggests this particular dialecticism was a characteristic of the southern counties, though Shakespeare used the same transformation for his Welsh characters.
1	Hodge. See, so cham arrayed with dabbling in the dirt!	= "see how soiled (arrayed)^5 I am (cham) from splashing about (dabbling) in the dirt!"
2	She that set me to ditching, ich would she had the squirt!	= "I (ich) hope that she who set me to smearing myself in the mud (ditching) gets the runs!" Hodge is referring to his mistress, Gammer Gurton. the squirt = diarrhea.
	Was never poor soul that such a life had?
4	Gog's bones! this vilthy glay hase dressed me too bad!	4: Gog's bones = ie. "God's bones", an oath; Hodge generally, but not completely, avoids using God's name explicitly in his oaths, typically employing the euphemism Gog. vilthy glay = filthy clay; Farmer posits that glay for clay is a piece of faux-dialect, invented by the author. Gassner, we may note, thinks glay means day. hase = "has", an alternate spelling used frequently throughout the play. dressed me too bad = Diccon complains how he is unpleasantly besmeared with clay and other filth; dressed means "treated".^1
	Gog's soul! see how this stuff tears!	= referring to his clothing.
6	Ich were better to be a bearward, and set to keep bears!	= ie. a bear-keeper, one who is in charge of caring for a bear, which would be used in such public spectacles as bear-baiting; presumably a profession in which one's clothes run on the ragged side.
	By the mass, here is a gash, a shameful hole indeed!	7: Hodge points out the large tear in the buttocks of his breeches. By the mass = a common oath.
8	And one stitch tear furder, a man may thrust in his head.	= 16th century alternate spelling for further, perhaps
		meant to sound dialectical.^1
10	Dic. By my father's soul, Hodge, if I should now be sworn,
	I cannot choose but say thy breech is foul betorn.	= ie. breeches, probably referring to a loose garment worn like trousers, but only reaching below the knee.^1
12	But the next remedy in such a case and hap	12: next = most obvious or direct.^1 case and hap = synonyms for "occurrence".
	Is to planch on a piece as broad as thy cap.	13: planch = "attach".^1
14		piece = scrap of cloth used for mending, ie. patch.^1
	Hodge. Gog's soul, man, 'tis not yet two days fully ended,
16	Since my dame Gurton (cham sure) these breeches amended;	= "I am sure". = ie. mended, repaired.
	But cham made such a drudge to trudge at every need,	= "but I am forced to do the most menial of tasks whenever a need arises". drudge = low-level servant. trudge = walk or go about without spirit.
18	Chwold rend it though it were stitched with sturdy packthread.	18: "I would (chwold) tear these breeches even if they were sewn together with pack-thread." packthread = heavy twine used for wrapping packages.
20	Dic. Hodge, let thy breeches go, and speak and tell me soon,	20: let thy breeches go = "forget about your breeches for a moment", but the clause also humorously suggests Hodge let his breeches drop to the floor. soon = ie. now.
	What devil aileth Gammer Gurton and Tib her maid to frown?	= ie. "thus causing them to frown."
22
	Hodge. Tush, man, th'art deceived: 'tis their daily look:	= "thou art", ie. "you are". = "that is how they look every day!"
24	They cow'r so over the coals, their eyes be bleared with smoke.	= crouch. = ie. of the fire.
26	Dic. Nay, by the mass, I perfectly perceived as I came hether,	= clearly saw. = alternate spelling for hither (meaning "to here"), used to rhyme with together.
	That either Tib and her dame hath been by the ears together,	= ie. her mistress, Gammer. = ie. fighting.^1
28	Or else as great a matter, as thou shalt shortly see.	= ie. something of the same magnitude has occurred.
30	Hodge. Now, ich beseech our Lord they never better agree!	= "I". = get along.
32	Dic. By Gog's soul, there they sit as still as stones in the streite,	32: as Hodge and Diccon "walk" down the street, they "arrive" at Gammer's house, where Gammer and Tib are seen sitting dejectedly outside. streite = alternate spelling for street, used to rhyme with sprite.
	As though they had been taken with fairies, or else with some ill-sprite.	33: taken with = ie. charmed by. ill sprite = evil spirit.
34
	Hodge. Gog's heart! I durst have laid my cap to a crown,	35: durst = dared. laid = wagered. crown = gold coin worth five shillings.
36	Ch'would learn of some prancome as soon as ich came to town.	36: "that I would learn about some strange occurrence (prancome)^3 as soon as I arrived in town."
38	Dic. Why, Hodge, art thou inspired? or didst thou thereof hear?	38: "why, Hodge, did you get knowledge of what happened by divine inspiration (inspired)? Or did someone in town already tell you about it?"
40	Hodge. Nay, but ich saw such a wonder, as ich saw nat this seven year.	40-44: Hodge explains that he saw a cow acting in a bizarre manner; observance of such unnatural phenomena was generally taken to be an omen of some other undesirable event. nat this = "not this", ie. "not for the past"; nat was an alternate spelling for not.
	Tom Tankard's cow (by Gog's bones) she set me up her sail,	= humorous metaphor of the cow raising its tail as if it were the sail of a ship anticipating some movement. set me up = "set up"; this is an example of the grammatical construction known as the ethical dative, in which the superfluous me of set me up adds emphasis to the clause.
42	And flinging about his half acre, fisking with her tail,	42: flinging = violently flying about, kicking, etc.^1 his = ie. Tom's. fisking = scampering about, whisking.^1
	As though there had been in her arse a swarm of bees;	= this most English of vulgarisms is at least 1000 years old.^1
44	And chad not cried "tphrowh, whore," she’ad leapt out of his lees.	44: "and had I not cried out, 'tphrowh, you whore', she (the cow) would have leaped out of Tom's pasture". lees = alternate spelling for lease, meaning "pasture".^10 You may note as you read this play how our characters have a penchant for referring to each other as whore and whoreson.
46	Dic. Why, Hodge, lies the cunning in Tom Tankard's cow's tail?	46: Diccon humorously wonders if the cow's tail was the key to its prophetic behaviour. cunning = usually meaning "skill" or "intelligence", but here probably taking its alternate meaning of "magic".^1
48	Hodge. Well, ich chave hard some say such tokens do not fail.	48: ich chave = "I have"; a grammatical "blunder" by the author, as Brett-Smith calls it, for its redundancy, since chave alone means "I have". hard = alternate spelling for heard, and used in place of heard almost everywhere in the play. tokens = signs, ie. predictors of future events.^1
	But ca[n]st thou not tell, in faith, Diccon, why she frowns, or whereat?	49: tell = the original edition prints till here; perhaps intended as dialect, perhaps just an error. she = ie. Gammer. whereat = ie. at what.
50	Hath no man stolen her ducks or hens, or gelded Gib, her cat?	50: no man = ie. some man. gelded = spayed: Gammer's cat is referred to throughout the play as she and her, indicating it is female. Gib = a common name given to cats of both sexes, though as Dodsley specifically observes, all male cats of the era were called Gib.
52	Dic. What devil can I tell, man, I could not have one word!	= ie. "get one word (of explanation) out of them!"
	They gave no more heed to my talk than thou wouldst to a lord.	53: the point of the line is not completely clear: Diccon possibly is being simply ironic; Whitworth changes lord to turd.
54
	Hodge. Ich cannot still but muse, what marvelous thing it is:	55: still = refrain, ie. help.^1 muse = ponder, think about.^1
56	Chill in and know myself what matters are amiss.	= "I will go in". = find out.
58	Dic. Then farewell, Hodge, a while, since thou dost inward haste,	58: inward haste = hurry inside.
	For I will into the good wife Chat's, to feel how the ale doth taste.	59: I will into = ie. "I will go into"; note the common grammatical construction of this clause: in the presence of a verb of intent (will), the verb of action (go) is often omitted. good wife = ie. goodwife, a common title for a woman who runs an establishment, as Dame Chat does a tavern.
60
	[Diccon exits into Chat's tavern. At some point after line 32, Gammer and Tib have exited into their house.]	61: Diccon, taking his stolen bacon with him, exits through the door into Chat's tavern.
	ACT I, SCENE III.
	[Still on Stage: Hodge, standing on the street
	in front of Gammer's house.]
1	Hodge. Cham aghast, by the mass, ich wot not what to do.	= "I am terrified".^1 = "I know".
2	Chad need bless me well before ich go them to.	2: Hodge needs a blessing to protect him from what- ever evil lurks inside Gammer's house. Chad = "I had", ie. "I have". ich = "I". them to = ie. "to them."
	Perchance some felon sprit may haunt our house indeed;	= cruel or terrible.^1
4	And then chwere but a noddy to venture where cha' no need.	4: "in which case I would be a fool (noddy)^2 to take a such a risk (by entering the house) when I have no need to." chwere = "I were", ie. "I would be". cha' = "I had"
6	Enter Tib from Gammer's house.	Entering Character: Tib is Gammer Gurton's maid. Tib initially talks to herself (or to the audience), before she sees Hodge at line 13.
8	Tib. Cham worse than mad, by the mass, to be at this stay!	8: Cham = "I am". at this stay = the sense seems to be "in this (bad) situation", though the expression has a more literal meaning of "at this standstill".
	Cham chid, cham blamed, and beaten, all th' hours on the day;	= rebuked.
10	Lamed and hunger-storved, pricked up all in jags,	10: storved = obsolete spelling for "starved". pricked up = dressed elaborately.^28 jags = rags.^1
	Having no patch to hide my back, save a few rotten rags!	= ie. article of clothing.^1 = except for.
12
	Hodge. I say, Tib, if thou be Tib, as I trow sure thou be,	= surely believe.
14	What devil make-ado is this, between our dame and thee?	= uproar.^1 = mistress, ie. Gammer.
16	Tib. Gog's bread, Hodge, thou had a good turn, thou wert not here this while!	= "goodness, Hodge, you were fortunate not to have been here all this while!"
	It had been better for some of us to have been hence a mile;	= "a mile away from here".
18	My gammer is so out of course, and frantic all at once,	18-19: Gammer has been so put out by some yet
	That Cock, our boy, and I, poor wench, have felt it on our bones.	undisclosed development, that she has taken to beating her two servants who had remained at home this day, Tib and Cock. out of course = out of sorts, ie. confused.^1
20
	Hodge. What is the matter, say on, Tib, whereat she taketh so on?	= "for which".^1
22
	Tib. She is undone, she saith, (alas!) her joy and life is gone!	= ruined.
24	If she hear not of some comfort, she is, faith, but dead;	24: comfort = comforting word or news. faith = truly; but it is not clear that faith is not saith - the "f" and "s" look almost identical in the font of the ancient text; Hazlitt, going with the latter, has amended the last clause of the line to read "she saith she is but dead".
	Shall never come within her lips one inch of meat ne bread.	25: Shall never = ie. "never again shall". meat = food. ne = nor.
26
	Hodge. By'r lady, cham not very glad to see her in this dump;	27: By'r lady = "by our Lady", an oath, referring to the Virgin Mary. dump = common term for "state of depression".
28	Chold a noble her stool hath fallen, and she hath broke her rump.	28: Chold a noble = "I bet (hold) a noble"; a noble was a gold coin worth half a mark, or 6s 8d.^1,3 her stool hath fallen = that the stool Gammer was sitting on broke underneath her; in this era stools were the normal piece of furniture on which people sat; chairs were reserved for the very wealthy, and even then were used only in limited circumstances.
30	Tib. Nay, and that were the worst, we would not greatly care,	= if.
	For bursting of her huckle-bone, or breaking of her chair;	31: bursting = breaking.^5 huckle-bone = hip bone.^1 chair = ie. stool, generic term for furniture on which to sit.
32	But greater, greater, is her grief, as, Hodge, we shall all feel!	= ie. by receiving further corporal punishment.
34	Hodge. Gog's wounds, Tib, my gammer has never lost her nee'le?	34: one wonders if a line was lost here; how did Hodge guess that Gammer lost her sewing needle?
36	Tib. Her nee'le!
38	Hodge. Her nee'le?
40	Tib. Her nee'le! by Him that made me, it is true, Hodge, I tell thee.	= an oath, referring to God.
42	Hodge. Gog's sacrament! I would she had lost th' arte out of her belly!	= wish. = "the heart"; arte is an alternate, Middle English spelling for heart.
	The devil, or else his dame, they ought her, sure a shame!	43: The devil, or else his dame = variation of the common expression, the devil and his dam, in which dam refers to the devil's mother. they ought her = "they owed her (an ill turn)".^1 sure a shame = "which is certainly a shame."
44	How a murrion came this chance, say Tib, unto our dame?	44: "tell me Tib, how the hell did this happen to our mistress?" murrion = plague; expressions such as how a murrion and what the murrion were used in the same way as we say "how in hell", "what the hell", etc.^1 chance = unfortunate occurrence.^1
46	Tib. My gammer sat her down on her pes, and bad me reach thy breeches,	46: pes = likely a variation of pess, meaning "hassock", a cushion stuffed with straw.^3 bad me = "asked me"; bad is the past tense of bid. reach thy breeches = "to reach for your breeches", ie. "grab your breeches to give to her".
	And by and by, a vengeance in it, or she had take two stitches	47: "and right away (by and by), a pox on it, before she had made two stitches". a vengeance on it = common imprecation. or = ere, ie. before.
48	To clap a clout upon thine arse, by chance aside she leers,	= "to patch or mend the backside of your breeches with a patch, she happened to glance to the side, ie. away from her work". clap = place or set, ie. "slap". clout = patch or piece of cloth.^1
	And Gib, our cat, in the milk-pan she spied over head and ears.	49:" and she saw Gib the cat immersed (over head and ears) in the milk pan (where it should not have been)." milk pan = a large pan in which milk is kept and the cream is allowed to separate.^1
50	"Ah, whore! out, thief!" she cried aloud, and swapt the breeches down;	50: Gammer screamed at the cat. whore = Gassner suggests whore is used to generally mean "rascal" in our play, but the OED does not support this usage. swapt the breeches down = ie. threw down Hodge's breeches.^1
	Up went her staff, and out leapt Gib at doors into the town.	51: Up went her staff = ie. she raised her walking stick to swat the cat with. town = the grounds or yard surrounding the house.^1,4
52	And since that time, was never wight could set their eyes upon it.	= ie. "no one has" wight = Old English word meaning "person", the latter not entering the language until the 13th century.
	Gog's malison, chave Cock and I bid twenty times light on it.	= "twenty times have Cock and I called down God's
54		curse (malison) on it."
	Hodge. And is not then my breeches sewed up, to-morrow that I should wear?
56
	Tib. No, in faith, Hodge, thy breeches lie for all this never the near.	57: in faith = truly. never the near = ie. "never nearer to being done."
58
	Hodge. Now a vengeance light on all the sort that better should have kept it:	59-60: possibly an aside: "a plague on everything and everyone who should have attended to the needle more
60	The cat, the house, and Tib our maid, that better should have swept it!	carefully, including the cat, the house, and Tib, who should have swatted at the cat instead!" sort = group or company of people, animals or things.^1
	See where she cometh crawling! − come on, in twenty devils' way!	61: Hodge sees the door to Gammer's house open, and Gammer crawls onto the stage, searching for the needle. See...crawling = possibly an aside; after the dash, Hodge addresses Gammer directly. in twenty devils' way = "in the name of twenty devils",^14 an expression signaling impatience.^8 The combination twenty devils appears with some regularity in other expressions in the era's literature.
62	Ye have made a fair day's work, have you not? pray you, say!	= good, successful. = "I ask you, tell me!"
	ACT I, SCENE IV.
	[Still on Stage: Hodge and Tib in front of Gammer's house.]
	Gammer Gurton has just crawled out of the front door of her house, searching for her needle.	Entering Characters: we finally meet our elderly mistress, Gammer Gurton. Gammer should generally be imagined as carrying her walking stick with her, though the present scene may be an exception, since she is crawling around on all fours. The word gammer, used here as a form of address, is thought be an abbreviated form of "godmother" or "grandmother".^1
1	Gamm. Alas, Hodge, alas! I may well curse and ban	= damn or curse.^1,2
2	This day, that ever I saw it, with Gib and the milk-pan;	= ie. along with.
	For these and ill-luck together, as knoweth Cock, my boy,	= ie. servant-boy.
4	Have stack away my dear nee'le, and robbed me of my joy,	= hidden; the OED identifies stack as the past tense of the word steek, which normally means "to pierce".
	My fair long straight nee'le, that was mine only treasure;
6	The first day of my sorrow is, and last end of my pleasure!	6: "today is the first day of my sorrow, and the end of my joy!"
8	Hodge. [Aside]	8: Hazlitt suggests lines 9-10 are spoken as an aside.
	Might ha' kept it, when ye had it; but fools will be fools still:	= always.
10	Lose that is vast in your hands, ye need not, but ye will.	10: "it was unnecessary to lose that which you had securely in your hands, but you did it." vast = dialect for fast, ie. securely, held tightly.
12	Gamm. Go hie thee, Tib, and run thou, whore, to th' end here of the town.	12: hie thee = "hurry yourself". whore = rogue, per Gassner. th' end = ie. the far end. town = yard or grounds.
	Didst carry out dust in thy lap? seek where thou pourest it down;
14	And as thou sawest me roking in the ashes where I mourned,	14: as = just as. roking in the ashes = ie. raking in the ashes: a reference to the custom of keeping a fire alive at night by covering the glowing coals with ashes (the scene takes place in the late afternoon or evening); roking is a likely regionalism for raking. More recent editors have yet another take, suggesting that roking is a variation for rucking, meaning "crouching".^7,8
	So see in all the heap of dust thou leave no straw unturned.	15: unusual variation of leave no stone unturned, which appeared also in the 16th century.
16
	Tib. That chall, Gammer, swith and tite, and soon be here again!	17: chall = "I shall". swith and tite = synonyms for "right away". be here again = ie. "return again".
18
	Gamm. Tib, stoop and look down to the ground − to it, and take some pain.	19: to it = "get to it". take some pain = "make an effort", "try hard."
20		The dash after ground is a logical addition by Whitworth, as the second instruction is directed at Hodge.
	[Exit Tib into the house.]
22
	Hodge. Here is a pretty matter, to see this gear how it goes:	23: pretty = awkward, deplorable.^1 see = perceive.^1 gear = business.
24	By Gog's soul, I thenk you would lose your arse, and it were loose!	24: thenk = a Middle English spelling of think. and = if. loose = unattached (to her body).
	Your nee'le lost? it is pity you should lack care and endless sorrow.	= anxiety; the sentence is sarcastic and ironic.
26	Gog's death, how shall my breeches be sewed?
	Shall I go thus to-morrow?	= ie. "go about like this". Hodge presumably gestures towards his buttocks as he says this.
28
	Gamm. Ah, Hodge, Hodge! if that ich could find my nee'le, by the reed,	29: ich = I. by the reed = ie. "by the rood", an oath; reed is likely a regionalism for rood, which means "cross".
30	Chould sew thy breeches, ich promise thee, with full good double threed,	30: Chould = "I would". threed = alternate spelling for thread, used to rhyme with reed.
	And set a patch on either knee should last this moneths twain.	= "which would last for the next two (twain) months." moneths = moneth was a common alternate spelling for month.
32	Now God and good Saint Sithe, I pray to send it home again!	32: Saint Sithe = two, or possibly three, candidates exist for the identity of this saint: (1) St. Osyth, or St. Osith, a 7th century Anglo-Saxon princess; serving as an abbess at a convent, she was murdered for her Christian faith by invading pirates, possibly Danes;^4,8,15 (2) St. Swithin or Swithun, a 9th century monk and Bishop of Winchester; Swithin dedicated himself to serving the poor, performing his pastoral duties barefoot. He was also the chief counsillor to King Aethelwulf. A century after Swithin's death (15 July 964), during a ceremony in which his relics were moved to a new shrine, such rain fell that a superstition arose, that if it rained on St. Swithin's Day (15 July), 40 days of rain would follow.^6,15 (3) St. Zita, a 13th century Italian maid-servant of the Fatinelli family; hated by her fellow-servants and treated illy by her employers, she remained imperturbable, and eventually won over those who had for so long mistreated her.^13 Zita lived a devotional life, and was known to be "generous to the poor and kind to the sick and to prisoners" (McBrien, p. 178).^30 Richard McBrien, in his Lives of the Saints, writes that Zita was also known as Sitha, among other variations, and that she was popular with those on the lower rung of the social ladder, particularly in medieval England. In the 20th century Pope Pius declared Zita to be the "principal patron saint of domestic servants" (Ibid).^30 home again = ie. back again.^6
34	Hodge. Whereto served your hands and eyes, but this your nee'le to keep?	= ie. "for what purpose do you have".
	What devil had you else to do? ye keep, ich wot, no sheep!	= "I know".
36	Cham fain abroad to dig and delve, in water, mire, and clay,	36-39: Hodge expresses a slight variation of a modern stereotypical spouse's or parent's complaint: "I slave all day at work in the muck and mire, while all of you sit at home all day doing nothing, and you can't even do something as simple as not lose a needle." Cham fain = "I am compelled", "I am obliged".^2 abroad = away from home.
	Sossing and possing in the dirt still from day to day.	= synonyms for "splashing".^1
38	A hundred things that be abroad, cham set to see them weel,	38: ie. "I am sent to take care of a hundred different things away from the house (abroad)". set = Gassner suggests "ordered". weel = alternate spelling of well, employed to rhyme with nee'le.
	And four of you sit idle at home, and cannot keep a nee'le!	= ie. Gammer, Tib, Cock and the cat.
40
	Gamm. My nee'le, alas, ich lost it, Hodge, what time ich me up hasted,	41: what time ich me = "at the time I". up hasted = quickly jumped up. Note Gammer's use of the ethical dative with ich me up hasted.
42	To save the milk set up for thee, which Gib, our cat, hath wasted.	42: Gammer explains she lost the needle while trying to save the milk, which she had set aside for Hodge, from the cat.
44	Hodge. The devil he burst both Gib and Tib, with all the rest!	= "may he break or smash".^2
	Cham always sure of the worst end, whoever have the best!	45: Hodge always suffers the worst of any situation, regardless of who gets the best.
46	Where ha' you been fidging abroad, since you your nee'le lost?	= moving about restlessly.^1 = away from home.
48	Gamm. Within the house, and at the door, sitting by this same post,
	Where I was looking a long hour, before these folks came here;	= Whitworth suggests Gammer is referring to the audience; such breaking of the "fourth wall" was common in interludes of the early 16th century, writes Whitworth (p. 15).^8
50	But, wellaway, all was in vain, my nee'le is never the near!	= common term expressing regret.
52	Hodge. [Getting down on his hands and knees]	52: Hodge begins his own search for the needle.
	Set me a candle, let me seek, and grope wherever it be.	= "light a candle for me"; it is evening, the sky darken- ing.
54	Gog's heart, ye be foolish (ich think), you know it not when you it see!	= "you don't even recognize it".
56	Gamm. Come hether, Cock: what, Cock, I say!	56, 60: a couple of unrhymed lines; any rhyme between lines 62-63 was also lost or neglected.
58	Enter Cock from Gammer's house.	Entering Character: Cock is Gammer's young boy- servant.
60	Cock. How, Gammer?	= "what is it".
62	Gamm. Go, hie thee soon, and grope behind the old brass pan,	= ie. "move quickly". = reach.
	Which thing when thou hast done,
64	There shalt thou find an old shoe, wherein, if thou look well,
	Thou shalt find lying an inch of a white tallow candle;	= candle made from animal fat.^1
66	Light it, and bring it tite away.	= ie. right away.
68	Cock. That shall be done anon.	= straightaway.
70	Cock exits into the house.
72	Gamm. Nay, tarry, Hodge, till thou hast light, and then we'll seek each one.	72: tarry = wait. each one = ie. "every one of us".
74	Hodge. [Calling into the house]
	Come away, ye whoreson boy, are ye asleep? ye must have a crier!	75: Come away = "hurry up!"^1 ye must have a crier = a crier, more commonly known today as a town crier, was one employed to make public announcements; the sense of this sarcastic line is likely the same as the modern "do I need to send you an invitation?", an expression used to mock one's slowness to get something done.
76
	Cock. [From within]
78	Ich cannot get the candle light: here is almost no fire.	78: Cock has been trying and failing to get the candle lit in the ashes of the smouldering fire.
80	Hodge. [Rising]
	Chill hold thee a penny, chill make thee come, if that ich may catch thine ears! −	81: "I will (chill) bet (hold) you a penny, I will get you to come, if I can grab you by the ears!"
82	Art deaf, thou whoreson boy? Cock, I say; why, canst not hear?
84	Gamm. Beat him not, Hodge, but help the boy, and come you two together.	84: responding to Gammer's entreaty, Hodge enters the house, where he will take the candle from the boy and work to try to light it from the ashes.
86	[Exit Hodge into the house.]
	ACT I, SCENE V.
	[Still on Stage: Gammer in front of her house.]
	Enter Tib from the house.	Entering Character: Tib returns from her search for the needle in the dust in the backyard.
1	Gamm. How now, Tib? quick, let's hear what news thou hast brought hether!	= alternate spelling for hither, used to rhyme with together, the last word of the previous scene; a clear indication of how many of the scenes seamlessly meld together on the stage.
