The Merry Wives of Windsor

 

 

(Sir Hugh, persuade me not;) I will make a Star Chamber matter of it.

---The Merry Wives of Windsor  I, i, 1

Star Chamber. The court of Star Chamber, composed mainly of the King’s Council, was the highest civil court in England.

 

970

All his successors (gone before him) hath done’t; and all his ancestors (that come after him) may.

  ---The Merry Wives of Windsor  I, i, 14

 

The Council, look you, shall desire to hear the fear of Got, and not to hear a riot.

  ---The Merry Wives of Windsor  I, i, 37

Got: Welsh pronunciation of ‘God’?

 

She has brown hair, and speaks small like a woman.

  ---The Merry Wives of Windsor  I, i, 47

small: in a high-pitched voice

 

Seven hundred pounds, and possibilities, is goot gifts.

  ---The Merry Wives of Windsor  I, i, 64

possibilities: expectations (of additional inheritance).  goot: Welsh pronunciation of ‘good’

 

I had rather than forty shillings I had my Book of Songs and Sonnets here.

  ---The Merry Wives of Windsor  I, i, 198

 

“Convey,” the wise it call.  “Steal”? foh! a fico for the phrase!

  ---The Merry Wives of Windsor  I, iii, 29

Convey: steal.  fico: fig (Italian), an obscene gesture to show contempt, made by thrusting the thumb between two fingers.

 

Falstaff will learn the humor of the age,

French thrift, you rogues—myself and skirted page.

  ---The Merry Wives of Windsor  I, iii, 83

French thrift: an economy measure, practiced in France of having one page rather than a retinue of servingmen.  skirted: wearing a skirted doublet, a style popular in France

 

(Well, sirs,) I am almost out at heels.

  ---The Merry Wives of Windsor  I, iii, 31

out at heels: i.e. out of money

 

Thou art the Mars of malcontents.

  ---The Merry Wives of Windsor  I, iii, 111

 

, here will be an old abusing of God’s patience and the King’s English.

  ---The Merry Wives of Windsor  I, iv, 4

Someone will speak very bad English here.

 

Dispense with trifles.

  ---The Merry Wives of Windsor  II, i, 47

Dispense: set aside, disregard

 

He woos both high and low, both rich and poor,

Both young and old, one with another,

  ---The Merry Wives of Windsor  II, i, 113

他追求女人不分貴賤，不分貧富，不分老少，一個接一個，

 

980

I love not the humour of bread and cheese

  ---The Merry Wives of Windsor  II, i, 135

Faith, thou hast some crotchets in thy head now.

  ---The Merry Wives of Windsor  II, i, 154

crotchets: whims

 

Why then the world’s mine oyster,

Which I with sword will open.

  ---The Merry Wives of Windsor  II, ii, 3

 

(Marry,) this is the short and the long of it:

  ---The Merry Wives of Windsor  II, ii, 59

Used when making a statement that is brief and that tells someone only the most important parts of something

 

The best courtier of them all (when the court lay at Windsor) could never have brought her to such a canary;

  ---The Merry Wives of Windsor  II, ii, 61

lay: was in residence.  canary: not certainly explained; perhaps “state of excitement,” from the lively dance called the canary

 

Setting the attraction of my good parts aside, I have no other charms.

  ---The Merry Wives of Windsor  II, ii, 105

parts: qualities

 

    ; for they say, if money go before, all ways do lie open.

  ---The Merry Wives of Windsor  II, ii, 168

 

Falstaff: Of what quality was your love then?

Ford: Like a fair house built on another man’s ground,

  ---The Merry Wives of Windsor  II, ii, 214

 

; better three hours too soon than a minute too late.

  ---The Merry Wives of Windsor  II, ii, 312

早三小時比晚一分鐘好。

 

I cannot tell what the dickens his name is (my husband had him of.)

  ---The Merry Wives of Windsor  III, ii, 19

the dickens: used instead of the devil to give emphasis.  I don’t remember who my husband hired him from.

 

990

He capers, he dances, he has eyes of youth; he writes verses, he speaks holiday, he smells April and May--

  ---The Merry Wives of Windsor  III, ii, 67

speaks holiday: talks merrily.  smells: has the smell of, exhales the odour of

 

O, what a world of vile ill-favored faults

Looks handsome in three hundred pounds a year!

  ---The Merry Wives of Windsor  III, iv, 32

啊，一年有三百英鎊收入，

這些醜陋的缺陷都會顯得迷人！ ill-favored: ugly.  Even someone full of repulsive flaws can seem attractive if he has an income of three hundred pounds a year!

 

A woman would run through fire and water for such a kind heart.

  ---The Merry Wives of Windsor  III, iv, 102

 

I have a kind of alacrity in sinking.

  ---The Merry Wives of Windsor  III, v, 13

 

As good luck would have it,

  ---The Merry Wives of Windsor  III, v, 83

Something has come about by some fortunate chance.

 

(Think of that--) a man of my kidney.

  ---The Merry Wives of Windsor  III, v, 114

kidney: constitution

 

Why, woman, your husband is in his old lines again. He so takes on yonder with my husband; so rails against all married mankind; so curses all Eve’s daughters, of what complexion soever;

  ---The Merry Wives of Windsor  IV, ii, 21

lines: fits of temper, jealous rages. complexion: type

 

Wives may be merry, and yet honest too:

  ---The Merry Wives of Windsor  IV, ii, 105

honest: chaste

 

I hope good luck lies in odd numbers. … there is divinity in odd numbers, either in nativity, chance, or death.

  ---The Merry Wives of Windsor  V, i, 2

divinity: i.e. mysterious quality or power

 

; better a little chiding than a great deal of heartbreak.

  ---The Merry Wives of Windsor  V, iii, 9

小小挨罵比大大傷心好些。 chide: to blame somebody for doing something wrong

 

O powerful love, that in some respects makes a beast a man; in some other, a man a beast.

  ---The Merry Wives of Windsor  V, v, 4

 

I think the devil will not have me damned, lest the oil that’s in me should set hell on fire;

  ---The Merry Wives of Windsor  V, v, 34

 

1000

In love, the heavens themselves do guide the state;

Money buys lands, and wives are sold by fate.

  ---The Merry Wives of Windsor  V, v, 232

愛情，上天自有安排；

錢買地，人妻由命運來賣。