The Way of the World by William Congreve (bts book recommendations TXT) 📕

brought about a modicum of reform. Congreve was especially censured. ↩

“Robin from Locket’s.” One of the drawers or waiters at Locket’s ordinary in Charing Cross. ↩

“like a Long-lane penthouse.” Long-lane from West Smithfield to Barbican was occupied by the sellers of old clothes. A penthouse was here a species of continuous shed or arcade, covering the walk. ↩

“the million lottery.” A lottery the prizes of which amounted to a million pounds in the advertisements. ↩

“the whole court upon a birthday.” Because of the presents that custom demanded. ↩

“Ludgate⁠ ⁠… Blackfriars⁠ ⁠… old mitten.” Ludgate was one of the better debtors’ prisons. It abutted on the precinct of Blackfriars. To angle with a mitten refers to the custom of imprisoned debtors who begged alms of passersby through a grating. Here doubtless a string was let down from an upper window with a mitten in which the benevolent passerby might put his farthing, subsequently to be drawn up. ↩

“has a month’s mind.” To have an inclination to a thing. ↩

“passe-partout.” Master-key. ↩

“any chemist upon the day of projection.” The culmination of an experiment in alchemy, when the metals were supposed to be transmuted into gold was called a projection. ↩

“drap de Berri.” Probably drap or étoffe de bêret, cloth of Berri, described as Russian, doubtless here a coarse cloth. ↩

“ ’Tis like⁠ ⁠… on her hips.” Lacing under these conditions would cause the hips to increase in size. ↩

“Rhenish wine tea.” Taken to reduce flesh. ↩

“a discarded toast.” A lady who has ceased to be the reigning belle and subject of the toasts of her friends and suitors. ↩

“I’ll take my death.” I hope to die if what I say is not true. ↩

“in the main.” Main is here mean, the middle or tenor part, with which the other two harmonize. There is also a play on the more obvious meaning of the word. ↩

“The ordinary’s paid for setting the psalm.” The ordinary was the chaplain of Newgate prison, whose duty it it was to prepare condemned criminals for death. ↩

“In the name of Bartlemew and his fair.” The fair of St. Bartlemew or St. Bartholomew was held in Smithfield every August. It was the great cloth fair of England and is here invoked by Witwoud because of the strange appearance of his brother. ↩

“smoke him.” Torment, mock, tease him. ↩

“thereafter, as ’tis meant.” Take as it (i.e. offence) is meant. ↩

“a hare’s scut.” A hare’s short tail, equivalent to a fig for your service. ↩

“Salop.” Shropshire, an inland county of England bordering on Wales. ↩

“like a call of sergeant.” Sergeant appears here to have its earlier meaning, a servant. ↩

“out of your time.” While you were still indentured to an attorney. ↩

“Furnival’s Inn.” In Holborn, formerly one of the inns of Chancery, attached to Lincoln’s Inn. ↩

“reckan.” Reckan (in the old editions rekin, absurdly modernized Wrekin) is the crane or iron bar from which hung the pots in the fireplace. ↩

“Dawks’s Letter.” In 1696 Ichabod Dawks started his News-Letter. It was printed on good paper in imitation of writing with a space for the gentleman who sent it to his friends to write by hand matters of private business. ↩

“Weekly Bill.” Several newspapers contained the word Weekly in their titles as The Weekly News, The Weekly Packet. ↩

“If an how⁠ ⁠… abate.” If peace holds whereby taxes will be reduced. Sir Wilful speaks with provincial indirectness. ↩

“ ’Tis like there may.” Very likely there is. ↩

“rally their best friends to choose.” That is, make as much fun of them as they like. ↩

“like a deputy-lieutenant’s hall.” That is, with all sorts of arms. The horns of the cuckold were often spoken of as armament. ↩

“cap of maintenance.” A cap or hat which was a sign of high office, carried before a sovereign or person of high authority in a procession. ↩

“I’ll set his hand in.” See him well started. ↩

“how⁠ ⁠… lady?” Just what are your feelings toward your lady? ↩

“Sir John Suckling.” A famous lyric and dramatic poet of the early seventeenth century. ↩

“Thyrsis, a youth⁠ ⁠… train.” A line from a poem of Edmund Waller. ↩

“I prithee⁠ ⁠… slight toy.” These and some of the following lines are Suckling’s. ↩

“all a case.” It is all the same. ↩

“Like Phoebus⁠ ⁠… boy.” A further line from the same poem by Waller. ↩

“in things of common application.” In the affairs of everyday life. ↩

“douceurs, ye sommeils du matin.” Sweetnesses, ye morning naps. ↩

“hogs’ bones, hares’ gall⁠ ⁠… cat.” A playful exaggeration of some of the popular nostrums of the day. ↩

“Barbados waters.” A cordial flavoured with orange-peel. ↩

“an unsized camlet.” Camlet was a light stuff of wool and linen, formerly from the East. Unsized, that is, unstiffened, not sized. ↩

“noli prosequi.” To be unwilling to prosecute. An acknowledgment by the plaintiff that he will not press a suit further. ↩

“my dear Lacedemonian.” Applied to Petulant on account of his power as an “epitomizer of