2
	Tib. Chave tossed and tumbled yonder heap over and over again,	3: Tib has finished pouring through the dust pile, searching unsuccessfully for the needle. Chave = "I have". tumbled = searched by turning over.^1
4	And winnowed it through my fingers, as men would winnow grain;
	Not so much as a hen's turd, but in pieces I tare it;	5: turd = an ancient word, first appearing in English letters around 1000 A.D.^1 tare = dialect for tore.^1
6	Or whatsoever clod or clay I found, I did not spare it,
	Looking within and eke without, to find your nee'le, alas!	= also.
8	But all in vain and without help, your nee'le is where it was.	= remains wherever it has been.
10	Gamm. Alas, my nee'le, we shall never meet! adieu, adieu, for aye!	10: for aye = forever.
12	Tib. Not so, Gammer, we might it find, if we knew where it lay.	12: possibly the least helpful comment ever.
14	Cock enters from the house.
16	Cock. Gog's cross, Gammer, if ye will laugh, look in but at the door,	16: ie. "want to"
	And see how Hodge lieth tumbling and tossing amids the flour,	= "in the middle of the floor"; flour was a dialectical
18	Raking there some fire to find among the ashes dead,	form of floor.^1
	Where there is not one spark so big as a pin's head:
20	At last in a dark corner two sparks he thought he sees,
	Which were indeed nought else but Gib our cat's two eyes.	= nothing.
22	"Puff!" quod Hodge, thinking thereby to have fire without doubt;	= quoth, said.
	With that Gib shut her two eyes, and so the fire was out;
24	And by and by them opened, even as they were before;	= ie. "and then immediately or again".
	With that the sparks appeared even as they had done of yore;	= an expression normally meaning "in ancient times" or "long ago", but here apparently meaning simply "earlier".
26	And even as Hodge blew the fire (as he did think),	26: Hodge was blowing on the cat, when he thought he was blowing on a spark of fire.
	Gib, as she felt the blast, straightway began to wink;	= blink.
28	Till Hodge fell of swearing, as came best to his turn,	= ie. fell to. = as best suited him, his purpose, or his condition.^1
	The fire was sure bewitched, and therefore would not burn:	29: Cock is paraphrasing Hodge's cries in this line.
30	At last Gib up the stairs, among the old posts and pins,	= ie. raced up.
	And Hodge he hied him after, till broke were both his shins:	= chased. = he had hurt his shins, ie. his legs.^1
32	Cursing and swearing oaths were never of his making,	32: the sense is, "which he could not possibly have invented himself".
	That Gib would fire the house, if that she were not taken.	= ie. set the house on fire. = caught.
34
	Gamm. See, here is all the thought that the foolish urchin taketh!	= ie. Cock.
36	And Tib, me-think, at his elbow almost as merry maketh.
	This is all the wit ye have, when others make their moan: −	= intelligence. = ie. are lamenting.
38	Come down, Hodge, where art thou? and let the cat alone.
40	Hodge. [Appears above.]	40: I have adopted Clements' suggestion that Hodge sticks his head out of an upstairs window.^12
	Gog's heart, help and come up! Gib in her tail hath fire,
42	And is like to burn all, if she get a little higher!	= likely.
	"Come down," quoth you? nay, then you might count me a patch,	43: quoth you? = "you say?" count me a patch = "reckon me to be a fool".
44	The house cometh down on your heads, if it take once the thatch.	= ie. the fire catches.
46	Gamm. It is the cat's eyes, fool, that shineth in the dark.
48	Hodge. Hath the cat, do you think, in every eye a spark?
50	Gamm. No, but they shine as like fire as ever man see.
52	Hodge. By the mass, and she burn all, you sh' bear the blame for me!	52: and she burn all = "if she burns everything down". sh' = shall. for = ie. instead of.
54	Gamm. Come down and help to seek here our nee'le, that it were found. −	54: that it were = so that it can be.
	Down, Tib, on thy knees, I say! Down, Cock, to the ground!
56
	Hodge enters from the house.
58
	To God I make a vow, and so to good Saint Anne,	= Anne was the mother of the Virgin Mary.
60	A candle shall they have a-piece, get it where I can,	60-61: Gammer promises to light dedicatory candles
	If I may my nee'le find in one place or in other.	if only God and Saint Anne will help her find her
62		needle; the early editors note that this is a Roman Catholic, and not a Protestant, practice. a-piece = each.
	Hodge. Now a vengeance on Gib light, on Gib and Gib's mother,
64	And all the generation of cats both far and near! −	= Whitworth suggests "race".^8
	Look on the ground, whoreson, thinks thou the nee'le is here?	65: Hodge addresses Cock; Whitworth believes the dialogue from here to line 70 suggests that Cock and Tib are picking pieces of filth, including the mystery clod referred to by Tib in line 70, off of Hodge's dirty clothes
66
	Cock. By my troth, Gammer, me-thought your nee'le here I saw,	= truly.
68	But when my fingers touched it, I felt it was a straw.
70	Tib. See, Hodge, what's this? may it not be within it?	70: Tib points to something suspicious she sees stuck
		to Hodge's clothing.
72	Hodge. Break it, fool, with thy hand, and see and thou canst find it.
74	Tib. Nay, break it you, Hodge, according to your word.	= the sense seems to be, "since you are the one who
		suggested it;" Tib doesn't want to touch the unknown material, so Hodge picks it off instead, to his immediate regret.
76	Hodge. Gog's sides, fie! it stinks! it is a cat's turd!
	It were well done to make thee eat it, by the mass!	= it would be a good deed.
78
	Gamm. This matter amendeth not; my nee'le is still where it was.	= ie. "this situation has not fixed or resolved itself."
80	Our candle is at an end, let us all in quite	= ie. go in.
	And come another time, when we have more light.	81: Clements notes that it has been getting darker in the last few minutes.
82
	[Exeunt all into Gammer's house.]	End of Act I: the only time the stage is completely vacated is at the end of each act; we may assume a bit of music was performed between acts: such a musical interlude between acts became the norm of the era's plays.
	END OF ACT I.
	ACT II.
	First a Song.	The Song: the original edition of Gammer introduces the second Act by printing the following words, on the same line, in the same large font:
		The ii Acte. Fyrste a Songe.
		The play's director may decide who the singer or singers shall be, as no instructions are provided in the 1575 edition.
1	Back and side go bare, go bare,	1-2: the singer begins by describing how threadbare
2	Both foot and hand go cold:	his clothing is.
	But, belly, God send thee good ale enough,
4	Whether it be new or old.
6	I cannot eat but little meat,	= food.
	My stomach is not good;
8	But sure I think that I can drink
	With him that wears a hood.	9: ie. "as much as any friar";^11 a satirical description of a monk: Farmer suggests there is a reference here to the Friars, who (says he) were stereotyped as drunks.
10	Though I go bare, take ye no care,	= "don't you worry about it".
	I am nothing a-cold;
12	I stuff my skin so full within
	Of jolly good ale and old.
14
	Back and side go bare, go bare,
16	Both foot and hand go cold:
	But, belly, God send thee good ale enough,
18	Whether it be new or old.
20	I love no roast but a nut-brown toast,	20-21: the lines describe a traditional drink of spiced
	And a crab laid in the fire.	ale or wine containing roasted crab-apples (crab) and topped with toast to act as a sop.^16 nut-brown = a common colour description.
22	A little bread shall do me stead:	= "satisfy or be enough for me."^1
	Much bread I not desire.
24	No frost nor snow, no wind, I trow,	= believe or know.
	Can hurt me if I would;
26	I am so wrapt, and throughly lapt	26: wrapt = the OED suggests "dressed" or "wrapped
	Of jolly good ale and old.	in a cloth"; but "rapt", ie. enraptured, is also a possible
28		interpretation.^1 throughly = thoroughly. lapt = lapped, meaning "enfolded", with the sense of being soothed or stupefied, ie. pleasantly buzzed.^1
	Back and side go bare, go bare,
30	Both foot and hand go cold:
	But, belly, God send thee good ale enough,
32	Whether it be new or old.
34	And Tib my wife, that as her life	34-35: "my wife Tib, who loves good ale as much as
	Loveth well good ale to seek,	she loves her life". This is not the Tib of our play.
36	Full oft drinks she, till ye may see	= quite often.
	The tears run down her cheek:
38	Then doth she trowl to me the bowl,	38: the phrase troll (here written trowl) the bowl means "to pass the bowl", the vessel containing the ale.
	Even as a malt-worm should;	= heavy drinker.^2
40	And saith, sweet heart, I took my part
	Of this jolly good ale and old.
42
	Back and side go bare, go bare,
44	Both foot and hand go cold:
	But, belly, God send thee good ale enough,
46	Whether it be new or old.
48	Now let them drink, till they nod and wink,	= ie. "fall asleep" or "doze off"; to wink was to close
	Even as good fellows should do;	one's eyes.
50	They shall not miss to have the bliss
	Good ale doth bring men to;
52	And all poor souls that have scoured bowls,	= cleaned out their drinking vessels, ie. finished their drinks; one is tempted to wonder if there is also a pun here, as scoured bowls would sound awfully like scoured bowels, a reference to one's digestive tract being purged with an emetic.
	Or have them lustly trolled,	= cheerfully passed around.^1
54	God save the lives of them and their wives,
	Whether they be young or old.
56
	Back and side go bare, go bare,
58	Both foot and hand go cold:
	But, belly, God send thee good ale enough,
60	Whether it be new or old.
	ACT II, SCENE I.
	Diccon enters from Chat's tavern.
1	Dic. Well done, by Gog's malt! well sung and well said! −	1: Diccon compliments the musicians and the singers. by Gog's malt = a unique oath. well said = common expression for "well done."
2	Come on, mother Chat, as thou art [a] true maid,	2-4: standing outside of the tavern run by Dame Chat, Diccon calls for a pot of ale.
	One fresh pot of ale let's see, to make an end	3-4: to make…defend = Diccon wants alcohol to dull his sensitivity to the cold weather.
4	Against this cold weather my naked arms to defend:	4: Brett-Smith observes that a bedlam such as Diccon would deliberately dress most scantily to elicit pity.
	This gear it warms the soul: now, wind, blow on thy worst,	5: Diccon's ale arrives as he speaks this line. gear = stuff, ie. the booze.
6	And let us drink and swill till that our bellies burst!
	Now were he a wise man by cunning could define	7-8: "now he would be a wise man who could, through
8	Which way my journey lieth, or where Diccon will dine:	his skill or intelligence, tell me where I am going and where I will eat next."
	But one good turn I have: be it by night or day,	= circumstance.^1
10	South, east, north or west, I am never out of my way.	= ie. heading in the wrong direction.
12	Enter Hodge from Gammer's house,
	carrying a piece of bread.
14
	Hodge. Chym goodly rewarded, cham I not, do you think?	15-18: Hodge bemoans his failure to get any dinner this evening; he is bitterly sarcastic. 12: chym was an already obsolete variation of cham, both meaning "I am".^1 cham I = redundant, as cham alone means "I am".^11
16	Chad a goodly dinner for all my sweat and swink.	= "I had". = labour, drudgery.^3
	Neither butter, cheese, milk, onions, flesh, nor fish,	= meat.
18	Save this poor piece of barley-bread: 'tis a pleasant costly dish!	= except for. = typical coarse fare of the lower classes.
20	Dic. Hail, fellow Hodge, and well to fare with thy meat, if you have any:	20: "greetings, friend Hodge, I wish you a pleasant meal, if you have any food."
	But by thy words, as I them smelled, thy daintrels be not many.	21: "but based on what you said, as I understand (smelled) your words, you have not had many delicacies (daintrels) to eat."
22
	Hodge. Daintrels, Diccon? Gog's soul, man, save this piece of dry horsebread,	23: save = except for. horsebread = bread made of two-parts beans and one-part wheat, and fed to horses in the old days, under the belief it would add strength to the beast.^9 Hodge exaggerates - but not by much - the poor quality of his fare.
24	Cha bit no bit this livelong day, no crumb come in my head:	24: Cha bit no bit = "I have bitten not a bite". this livelong day = this still-familiar expression first appeared in the very early 15th century.^1
	My guts they yawl, crawl, and all my belly rumbleth,	= cry out.^1 = rumble.^1
26	The puddings cannot lie still, each one over other tumbleth.	= ie. "my bowels (ie. entrails or intestines)".^1
	By Gog's heart, cham so vexed, and in my belly penned,	27: cham so vexed = "I am so troubled or afflicted". penned = "pained (with hunger)"; the playwright employs an obsolete spelling to rhyme with end.
28	Chould one piece were at the spital-house, another at the castle end!	28: no author has tried to interpret this obscure line; perhaps Hodge means he wishes parts of his digestive tract were located elsewhere, where they would stand a better chance of being fed. Chould = "I would", ie. "I wish". spital-house = hospital, which could refer, as here, to a place in which the indigent are cared for.^1
30	Dic. Why, Hodge, was there none at home thy dinner for to set?	30: "to fix you dinner?"
32	Hodge. Gog's bread, Diccon, ich came too late, was nothing there to get:	32: Hodge arrived home too late, there was no food remaining for him to eat. ich = "I".
	Gib (a foul fiend might on her light!) licked the milk-pan so clean:	33-34: humorous: Gib had so thoroughly licked the milk from the pan, that it could be said the pan had
34	See, Diccon, 'twas not so well washed this seven year, as ich ween!	not been cleaned so well for seven years. as ich ween = "I think" or "I expect".
	A pestilence light on all ill-luck! chad thought, yet for all this,	35-36: "damn all bad luck! Yet despite this, I had
36	Of a morsel of bacon behind the door at worst should not miss:	remembered the slab of bacon that was hanging behind the door: now that would not fail (miss) to hit the spot!"
	But when ich sought a slip to cut, as ich was wont to do,	= strip or slice. = "I was accustomed".
38	Gog's soul, Diccon, Gib, our cat, had eat the bacon too!
40	[Which bacon Diccon stole, as is declared before.]	40: this reminder for the reader actually appeared in the original edition of Gammer; Hodge is unknowingly blaming the cat for Diccon's crime.
42	Dic. "Ill-luck," quod he! − marry, swear it, Hodge this day, the truth tell,	42: "Ill-luck," quod he! = "'bad luck', he says!"; as Diccon speaks this likely aside, he no doubt chuckles as he recalls that he himself was the bacon-thief! marry = an oath, derived from the Virgin Mary.
	Thou rose not on thy right side, or else blessed thee not well.	= early version of the expression, "to get up on the right (or wrong) wide of the bed": Diccon acknowledges that this is not Hodge's day!
44	Thy milk slopped up! thy bacon filched! that was too bad luck, Hodge.	44: slopped up = lapped.^1 bad luck = this is the earliest known written appearance in English letters of this ubiquitous phrase.^1
46	Hodge. Nay, nay, there was a fouler fault, my Gammer ga' me the dodge;	46: fault = deficiency or error, ie. problem.^1 ga' me the dodge = ie. "gave me the slip", ie. "eluded me," or "let me down" (Whitworth).
	Seest not how cham rent and torn, my heels, my knees, and my breech?	47: Hodge gestures towards his shredded clothing, especially his breeches.
48	Chad thought, as ich sat by the fire, help here and there a stitch;	48: Hodge had expected that, if nothing else, at least his clothes might be stitched up a bit this evening.
	But there ich was pooped indeed.	= cheated or deceived.^1,3
50
	Dic. Why, Hodge?
52
	Hodge. Boots not, man, to tell.	53: "it is useless to talk about it." boots not = there is no point.
54	Cham so dressed amongst a sort of fools, chad better be in hell.	54: "I am (so poorly) treated (dressed) amongst this company of fools, that I would be better off if I was in hell."
	My Gammer (cham ashamed to say) by God, served me not weele.	55: weele = well.
56
	Dic. How so, Hodge?
58
	Hodge. Hase she not gone, trowest now, and lost her nee'le?	= has. = ie. "can you believe it".^1
60
	Dic. Her eel, Hodge? who fished of late? that was a dainty dish!	61: we may presume that Diccon has deliberately "misheard" Hodge. who fished of late? = "who was fishing recent- ly?" was = ie. was certainly.
62
	Hodge. Tush, tush, her nee'le, her nee'le, her nee'le, man! 'tis neither flesh nor fish;	63: flesh = meat.
64	A little thing with an hole in the end, as bright as any siller,	= silver, an obsolete spelling.
	Small, long, sharp at the point, and straight as any pillar.
66
	Dic. I know not what a devil thou meanest, thou bring'st me more in doubt.	67: doubt = uncertainty (as to what Hodge is talking about).
68
	Hodge. Knowest not with what Tom-tailor's man sits broaching through a clout?	69: man = employee or journeyman, one who has completed his service as an apprentice but still
70	A nee'le, a nee'le, a nee'le! my Gammer's nee'le is gone!	works for another. broaching through a clout = piercing through a cloth.
72	Dic. Her nee'le, Hodge! now I smell thee; that was a chance alone:	72: I smell thee = "I get you", "I understand you". chance alone = "just bad luck or misfortune," or "a unique bit of bad luck."^1
	By the mass, thou hast a shameful loss, and it were but for thy breeches.	= "even if it were only".
74
	Hodge. Gog's soul, man, chould give a crown chad it but three stitches.	75: "God's soul, man, I would give a crown if I could have had put into it even three stitches." crown = gold coin worth five shillings.
76
	Dic. How sayest thou, Hodge? what should he have, again thy needle got?	77: what should…got? = "what would you give to that person who could recover your needle?"
78
	Hodge. Bem vather's soul, and chad it, chould give him a new groat.	79: Bem vather's = "by my father's"; Hodge momen- tarily slips into the dialectic feature of replacing 'f'' with 'v'. and chad it = "if I had it". chould = "I would". groat = a coin worth four pence.^1
80
	Dic. Canst thou keep counsel in this case?	= ie. "keep a secret".
82
	Hodge. Else chwold my thonge were out.	83: ie. "may my tongue be cut out if I can't." chwold = "I would", ie. "I wish". thonge = perhaps a faux-dialectical form of tongue; elsewhere, the author writes tonge for tongue throughout the play.
84
	Dic. Do thou but then by my advice, and I will fetch it without doubt.	= ie. "follow"; the editors all print the clause as shown, though the original edition has "do than but then".
86
	Hodge. Chill run, chill ride, chill dig, chill delve,	87-94: note the alternating 8- and 6-syllable lines; the effect is a catchy rhythm. Chill = I will".
88	Chill toil, chill trudge, shalt see;	= "you shall".
	Chill hold, chill draw, chill pull, chill pinch,
90	Chill kneel on my bare knee;
	Chill scrape, chill scratch, chill sift, chill seek,
92	Chill bow, chill bend, chill sweat,
	Chill stoop, chill stir, chill cap, chill kneel,	93: "remove my cap", performed as a sign of respect or humble submission.
94	Chill creep on hands and feet;
	Chill be thy bondman, Diccon, ich swear by sun and moon,	= slave.
96
	[Pointing behind to his torn breeches.]	97: stage direction in original edition.
98
	And channot somewhat to stop this gap, cham utterly undone!	99: "if (And) something (somewhat) is not done to close up this hole, I will be completely ruined (undone)!" channot = faux-dialect for cannot; channot appears nowhere else in either the OED or in the data-base of Early English Books Online.
100
	Dic. Why, is there any special cause thou takest hereat such sorrow?	= reason. = feels or expresses.
102
	Hodge. Kirstian Clack, Tom Simson's maid, by the mass, comes hether to-morrow.	103: Kirstian = unique spelling in the old literature, presumably a variation of Christian. Clack = to clack is to chatter. comes hether = ie. "is coming here".
104	Cham not able to say between us what may hap;	= "happen"; Hodge has been hoping to impress the visiting maiden.
	She smiled on me the last Sunday, when ich put off my cap.	= "I removed".
106
	Dic. Well, Hodge, this is a matter of weight, and must be kept close,	107: "well, Hodge, what I have to tell you is of a weighty nature, and must be kept secret (close)".
108	It might else turn to both our costs, as the world now goes.	= "it might cost us both (if you spill what I am about to tell you), given the way things are in the world today." Dodsley intriguingly suggests that Diccon is referring to a statute passed by Parliament in 1572 subjecting those who claimed to have knowledge or ability in supernatural doings to heavy penalties; keep this in mind as the scene continues.
	Shalt swear to be no blab, Hodge?	109: blab was a noun for two centuries before it was first used a verb.^1
110
	Hodge. Chill, Diccon.	= "I will (swear)".
112
	Dic. [pointing to his own backside] Then go to,	= "do so", "get to it".^1
114	Lay thine hand here; say after me, as thou shalt hear me do.
	Hast no book?	115: "don't you have a Bible on you?"
116
	Hodge. Cha no book, I.	= I have".
118
	Dic. Then needs must force us both,	119: "then necessity forces our hands", ie. "requires us to take the following measure".
120	Upon my breech to lay thine hand, and there to take thine oath.	120: Diccon points to his own backside.
		122ff: at this point, the rhyme scheme of the play dramatically switches from rhyming couplets to a 6-line rhyme scheme known as a sextilla, a pattern of Spanish origin: aabccb.^17 Note that the sextilla scheme employs significantly shorter lines than are otherwise used throughout the play. Our rhyming couplets do no not return until line 19 of the next scene!
122	Hodge. I, Hodge, breechless,	122-7: Clements suggests that each line of the oath is recited first by Diccon, then repeated by Hodge.
	Swear to Diccon, rechless,	= reckless, ie. without reservation.^3
124	By the cross that I shall kiss,
	To keep his counsel close,	= secret, private.
126	And always me to dispose	126-7: "and always to be inclined to do what he wants
	To work that his pleasure is.	me to do."
128
	[Here he kisseth Diccon's breech.]	129: this stage direction appears in the original.
130
	Dic. Now, Hodge, see thou take heed,
132	And do as I thee bid;	= "ask you" or "tell you."
	For so I judge it meet;	= fitting.
134	This needle again to win,	134: "in order to find this needle"
	There is no shift therein,	135: ie. "there is no (other) measure or expedient (shift) available in this matter (therein)".
136	But conjure up a spreet.	= spirit; Diccon proposes to use magic to summon a
		demon to help them find the needle.
138	Hodge. What the great devil, Diccon, I say?
140	Dic. Yea, in good faith, that is the way;
	Fet with some pretty charm.	= "fetch it", ie. "summon it".
142
	Hodge. Soft, Diccon, be not too hasty yet,	= "hold on".
144	By the mass, for ich begin to sweat!
	Cham afraid of syme harm.	= probably faux-dialect for some.
146
	Dic. Come hether, then, and stir thee nat	147-9: Diccon points to a circle which he has drawn on the ground (or traced into the dirt) into which Hodge should step (per Clements); when summoning spirits, a sorcerer normally stood inside such a circle, which would offer the magician protection against evil. nat = not.
148	One inch out of this circle plat,	= circular place, area or diagram.^1
	But stand, as I thee teach.	149: "but remain standing inside of it, as I instruct
150		you."
	Hodge. And shall ich be here safe from their claws?
152
	Dic. The master-devil with his long paws	153: head-devil, ie. Satan.
154	Here to thee cannot reach −	154: ie. "cannot touch you inside the circle."
	Now will I settle me to this gear.	155: "now I will commence with this business (of
156		summoning)."
	Hodge. I say, Diccon, hear me, hear:
158	Go softly to this matter!	= carefully.^1
160	Dic. What devil, man, art afraid of nought?	160: "what the devil, man, are you afraid of nothing?"
162	Hodge. Canst not tarry a little thought	162-3: Hodge asks Diccon to wait until he has had a chance to urinate!
	Till ich make a courtesy of water?	= a moderate amount.^1
164
	Dic. Stand still to it, why shouldest thou fear him?	165: "stay where you are".
166
	Hodge. Gog's sides, Diccon, me-think ich hear him!
168	And tarry, chall mar all!	168: "if I wait any longer (to relieve myself), I will ruin
		everything!"
170	Dic. The matter is no worse than I told it.
172	Hodge. By the mass, cham able no longer to hold it!
	Too bad, ich must beray the hall!	= befoul, defile.^1 = ie. the auditorium in which the play
174		is being presented (per Whitworth).
	Dic. Stand to it, Hodge, stir not, you whoreson!
176	What devil, be thine arse-strings brusten?	176: Hodge has apparently completely soiled himself. arse-strings = muscles of Hodge's buttocks, ie. rectum. brusten = broken.
	Thyself a while but stay,	177: "stay there", ie. "don't go anywhere".
178	The devil − I smell him − will be here anon.	= it is not the devil Diccon smells! = any moment.
180	Hodge. Hold him fast, Diccon, cham gone!	= "I am out of here!"
	Chill not be at that fray!	= "I will not remain for this to-do!" Gassner suggests the meaning "affair" for fray. Whitworth notes that this unpleasant episode gives Hodge a reason to go change into his other breeches, the ones Gammer had been working on when she lost her needle.
182
	[Exit quickly Hodge into Gammer's house.]	Hodge's Accident: it is worth noting that in Colin Clements' 1922 modernized and abbreviated - as well as sanitized - adaptation of our play, Hodge asserts not that he is fouling himself, but rather that his leg has fallen asleep! Furthermore, earlier in the scene the prudish Clements has Hodge ask for a drink of water, instead of asking for a moment to make water!
	ACT II, SCENE II.
	[Still on Stage: Diccon in front of Chat's tavern.]	Scene ii: Note that the scene continues in the sextilla rhyme-scheme format introduced in line 121 of the previous scene.
1	Dic. Fie, shitten knave, and out upon thee!	1-8: Diccon begins the scene by cursing out the absent Hodge for soiling himself. Fie = an interjection expressing disgust. shitten = in the gloriously high-toned language of the OED, "defiled with excrement". The adjective shitten entered the written language in 1405; the root vulgarism first appeared in verb form in 1325, but as a noun goes back to Old English, where it originally was used to describe diarrhea, especially in cattle; however, it was not used to refer to dung in general until 1585; to complete the picture, the word first appears as a mere expletive in an 1865 report of a Court Martial in the U.S. army, in which Private James Sullivan is quoted as saying "'Oh, shi*e, I can't’ or words to that effect." knave = villain, a term of abuse. out upon thee = "damn you."
2	Above all other louts, fie on thee!
	Is not here a cleanly prank?	= cleverly wicked trick or deed,^1,2 referring to Diccon's practical joke of summoning of the demon.
4	But thy matter was no better,	4-5: Diccon alludes to Hodge's fouling himself.
	Nor thy presence here no sweeter,	matter = meaning both (1) business in general, and (2) bodily discharge.^1 sweeter = meaning both (1) agreeable, and (2) pleasant in odor. Note the double-negative in line 5.
6	To fly I can thee thank.	6: "I thank you for fleeing".
	Here is a matter worthy glosing,	7-18: Diccon turns his thoughts to the missing needle, and recognizes an opportunity to cause further mischief. worthy glosing = worthy of being commented on or discussed; glosing was an already-archaic spelling of glozing.^1
8	Of Gammer Gurton's needle losing,
	And a foul piece of wark:	= business; wark was an already-obsolete spelling for work.
10	A man, I think, might make a play,	10-12: Whitworth's interpretation is definitive: "even a
	And need no word to this they say,	man of only partial education (half a clark, ie. scholar)
12	Being but half a clark.	could write a play about all the excitement, because he need not add any words to those the characters already are saying" (p. 27).
	Soft, let me alone, I will take the charge	13f: Diccon now directly addresses the audience.
14	This matter further to enlarge	13-15: roughly, "but hold on, leave me alone, for I
	Within a time short;	need a moment to think through this business". take the charge = early variation of take charge, ie. take responsibility.^1 enlarge = widen the scope of.^1
16	If ye will mark my toys, and note,	16-18: "pay attention to my antics (toys), and
	I will give ye leave to cut my throat	if I fail to turn this situation into a source of great
18	If I make not good sport. −	entertainment, you may cut my throat."
	Dame Chat, I say, where be ye, within?
20
	Enter Dame Chat from her tavern.
22
	Chat. Who have we there maketh such a din?	= so much noise.
24
	Dic. Here is a good fellow, maketh no great danger.	25: Diccon refers to himself. maketh no great danger = one who is not dangerous; Brett-Smith suggests "who makes himself at home."
26
	Chat. What, Diccon? − Come near, ye be no stranger:	= who.
28	We be fast set at trump, man, hard by the fire;	28: Chat explains that she is in the middle of a now- obsolete card game known as trump, or ruff.^1 hard = close.
	Thou shalt set on the king, if thou come a little nigher.	29: Chat invites Diccon to join the card game. nigher = nearer.
30
	Dic. Nay, nay, there is no tarrying: I must be gone again;	= delaying, ie. time to waste.
32	But first for you in counsel I have a word or twain.	32: "but first I have a bit of information to impart to you in secret (in counsel)."^5 twain = two; the still-common expression a word or two first appeared in Chaucer's Pardoner's Tale of about 1390.^1
34	Chat. Come hether, Doll; Doll, sit down and play this game,	34: Chat calls her maid or servant Doll to take her place in the card game. We may note that Doll does not speak any lines in the play.
	And as thou sawest me do, see thou do even the same:
36	There is five trumps besides the queen, the hindmost thou shalt find her.	36: trumps = a trump is a card that outranks three others of the same suit.^1 the hindmost = in the back.
	Take heed of Sym Glover's wife, she hath an eye behind her. −	= early version of having "eyes in the back of one's
38	Now, Diccon, say your will.	head", meaning Sym's wife, one of the other players, seems to always know exactly what is going on.
40	Dic. Nay, soft a little yet;	= hold on. = the original edition has title, ie. tittle, here.
	I would not tell it my sister, the matter is so great.	= ie. "to my".
42	There, I will have you swear by Our Dear Lady of Boulogne,	42-44: Diccon requires Chat to make a fantastic vow to keep his secret. Our Dear Lady of Boulogne = in the year 636 A.D., a small passengerless boat landed at France's Boulogne harbour; when a citizen of the town removed the ship's statue of the Virgin Mary, a voice was heard which spoke the words, "I choose your city as a place of grace." The statue was placed in a shrine, becoming one of Europe's great pilgrimage sights.^18
	Saint Dunstan and Saint Dominic, with the three Kings of Kullaine,	43: Saint Dunstan = 10th century Archbishop of Canterbury.
44	That ye shall keep it secret.	Saint Dominic = 11th-12th century founder of the
		Black Friars, known more commonly as the Dominicans. The order had been established in London at the Convent of the Blackfriars in 1276.^3 three Kings of Kullaine = ie. three kings of Cologne: a gold sarcophagus, located in the cathedral at Cologne, is believed to house the relics of the three magi of the New Testament.
46	Chat. Gog's bread, that will I do,
	As secret as mine own thought, by God and the devil two!	= both; though some editions print too here.
48
	Dic. Here is Gammer Gurton, your neighbour, a sad and heavy wight:	49: heavy wight = gloomy person.
50	Her goodly fair red cock at home was stole this last night.	= rooster.
52	Chat. Gog's soul! her cock with the yellow legs, that nightly crowed so just?	52: nightly = every night. so just = so punctually.^1
54	Dic. That cock is stolen.
56	Chat. What, was he fet out of the hen's rust?	56: fet = fetched, ie. taken or stolen.^1 rust = alternate spelling of roost, used to rhyme with just.
58	Dic. I cannot tell where the devil he was kept, under key or lock,	= the linguistic pairing of lock and key appeared in English letters as early as the 13th century.^1
	But Tib hath tickled in Gammer's ear, that you should steal the cock.	59: note that Diccon is telling Chat that she is being accused of having taken Gammer's prize rooster, but says nothing about the needle. tickled = whispered; the OED suggests tickle, as used here, is a dialectical form of tittle, meaning to whisper. should steal = ie. have stolen.
60
	Chat. Have I, strong whore? by bread and salt!	= gross or flagrant.^1 = an oath; Dodsley
62		suggests that it may have been a custom to eat bread and salt before taking an oath; Farmer proposes that bread and salt represent the necessities of life.
	Dic. What, soft, I say, be still!
64	Say not one word for all this gear.	= "about this matter", or "in spite of this accusation"
		(the latter from Whitworth).
66	Chat. By the mass, that I will!
	I will have the young whore by the head, and the old trot by the throat.	= ie. Tib. = old hag, ie. Gammer Gurton.
68
	Dic. Not one word, dame Chat, I say, not one word for my coat!	= similar sense to, "for the life of me!"
70
	Chat. Shall such a beggar's brawl as that, thinkest thou, make me a thief?	= broll, ie. offspring, brat.^1
72	The pox light on her whore's sides, a pestilence and mischief! −	72: Chat rains various curses on Gammer's head, including the classic wishing her venereal disease (pox) and harm or bad luck (mischief).
	Come out, thou hungry needy bitch! O, that my nails be short!	73: Chat yells towards Gammer's house. needy = poor.^1 bitch = This is one of the earliest examples of the word bitch being applied to a woman. that = ie. "too bad that", "what a shame that".
74
	Dic. Gog's bread, woman, hold your peace; this gear will else pass sport!	75: Diccon doesn't want Chat to say anything to Gammer: "for God's sake keep quiet, woman; otherwise this matter (gear) will go too far, ie. beyond a jest or mere amusement!"^1 this gear will else pass sport = Whitworth may indeed be correct that this clause must be an aside; he suggests the meaning of these words to be "otherwise the jest will fail to take", or "otherwise you will spoil the entertainment value of my scheme." After all, why would Diccon want to let Chat know the whole thing is a practical joke?
76	I would not for an hundred pound this matter should be known	76-77: Diccon reveals his true concern, which is that he wants his name kept out of the discussion; Whitworth, however, suggests lines 76-77 are also an aside, but it seems reasonable that Diccon would want to instruct Chat to leave his name out of it.
	That I am author of this tale, or have abroad it blown.	77: author = the original edition prints the alternate spelling auctor here. have abroad it blown = ie. "have it spread around town (that I am the source of this intelli- gence)."
78	Did ye not swear ye would be ruled, before the tale I told?	= common phrase for "you would do as I asked".
	I said ye must all secret keep, and ye said sure ye wold.	= would.
80
	Chat. Would you suffer, yourself, Diccon, such a sort to revile you,	= tolerate. = company of people.
82	With slanderous words to blot your name, and so to defile you?	= stain, ie. defame. = "sully your name".
84	Dic. No, Goodwife Chat, I would be loth such drabs should blot my name;	84: Goodwife = common title for a woman who runs an establishment, as Chat does a tavern. loth = "unwilling (to permit)". drabs = harlots.^2
	But yet ye must so order all, that Diccon bear no blame.	= "arrange things", ie. "make sure".
86
	Chat. Go to, then, what is your rede? say on your mind, ye shall me rule herein.	87: Chat backs down: "go ahead, then, what is your advice (rede)? Tell me what you want me to do, you shall govern my actions forthwith."
88
	Dic. Godamercy to dame Chat; in faith thou must the gear begin:	89: "thanks (Godamercy) to you; truly now, here is what you should do first regarding this business (gear)", or "you will have to be the one to begin the business." Godamercy = contraction of God have mercy.^1
90	It is twenty pound to a goose-turd, my Gammer will not tarry. −	90: Diccon expresses his confidence that Gammer will arrive at any moment in terms of heavily favourable (if a bit crude) odds. tarry = delay.
	But hetherward she comes as fast as her legs can her carry,	91: comes = ie. will come. as fast…carry = possibly the earliest use of this still-common expression, though an earlier variation, "as fast as his legges might beare hym", was published in a book of ancient wisdom edited by Nicholas Udall in 1542.
92	To brawl with you about her cock, for well I hard Tib say,	= confront or quarrel with.^2 = heard.
	The cock was roasted in your house to breakfast yesterday;	= the original edition prints breafast here.
94	And when ye had the carcase eaten, the feathers ye outflung,
	And Doll, your maid, the legs she hid a foot-deep in the dung.	95: ie. in order to hide the evidence, no doubt!
96
	Chat. O gracious God, my heart it bursts!	= the original edition has is here.
98
	Dic. Well, rule yourself a space;	99: "well, control yourself for a short while still."
100	And Gammer Gurton, when she cometh anon into this place,	= soon.
	Then to the quean let's see: tell her your mind, and spare not.	= whore. = "Tell her what is on your mind, and don't hold back!"
102	So shall Diccon blameless be; and then, go to, I care not.	= "give it to her"; line 102 is arguably an aside.
104	Chat. Then, whore, beware her throat! I can abide no longer: −	= wait.
	In faith, old witch, it shall be seen which of us two be stronger! −
106	And, Diccon, but at your request, I would not stay one hour.	106: "and Diccon, except for the fact that you asked me to wait, I would not delay confronting her for even one hour."
108	Dic. Well, keep it in till she be here, and then out let it pour!	= ie. "keep your temper in check".
	In the meanwhile get you in, and make no words of this;
110	More of this matter within this hour to hear you shall not miss.
	Because I knew you are my friend, hide it I could not, doubtless.	= ie. "to keep this information from you".
112	Ye know your harm, see ye be wise about your own business.
	So fare ye well.	113: Diccon starts to leave.
114
	Chat. Nay, soft, Diccon, and drink: − What, Doll, I say,	= ie. "don't go yet, Diccon, have a drink."
116	Bring here a cup of the best ale; let's see, come quickly away!
118	[Doll brings out a cup of ale for Diccon;
	Doll and Chat exit into Chat's tavern.]
	ACT II, SCENE III.
	[Still on Stage: Diccon in front of Chat's tavern.]
1	Dic. Ye see, masters, that one end tapped of this my short device,	1-4: Diccon addresses the audience, which as the use of the male-specific term of address - masters - suggests, was made up of all men, presumably scholars and students at Christ's College at Cambridge University, where the play was originally performed. 1-2: there are two parts to Diccon's scheme (device): the first - convincing Dame Chat that she has been accused of stealing Gammer's cock - has been implemented; now, the other shoe must drop. tapped = pierced or opened up, like a cask, suggesting "put into effect".^1
2	Now must we broach tother too, before the smoke arise;	2: broach = pierce, like a vessel of liquid (or more specifically, a vein or artery, according to the OED, though this interpretation is questionable), essentially synonymous with tap.^1 tother = common word for "the other". before the smoke arise = before anyone notices or catches on (Whitworth); smoke is used here in the same sense as it is used in the ancient adage, "where there is smoke there is fire".
	And by the time they have a while run, I trust ye need not crave it,	3-4: "once the proceedings I have set in motion have had a chance to run their course, you won't have to
4	But look what lieth in both their hearts, ye are like sure to have it.	ask long to know what will happen - if you study the nature of the people involved (Gammer and Chat), you
		will be sure to figure it out."
6	Enter Hodge from Gammer's house.
8	Hodge. Yea, Gog's soul, art alive yet? What, Diccon, dare ich come?	8: art alive yet = "are you still alive?" dare ich come = "do I dare come out?"
10	Dic. A man is well hied to trust to thee, I will say nothing but mum;	10: Diccon is sarcastic: "a man does well to put his trust in you; but I won't say a word." well hied = well-urged.^1
	But, and ye come any nearer, I pray you see all be sweet!	11: "but if you come any nearer to me, I ask you to make sure you smell good!"
12
	Hodge. Tush, man, is Gammer's nee'le found? that chould gladly weet.	13: chould = "I would". weet = know.^1
14
	Dic. She may thank thee it is not found, for if you had kept thy standing,	15-16: "Gammer can thank you for the fact that the needle has not been found, because if you had
16	The devil he would have fet it out − ev'n, Hodge, at thy commanding.	kept still (in the conjuring circle), the demon would have fetched it for you - even at your very own
		command."
18	Hodge. Gog's heart! and could he tell nothing where the nee'le might be found?
20	Dic. Ye foolish dolt, ye were to seek, ere we had got our ground;	20: "you idiot, you were supposed to ask (seek) for help (from the demon), before we could make any progress (got our ground)^1."
	Therefore his tale so doubtful was, that I could not perceive it.	21: as a result of Hodge's failure, the demon spoke something so ambiguous or unintelligible (doubtful) that Diccon could not understand any of it.
22
	Hodge. Then ich see well something was said, chope one day yet to have it.	23: "well then at least I (ich) see the demon said something, so that I can hope (chope) to one day have the needle yet."
24	But Diccon, Diccon, did not the devil cry, "ho, ho, ho"?	= traditional derisive laugh expressed by the devil on entering the stage in the old morality plays.^6
26	Dic. If thou hadst tarried where thou stood'st, thou wouldst have said so!	= remained.
28	Hodge. Durst swear of a book, chard him roar, straight after ich was gone;	28: "I dare swear on a Bible, I heard (chard) him roar, right after I left."
	But tell me, Diccon, what said the knave? let me hear it anon.	= "tell me right away."
30
	Dic. The whoreson talked to me, I know not well of what;
32	One while his tongue it ran, and paltered of a cat,	= time or moment. = mumbled about^1 or spoke ambi-
	Another while he stammered still upon a rat;	guously about.^6
34	Last of all, there was nothing but every word, Chat, Chat;
	But this I well perceived before I would him rid,	= "I understood at least this much".
36	Between Chat, and the rat, and the cat, the needle is hid.
	Now whether Gib, our cat, hath eat it in her maw,	= stomach.
38	Or Doctor Rat, our curate, have found it in the straw,	= Diccon refers to a soon-to-appear new character, the
	Or this dame Chat, your neighbour, hath stolen it, God he knoweth,	parson known as Doctor Rat.
40	But by the morrow at this time, we shall learn how the matter goeth.	= tomorrow.
42	Hodge. [Pointing behind to his torn breeches]	42: the stage direction appears in the original edition. We remember that at the end of Act II.i, Hodge was forced, due to his "accident", to change into the breeches which Gammer had originally been mending, and which apparently also have a hole in the backside.
	Canst not learn to-night, man, seest not what is here?	= "don't you see".
44
	Dic. 'Tis not possible to make it sooner appear.
46
	Hodge. Alas, Diccon, then chave no shift; but lest ich tarry too long,	47-49: then too bad, Diccon, I have no alternative (shift) left; but so that I don't wait too long (before I
48	[Chill] hie me to Sym Glover's shop, there to seek for a thong,	I end up in an even worse condition), I will hurry (hie
	Therewith this breech to tatch and tie as ich may.	me) over to the shop of Sym the glove-maker to ask him for a strip of leather (thong) to try to attach to (tatch and tie) the hole in my breeches any way I can." tatch (line 49) = some editors replace tatch with thatch, meaning "to cover", but tatch appears to be a Middle English word for "fasten".^1
50
	Dic. To-morrow, Hodge, if we chance to meet, shall see what I will say.	51: shall see = "you shall learn". will say = "will have to say."
52
	[Exit Hodge off-stage.]
	ACT II, SCENE IV.
	[Still on Stage: Diccon.]
	Enter Gammer from her house.
1	Dic. Now this gear must forward go, for here my Gammer cometh:	1-2: Diccon addresses the audience. this gear = this business, ie. Diccon's scheme.
2	Be still a while, and say nothing; make here a little romth.	= make way; romth is roomth, ie. room.^1 Hazlitt
		suggests Diccon steps back to give space to Gammer to speak her mind. Diccon is likely addressing the audience here, some of whom might even be on the stage: we may note that it became common in indoor theatres for some members of the audience to be seated on stools right on the stage - the most expensive seats in the house!^26
4	Gamm. Good lord, shall never be my luck my nee'le again to spy?
	Alas, the while, 'tis past my help; where 'tis still it must lie!
6
	Dic. Now, Jesus, Gammer Gurton, what driveth you to this sadness?
8	I fear me, by my conscience, you will sure fall to madness.
10	Gamm. Who is that? What, Diccon? cham lost, man! fie, fie!	= "I am". = "for shame!"; fie is usually used to express reproach: Diccon responds as if Gammer is showing disapproval of himself.
12	Dic. Marry, fie on them that be worthy; but what should be your trouble?	= "shame on those who deserve it."
14	Gamm. Alas, the more ich think on it, my sorrow it waxeth double.	= "I". = about. = grows.
	My goodly tossing spurrier's nee'le chave lost, ich wot not where.	15: "I have lost my fine spur-maker's (spurrier's)^1 needle, and I know (ich wot) not where it is."^1
16		tossing = Bradley suggests "first-rate", Hazlitt "sharp", Brett-Smith "the natural action of sewing with a long thread", Gassner "fast", and Whitworth (paraphrased) "moving quickly back and forth while one sews"; the OED most unhelpfully suggests "that tosses: see the verb." spurrier's nee'le = Hazlitt notes a spurrier needs a strong needle because he would also create the leather straps to which he would attach the spurs. Bradley and Farmer, we may note, suggest "harness-maker" for spurrier.
	Dic. Your nee'le? when?
18
	Gamm. My nee'le, alas! ich might full ill it spare,	= "I can hardly (ill)^1 spare it".
20	As God himself he knoweth, ne'er one beside chave.	= ie. "I do not have another."
22	Dic. If this be all, good Gammer, I warrant you all is save.	= assure. = safe, ie. well.
24	Gamm. Why, know you any tidings which way my nee'le is gone?	= news.
26	Dic. Yea, that I do, doubtless, as ye shall hear anon,	= soon.
	'A see a thing this matter toucheth within these twenty hours,	27: "I have seen something that concerns (toucheth) this matter, not twenty hours ago".
28	Even at this gate before my face, by a neighbour of yours;
	She stooped me down, and up she took up a needle or a pin,	29: stooped me down = "stooped down", using the ethical dative. took up = picked up.
30	I durst be sworn it was even yours, by all my mother's kin.	= dare. = an oath, "I swear".
32	Gamm. It was my nee'le, Diccon, ich wot; for here, even by this post,	= "I know it.'
	Ich sat, what time as ich up start, and so my nee'le it lost:	= "at which time as I jumped up".
34	Who was it, leve son? speak, ich pray thee, and quickly tell me that!	= lief, ie. dear.^1
36	Dic. A subtle quean as any in this town, your neighbour here, dame Chat.	= hussy.
38	Gamm. Dame Chat! Diccon, let me be gone: chill thither in post haste.	38: chill…haste = "I will hurry there (thither) at once".
40	Dic. Take my counsel yet or ye go, for fear ye walk in waste:	= or is used for ere here and two other times in the play, meaning "before".
	It is a murrion crafty drab, and froward to be pleased,	41: "she is an exceedingly (murrion, ie. murrain) cunning whore (drab), and one who takes delight in being hard to please."^1 froward = stubborn, perverse, hard to please.^1
42	And ye take not the better way, [y]our needle yet ye lose it:	= "if you do not approach her the right way". lose it = Bradley suggests substituting lese it for the sake of the rhyme with the two-syllable pleased, ie. pleas-ed.
	For when she took it up, even here before your doors,	= in front of.
44	"What, soft, dame Chat" (quoth I), "that same is none of yours."	= "hold on there". = said.
	"Avaunt" (quoth she), "sir knave! what pratest thou of that I find?	45: Avaunt = "get out of here". sir knave = a mock title. what pratest thou of = "what are you babbling about regarding".
46	I would thou hadst kissed me I wot where": she meant, I know, behind;	= wish. = know. The still-common sentiment to kiss my behind (and its cruder variants) has a long history; the OED's earliest citation for this rejoinder dates only back to 1705 ("kiss my a*se"), but clearly the phrase's pedigree goes at least as far back as 1575, the date of our play's publication (indeed, kiss my tail appears later in Act III.iii). A more humorous and euphemistic variation, "kiss my blind-cheeks", also appeared later in the 17th century.
	And home she went as brag as it had been a body-louse,	47: "and she went home as haughtily (brag)^1 as if she had been a body-louse. as brag as a body-louse became proverbial, with busy or brisk sometimes replacing brag.
48	And I after, as bold as it had been the goodman of the house.	48: "then I went after her, as surely (bold) as if I had been the master (goodman) of the house."
	But there, and ye had hard her, how she began to scold,	= if only. = heard.
50	The tongue it went on patins, by him that Judas sold!	50: The tongue…patins = "her tongue ran on pattens", meaning "she clattered on"; the expression is borrowed from John Heywood's 1546 book of Proverbs: "The cow is wood. Her tongue runth on pattens." A patten was basically a clog, or wooden shoe, which made a great deal of noise as its wearer moved about.^1 by him...sold = ie. by Jesus.
	Each other word I was a knave, and you a whore of whores,	= "with every other word she called me a knave".
52	Because I spake in your behalf, and said the nee'le was yours.	= spoke on.
54	Gamm. Gog's bread! and thinks the callet thus to keep my nee'le me fro'?	54: callet = strumpet.^1 me fro' = "from me".
56	Dic. Let her alone, and she minds none other, but even to dress you so.	56: a difficult line: perhaps (though I suggest this with little confidence), "don't bother with her, so long as she concerns herself with no one else, and only calls you names"; Whitworth suggests "leave her alone if she does not intend to do exactly that to you."
58	Gamm. By the mass, chill rather spend the coat that is on my back!	= "I will". = ie. give away, go without.^1
	Thinks the false quean by such a slygh, that chill my nee'le lack?	= "does that deceitful harlot (false quean) think that she can use such a cunning strategy (slygh) to deprive me of my needle?" slygh = likely faux-dialect for sleight, which is the word all the editors print here.
60
	Dic. Sleep not you[r] gear, I counsel you, but of this take good heed:	61: Sleep…gear = "do not neglect (sleep)^1 this matter of yours" (OED II.7), or "do not let your property slip (from your grasp)" (Brett-Smith, p. 77). Sleep = the original edition prints Slepe here, which most editors incorrectly amend to Slip. of this…heed = "be careful about this."
62	Let not be known I told you of it, how well soever ye speed.	62: "just don't tell her I told you this, no matter what happens." As ever, Diccon makes sure his involvement in the matter remains unmentioned. speed = fare.^1
64	Gamm. Chill in, Diccon, and clean apern to take, and set before me;	64: "I will go in (Chill in), Diccon, and put on a clean apron (apern), and sit down.
	And ich may my nee'le once see, chill sure remember thee!	65: "if I see my needle once more, I will assuredly reward (remember) you!"
66
	[Exit Gammer into her house.]
	ACT II, SCENE V.
	[Still on Stage: Diccon.]
1	Dic. Here will the sport begin; if these two once may meet,	= entertainment. = ie. Chat and Gammer.
2	Their cheer, durst lay money, will prove scarcely sweet.	= mood or amity.^1 = "I dare bet".
	My Gammer sure intends to be upon her bones	= ie. physically attack her.
4	With staves or with clubs, or else with cobble stones.	= staffs.
	Dame Chat on the other side, if she be far behind,	= "if she proves slow to respond in kind".
6	I am right far deceived; she is given to it of kind.	= "she has a penchant for violence (it)." of kind = by nature.^4
	He that may tarry by it awhile, and that but short,	7-8: "anyone who hangs around here for a while - and
8	I warrant him, trust to it, he shall see all the sport.	only a short time will be necessary - I guarantee it, trust me, he will be greatly entertained."
	Into the town will I, my friends to visit there,	= "I will go".
10	And hether straight again to see th'end of this gear. −	= "and then return quickly to see the outcome of this business". Gassner suggests "fight" for gear.
	In the meantime, fellows, pipe up your fiddles: I say, take them,	11-12: Diccon instructs the house orchestra - or the
12	And let your friends hear such mirth as ye can make them.	tavern's musicians - to play some music between
		the acts.
14	[Exit Diccon off-stage.]
	END OF ACT II.
	ACT III.
	SCENE I.
	Enter Hodge from off-stage.	Scene i: Hodge exults because his friend Sym Glover has lent him a tool with which he can repair his breeches.
1	Hodge. Sym Glover, yet gramercy! cham meetly well-sped now,	1: ie. "thanks, Sym Glover, I have nicely achieved my goal"; Hodge may speak lines 1-2 to the off-stage glove-maker. cham = "I am". meetly = very or fairly.^1 well-sped = successful, ie. in a better position.
2	Th'art even as good a fellow as ever kissed a cow! −	= "thou art", ie. "you are".
	Here is a thong indeed, by the mass, though ich speak it;	3: "here is a great patch (thong), if I say so myself." thong = a strip of leather; we note that the original edition has thynge (thing) printed here, which all the editors amend to thong.
4	Tom Tankard's great bald curtal, I think, could not break it!	4: bald = marked with white streaks; a precursor to the word piebald, which describes something with patches of colours.^1 curtal = horse with a docked tail. Partial amputation of a horse's tail has been justified with various reasons over the centuries, such as by claims that a shortened tail is necessary to keep the driver of a draught horse from losing control of the animal should its tail rise over the rein; in an interesting discussion in a 1903 book on the care of horses, author M.H. Hayes criticizes this painful and unnecessary procedure, suggesting such arguments are no more than mere pretexts, when the true goal of the mutilation is merely cosmetic, a statement of fashion.^19
	And when he spied my need to be so straight and hard,	5: "and when Sym saw how severe my need was".
6	Hays lent me here his nawl, to set the gib forward;	6: Hays = "he has". nawl = ie. awl, a small tool used for piercing leather; Hodge's friend, a glove-maker, would naturally own such an implement. set the gib forward = seemingly proverbial for "expedite matters".^3 Brett-Smith suggests the expression derives from the act of raising all of a ship's sails (including the jib or jibs); however, the OED indicates that the word jib, referring to a sail, did not appear in English letters for another full century.
	As for my gammer's nee'le, the flying fiend go wi' it!	= a curse or imprecation: "the devil take it!"
8	Chill not now go to the door again with it to meet.	8: "I wouldn't even get up to meet it at the door", ie. Hodge doesn’t need Gammer's needle anymore.
	Chould make shift good enough and chad a candle's end;	9: "I would make-do (shift) well enough (ie. be able to mend his breeches) if I had (and chad) a candle (for light)."
10	The chief hole in my breech with these two chill amend.	= "I will mend with these two articles," ie. the patch and the awl (thong and nawl).
	ACT III, SCENE II.
	[Still on Stage: Hodge in front of Gammer's house.]
	Enter Gammer from her house.
1	Gamm. Now Hodge, may'st now be glad, cha news to tell thee;	= "you may", ie. "you can". = "I have".
2	Ich know who hais my nee'le; ich trust soon shall it see.	= "I". = has. = ie. "I shall".
4	Hodge. The devil thou does! hast hard, gammer, indeed, or dost but jest?	= "have you heard". = in fact, for real.
6	Gamm. 'Tis as true as steel, Hodge.	= proverbial sentiment going back at least to 1300, meaning "completely trustworthy".^1
8	Hodge. Why, knowest well where didst lese it?	= "lose", though lese is technically a variant of the word leese, which is a different word than, though a synonym for, lose.^1
10	Gamm. Ich know who found it, and took it up! shalt see or it be long.	= ie. picked. = "you shall". = ere, ie. before.
12	Hodge. God's mother dear! if that be true, farewell both nawl and thong!	12: Clements suggests Hodge tosses aside his awl and thong here.
	But who hais it, gammer, say on: chould fain hear it disclosed.	= has. = "I would like to".
14
	Gamm. That false fixen, that same dame Chat, that counts herself so honest.	15: fixen = perhaps faux-dialect for vixen, meaning "shrew"; the editors generally print vixen here.
16		counts = accounts, considers. The rhyme between line 13 and line 15 is unclear, if indeed it is supposed to rhyme; perhaps something was lost or inadvertently changed.
	Hodge. Who told you so?
18
	Gamm. That same did Diccon the bedlam, which saw it done.
20
	Hodge. Diccon? it is a vengeable knave, gammer, 'tis a bonable whoreson,	21: it = he. vengeable = great, tremendous (an intensifier).^1
22	Can do mo things than that, els cham deceived evil:	21-22: 'tis a…evil = "a man would be a great villain if he could do anything more (mo) terrible than what he has done, or else I am wickedly (evil) deceived." bonable = unique corruption of abominable.^1
	By the mass, ich saw him of late call up a great black devil!	= "I saw him recently summon".
24	O, the knave cried "ho, ho!" he roared and he thundered,	= villain or scoundrel, referring to the demon.
	And ye 'ad been here, cham sure you'ld murrainly ha' wondered.	25: "and had you been there, I am (cham) sure you
26		would have been exceedingly (murrainly)^1 amazed."
	Gamm. Was not thou afraid, Hodge, to see him in this place?
28
	Hodge. No, and chad come to me, chould have laid him on the face,	29: "not at all, and if he had come at me, I would have struck (laid) him on his face
30	Chould have promised him!	= "I would".
32	Gamm. But, Hodge, had he no horns to push?	= thrust or butt with.^1
34	Hodge. As long as your two arms. Saw ye never Friar Rush	= the devil; the name originates from a German folk-tale of a mischievous demon who disguises himself as a friar and goes on to corrupt the monks in a monastery. The story was published in English in 1568, and a now-lost play about Friar Rush was published in London in 1601.^3,20
	Painted on a cloth, with a side-long cow's tail,	35-36: Hodge describes the still-prevailing cartoon
36	And crooked cloven feet, and many a hooked nail?	image of a devil. cloth = a cheap substitute for tapestries, cloths with painted scenes, such as of the Nine Worthies, were commonly used as wall coverings.^3 side-long = ie. low-hanging.^1 nail = finger nail.
	For all the world (if I should judge), chould reckon him his brother:	37-38: chould…brother = "I would judge him (ie. the demon I saw) to be the brother of the one on the
38	Look, even what face Friar Rush had, the devil had such another.	painted cloth, because their countenances (faces) are so similar."
40	Gamm. Now, Jesus mercy, Hodge, did Diccon in him bring?	= "summon him".
42	Hodge. Nay, gammer, hear me speak, chill tell you a greater thing.	= "I will".
	The devil (when Diccon had him − ich hard him wondrous weel)	43: ich hard…weel = ie. "I heard him very clearly". weel = well.
44	Said plainly here before us, that dame Chat had your nee'le.	44: Hodge is not exactly honest about what transpired.
46	Gamm. Then let us go, and ask her wherefore she minds to keep it;	= why.
	Seeing we know so much, 'twere a madness now to sleep it.	= "it would be madness for us to now neglect (sleep)
48		the matter," ie. not go forward in attempting to retrieve it.
	Hodge. Go to her, gammer; see ye not where she stands in her doors?
50	Bid her give you the nee'le, 'tis none of hers, but yours.	= ask. 49-50: at some point as the last few lines are spoken, Chat presumably steps outside the door of her tavern and onto the stage. Whitworth observes she no doubt appears upon hearing Gammer's voice next door.
	ACT III, SCENE III.
	[Still on Stage: Gammer, Hodge and Chat	Scene iii: Hodge and Gammer go over to the tavern
	in front of Chat's tavern.]	where Chat awaits them.
		Stage directions in Scene iii: the scene contains a great deal of running around, entering and exiting, and fighting; thus, in order to make the action easier for the reader to follow, I have incorporated into the text a significant number of stage directions, most of which are suggested by Clements. Hence, all stage directions may be understood to be additions to the original text, unless otherwise noted.
1	Gamm. Dame Chat, chould pray thee fair, let me have that is mine!	1: chould pray thee fair = "I ask you courteously". that = ie. "that which".
2	Chill not these twenty years take one fart that is thine;	2: ie. "I would not in twenty years take anything from you that is of even the least possible value".
	Therefore give me mine own, and let me live beside thee.	= ie. live in peace.
4
	Chat. Why art thou crept from home hether, to mine own doors to chide me?	= "have you". = to here.
6	Hence, doating drab, avaunt, or I shall set thee further!	6: "begone, you senile or raving (doating)^1,3 hussy, away with you (avaunt), or I will chase you away!"
	Intends thou and that knave me in my house to murther?	= ie. Gammer and Hodge. = common spelling for murder.
8
	Gamm. Tush, gape not so on me, woman! shalt not yet eat me,	9: as the incensed Chat stands glaring with her mouth wide open, Gammer sarcastically suggests Chat is preparing to gobble her up. on = the original edition prints no here. shalt = "you shall".
10	Nor all the friends thou hast in this shall not entreat me!	10: ie. "not even if every friend you had asked me to leave would I do so."
	Mine own goods I will have, and ask thee no by leave: −	11: Gammer pauses after speaking this line, waiting for Chat to respond - which Chat does not do. no by-leave = "without having your permission to do so"; the original edition prints on beleve, which most of the editors amend.
12	What, woman? poor folks must have right, though the thing you aggrieves.	12: have right = ie. be given what is due them. though...aggrieves = "even if the matter causes
		you grief."
14	Chat. Give thee thy right, and hang thee up, with all thy beggar's brood!
	What, wilt thou make me a thief, and say I stole thy good?	= ie. "call me" or "make me out to be".
16
	Gamm. Chill say nothing, ich warrant thee, but that ich can prove it well.	17: "I will say nothing, I assure you, except for that which I can prove."
18	Thou set my good even from my door, cham able this to tell!	18: set = took. good = property. cham able this to tell = "I am able to say this much!"
20	Chat. Did I, old witch, steal oft was thine? how should that thing be known?	20: oft was = "aught was", ie. "anything that was". how should…known = Chat asks Gammer to describe what it is she allegedly stole.
22	Gamm. Ich cannot tell; but up thou tookest it as though it had been thine own.	22: by not describing the needle, Gammer leaves Chat to continue to believe they are talking about Gammer's cock.
24	Chat. Marry, fie on thee, thou old gib, with all my very heart!	= term of abuse for an old woman.^1
26	Gamm. Nay, fie on thee, thou ramp, thou rig, with all that take thy part!	26: ramp = rude or wanton woman.^1,21 rig = harlot.^1 that take thy part = "who are allied with you."
28	Chat. A vengeance on those lips that layeth such things to my charge!	28: "a curse on those lips that accuse me of such an act!"
30	Gamm. A vengeance on those callet's hips, whose conscience is so large!	30: callet's = whore's. large = lax, loose.^1
32	Chat. Come out, hog!	32, 34: as the two ladies are directly facing each other,
		it does not make sense for them to be calling for the other to come out, as we understand the phrase; one solution may be that the two women have to this point actually have been yelling at each other from their respective properties, and each is daring the other to come out from her own yard and into the other's. Either way, by line 56, the two women are in each other's faces.
34	Gamm. Come out, hog, and let have me right!
36	Chat. Thou arrant witch!	= downright, notorious.^1
38	Gamm. Thou bawdy bitch, chill make thee curse this night!	= "I will".
40	Chat. A bag and a wallet!	40-48: the rhyme scheme switches briefly to abbcbb. 40: A bag and a wallet = the accessories of a street-walker.^5
42	Gamm. A cart for a callet!	42: Gammer refers to the tradition of parading fallen- women about the streets in a cart for the purpose of humiliating them in front of jeering onlookers.
44	Chat. Why, weenest thou thus to prevail?	44: "do you believe you can prevail over me?" weenest = from ween, meaning "to think" or "expect".
	I hold thee a groat,	= bet. = small-valued coin.
46	I shall patch thy coat!	46: Chat threatens Gammer with violence, but in doing so inadvertently and indirectly also alludes to the missing needle. patch = cause to be covered with patches of something, here discoloured skin. coat = hide.
48	Gamm. Thou wert as good kiss my tail!	48: "you can kiss my a***!"; see the note at Act II.iv.46.
	Thou slut, thou cut, thou rakes, thou jakes! will not shame make thee hide [thee]?	49: cut = term of abuse, especially for a woman;^1 but the Canting Dictionary of 1696 suggests a cut is a "drunk"; note that Gammer accuses Chat of drunkenness in line 54 below. rakes = our author has invented this word to use as a term of abuse, likely for no other reason than to simply rhyme with jakes.^1,3 jakes = originally meaning "privy", here a term of abuse, ie: human filth.^1
50
	Chat. Thou scald, thou bald, thou rotten, thou glutton! I will no longer chide thee;	51: scald = scurvy person.^1 bald = bald as a term of abuse does not appear in the OED, but no doubt the reference is to the lack of a full of head of hair on Gammer's head, ie. "baldy". rotten = rat^3 or putrid person.^1 glutton = wretch.^1 I will no longer chide thee = ie. "I'm done with talking!"
52	But I will teach thee to keep home.	= stay at.
54	Gamm. Wilt thou, drunken beast?
56	[They fight.]
58	Hodge. Stick to her, gammer, take her by the head, chill warrant you this feast!	58: chill…feast = Hodge assures Gammer of victory.
	Smite, I say, gammer!
60	Bite, I say, gammer!
	I trow ye will be keen!	61: "I trust you will be valiant or cruel!"
62	Where be your nails? claw her by the jaws, pull me out both her eyen!	62: eyen = common alternate form of eyes.
	Gog's bones, gammer, hold up your head!
64
	Chat. I trow, drab, I shall dress thee. −	= expect. = thrash.^1
66	Tarry, thou knave, I hold thee a groat I shall make these hands bless thee! −	66: Chat momentarily turns to Hodge, threatening him with equal violence. Tarry = "you just wait", or "don't you go any- where". bless = beat.
	Take thou this, old whore, for amends, and learn thy tongue well to tame,	= teach.
68	And say thou met at this bickering, not thy fellow, but thy dame!	= match or equal.^3 = mistress, ie. (female) superior;^4
		Chat cleverly puns on the connection between fellow and dame, which also mean simply "male" and "female" respectively.
70	[Chat knocks Gammer to the ground.]
72	Hodge. Where is the strong-stewed whore? chill gear a whore's mark! −	72: with Chat apparently gaining the upper hand, Hodge decides to join the fray. strong-stewed whore = general insult imputing unchastity; derived from the word stews, the name given to a red-light district.^1 chill…mark = "I will give her a whore's mark." gear = either an alternate form of gi'r, or faux-dialect, either way meaning "give her". whore's mark = Hodge may be referring to the punishment of branding; while in the 16th century, according to a 1547 statute, branding could be inflicted on "vagabonds, gipsies and brawlers", it is not clear whether prostitutes too were actually subject to this punishment.^22
	Stand out one's way, that ich kill none in the dark! −	73: Stand out one's way = "get out of my way". Probably addressed to the audience; see the note at Act II.iv.2. in the dark = once again the action seems to be taking place in the twilight.
74	Up, gammer, and ye be alive! chill feygh now for us both. −	= if. = faux-dialect for fight, which is the word all the
		editors insert here.
76	[Chat threateningly approaches Hodge.]
78	Come no near me, thou scald callet! to kill thee ich were loth.	= scurvy whore. = "would be reluctant (loth) to do."
80	[Hodge runs away to his own house,
	then returns cautiously again.]
82
	Chat. Art here again, thou hoddypeke? − what, Doll, bring me out my spit!	= fool.^3
84
	[Doll enters from the tavern with a spit, which she
86	hands to Chat; Hodge picks up Gammer's staff.]
88	Hodge. Chill broach thee with this, by m'father's soul, chill conjure that foul spreet. −	88: broach = stab or spit. with this = ie. Gammer's walking stick. spreet = spirit, ie. Diccon's demon.
	Let door stand, Cock! − why, comes indeed? − keep door, thou whoreson boy!	89: Hodge calls for Cock to come out of their house and keep watch at the open door.
90		why, comes indeed? = to Chat: "do you dare come at me?"^8
	Cock enters from Gammer's house,
92	and stands in front of the open door.
94	Chat. Stand to it, thou dastard, for thine ears; ise teach thee a sluttish toy!	94: Stand to it = "come on and fight".^1 dastard = coward. ise = "I shall", presumably a regionalism. ise…toy = "I'll teach you a low and dirty (sluttish) trick!" or "to be a despicable person!"
96	Hodge. Gog's wounds, whore, chill make thee avaunt! −	= avaunt has two senses, so that the clause may mean
		either "I will teach you to brag", or "I will force you to depart!"
98	[Chat strikes Hodge hard;
	Hodge runs away and into his house.]
100
	Take heed, Cock, pull in the latch!	101: Hodge tells Cock to lock the door after him!
102
	[Exit Cock into the house,
104	closing the door after him.]
106	Chat. I'faith, Sir Loose-breech, had ye tarried, ye should have found your match!	= "slovenly lout".^3 = waited any longer.
108	[As Chat stands facing Gammer's house,
	Gammer gets up and attacks Chat from behind.]
110
	Gamm. Now 'ware thy throat, losel, thouse pay for all!	111: Gammer may wrap her hands around Chat's neck.
112		'ware = beware, ie. watch out for. losel = worthless person, ne'er-do-well.^1,5 thou'se = thou shall.
	[Hodge sticks his head out the door, as Gammer
114	succeeds in knocking Chat down to the ground.]
116	Hodge. Well said, gammer, by my soul.	= done.
	Hoise her, souse her, bounce her, trounce her, pull her throat-bole!	117: Hoise = lift.^1 souse = strike, beat.^1 throat-bole = Adam's apple.^1
118
	Chat. Com'st behind me, thou withered witch? and I get once on foot,	119: and I…on foot = "if I get back on my feet".
120	Thou'se pay for all, thou old tar-leather! I'll teach thee what 'longs to 't!	120: tar-leather = literally a dried and salted strip of sheep-skin, applied uniquely here as a term of abuse,
		specifically to Gammer as an old woman. I'll teach…to 't = a generic threat: "I'll show you what is fitting for you!"^3
122	[Chat gets up and strikes Gammer in the face,
	knocking her down once again.]
124
	Take thee this to make up thy mouth, till time thou come by more!	125: make up thy mouth = shut up.^1
126		till time = until.
	[Exit Chat into her house.
128	Hodge hurries over to help Gammer up.]
130	Hodge. Up, gammer, stand on your feet; where is the old whore?
	Faith, would chad her by the face, chould crack her callet crown!	131: Hodge's words show more courage than did his actions. would chad = "I wish I had". chould = "I would". callet crown = whore's head.
132
	Gamm. Ah, Hodge, Hodge, where was thy help, when [th’] fixen had me down?	133: fixen = faux-dialect for vixen.
134
	Hodge. By the mass, gammer, but for my staff Chat had gone nigh to spill you!	135: but for…spill you = "if I had not threatened Chat with the staff, she would have come close (nigh) to slaying you!"
136	Ich think the harlot had not cared, and chad not come, to kill you.	136: "I think the harlot would have had no compunc-
	But shall we lose our nee'le thus?	tion, if I had not arrived, about killing you."
138
	Gamm. No, Hodge, chwarde loth do so.	= "I would be loth to do so." Bradley suggests chwarde
140	Thinkest thou chill take that at her hand? no, Hodge, ich tell thee no.	is a misprint for chware, meaning "I would be".
142	Hodge. Chould yet this fray were well take up, and our nee'le at home.	142: "yet I wish this quarrel were settled, and our needle was at home." take up = taken up, ie. settled, at an end.^1
	'Twill be my chance else some to kill, wherever it be or whom!	143: "otherwise, it would be my bad luck (chance) to
144		kill some people, whoever and wherever they may be!"
	Gamm. We have a parson, Hodge, thou knows, a man esteemed wise,
146	Mast Doctor Rat; chill for him send, and let me hear his advice.	= Master Doctor Rat, a cleric; Doctor was a common title used for men of the cloth.
	He will her shrive for all this gear, and give her penance strait;	147: Gammer expects the parson will get the truth from Chat. her shrive = ie. "obtain her confession". gear = matter. strait = severe or rigorous.^1
148	Wese have our nee'le, else dame Chat comes ne'er within heaven-gate.	148: "we will have our needle, or else Chat will never be admitted to Heaven", ie. because she will have failed
		to confess her sin - the theft of the needle - to the priest. wese = "we shall"; this word does not appear in the OED.
150	Hodge. Yea, marry, gammer, that ich think best: will you now for him send?
	The sooner Doctor Rat be here, the sooner wese ha' an end.	= "we will bring this matter to a close."
152	And hear, gammer, Diccon's devil, (as ich remember well)	= the original edition has here here.
	Of cat and Chat, and Doctor Rat, a felonious tale did tell.	= about. = wicked.^1
154	Chold you forty pound, that is the way your nee'le to get again.	= "I'll bet you 40 pounds". Forty pence (not pounds) was actually a customary amount in a wager.
156	Gamm. Chill ha' him straight; call out the boy, wese make him take the pain.	156: ie. "I will get him here right away; call Cock, we shall have him do the errand."
		take the pain = the sense is "take the trouble to do this."
158	Hodge. What, Cock, I say, come out! What devil, can'st not hear?
160	Enter Cock tentatively.
162	Cock. How now, Hodge? how does gammer, is yet the weather clear?	162: is yet…clear? = ie. "have matters settled down out here?", ie. "is the fight over?"
	What would chave me to do?	= literally "I have me", another obvious blunder; the intended meaning is "you have me". Bradley contends that chave is either a mistaken bit of dialect, or a printer's mistake for thave, ie. "thou have".
164
	Gamm. Come hether, Cock, anon.	165: "come here, Cock, right away."
166	Hence swith to Doctor Rat hie thee, that thou were gone,	= "from here quickly". = "hurry".
	And pray him come speak with me, cham not well at ease.	167: pray = ask. cham not well at ease = Cock will take this clause to mean that Gammer feels ill, and that is why she wants the parson to come over.
168	Shalt have him at his chamber, or else at Mother Bee's;	= "you shall find him". = rooms, ie. home.
	Else seek him at Hob Filcher's shop, for as chard it reported,	169: Hob Filcher's shop = like Mother Bee's, presum- ably a tavern; filcher means "petty thief".^1 chard = "I have heard".
170	There is the best ale in all the town, and now is most resorted.	= frequented.
172	Cock. And shall ich bring him with me, gammer?
174	Gamm. Yea, by and by, good Cock.	= right away.
176	Cock. Shalt see that shall be here anon, else let me have on the dock.	176: "you will see, I will bring him back right away, otherwise you can thrash me on my backside
		(dock)."^1
178	[Exit Cock off-stage.]
180	Hodge. Now, gammer, shall we two go in, and tarry for his coming? −	180: tarry for = await. coming = arrival.
	What devil, woman, pluck up your heart, and leave off all this glooming.	181-3: Hodge tries to buck up the distressed and morose Gammer. glooming = sulking, appearing sullen.^4
182	Though she were stronger at the first, as ich think ye did find her,
	Yet there ye dressed the dronken sow, what time ye came behind her.	183: "yet you managed to beat (dressed) her too, that time when you came up behind her." dronken = drunken.
184
	Gamm. Nay, nay, cham sure she lost not all, for, set th'end to the beginning,	185-6: "if she describes the fight by reversing the order of the main action (ie. by describing my strong finish as if it had occurred first, and then her strong start as if that was how the fight had concluded), as I am sure she will do, she will be able to brag that she was victorious."
186	And ich doubt not, but she will make small boast of her winning.	186: before Gammer and Hodge leave the stage, Tib comes running out in a tizzy, and the next scene begins.
	ACT III, SCENE IV.
	[Still on Stage: Hodge and Gammer in front of
	Gammer's house.]
	Enter Tib from Gammer's house, frantic.
1	Tib. See, gammer, gammer, Gib, our cat, cham afraid what she aileth;	1: cham…aileth = "I am afraid that Gib appears ill."
2	She stands me gasping behind the door, as though her wind her faileth:	= "she is standing": another example of the ethical dative.
	Now let ich doubt what Gib should mean, that now she doth so doat.	3: "now I am apprehensive (doubt) about the meaning of this, that she is behaving so oddly or madly (she
4		doth so doat)^1,4." let = replaced by Hazlitt with mot, meaning "might".
	[Hodge steps into the house,
6	then returns holding Gib the cat.]
8	Hodge. Hold hether! Ich hold twenty pound, your nee'le is in her throat.	8: Hold hether! = "feel him here!" Ich hold twenty pound = "I would bet twenty pounds". Hodge is feeling Gib around her neck, and invites Gammer to do the same.
	Grope her, ich say, methinks ich feel it; does not prick your hand?	= feel, probe.^1 = ie. "does it".
10
	Gamm. Ich can feel nothing.
12
	Hodge. No! ich know thar's not within this land	= there's.
14	A murrainer cat than Gib is, betwixt the Thames and Tyne;	14: murrainer = more plaguey or contemptible.^1 betwixt the Thames and Tyne = between the Rivers Thames (which flows through London) and Tyne (which flows through Newcastle, about 250 miles north of London).
	Sh'ase as much wit in her head almost as chave in mine.	= "she has". = "I have".
16
	Tib. Faith, sh'ase eaten something, that will not easily down;	= "she has". = ie. go down.
18	Whether she gat it at home, or abroad in the town,	= common alternative for got. = out of the house and
	Ich cannot tell.	in the yard.
20
	Gamm. Alas! ich fear it be some crooked pin,
22	And then farewell Gib, she is undone, and lost, all save the skin!	= ruined. = except for. According to the OED, cat skin might be used to make purses.^1
24	Hodge. 'Tis your nee'le, woman, I say! Gog's soul, give me a knife,	= the original edition had Tyb here, amended by all to 'Tis.
	And chill have it out of her maw, or else chall lose my life.	25: "and I will cut it out of her stomach, or else I shall (chall) give up my life."
26
	Gamm. What! nay, Hodge, fie! Kill not our cat, 'tis all the cats we ha' now!	27: 'tis all…now = "it's the only cat we have!" A good cat was needed to kill off mice and similar vermin.
28
	Hodge. By the mass, dame Chat hays me so moved, ich care not what I kill, ma' God a vow!	29: hays me so moved = "has upset me so much". The original edition has moned, amended universally to moved. ma' God a vow = ie. "I swear to God". ma' = "I make".^4
30	Go to then, Tib, to this gear; hold up her tail and take her!	30: "go on, Tib, let's get to this business."
32	[Hodge hands Tib the cat.]
34	Chill see what devil is in her guts, chill take the pains to rake her!	34: Chill = "I will". rake her = Hodge intends to reach into Gib's
		intestines through her fundament; a constipated horse was treated in this manner so as to remove the clogging matter.^1
36	Gamm. Rake a cat, Hodge! what wouldest thou do?
38	Hodge. What, think'st that cham not able?	= "I am".
	Did not Tom Tankard rake his curtal t'o'er day standing in the stable?	39: Tankard = a drinking vessel. curtal = a horse with a shortened tail.
40		t'o'er = "the other".
	Enter Cock from off-stage.
42
	Gamm. Soft! be content, let's hear what news Cock bringeth from Mast Rat.	43: "wait a minute - calm down".
44
	Cock. Gammer, chave been there as you bad, you wot well about what.	= asked. = know.
46	'Twill not be long before he come, ich durst swear off a book,	= "I dare swear on a Bible".
	He bids you see ye be at home, and there for him to look.	47: Rat wants Gammer to wait at home for him.
48
	Gamm. Where didst thou find him, boy? was he not where I told thee?
50
	Cock. Yes, yes, even at Hob Filcher's house, by him that bought and sold me:	51: by him…sold me = "by Him who redeemed me", ie. Christ; as Brett-Smith notes, and sold me is an extraneous and ignorant addition of Cock's.
52	A cup of ale had in his hand, and a crab lay in the fire;	= "he had". = crab-apple; see the note at lines 20-21 of the song which begins Act II.
	Chad much ado to go and come, all was so full of mire:	53: "I had much trouble getting there and back, the way was so muddy;" muddy roads were no doubt a never-ending problem in rainy, unpaved England.
54	And, gammer, one thing I can tell: Hob Filcher's nawl was lost,	54-55: Cock notes that Doctor Rat recently had success in a similar case, finding Hob Filcher's missing awl (nawl), a tool for punching holes in leather.
	And Doctor Rat found it again, hard beside the door-post.	= close.
56	Ichold a penny can say something, your nee'le again to fet.	56: "I bet you a penny, Doctor Rat will be helpful, and will find (fet) your needle." Ichold = "I hold", ie. "I wager".
58	Gamm. Cham glad to hear so much, Cock, then trust he will not let	58: let = refrain.
	To help us herein best he can; therefore, till time he come,
60	Let us go in; if there be ought to get, thou shalt have some.	60: if any food can be found inside, Gammer will
		bestow it on Cock as a reward for successfully completing his mission.
62	[Exeunt all into Gammer's house.]
	END OF ACT III.
	ACT IV.
	SCENE I.
	Enter Gammer from her house into her yard.	Entering Characters: Gammer enters her yard, where
	Enter Doctor Rat from off-stage.	she sits and sadly ruminates. We also finally meet our play's resident cleric, the parson Doctor Rat, who enters from off-stage, coming down the "street", heading towards Gammer's house. Doctor Rat, as his name suggests, is no ordinary kindly cleric, but rather an ornery man who would rather drink than deal with his miserable flock. Doctor was a title often given to a man of the cloth. Rat is referred to as a parson, a clerk, a vicar and a priest in the play; a clerk is a priest, and parson and vicar are basically synonymous, both referring to a salaried parish priest.^1,24
1	Dr. Rat. A man were better twenty times be a bandog and bark,	1-7: Rat bemoans the fact that as a priest, he must continuously handle his parishioners' problems, which are of a generally trivial but time-consuming nature, when he would much rather be left in peace drinking. were better = "would be better off". bandog = chained and vicious dog.^2
2	Than here among such a sort be parish priest or clerk,	2: sort = collection of people. clerk = a lay officer of the church who assists the priest in various matters, such as by loudly leading the responses during church services.^1
	Where he shall never be at rest one pissing while a day,	= the time it takes to urinate.
4	But he must trudge about the town, this way and that way,
	Here to a drab, there to a thief, his shoes to tear and rent,	5: drab = whore. his shoes = referring to the hypothetical priest's shoes. rent = synonym for "tear".
6	And that which is worst of all, at every knave's commandment!	= command, ie. Rat has no choice but to be at every wretch's beck and call.
	I had not sit the space to drink two pots of ale,	= been sitting. = time.
8	But Gammer Gurton's sorry boy was straightway at my tail;
	And she was sick, and I must come, to do I wot not what;	= know.
10	If once her finger's-end but ache − trudge, call for Doctor Rat!	10: ie. "even something as trivial as".
	And when I come not at their call, I only thereby lose,	11-12: as a parish priest, Rat is entitled to receive a
12	For I am sure to lack therefore a tithe-pig or a goose.	portion of the tithes - the annual taxes rated at 10% of one's produce or income - paid by the parishioners to the church, part of which supplemented the priest's small salary; often times tithes were paid in kind directly to the priest, as with animals, hence the terms tithe-pig or tithe-goose. lack = lose.^7
	I warrant you, when truth is known, and told they have their tale,	= assure.
14	The matter whereabout I come is not worth a half-penny- worth of ale;	= for which.
	Yet must I talk so sage and smooth, as though I were a gloser;	= wisely and agreeably. = glozer, ie. flatterer.
16	Else ere the year come at an end, I shall be sure the loser. −	= before.
	What work ye, Gammer Gurton? How? here is your friend M[ast] Rat.	17: M[ast] Rat = ie. Master Rat; the 1575 edition prints only M. Rat.
18
	Gamm. Ah! good M[ast] Doctor, cha troubled, cha troubled you, chwot well that.	19: cha = "I have". chwot = "ich wot", ie. "I know".
20
	Dr. Rat. How do ye, woman? be ye lusty, or be ye not well at ease?	= vigorously healthy; Rat assumes, based on Cock's message, that Gammer is ill.
22
	Gamm. By Gis, Master, cham not sick, but yet chave a disease.	23: By Gis = ie. "by Jesus", an odd but surprisingly common euphemistic oath. cham = "I am". chave = "I have". a disease = trouble or anxiety.^1,4
24	Chad a foul turn now of late, chill tell it you, by Gigs!	24: "I have had a wretched change of circumstances (turn) lately, I will tell you, by Jesus!" by Gigs = yet another euphemistic version of "by Jesus".
26	Dr. Rat. Hath your brown cow cast her calf, or your sandy sow her pigs?	26: cast = given premature birth too.^1 sandy = yellow-red coloured.^1
28	Gamm. No, but chad been as good they had as this, ich wot well.	28: "no, but I would have been better off if they had done that than to find myself in the situation I am in now, I know that much."
30	Dr. Rat. What is the matter?	30: this still common expression first appeared in the early 16th century.^1
32	Gamm. Alas, alas! cha lost my good nee'le!	= "I have".
	My nee'le, I say, and wot ye what? a drab came by and spied it,	33: wot = know. drab = whore, meaning Chat. spied = saw.
34	And when I asked her for the same, the filth flatly denied it.	= old term of abuse.
36	Dr. Rat. What was she that −	= who.
38	Gamm. A dame, ich warrant you! She began to scold and brawl −	= the sarcastic sense is, "a real lady". = assure.
	Alas, alas! − come hether, Hodge! − this wretch can tell you all.	= ie. Hodge.
40
	ACT IV, SCENE II.
	[Still on Stage: Gammer and Doctor Rat
	in front of Gammer's house.]
	Enter Hodge from Gammer's house.
1	Hodge. Good morrow, Gaffer Vicar.	= Gaffer was a term of respect attached to a man's
2		profession, used by country people; it may be a contraction of godfather, just as Gammer may be an abbreviated form of godmother.^1
	Dr. Rat. Come on, fellow, let us hear!
4	Thy dame hath said to me, thou knowest of all this gear;	= mistress, ie. Gammer. = business.
	Let's see what thou canst say.
6
	Hodge. By m' fay, sir, that ye shall,	= "by my faith", ie. truly.
8	What matter soever there was done, ich can tell your maship [all]:	= "I". = ie. "Your Mastership".
	My Gammer Gurton here, see now,
10	Sat her down at this door, see now;
	And as she began to stir her, see now,	= bestir herself.
12	Her nee'le fell in the floor, see now;
	And while her staff she took, see now,	= walking stick.
14	At Gib her cat to fling, see now,
	Her nee'le was lost in the floor, see now −
16	Is not this a wondrous thing, see now?
	Then came the quean dame Chat, see now,	= prostitute.
18	To ask for her black cup, see now:	18: Hodge invents the idea that Chat had come over
	And even here at this gate, see now,	looking for Gammer to return a piece of kitchen- ware she had borrowed.
20	She took that nee'le up, see now:
	My gammer then she yede, see now,	= proceeded or went;^4 the OED calls yede a "pseudo-
22	Her nee'le again to bring, see now,	archaism" of the 16th century.
	And was caught by the head, see now −
24	Is not this a wondrous thing, see now?
	She tare my gammer's coat, see now,	= dialectical form of tore.^1
26	And scratched her by the face, see now;
	Chad thought sh'ad stopped her throat, see now −	= "I had". = "she had".
28	Is not this a wondrous case, see now?
	When ich saw this, ich was worth, see now,	= archaism for wroth, ie. irate.
30	And start between them twain, see now;	30: Hodge then joined the fray. start = hurried. twain = two.
	Else ich durst take a book-oath, see now,	31-32: "otherwise (ie. if I had not jumped in), I swear
32	My gammer had been slain, see now.	on a Bible that Chat would have killed Gammer."
		Hodge conveniently leaves out the part where he ran away from Chat.
34	Gamm. This is even the whole matter, as Hodge has plainly told;
	And chould fain be quiet for my part, that chould.	35: "and I would prefer or be glad (chould fain) to be at peace or untroubled, that I would." Gammer wishes the whole episode were behind her.
36	But help us, good Master, beseech ye that ye do:
	Else shall we both be beaten, and lose our nee'le too.	= ie. "or else". = ie. beat up.
38
	Dr. Rat. What would ye have me to do? tell me, that I were gone;	39: that I were gone = an ambiguous clause: while Rat no doubt wants Gammer to understand him to mean "and I'll go do it", there is probably an undercurrent of a wish by Rat to return to his drinking as quickly as he can, ie. "so that I can get out of here!"
40	I will do the best that I can, to set you both at one.	= "reconcile the two of you."
	But be ye sure dame Chat hath this your nee'le found?	= "are you".
42
	Enter Diccon from off-stage.
44
	Gamm. Here comes the man that see her take it up off the ground:	= "saw her pick it up".
46	Ask him yourself, Master Rat, if ye believe not me:
	And help me to my nee'le, for God's sake and Saint Charity!	47: Charity was one of three sisters (the other two being Faith and Hope) who, along with their mother Sophia (Wisdom) were martyred in the 3rd century A.D.^23
48
	Dr. Rat. Come near, Diccon, and let us hear what thou can express.	49: has a line dropped out in error? There is no line to rhyme with line 49.
50	Wilt thou be sworn thou seest dame Chat this woman's nee'le have?
52	Dic. Nay, by Saint Benet, will I not, then might ye think me rave.	52: Saint Benet = Bennet or Benedict of Nursia (c.
		480-c. 543), founder of the Benedictine rule, a set of instructions for how monks should live communally. rave = mad, or talk wildly and irrationally, like a madman;^1,6 as a recently released inmate of a lunatic asylum, Diccon may be wary - or at least may be pretending to be so - of doing anything that might reflect badly on his sanity.
54	Gamm. Why, did'st not thou tell me so even here? canst thou for shame deny it?
56	Dic. Ay, marry, gammer; but I said I would not abide by it.	= "bide by it", ie. maintain his story. See Act II.iv.62.
58	Dr. Rat. Will you say a thing, and not stick to it to try it?	58: ie. "will you allege something, but then not stick by your words?" try it = "prove what you said to be true".
60	Dic. "Stick to it," quoth you, Master Rat? marry, sir, I defy it.	= say. = "refuse to do so", or "deny the charge."^5
	Nay, there is many an honest man, when he such blasts hath blown	61-62: "no, there are many honest men who, having imparted secret information to a friend, would be
62	In his friend's ears, he would be loth the same by him were known.	hesitant to let it be known they were the source of that information." blasts hath blown = breath or wind has blown. by him were known = ie. could be traced back to him.^11
	If such a toy be used oft among the honesty,	63-64: "if such an idle practice or antic (toy, referring
64	It may beseem a simple man of your and my degree.	to the practice of not maintaining what one has said) is frequently employed as it is by respectable people (the honesty),^1 then it is surely suitable for simple people of yours and my station to do likewise."
66	Dr. Rat. Then we be never the nearer, for all that you can tell.	= ie. to locating the needle; we see a long-standing legal notion at work: if Diccon will not testify that he saw Chat pick up the needle, then Gammer's reporting that Diccon told her this very fact - hearsay - cannot be considered evidence.
68	Dic. Yea, marry, sir, if ye will do by mine advice and counsel:	68: to Rat: "follow my advice."
	If mother Chat see all us here, she knoweth how the matter goes;	69-71: Diccon suggests that if Chat sees them all congregating outside Gammer's house, she will know they are all talking about her; and, therefore, the others should go inside while he will go to Chat's home to investigate the matter.
70	Therefore I rede you three go hence, and within keep close,	70 "therefore I advise (rede) you to get away from here, and stay out of sight inside the house".
	And I will into dame Chat's house, and so the matter use,	= will go.
72	That or ye could go twice to church, I warrant you hear news.	72: "that before the equivalent amount of time necessary for you to go to church twice passes, I guarantee you will have news from me." or = ere, ie. before.
	She shall look well about her, but I durst lay a pledge,	= dare swear.
74	Ye shall of gammer's nee'le have shortly better knowledge.
76	Gamm. Now, gentle Diccon, do so; − and, good sir, let us trudge.	= to Rat.
78	Dr. Rat. By the mass, I may not tarry so long to be your judge.	78: Rat is hesitant to remain any longer than he has to. tarry = wait around passively.
80	Dic. 'Tis but a little while, man; what, take so much pain!	= "take the trouble to do this!"
	If I hear no news of it, I will come sooner again.	= soon.^5
82
	Hodge. Tarry so much, good Master Doctor, of your gentleness!	= "please do wait".
84
	Dr. Rat. Then let us hie us inward, and, Diccon, speed thy business.	85: "then let us hurry inside, and, Diccon, expedite your work."
86
	Dic. Now, sirs, do you no more, but keep my counsel just,	= "do exactly as I say".
88	And Doctor Rat shall thus catch some good, I trust;
	[Aside] But mother Chat, my gossip, talk first withal I must,	= friend. = "with (her)".
90	For she must be chief captain to lay the Rat in the dust.	90: Diccon is planning to set a trap for Rat.
92	[Exit Rat, Hodge and Gammer into Gammer's house;
	Diccon walks over to Chat's tavern.]
	ACT IV, SCENE III.
	[Still on Stage: Diccon,
	who is heading over to Chat's tavern.]
	Enter Chat from her tavern.	Scene iii: in the original 1575 edition of the play, Scene ii runs straight through to the end of Act IV; I follow Farmer's lead in breaking the scene up.
1	Dic. God deven, dame Chat, in faith, and well-met in this place.	= good even, ie. good evening, but used to mean "good afternoon"; good even appeared first in English writing in 1481, but good evening did not show up until 1593.^1
2
	Chat. God deven, my friend Diccon; whither walk ye this pace?	= "to where are you walking so quickly?" This line
4		suggests Chat speaks to Diccon before he has turned into Chat's yard.
	Dic. By my truth, even to you, to learn how the world goeth.
6	Hard ye no more of the other matter? say me now, by your troth.	6: Hard = heard. the other matter = ie. Gammer's stolen cock.
		say me…troth = "tell me the truth."
8	Chat. O yes, Diccon: here the old whore and Hodge, that great knave −
	But, in faith, I would thou hadst seen − O Lord, I dressed them brave!	9: "but, truly, I wish you had seen it - oh Lord, I treated (dressed) them most excellently (brave, ie. bravely)."
10	She bare me two or three souses behind in the nape of the neck,	10: "she struck me two or three times on the back (nape) of my neck". bare = alternate spelling for bore. souses = blows.
	Till I made her old weasand to answer again, "keck!"	11: weasand = throat or windpipe. keck = make a retching sound.^1
12	And Hodge, that dirty dastard, that at her elbow stands −	= coward.
	If one pair of legs had not been worth two pair of hands,	13: ie. if Hodge had not run away (Whitworth, p. 57).
14	He had had his beard shaven, if my nails would have served,	14: humorous: Chat would have so effectively clawed
	And not without a cause, for the knave it well deserved.	at Hodge's face that she would have likely stripped him of his beard.
16
	Dic. By the mass, I can thee thank, wench, thou didst so well acquit thee.	17: thee = "yourself" (in the fight).
18
	Chat. And th' adst seen him, Diccon, it would have made thee beshit thee	19: And th' adst = "if thou hadst", ie. "had you". thee = thyself.
20	For laughter: the whoreson dolt at last caught up a club,	= ie. Hodge. = picked.
	As though he would have slain the master-devil, Belsabub;	= ie. Beelzebub, who is identified as "the prince of the devils" in old Bibles such as the Geneva and King James.
22	But I set him soon inward.	22: "but I quickly drove him inside" (Gassner, p. 383).
24	Dic. O Lord! there is the thing,	24-25: Diccon reacts as if Chat's revelation now
	That Hodge is so offended, that makes him start and fling!	suddenly explains to him why he has seen Hodge so distraught. fling = burst out in complaint.^1
26
	Chat. Why? makes the knave any moiling, as ye have seen or hard?	27: moiling = ado or to-do.^3 hard = heard.
28
	Dic. Even now I saw him last, like a mad man he farde,	= fared, an archaic spelling.
30	And sware by heaven and hell he would a-wreak his sorrow,	= swore. = avenge.
	And leave you never a hen alive by eight of the clock to- morrow;
32	Therefore mark what I say, and my words see that ye trust:	= "listen closely to". = ie. "you must believe".
	Your hens be as good as dead, if ye leave them on the rust.	= roost.
34
	Chat. The knave dare as well go hang himself, as go upon my ground.	35: go upon my ground = ie. "enter my property."
36
	Dic. Well, yet take heed, I say, I must tell you my tale round:	= bluntly, plainly.^2
38	Have you not about your house, behind your furnace or lead,	38: furnace = oven or fireplace.^1,8,22 lead = large open pot for brewing; we remember that Chat keeps a tavern.^1,3,4
	A hole where a crafty knave may creep in for need?	39: Whitworth considers the argument that there is actually a smoke-conduit, or a vent of sorts, leading outside the house, through which, as Diccon warns Chat, an intruder might crawl; but see Chat's next line below, which would argue against this interpretation.
40
	Chat. Yes, by the mass, a hole broke down even within these two days.	41: Chat seems to describe a partial collapse of one of her walls within the past two days.
42
	Dic. Hodge, he intends this same night to slip in thereaways.	43: the conversation suggests Chat keeps her hen- roost inside her house.
44
	Chat. O Christ, that I were sure of it! in faith, he should have his meed!	45: he should…meed = "he will get his due reward!"
46
	Dic. Watch well, for the knave will be there as sure as is your creed;	47: creed = religious faith or belief.^1
48	I would spend myself a shilling to have him swinged well.	= ie. pay. = beaten.
50	Chat. I am as glad as a woman can be of this thing to hear tell;
	By Gog's bones, when he cometh, now that I know the matter,
52	He shall sure at the first skip to leap in scalding water,	52: metaphorically, "Hodge will with his first step find himself in deep trouble." But as Whitworth notes, if there is a cauldron of boiling water at the end of the vent through which Hodge could crawl, Chat's assertion might be intended to be literal. in scalding water = variation on the still-current use of the phrase in hot water to describe being in trouble.
	With a worse turn besides; when he will, let him come.	= ie. "and he will then receive something even worse besides", ie. a sound beating. worse turn = a change in circumstances for the worse.
54
	Dic. I tell you as my sister; you know what meaneth "mum"!	55: Diccon warns Chat yet again not to let anyone
56		know that he is the source of this information.
	[Exit Chat into her tavern.]
	ACT IV, SCENE IV.
	[Still on Stage: Diccon.]	Scene iv: once again, I follow Farmer in beginning a
		new scene here.
1	Dic. Now lack I but my doctor to play his part again.
2
	Enter Doctor Rat from Gammer's house.
4
	And lo, where he cometh towards, peradventure to his pain!	5: "and look, here he comes, and likely to his own
6		grief!"
	Dr. Rat. What good news, Diccon? fellow, is mother Chat at home?
8
	Dic. She is, sir, and she is not, but it please her to whom:	9: the sense is, "she is home for those she wants to see."
10	Yet did I take her tardy, as subtle as she was.	= "I did catch her unexpectedly or by surprise".
12	Dr. Rat. The thing that thou went'st for, hast thou brought it to pass?	12: did Diccon find the evidence of Chat's alleged crime, as he said he would do?
14	Dic. I have done that I have done, be it worse, be it better;	= that which.
	And dame Chat at her wits-end I have almost set her.	15: Diccon suggests that he has in some way almost upset Chat. at her wits-end = the still-current phrase to be at one's wit's ends first appeared in the 14th century.^1
16
	Dr. Rat. Why, hast thou spied the nee'le? quickly, I pray thee, tell!	= seen. = please.
18
	Dic. I have spied it, in faith, sir, I handled myself so well;
20	And yet the crafty quean had almost take my trump;	= whore. = a card-game metaphor for having almost foiled Diccon's plan.
	But, or all came to an end, I set her in a dump.	= ere, ie. before. = vexed her or put her in a dark
22		mood.^1
	Dr. Rat. How so, I pray thee, Diccon?
24
	Dic. Marry, sir, will ye hear?
26	She was clapped down on the backside, by Cock's mother dear,	26: Diccon means that Chat was sitting in the rear part of her house (backside).^1,5 By Cock's mother dear = an oath; Cock is a common euphemism for God, and does not refer to Gammer's servant-boy.
	And there she sat sewing a halter or a band,	= noose (humorous).^1 = collar.^1
28	With no other thing save gammer's needle in her hand;	= except for.
	As soon as any knock, if the filth be in doubt,	29-30: ie. "if someone were to knock on Chat's door,
30	She needs but once puff, and her candle is out:	and she (the filth) did not want whoever it was to see her with the needle, she could simply blow out the candle.
	Now I, sir, knowing of every door the pin,	31-33: because Diccon is so familiar with Chat's house,
32	Came nicely, and said no word, till time I was within;	he was able to sneak in unnoticed and see Chat
	And there I saw the nee'le, even with these two eyes;	working with the needle. What likely happened is that
34	Whoever say the contrary, I will swear he lies.	that once he confirmed Chat had the needle, Diccon began speaking to her, at which point she presumably quickly hid the needle, but was understandably concerned that Diccon might have found her out. pin = latch or bolt.^3 Came nicely = entered carefully, cautiously.^1
36	Dr. Rat. O Diccon, that I was not there then in thy stead!	= ie. "how unfortunate it was that".
38	Dic. Well, if ye will be ordered, and do by my reed,	= "allow yourself to be instructed. = advice.
	I will bring you to a place, as the house stands,
40	Where ye shall take the drab with the nee'le in her hands.	= catch. = hussy.
42	Dr. Rat. For God's sake do so, Diccon, and I will gage my gown	= forfeit or pledge.^1 = ie. his cleric's robe or loose outer garment.
	To give thee a full pot of the best ale in the town.	43: ie. as a reward for his service to Rat.
44
	Dic. Follow me but a little, and mark what I will say;	45: Diccon will lead Rat to the hole in Chat's house. mark = listen closely.
46	Lay down your gown beside you, go to, come on your way!	46: Rat should remove his gown in order to more easily
	See ye not what is here? a hole wherein ye may creep	crawl into Chat's house.
48	Into the house, and suddenly unawares among them leap;
	There shall ye find the bitch-fox and the nee'le together.
50	Do as I bid you, man, come on your ways hether!
52	Dr. Rat. Art thou sure, Diccon, the swill-tub stands not hereabout?	52: a tub for the leftovers which are fed to the pigs; Rat doesn't want to pop out of the hole and into the swill-tub.
54	Dic. I was within myself, man, even now, there is no doubt.	54: ie. "I was just inside there myself, and most assuredly, the swill-tub is not near the hole's entrance."
	Go softly, make no noise; give me your foot, Sir John,	55: Diccon helps Rat to climb into the hole. Sir John = familiar (and sometimes contemp- tuous) name for a priest, a term dating back to Chaucer.^1
56	Here will I wait upon you, till you come out anon.	= shortly.
58	[Doctor Rat creeps in.]	58: at this point, there would be a pause in the action,
		as Diccon listens expectantly to the outcome of Rat's expedition into the tunnel; we hear Chat react furiously as we imagine Rat's head suddenly protruding from the inner-end of the hole, to be followed by the ladies inside mercilessly pummeling Rat!
60	Dr. Rat [calling from within].
	Help, Diccon! out alas! I shall be slain among them!
62
	Dic. If they give you not the needle, tell them that ye will hang them. −
64	Ware that! How, my wenches, have ye caught the fox,	= "watch out!"
	That used to make revel among your hens and cocks?	= carouse, party.
66	Save his life yet for his order, though he sustain some pain. −	= "out of respect for his position as a priest, do not
	Gog's bread, I am afraid they will beat out his brain.	kill him."
68
	[Exit Diccon off-stage.]	69: Diccon, obviously not wishing to be present when
70		Rat reappears, leaves the stage.
	[Rat re-enters the stage, crawling back out of the hole.]
72
	Dr. Rat. Woe worth the hour that I came here!	= "curse", ie. damn.^1
74	And woe worth him that wrought this gear!	74: "and misfortune fall on him that contrived this business!" Rat does not suspect that it was Diccon who set him up.
	A sort of drabs and queans have me blessed −	75: "a company (sort) of harlots and whores have hurt (blessed) me."
76	Was ever creature half so evil dressed?	= ie. "wickedly beaten (as I have been)?" dressed = meaning "treated" generally and "beaten" specifically and ironically.^1
	Whoever it wrought, and first did invent it,	= ie. "devised this prank".
78	He shall, I warrant him, ere long repent it!	= promise. = before.
	I will spend all I have without my skin,	79-80: the sense is, "if I have to, I will sell everything I
80	But he shall be brought to the plight I am in!	own to ensure that the contriver of this scheme will suffer as I have suffered!" without = outside of. plight = (bad or unfortunate) condition.^1
	Master Baily, I trow, and he be worth his ears,	81: Master Baily = the local magistrate. I trow = "I am sure". and he be worth his ears = old expression for "if he is of any value".
82	Will snaffle these murderers, and all that them bears:	= seize or arrest.^1 = "who support him" or "who are his confederates in this plot."
	I will surely neither bite nor sup,	= "eat nor drink".^1
84	Till I fetch him hether, this matter to take up.	= ie. Baily.
86	[Exit Doctor Rat off-stage.]
	END OF ACT IV.
	ACT V.
	SCENE I.
	[Enter Doctor Rat, Master Baily, and Scapethrift	Entering Characters: Doctor Rat has returned with
	from off-stage.]	the sheriff's deputy, or bailiff, Baily, who is accompanied by his servant Scapethrift. Scapethrift is never named in the play, nor does he speak any lines. Baily = the word baily is synonymous with bailiff; the bailiff has authority to execute writs, make arrests, etc. We may note that London's Central Criminal Court, the Old Bailey, appears to have received its name sometime in the mid-16th century.^1 Scapethrift = the word scapethrift means "spendthrift", or one who spends money foolishly.
1	Baily. I can perceive none other, I speak it from my heart,	= "see no other way to view the matter".
2	But either ye are in all the fault, or else in the greatest part.	1-2: Baily recognizes that Rat himself is primarily responsible for his misadventure in Chat's home.
4	Dr. Rat. If it be counted his fault, besides all his grieves,	4-6: Rat is sarcastic: "if a man is judged to be at fault
	When a poor man is spoiled, and beaten among thieves,	when, on top of his other hardships (grieves), he is
6	Then I confess my fault herein, at this season;	the one who has been robbed (spoiled)^1 and then beaten up by thieves, then I confess I am guilty." grieves = alternate spelling for griefs. at this season = at this time.
	But I hope you will not judge so much against reason.	= ie. logic suggests Baily should see the situation in an opposite light.
8
	Baily. And methinks by your own tale, of all that ye name,	9-10: Baily is having none of Rat's backtalk: as Rat
10	If any played the thief, you were the very same.	was the one sneaking into Chat's house, then if anybody must be deemed a thief, it must be him.
	The women they did nothing, as your words made probation,	= ie. "as your own testimony proves".
12	But stoutly withstood your forcible invasion.	= courageously.
	If that a thief at your window to enter should begin,
14	Would you hold forth your hand and help to pull him in?
	Or you would keep him out? I pray you answer me.	= please; astonishingly, it is illegal today to defend
16		yourself against home invaders in England with a "self-defense product".^25 Richard the Lionheart might weep in his grave if he knew this.
	Dr. Rat. Marry, keep him out; and a good cause why.
18	But I am no thief, sir, but an honest learned clerk.	= educated cleric or priest.
20	Baily. Yea, but who knoweth that, when he meets you in the dark?
	I am sure your learning shines not out at your nose!	21: because it was dark, Rat should not be surprised at the reception he got, since the fact of his education and profession was not visible in the dark to those inside Chat's house.
22	Was it any marvel, though the poor woman arose
	And start up, being afraid of that was in her purse?	= "for what was".
24	Me-think you may be glad that you[r] luck was no worse.
26	Dr. Rat. [Showing his broken head]	26: stage direction in the original.
	Is not this evil enough, I pray you, as you think?
28
	Baily. Yea, but a man in the dark, of chances do wink,	= the sense is, "closing his eyes to the possibility of misfortune"; Gassner suggests "if luck is blind", and Whitworth, "if he is unlucky"; finally, Hazlitt replaces of with oft - "oft chances do wink", ie. fortune is often blind", which might be the best idea of all.
30	As soon he smites his father as any other man,	30-31: because one cannot see whom one is striking
	Because for lack of light, discern him he ne can.	in the dark, the probability that a swinging man might hit his own father is as great as that of his striking any other person in the room. discern nim he ne can = "he cannot see him."
32	Might it not have been your luck with a spit to have been slain?	32: Baily reminds Rat that he might have been unlucky enough to have been killed.
34	Dr. Rat. I think I am little better, my scalp is cloven to the brain:	= ie. little better off. = split.
	If there be all the remedy, I know who bears the knocks.	35: "if this is the redress I can expect, then I know who will end up with the short end of the stick" - ie. he will!
36
	Baily. By my troth, and well worthy besides to kiss the stocks!	37: Baily reminds the priest that he technically deserves punishment for breaking and entering.
38	To come in on the back side, when ye might go about,	38-39: "I don't know anyone who would want to sneak
	I know none such, unless they long to have their brains knocked out.	into another's home through the back way, when they can go in the front door, unless they want to
40		have their heads bashed."
	Dr. Rat. Well, will you be so good, sir, as talk with dame Chat,
42	And know what she intended? I ask no more but that.
44	Baily. [to Scapethrift]
	Let her be called, fellow, because of Master Doctor,	= common and courteous form of address used to a
46		servant.^4
	[Scapethrift walks to Chat's house to retrieve Chat.]
48
	I warrant in this case, she will be her own proctor;	= "am certain". = attorney, ie. Baily expects Chat will be able to speak for herself.
50	She will tell her own tale, in metre or in prose,	= ie. in verse or not.
	And bid you seek your remedy, and so go wipe your nose.	= "you can ask her for your own remedy"; remedy is a legal term for redress.
	ACT V, SCENE II.
	[Still on Stage: Baily and Doctor Rat.]	Scene ii: the following scene, the climax of Gammer
		Gurton's Needle, contains what is likely to have been
		the first appearance in English arts of what was to become a standard feature of "who-done-it" type crime stories, in which the detective gathers into a single room all of the suspects, and through intense multidirectional questioning figures out who the perpetrator was - excepting only the fact that in the present scenario, we know who did it!
	Chat enters from her tavern
	and returns with Scapethrift to Baily.
1	Baily. Dame Chat, Master Doctor upon you here complained	1-7: in this speech, Baily employs a rhyme scheme known as rhyme royal, or rhythm royal: ababbcc. Rhyme royal was first used in English poetry in the 14th century by Geoffrey Chaucer, who may have borrowed it from Guillaume de Machaut, the famous 14th century French composer and poet.^27
2	That you and your maids should him much misorder,	= ie. have. = treated badly,^1 perhaps a euphemism.
	And taketh many an oath, that no word be feigned,	3: ie. "and he has sworn that he is not lying".
4	Laying to your charge, how you thought him to murder:	= ie. "accusing you".
	And on his part again, that same man saith furder,	5: alternate spelling for further.^1
6	He never offended you in word nor intent;
	To hear you answer hereto, we have now for you sent.
8
	Chat. That I would have murdered him? fie on him, wretch!	= shame.
10	And evil mought he thee for it, our Lord I beseech.	= ie. "may he suffer illy for accusing me so".
	I will swear on all the books that opens and shuts,	= Bibles; note the lack of subject-verb agreement in this
12	He feigneth this tale out of his own guts;	line.
	For this seven weeks with me, I am sure, he sat not down; −
14	[To Doctor Rat]
	Nay, ye have other minions in the other end of the town,	= a loaded word: minions could mean "favourites" or
16	Where ye were liker to catch such a blow	"darlings", but could also refer to "male lovers" or
	Than anywhere else, as far as I know!	"underlings".^1
18
	Baily. Belike then, Master Doctor, yon stripe there ye got not!	19: "it is probable then, Doctor Rat, that you did not in fact receive your beating in Chat's house." yon = originally printed erroneously as you, though your could have also been intended. stripe = literally referring to the marks made by a whipping, but here referring to the discolouration on Rat's face and head that resulted from his beating.
20
	Dr. Rat. Think you I am so mad, that where I was bet I wot not?	21: bet = beaten. wot = know.
22	Will ye believe this quean, before she hath tried it?	= whore. = proved.
	It is not the first deed she hath done, and afterward denied it.
24
	Chat. What, man, will you say I broke you[r] head?	25-32: the rhyme scheme changes briefly to abab.
26
	Dr. Rat. How canst thou prove the contrary?
28
	Chat. Nay, how provest thou that I did the dead?	= deed, an archaic spelling employed to rhyme with head.^1
30
	Dr. Rat. [Showing his broken head]	31: stage direction in original edition.
32	Too plainly, by St Mary,
	This proof, I trow, may serve, though I no word spoke!	= expect.
34
	Chat. Because thy head is broken, was it I that it broke?
36	I saw thee, Rat, I tell thee, not once within this fortnight.
38	Dr. Rat. No, marry, thou sawest me not, for why thou hadst no light;	38: for why = because. thou hadst no light = Clements suggests that Chat had deliberately blown out her candle to darken her room as she waited for the chicken-thief to appear.
	But I felt thee for all the dark, beshrew thy smooth cheeks!	= ie. "felt your blows". = "curse"; part of a strange oath which also appears in the contemporary comedy, Ralph Roister Doister.
40	[Showing his head]	40: stage direction in original edition.
	And thou groped me, this will declare any day this six weeks.	= grasped or handled.^1 = prove, make clear.^1
42
	Baily. Answer me to this, M[ast] Rat: when caught you this harm of yours?
44
	Dr. Rat. A while ago, sir, God he knoweth; within less than these two hours.
46
	Baily. Dame Chat, was there none with you (confess, i' faith) about that season? −	47: i' faith = in truth, truly. season = time.
48	What, woman? let it be what it will, 'tis neither felony nor treason.	48: there is likely a pause before Baily speaks this line. What, woman? = "well, woman?"
50	Chat. Yes, by my faith, Master Baily, there was a knave not far,	50-51: Chat reluctantly acknowledges that there was indeed someone whom she recently pummeled.
	Who caught one good filip on the brow with a door-bar;	= blow. = a bar used to secure the door.^1
52	And well was he worthy, as it seemed to me:
	But what is that to this man, since this was not he?
54
	Baily. Who was it then? let's hear!
56
	Dr. Rat. Alas, sir, ask you that?
58	Is it not made plain enough by the own mouth of dame Chat?
	The time agreeth, my head is broken, her tongue cannot lie;	59-60: Rat lays out a reasonably convincing argument
60	Only upon a bare nay she saith it was not I.	regarding the circumstantial evidence: Chat admits to administering a beating to someone in the last couple
		of hours, and since his own injuries are so fresh, it stands to reason she was the one who dealt them to him; the only thing missing is Chat's acknowledgement that it was Rat she had pummeled. upon a bare nay = a simple and unsubstantiated denial.^11
62	Chat. No, marry, was it not indeed! ye shall hear by this one thing:
	This afternoon a friend of mine for good-will gave me warning,
64	And bad me well look to my rust, and all my capons' pens;	64-65: Chat refers to Diccon's warning that someone
	For if I took not better heed, a knave would have my hens.	was planning to sneak into her house and steal her chickens. bad = bid, ie. entreated or begged.^1 rust = roost.
66	Then I, to save my goods, took so much pains as him to watch;
	And as good fortune served me, it was my chance him for to catch.	= good luck.
68	What strokes he bare away, or other what was his gains,
	I wot not, but sure I am he had something for his pains!	= know.
70
	Baily. Yet tell'st thou not who it was.
72
	Chat. Who it was? A false thief,	= treacherous.^1
74	That came like a false fox, my pullen to kill and mischief!	= poultry. = harm; an interesting but not uncommon
		use at mischief as a verb.
76	Baily. But knowest thou not his name?
78	Chat. I know it, but what than?	= "so what?" than is an alternate spelling for then.
	It was that crafty cullion Hodge, my Gammer Gurton's man.	= rascal; our author has taken a word which heretofore
80		had been used only to mean "testicle", and turned it into a term of abuse.^1
	Baily. [To Scapethrift]
82	Call me the knave hether, he shall sure kiss the stocks.
	I shall teach him a lesson for filching hens or cocks!	= stealing.
84
	[Scapethrift heads over to Gammer's house
86	to retrieve Hodge.]
88	Dr. Rat. I marvel, Master Baily, so bleared be your eyes!	= bleary, clouded, ie. blind to the obvious.
	An egg is not so full of meat, as she is full of lies:	89: Dr. Rat coins an expression - describing something as full as an egg is full of meat - which became proverbial for describing a large amount of something. Shakespeare employs this phrase in Act III.i of Romeo and Juliet. The egg's meat refers to its yolk or its edible matter.
90	When she hath played this prank, to excuse all this gear,	90: played this prank = this still-common expression dates back to at least 1513.^1 gear = business.
	She layeth the fault in such a one as I know was not there.	= on. = ie. who.
92
	Chat. Was he not there? look on his pate; that shall be his witness!	= ie. Hodge's head.
94
	Dr. Rat. I would my head were half so whole, I would seek no redress!	95: "I wish my own head was half as free from injury (whole)^1 as is Hodge's; in that case I wouldn't
96		bother to seek reparations for my injury!"
	[Scapethrift returns with Gammer Gurton.]
98
	Baily. God bless you, Gammer Gurton!
100
	Gamm. God dild ye, master mine!	= yield, ie. reward; Hazlitt considers this a misprint,
102		though later authors of the era copied this usage.
	Baily. Thou hast a knave within thy house − Hodge, a servant of thine;
104	They tell me that busy knave is such a filching one,	= robbing.
	That hen, pig, goose or capon, thy neighbour can have none.	= ie. "cannot safely keep."
106
	Gamm. By God, cham much a-meved to hear any such report!	= "I am much distressed". a-meved = a-moved, ie. moved.
108	Hodge was not wont, ich trow, to bave him in that sort.	108: "Hodge is not in the habit, I believe, of behaving in that manner (that sort)^1." bave = Gammer abbreviates behave.^11
110	Chat. A thievisher knave is not on-live, more filching, nor more false;	110: thievisher = the original edition seems to print the non-word theenisher here, but all the editors amend it to thievisher, a word which does not appear in the OED, but whose meaning, "more thievish", is obvious. on-live = alive; on-life and on-live were ancient phrases dating back to Old English, and precursors to alive.^1 false = treacherous.
	Many a truer man than he has hanged up by the halse;	= more honest. = neck.^1 Note the alliteration in this line.
112	And thou, his dame − of all his theft thou art the sole receiver;	112: dame = mistress. receiver = recipient: receiver was already a legal term for one who deals in stolen goods; Bradley suggests replacing receiver with resetter - which also means "one who receives stolen goods" - for the sake of the rhyme.
	For Hodge to catch, and thou to keep, I never knew none better!	113: Chat sees a conspiracy at work: Hodge commits the robberies, and Gammer receives and holds the stolen goods.
114
	Gamm. Sir reverence of your masterdom, and you were out a-door,	115-6: to Baily: "begging your pardon, sir, if you were not present, I would be so bold, for all her haughtiness
116	Chould be so bold, for all her brags, to call her arrant whore; −	(brags), to call her a downright whore." Sir reverence = abbreviated form of saving your reverence,^4 a common formula used to apologize ahead of time for something offensive one is about to say to or in the presence of one's superior. out a-door = outside.^1
	And ich knew Hodge as bad as t'ou, ich wish me endless sorrow,	117-8: Gammer addresses Chat: "if I had reason to
118	And chould not take the pains to hang him up before to-morrow!	believe Hodge was as evil as you actually are, then I would wish to suffer endless sorrow if I did not make the effort to have him hanged before the morning." t'ou = thou.
120	Chat. What have I stolen from thee or thine, thou ill-favored old trot?	120: thine = ie. "your dependents", or "those who live with you". ill-favoured = ugly. trot =hag.
122	Gamm. A great deal more, by God's blest, than chever by thee got!	122: blest = bliss.^5 than chever by thee got = "than I ever got or
	That thou knowest well, I need not say it.	took from you!"
124
	Baily. Stop there, I say,
126	And tell me here, I pray you, this matter by the way:
	How chance Hodge is not here? him would I fain have had.	127: "how does it happen that Hodge is not present? I would like to have him here."
128
	Gamm. Alas, sir, he'll be here anon; ha' be handled too bad.	129: anon = shortly. ha' be handled too bad = the sense is, "he has had a difficult time", but Gammer's choice of words suggests to the others that Hodge has indeed been roughed up.
130
	Chat. [Thinking that Hodge his head was broke,	131-2: stage commentary in the original edition.
132	and that Gammer would not let him come before them]
	Master Baily, sir, ye be not such a fool, well I know,
134	But ye perceive by this lingering there is a pad in the straw.	134: ye perceive by this lingering = "as you can see by this delay". there is a pad in the straw = common expression for "there is something wrong", or "there lurks a hidden danger"; the original meaning of pad, a word first introduced at least as far back as the 12th century, was "toad".^1
136	Gamm. Chill shew you his face, ich warrant thee − lo, now where he is!	= "I will show". = "I assure you".
138	Enter Hodge from Gammer's house.
140	Baily. Come on, fellow, it is told me thou art a shrew, i-wis;	140: shrew = troublesome person.^2 In earlier days
	Thy neighbour's hens thou takest, and plays the two-legged fox;	shrew could be used to describe a member of
142	Their chickens and their capons too, and now and then their cocks.	either sex.^6 i-wis (line 140)= assuredly.^2
144	Hodge. Ich defy them all that dare it say; cham as true as the best!	= "I am as honest".
146	Baily. Wart not thou take within this hour in dame Chat's hens'-nest?	= "were you not taken", ie. caught.
148	Hodge. Take there? no, master, chould not do't for a house full of gold!	= "I would".
150	Chat. Thou, or the devil in thy coat − swear this I dare be bold.	150: ie. "it was either you or the devil in your coat - this much I can with confidence swear to." bold = confident, sure.
152	Dr. Rat. Swear me no swearing, quean, the devil he give thee sorrow!	152: Rat responds to Chat's invocation of the devil with his own curse. the devil he = ie. "may the devil".
	All is not worth a gnat, thou canst swear till to-morrow!	= ie. "your oaths are of no value".
154	Where is the harm he hath? shew it, by God's bread!	154: Rat naturally points out that Hodge's head bears no evidence of having been beaten. shew = show.
	Ye beat him with a witness, but the stripes light on my head!	= "you claim it was Hodge that you beat, without any doubt (with a witness),^1 but the blows landed on my head!"
156
	Hodge. Bet me! Gog's blessed body, chould first, ich trow, have burst thee!	= "beat (Bet) me? by God, I would first, I am confident, have broken you!"
158	Ich think, and chad my hands loose, callet, chould have crust thee!	158: "I think, if I had my hands loose, hussy, I would have crushed (crust) thee!"
160	Chat. Thou shitten knave, I trow thou knowest the full weight of my fist;	= believe.
	I am foully deceived unless thy head and my door-bar kissed.
162
	Hodge. Hold thy chat, whore; thou criest so loud, can no man else be hard?	163: hard = heard.
164
	Chat. Well, knave, and I had thee alone, I would surely rap thy costard!	165: and = if. costard = properly a type of apple, but used frequently to refer to one's head.
166
	Baily. Sir, answer me to this: is thy head whole or broken?	= spoken to Hodge: "not injured or injured?"
168
	Chat. Yea, Master Baily, blessed be every good token,	= bit of evidence, ie. the expected marks on Hodge's head.^2 Some editors assign this line to Hodge.
170
	Hodge. Is my head whole! Ich warrant you, 'tis neither scurvy nor scald: −	171: scurvy nor scald = synonyms meaning "covered with scabs".^1
172	What, you foul beast, does think 'tis either pilled or bald?	= ie. with all the hair removed, either from disease or by shaving.^1,3
	Nay, ich thank God, chill not for all that thou may'st spend,	173-4: "no, I thank God, not even for all the money
174	That chad one scab on my narse as broad as thy finger's end.	you would give me, that I have not one scab on my
		buttocks even as small as the width of the end of your finger." my narse = "my arse", a transformation of mine arse.
176	Baily. Come nearer here!
178	Hodge. Yes, that ich dare.	= "I dare do".
180	[Baily inspects Hodge's head.]
182	Baily. By our Lady, here is no harm:
	Hodge's head is whole enough, for all dame Chat's charm.	= uninjured. = singing, ie. chatter.^1
184
	Chat. By Gog's blest, however the thing he cloaks or smoulders,	185: blest = bliss.^5 cloaks = conceals. smoulders = smothers.^1,4
186	I know the blows he bare away, either with head or shoulders. −	= bore.
	Camest thou not, knave, within this hour, creeping into my pens,
188	And there was caught within my house, groping among my hens?
190	Hodge. A plague both on the hens and thee! a cart, whore, a cart!	= as Gammer did earlier in the play, Hodge calls for a cart for Chat, which would have been used to parade known prostitutes on the streets to the jeers of a curious public.
	Chould I were hanged as high as a tree, and chwere as false as thou art!	= "I would wish to be". = "if I were as dishonest".
192	Give my gammer again her washical thou stole away in thy lap!	= the OED suggests this is simply a corruption of "what-shall-I-call it", similar to the modern notion of saying "what-do-you-call-it" as a substitute for a word referring to a thing whose name one cannot recall.
194	Gamm. Yea, Master Baily, there is a thing you know not on, mayhap:	194: on = about. mayhap = perhaps.
	This drab she keeps away my good, the devil he might her snare:	= possession.
196	Ich pray you that ich might have a right action on her.	= ie. a right of action, a legal term for a cause of action, or the right to bring legal proceedings, but as Whitworth notes, probably simply meaning "due process" here.
198	Chat. Have I thy good, old filth, or any such old sow's?
	I am as true, I would thou knew, as [the] skin between thy brows.	= honest. = phrase invented by the author, which became proverbial, as a simple intensifier;^1 this expression was used by Shakespeare in Much Ado About Nothing.
200
	Gamm. Many a truer hath been hanged, though you escape the daunger!	201: danger; our author uses an archaic spelling to reasonably rhyme with slaunder.
202
	Chat. Thou shalt answer, by God's pity, for this thy foul slaunder!	202: slaunder = slander.
204
	Baily. Why, what can you charge her withal? to say so ye do not well.	= with.
206
	Gamm. Marry, a vengeance to her heart! that whore hase stol'n my nee'le!
208
	Chat. Thy needle, old witch! how so? it were alms thy skull to knock!	209: this is the first time in the play that Chat has heard anything about Gammer's missing needle. were alms = "would be an act of charity". skull = the original edition has a very fuzzy scul appearing here, which some editors take to be "soul". knock = strike, hit.
210	So didst thou say the other day, that I had stol'n thy cock.
	And roasted him to my breakfast, which shall not be forgotten:
212	The devil pull out thy lying tongue, and teeth that be so rotten!
214	Gamm. Give me my nee'le! as for my cock, chould be very loth	214-5: chould…troth = "I would be reluctant to hear
	That chould hear tell he should hang on thy false faith and troth.	that Hodge's fate depends on your false testimony;"
216		hang humorously could mean both "depend on" and "hang from the gallows". faith and troth = common formula for honesty or a pledge of faith.
	Baily. Your talk is such, I can scarce learn who should be most in fault.
218
	Gamm. Yet shall ye find no other wight, save she, by bread and salt.	= person. = except for.
220
	Baily. Keep ye content a while, see that your tongues ye hold.	= ie. "keep quiet".
222	Methinks you should remember, this is no place to scold.
	How knowest thou, Gammer Gurton, dame Chat thy needle had?
224
	Gamm. To name you, sir, the party, chould not be very glad.	225: ie. "I would prefer not to mention the name of the
226		person who told that to me".
	Baily. Yea, but we must needs hear it, and therefore say it boldly.
228
	Gamm. Such one as told the tale full soberly and coldly,
230	Even he that looked on − will swear on a book −	230: "he that saw it - he will swear to it on a Bible".
	What time this drunken gossip my fair long nee'le up took:	= the sense is "neighbour".
232	Diccon, Master, the bedlam, cham very sure ye know him.	= lunatic.
234	Baily. A false knave, by God's pity! ye were but a fool to trow him.	234-7: Baily reproaches Gammer for listening to any- thing Diccon might say. trow = believe.
	I durst aventure well the price of my best cap,	235-6: "I would wager (aventure, ie. adventure)^1 an
236	That when the end is known, all will turn to a jape.	amount of money equal to the value of my best hat that this entire episode will turn out to have been a practical joke."
	Told he not you that besides she stole your cock that tide?	= time.
238
	Gamm. No, master, no indeed; for then he should have lied;
240	My cock is, I thank Christ, safe and well afine.	= well indeed.^1
242	Chat. Yea, but that ragged colt, that whore, that Tib of thine,	242: unkempt, or dressed in rags.^1 = wanton person.^1
	Said plainly thy cock was stol'n, and in my house was eaten;
244	That lying cut is lost, that she is not swinged and beaten,	244: cut = term of abuse for a woman. lost = ie. damned.^8 that = if.^8 swinged = synonym for "beaten".
	And yet for all my good name it were a small amends!	245: "yet doing so would do little to make up for the loss of my good name."
246	I pick not this gear, hear'st thou, out of my fingers' ends;	246: ie. "I did not invent this idea out of thin air."
	But he that hard it told me, who thou of late didst name,	= heard.
248	Diccon, whom all men knows, it was the very same.
250	Baily. This is the case: you lost your nee'le about the doors;
	And she answers again, she hase no cock of yours;	= has.
252	Thus in you[r] talk and action, from that you do intend,	252: "what you are talking about".
	She is whole five mile wide from that she doth defend.	253: Chat is completely wide of the mark in thinking
254	Will you say she hath your cock?	that the cock is the issue.
256	Gamm. No, merry, sir, that chill not.	= marry, a common oath.
258	Baily. Will you confess her nee'le?
260	Chat. Will I? no, sir, will I not.
262	Baily. Then there lieth all the matter.
264	Gamm. Soft, master, by the way,	= "but wait".
	Ye know she could do little, and she could not say nay.	265: a tricky line: perhaps, "you know she would do the least amount possible, if she were not able to refuse to do so."
266
	Baily. Yea, but he that made one lie about your cock-stealing,	= told.
268	Will not stick to make another, what time lies be in dealing.	268: stick = hesitate. what time…dealing = perhaps, "when the telling of lies is common."
	I ween the end will prove this brawl did first arise	= expect. = quarrel.
270	Upon no other ground but only Diccon's lies.
272	Chat. Though some be lies, as you belike have espied them,	= likely. = discovered, recognized.
	Yet other some be true, by proof I have well tried them.	= ie. "as I have proved."
274
	Baily. What other thing beside this, dame Chat?
276
	Chat. Marry, sir, even this:
278	The tale I told before, the self-same tale it was his;
	He gave me, like a friend, warning against my loss,
280	Else had my hens be stol'n each one, by God's cross!
	He told me Hodge would come, and in he came indeed;
282	But as the matter chaunced, with greater haste than speed.	282: chaunced = chanced, ie. happened. with greater haste than speed = "with greater speed than success"; this proverbial-sounding expression plays on the double-meaning of speed, which can be used to mean both "quickness" and "success".
	This truth was said, and true was found, as truly I report.	283: "at least in this case, what Diccon said would
284		happen did in fact happen, just as I am reporting it."
	Baily. If Doctor Rat be not deceived, it was of another sort.
286
	Dr. Rat. By God's mother, thou and he be a couple of subtle foxes!	287-9: Rat addresses Chat.
288	Between you and Hodge I bear away the boxes.	= "I am the one who carried away the blows."
	Did not Diccon appoint the place, where thou should'st stand to meet him?	289: him = Hodge, whom Chat was told would sneak into her house to steal her chickens.
290
	Chat. Yes, by the mass, and if he came, bad me not stick to speet him.	291: "indeed, by God, and if he were to enter my house, Diccon asked me not to hesitate to drive a spit through him!" speet = common alternate spelling for spit.
292
	Dr. Rat. God's sacrament! the villain knave hath dressed us round about!	293: dressed us round about = "manipulated both of us in every direction," ie. "tricked both of us!"
294	He is the cause of all this brawl, that dirty shitten lout!
	When Gammer Gurton here complained, and made a rueful moan,
296	I heard him swear that you had gotten her needle that was gone;
	And this to try, he furder said, he was full loth: howbeit	297-8: "and to prove (try) this, he further said, he was
298	He was content with small ado to bring me where to see it.	unwilling (loth) to do; however, he was willing to take the trouble to bring me over to Chat's house so I could see the needle for myself."
	And where ye sat, he said full certain, if I would follow his reed,	299: reed = advice.
300	Into your house a privy way he would me guide and lead,	= secret.
	And where ye had it in your hands, sewing about a clout,	= ie. the needle. = piece of clothing.
302	And set me in the back-hole, thereby to find you out:	= hole in the back of the house.
	And whiles I sought a quietness, creeping upon my knees,	= ie. to move quietly.
304	I found the weight of your door-bar for my reward and fees.	304: dryly humorous for getting smashed on the head.
	Such is the luck that some men gets, while they begin to mell,	= ie. get involved, meddle.^1,5
306	In setting at one such as were out, minding to make all well.	306: "in trying to bring together those who have fallen out, intending to make all well."
308	Hodge. Was not well blessed, gammer, to 'scape that scour? And chad been there,	308: "was I not blessed, Gammer, to have escaped that attack (scour)^1? If I had been there, I would have been
	Then chad been dressed, belike, as ill, by the mass, as Gaffer Vicar.	treated or beaten (dressed) as badly, by God, as the vicar had been." Bradley suggests scour should be stour, a much more commonly used word in this context, meaning "fight". Bradley also suggests "done for" for dressed.
310
	Baily. Marry, sir, here is a sport alone; I looked for such an end;	= one-of-a-kind entertainment; Baily begins here to subtly indicate how amusing he finds the whole situation.
312	If Diccon had not played the knave, this had been soon amend.	312: if Diccon had not played the role of a scoundrel, this matter would have been settled much sooner.
	My gammer here he made a fool, and dressed her as she was;	= "treated her accordingly."^1
314	And goodwife Chat he set to scole, till both parts cried, "alas"!	314: set to scole = "instigated (her) to quarrel; scole is dialectical for scold.^1 parts = parties.
	And D[octor] Rat was not behind, whiles Chat his crown did pare:	315: crown = head. pare = trim or prune, like a hair-cut (humorous).^1
316	I would the knave had been stark blind, if Hodge had not his share.	316: having itemized the manner in which Diccon has manipulated Gammer, Chat and Rat, Baily (showing his good humour) expresses a sly expectation that Hodge has also received a share of Diccon's treatment, further wishing the vagrant blindness if he has failed to involve Hodge somehow in his schemes. We may note that the one episode that never comes to light is the shameful way Hodge reacted to Diccon's summoning of a spirit.
318	Hodge. Cham meetly well-sped already amongs, cham dressed like a colt!	318: Hodge sarcastically assures Baily he has received his share of humiliation. Cham...amongs = "I am myself reasonably getting on in the meantime (amongs)".^1 dressed like a colt = "treated like a fool"; colt refers to an inexperienced person, hence a fool.^10
	And chad not had the better wit, chad been made a dolt.	319: "if I had not been as clever as I am, I would have been made a real fool of!"
320
	Baily. Sir knave, make haste Diccon were here; fetch him, wherever he be!	321: Baily, with increasing good humour (e.g. Sir knave) instructs Scapethrift to quickly go find
322		Diccon.
	[Exit Scapethrift off-stage.]
324
	Chat. Fie on the villain, fie, fie! that makes us thus agree!	= shame. = "at least on this we can agree!" Whit-
326		worth, however, suggests agree means disagree, as in "he who brought us into conflict!"
	Gamm. Fie on him, knave, with all my heart! now fie, and fie again!
328
	Dr. Rat. Now "fie on him!" may I best say, whom he hath almost slain.	329: Rat has more reason than anyone else to curse out Diccon. whom = ie. "I whom". slain = ie. caused to be slain.
330
	Baily. Lo, where he cometh at hand, belike he was not fare.	= ie. far.
332
	Enter Scapethrift with Diccon from off-stage.	333: Clements suggests Diccon is a bit inebriated.
334
	Diccon, here be two or three thy company cannot spare.
336
	Dic. God bless you, and you may be blessed, so many all at once!
338
	Chat. Come, knave, it were a good deed to geld thee, by Cock's bones!	= would be. = castrate.
340	Seest not thy handiwork? − Sir Rat, can ye forbear him?	340: Seest not thy handiwork? = Chat points to Rat's injured head. forbear him? = "endure him?" or "keep yourself from killing him?" Whitworth suggests that Rat actually does strike Diccon here; otherwise Diccon's next line makes little sense.
342	Dic. A vengeance on those hands light, for my hands came not near him.	342: "may a pox land on his hands, because my hands never touched him." Diccon pretends to be affronted, reacting as if he is being accused of beating Rat and thus bearing responsibility for his injuries (Whitworth, p. 79).
	The whoreson priest hath lift the pot in some of these alewives' chairs,	343-4: Diccon accuses Rat of extreme drunkenness: to paraphrase slightly, "that SOB cleric has lifted so
344	That his head would not serve him, belike, to come down the stairs.	many tankards of ale while sitting on stools in taverns kept by women, that he probably cracked his head when he fell down a set of stairs." (Gassner, p. 397).
346	Baily. Nay, soft, thou may'st not play the knave, and have this language too!	346: "hold on there, you cannot both behave like a scoundrel and speak in this manner too!"
	If thou thy tongue bridle a while, the better may'st thou do.	347: "it would be better for you to hold your tongue for a while."
348	Confess the truth, as I shall ask, and cease a while to fable,	= lie.
	And for thy fault I promise thee thy handling shall be reasonable.	349: "and I promise your punishment will be reasonable considering the offenses you have committed."
350	Hast thou not made a lie or two, to set these two by the ears?	= to cause Chat and Gammer to come into conflict.
352	Dic. What, if I have? five hundred such have I seen within these seven years:	352: such = it is unclear if Diccon is referring to lies or fights. these seven years = seven was proverbial for an indefinite length of time.
	I am sorry for nothing else but that I see not the sport	= "I did not get to be a witness to the entertainment",
354	Which was between them when they met, as they themselves report.	ie. Rat's beating.
356	Baily. The greatest thing − Master Rat, ye see how he is dressed!	356: though not exactly clear, Baily seems to be asking Diccon to check out Rat's busted head.
358	Dic. What devil need he be groping so deep in goodwife Chat's hens' nest?	358: Diccon brazenly dissimulates: "what the devil was Rat doing in Chat's hen-house anyway?"
360	Baily. Yea, but it was thy drift to bring him into the briars.	360: "your point is valid, but it was your intention (drift) to lead him into that predicament." briars = thorny brush as a metaphor for trouble.
362	Dic. God's bread! hath not such an old fool wit to save his ears?	362: wit = ie. enough intelligence. save his ears = ie. avoid getting beat up.
	He showeth himself herein, ye see, so very a cox,	= fool or simpleton; the OED suggests this is an alternate spelling for cokes, which means "fool";^1 Dodsley wonders if the word is derived from the coxcomb, or fool's cap, worn by jesters.
364	The cat was not so madly allured by the fox	364-6: reference to one of the stories that was part of
	To run into the snares was set for him, doubtless;	an epic series of fables about the trickster character
366	For he leapt in for mice, and this Sir John for madness.	Reynard the Fox and his community of animals, originally written in the 13th century by a Fleming named Willem.^5,20 In the tale in question, Reynard was interested to capture the chickens kept by the Priest, but he knew there was a snare, or slip-knot, waiting for him in the hole through which he would go to get his dinner. One night, Reynard's companion, the cat, was hungry, and Reynard was able to tempt the cat to go into the hole by telling him there were mice down there. The cat entered the hole and was caught round the neck by the snare, allowing the fox to then safely pass to get his chickens. Meanwhile, the Priest and his son had heard the commotion, and had come out to investigate, but in the dark could not tell that the trapped animal was the cat instead of the fox, and beat the cat mercilessly. Diccon unfavourably compares the deceived cat with the equally deceived Rat, who did not even have the excuse of hunger to explain his entering the hole of the house. The parallels between the fable and the present situation are obvious. 366: "for the cat leapt into the hole for the mice, but the priest went in because he was crazy."
368	Dr. Rat. Well, and ye shift no better, ye losel, lither and lazy,	364: and ye shift no better = "if you take no better care". ye losel, lither and lazy = "you villain, (who is) wicked or lazy (lither) and idle".^1,3
	I will go near for this to make ye leap at a daisy. −	369: "be hanged": perhaps newly proverbial. Bradley observes the phrase is derived from the humorous story of a man who, leaping while being hanged, cried out, "have at yon daisy yonder!"
370	In the king's name, Master Baily, I charge you set him fast.	= ie. "do your duty and arrest him."
372	Dic. What! fast at cards or fast on sleep? it is the thing I did last.	372: Diccon puns and dissimulates. What? = "which do you mean? fast at cards = slippery at cards.^1 fast on sleep = less common variation of fast asleep.
374	Dr. Rat. Nay, fast in fetters, false varlet, according to thy deeds.	374: Rat grimly plays along with Diccon's punning game: "no, but rather secure you in chains, lying scoundrel, as befits your actions."
376	Baily. Master Doctor, there is no remedy, I must entreat you needs	376-7: ie. "Master Doctor, hanging is no (appropriate) remedy: I must ask you to suggest some other form
	Some other kind of punishment.	of punishment."
378
	Dr. Rat. Nay, by All-Hallows!	= "by all the saints," an oath; All Hallows, more commonly called All Saints Day, is November 1, hence Hallowe'en (Hallows'-evening) is October 31.
380	His punishment, if I may judge, shall be nought else but the gallows.	= nothing.
382	Baily. That were too sore; a spiritual man to be so extreme!	= severe. = ie. man of the cloth.
384	Dr. Rat. Is he worthy any better, sir? how do you judge and deem?	384: deem = synonym for "judge".
386	Baily. I grant him worthy punishment, but in no wise so great.	= no way.
388	Gamm. It is a shame, ich tell you plain, for such false knaves entreat.
	He has almost undone us all − that is as true as steel −	= ruined. = see Act III.ii.vi.
390	And yet for all this great ado, cham never the near my nee'le!	= "I am". = nearer.
392	Baily. Canst thou not say anything to that, Diccon, with least or most?	392: with least or most? = ie. "at all?"^1
394	Dic. Yea, marry, sir, thus much I can say well, the nee'le is lost.
396	Baily. Nay, canst not thou tell which way that needle may be found?
398	Dic. No, by my fay, sir, though I might have an hundred pound.	398: for once, Diccon is telling the truth. by my fay = by my faith, ie. truly.
400	Hodge. Thou liar lickdish, didst not say the nee'le would be gitten?	400: lickdish = parasite;^1 as an itinerant lunatic, Diccon depends on the generosity of others for his provisions; such individuals were traditionally known as "parasites". gitten = rare alternate spelling for gotten, used obviously to rhyme with line 402.
402	Dic. No, Hodge; by the same token you were that time beshitten	402-3: Diccon reminds Hodge of the unfortunate incident during which he soiled himself.
	For fear of hobgoblin − you wot well what I mean;	403: hobgoblin = humorous allusion to the demon Diccon was supposedly summoning. wot = know.
404	As long as it is sence, I fear me yet ye be scarce clean.	404: "even though that episode took place a while ago, I fear you have not cleaned yourself up since." sence = since.
406	Baily. Well, Master Rat, you must both learn and teach us to forgive.	= ie. learn to forgive.
	Since Diccon hath confession made, and is so clean shreve:	= "thus absolved of all sin".^8
408	If ye to me consent, to amend this heavy chance,	408: "if you will agree ahead of time to go along with whatever I decide regarding how Diccon must make amends for this serious case (heavy chance)". Gassner prefers "bad luck" for heavy chance.
	I will enjoin him here some open kind of penance:	= ie. "impose on".
410	Of this condition − where ye know my fee is twenty pence:	= on. = Whitworth observes that in the interest of peace, Baily will forgo his fee that he would other- wise collect by bringing charges against Rat for breaking and entering.
	For the bloodshed, I am agreed with you here to dispense;	= the sense is, "remit any penalty to which you are subject."
412	Ye shall go quite, so that ye grant the matter now to run,	412-3: Baily alludes to the fact that Rat himself is
	To end with mirth among us all, even as it was begun.	technically liable to be punished for his apparent attempted burglary: "you shall go free (go quite, ie. go quit), if you go along with however the matter proceeds, which I will expect to end in general merriment, just as things used to be."
414
	Chat. Say yea, Master Vicar, and he shall sure confess to be your debtor,	415: "say you agree, parson, and Diccon will surely admit that he is in your debt."
416	And all we that be here present will love you much the better.
418	Dr. Rat. My part is the worst; but since you all hereon agree,	418-9: Rat points out yet again that he was the one who had the worst experience of everyone; but he, no doubt with a sigh, accedes to the wishes of the majority.
	Go even to, Master Baily, let it be so for me.	= "go ahead then".^11
420
	Baily. How say'st thou, Diccon? art content this shall on me depend?	421: Baily wants Diccon also to agree to go along with whatever he, Baily, decides.
422
	Dic. Go to, M[ast] Baily, say on your mind, I know ye are my friend.
424
	Baily. Then mark ye well: to recompense this thy former action,	425f: Baily addresses Diccon; the magistrate's appreciation for Diccon's skill in creating this complex scheme is demonstrated by the absurdly lenient terms he assigns to the vagrant. recompense = atone for.
426	Because thou hast offended all, to make them satisfaction,
	Before their faces here kneel down, and as I shall thee teach,
428	For thou shalt take an oath of Hodge's leather breech:	428: Baily wants Diccon to swear an oath by placing his hand on Hodge's backside.
	First, for Master Doctor, upon pain of his curse,	429-430: Diccon must swear that he will never offer to
430	Where he will pay for all, thou never draw thy purse;	pay for a drink when Rat has himself offered to do so.
	And when ye meet at one pot, he shall have the first pull;	= draught, drink.
432	And thou shalt never offer him the cup, but it be full.	432: Baily reiterates: Diccon should always allow Rat the first drink from any cup of ale they share.
	To goodwife Chat thou shalt be sworn, even on the same wise,	= in the same manner.
434	If she refuse thy money once, never to offer it twice.	434: if Diccon offers to pay for a drink, and Chat refuses his money, he should not insist.
	Thou shalt be bound by the same, here as thou dost take it:	435: "then you shall take another oath with respect to the following."
436	When thou may'st drink of free cost, thou never forsake it.	= refuse.^1
	For Gammer Gurton's sake, again sworn shalt thou be,
438	To help her to her needle again, if it do lie in thee;	= "if it is in your power to do so."
	And likewise be bound, by the virtue of that,	= ie. that same oath.
440	To be of good a-bearing to Gib her great cat.	440: Diccon must also act kindly towards Gammer's cat. good a-bearing = ie. good abearance, a legal term for good behaviour.
	Last of all for Hodge, the oath to scan,	= Whitworth suggests "recite" or "sum up".
442	Thou shalt never take him for fine gentleman.	442: "you shall never mistake him for a fashionable gentleman."^1
444	Hodge. Come on, fellow Diccon, chall be even with thee now.	= "we are all even now."
446	Baily. Thou wilt not stick to do this, Diccon, I trow?	446: stick to do this = hesitate or refuse to take this series of oaths. trow = trust.
448	Dic. No, by my father's skin, my hand down I lay it!	448: Diccon agrees to take the oath.
	Look, as I have promised, I will not denay it. −	449: denay it = "refuse to do so."
450	But, Hodge, take good heed now, thou do not beshit me.	denay = alternate spelling for deny.
452	[And give him a good blow on the buttock.]	452: stage direction in the original edition.
454	Hodge. Gog's heart, thou false villain, dost thou bite me?
456	Baily. What, Hodge, doth he hurt thee, or ever he begin?	= "before (or = ere) he has even begun to take the oath?"
458	Hodge. He thrust me into the buttock with a bodkin or a pin.	= dagger or any sharp instrument.
460	[He discovers the needle.]	460: Hodge reaches back to rub his bum, and finds the
		needle. Stage direction in original edition.
462	I say, gammer! gammer!
464	Gamm. How now, Hodge, how now?
466	Hodge. God's malt, gammer Gurton −
468	Gamm. Thou art mad, ich trow!	= "I believe!"
470	Hodge. Will you see the devil, gammer?
472	Gamm. The devil, son! God bless us!
474	Hodge. Chould ich were hanged, gammer −	474: "I wish I were hanged, Gammer," similar to the modern expression, "well, I'll be hanged!"
476	Gamm. Marry, see, ye might dress us −	476: Gammer does not yet see what Hodge is yelling about.
478	Hodge. Chave it, by the mass, gammer!	= "I have".
480	Gamm. What, not my nee'le, Hodge?
482	Hodge. Your nee'le, gammer, your nee'le!
484	Gamm. No, fie, dost but dodge!	= basically, "you are kidding me!"
486	Hodge. Cha found your nee'le, gammer, here in my hand be it!	= "I have".
488	Gamm. For all the loves on earth, Hodge, let me see it!
490	Hodge. Soft, gammer.	= "wait", ie. "not so fast": Hodge wants to examine the
		needle more closely before he turns it over.
492	Gamm. Good Hodge!
494	Hodge. Soft, ich say; tarry a while.	= wait, delay.
496	Gamm. Nay, sweet Hodge, say truth, and not me beguile!	= deceive.
498	Hodge. Cham sure on it; ich warrant you, it goes no more astray.	= "I am sure of it". = assure.
500	Gamm. Hodge, when I speak so fair, wilt still say me nay?	500: ie. "Hodge, when I am asking so nicely, will you
		still refuse to show it to me?"
502	Hodge. Go near the light, gammer, this − well, in faith, good luck! −
	Chwas almost undone, 'twas so far in my buttock!	= "I was almost ruined".
504
	Gamm. 'Tis mine own dear nee'le, Hodge, sickerly I wot!	= "for sure (sickerly), I know it!"^1
506
	Hodge. Cham I not a good son, gammer, cham I not?	= "am I"; technically redundant, since cham alone means "I am".
508
	Gamm. Christ's blessing light on thee, hast made me for ever!	= "you have assured me of happiness". The phrase to make (someone) was a common one, meaning one is assured of success or some other positive abstract attribute, e.g. "I am made".
510
	Hodge. Ich knew that ich must find it, else chould a' had it never!	511: "I knew it was up to me to find it, otherwise I never would have it again." For the second clause, Gassner suggests "else I wish I never had it."
512
	Chat. By my troth, gossip Gurton, I am even as glad,	= friend.
514	As though I mine own self as good a turn had!	514: "as if something so fortunate had happened to me!"
516	Baily. And I, by my conscience, to see it so come forth,	= ie. turn out (well).
	Rejoice so much at it, as three needles be worth.
518
	Dr. Rat. I am no whit sorry to see you so rejoice.	= not a bit.
520
	Dic. Nor I much the gladder for all this noise;	521: Diccon doesn't seem to share in the otherwise widespread joy.
522	Yet say, "Gramercy, Diccon!" for springing of the game.	522: Yet say, "Garmercy, Diccon! = ie. "yet you
		could thank me". springing of the game = Diccon uses a hunting metaphor for his being responsible for discovering the needle: one might spring a partridge, ie. flush it out from its hiding place, for example, in order to shoot it.
524	Gamm. Gramercy, Diccon, twenty times! O, how glad cham!
	If that chould do so much, your masterdom to come hether,
526	Master Rat, Goodwife Chat, and Diccon together;
	Cha but one halfpenny, as far as ich know it,	= "I have".
528	And chill not rest this night, till ich bestow it.	= "I will".
	If ever ye love me, let us go in and drink.
530
	Baily. I am content, if the rest think as I think.
532	Master Rat, it shall be best for you if we so do,	532-3: Baily recommends Rat join them all for a drink.
	Then shall you warm you and dress yourself too.	= "yourself". = "dress your wounds".
534
	Dic. Soft, sirs, take us with you, the company shall be the more;	535: Diccon asks that he and Hodge be permitted to join the celebration.
536	As proud comes behind, they say, as any goes before. −	536: proverbial: those who come last are as proud as
		those who come first. Whitworth suggests that Diccon is rather bitterly acknowledging the superior social rank of Baily and Rat.
538	[Exit all to Chat's tavern, except Diccon.]
540	But now, my good masters, since we must be gone,	540-3: Diccon addresses the audience, in what would
	And leave you behind us here all alone:	become a traditional appeal for applause.
542	Since at our last ending thus merry we be,
	For Gammer Gurton's needle sake, let us have a plauditè.	= applause; our author imitates the Roman comic
		playwright Plautus, who often ended his plays with the word plaudite.
	FINIS

MR. S.'s INVENTED WORDS

Like all of the writers of the era, our anonymous author may have made up words when he felt like it, usually by adding prefixes and suffixes to known words, combining words, or using a word in a way not yet used before. The following is a list of words from Gammer Gurton's Needle that are indicated by the OED as being either the first or only use of a given word, or, as noted, the first use with a given meaning:

bad luck

bonable

bread and salt (an oath)

cullion (as a term of abuse)

daintrel

dodge (as a noun, meaning the act of eluding)

felonious

fidge

fine gentleman (meaning fashionable gentleman)

gaffer

gammer

gash (referring to a cut in anything other than flesh)

glaye (as faux-dialect for clay)

God dild (for God yield)

keck

kiss the stocks

with least or most

loose-breech

make-a-do

Mas (as a title of respect)

masterdom (as a title of respect)

you wot what I mean (predecessor of "you know what I mean")

the exclamation God's mother (precursor to "mother of God!")

need (in an interrogative clause, e.g. "need I do this?", or "what need you do this?")

nicely (meaning cautiously)

nut-brown (colour used to describe a thing, as opposed to a person)

pess

planch (meaning to attach something)

poop (meaning to deceive)

poss (meaning to splash in mud or water)

prancome

queen (describing the face card)

rakes (as a term of abuse)

rig (meaning a whore or wanton woman)

scald (as a noun and as a term of abuse)

scowling (as a noun)

sidelong (meaning hanging low)

sir-reverence

as the skin between one's brows

slop (as a verb, meaning to lap or gobble up)

soss (meaning to splash in mud or dirt)

steek away

swill-tub

tarleather (as a term of abuse)

teach (used as a threat, e.g. "I'll teach you to insult me!"

thereaways (a later version of thereaway)

tickle (dialectical for tittle)

Tom Tailor

tossing (as an adjective)

tphrowh

troll (meaning to pass around)

vixen (applied to a woman)

washical

way (meaning the best way)

Additional phrases which research suggests
originated in Gammer Gurton's Needle

kiss my behind (also arse, etc., as a rejoinder)

as brag (with variants) as a body-louse

as full as an egg is full of meat

FOOTNOTES

Footnotes in the text correspond as follows:

1. Oxford English Dictionary (OED) online.

2. Crystal, David and Ben. Shakespeare's Words. London; New York: Penguin, 2002.

3. Farmer, John S. Gammer Gurton's Needle. London: Gibbings and Co., 1906.

4. Bradley, Henry, ed. Gammer Gurton's Needle, pp. 195-262. From Representative English Comedies, Charles Mills Gayley, general editor. London: MacMillan & Co., 1916.

5. Hazlitt, W. Carew. A Selected Collection of Old English Plays, Vol. III (originally published by Robert Dodsley). London: Reeves and Turner, 1874.

6. Dodsley, Robert. The Ancient British Drama. Edinburgh: James Ballentyne & Co., 1810.

7. Gassner, John. Medieval and Tudor Drama. New York: Bantam Books Inc., 1968.

8. Whitworth, Charles W. Three Sixteenth Century Comedies. London: Ernest Benn Ltd., 1984.

9. Nares, Robert et al. A Glossary, etc. London: Reeves and Turner, 1888.

10. Skeat, Walter W. A Glossary of Tudor and Stuart Words. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1914.

11. Brett-Smith, H.F.B. Gammer Gvrtons Needle. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1920.

12. Clements, Colin Campbell. Gammer Gurton's Needle, a Modern Adaptation. Samuel French, 1922.

13. The Catholic Encyclopedia Website. St. Zita. Retrieved 8/24/2018: www.catholic.org/encyclopedia /view.php?id=12560.

14. Hunter, Robert et al., eds. The Imperial Encyclopaedic Dictionary. London: Dictionary and Cyclopedia Co., 1901.

15: The Book of Saints, compiled by the Benedictine Monks of St. Augustine's Abbey, Ramsgate. London: A & C Black, Ltd., 1921.

16. Bond, R. Warwick, ed. The Works of Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher, Volume I. London: George Bell & Sons and A. H. Bullen, 1904.

17. Weatherford, Charles L. Poetry Base Website. Sextilla. Retrieved 8/30/2018: http://poetscollective-org/poetryforms/sextilla/.

18: Roman Catholic Saints Website. Our Lady of Bolougne. Retrieved 9/01/2018: www.roman-catholic-saints.com/our-lady-of-bolougne.html.

19. Hayes, Matthew Horace. Veterinary Notes for Horse Owners, pp. 657-662. London: Hurst and Blackett, Ltd., 1903.

20. Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. New York: Harper and Brothers Publishers, undated.

21. Gent, E.B. A New Dictionary of the Terms Ancient and Modern of the Canting Crew. London: Printed for W. Hawes, etc., 1696.

22. The Encyclopedia Britannica. 11th edition. New York: 1911.

23. The Catholic Encyclopedia Website. Sts. Faith, Hope & Charity. Retrieved 9/11/2018: www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=4555.

24. Glossary of Anglican Clergy Titles. Retrieved 9/09/2018: www.tonyhj.ca/Priest/glossary_of_titles.html.

25: Ask the Police website. Q589: Are there any self legal defence products that I can buy? Retrieved 9/13/2018: www.askthe.police.uk/content/Q589.htm.

26. Kermode, Frank. Shakespeare's Language. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2000.

27. Encyclopaedia Britannica Website. rhyme royal. Retrieved 6/12/2018: www.britannica.com/art/rhyme-royal.

28. Cleary, Chris, ed. The Old Law (by Thomas Middleton). Retrieved 8/21/20186: www.tech.org/~cleary/oldlaw.html.

29. Durham, Willard Higley, ed. A Midsummer Night Dream. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1918.

30. McBrien, Richard P. Lives of the Saints. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2001.