Scorpio, and Pisces, they were in the watery Trigon, etc.
II. iv. 363. dead elm. Shakespeare mentions elms three times,—here and in The Comedy of Errors, II. ii. 176, and in A Midsummer Night's Dream, IV. i. 49. In both C. of E. and M. N. D. the reference is to the practice of training ivy on elm trees, illustrating the relation of woman to man. Poins is therefore probably referring to the posture of Falstaff and Doll.
III. ii. 28, 29. Sir John Oldcastle and Sir John Fastolfe, with both of whom Falstaff has been identified (cf. 1 Henry IV, this edition, Appendix C 3), were both pages to the Duke of Norfolk in their youth.
III. ii. 33. Skogan. Shakespeare probably took the name from a jest book published in 1565, called Scogin's Jests. This Scogin was the court fool of King Edward IV. It is possible, however, that the reference is to Chaucer's friend, Henry Scogan, described by Ben Jonson in The Fortunate Isles as 'a fine gentleman, and master of arts, of Henry the Fourth's time.'
III. ii. 73. accommodated. This is one of the words which Ben Jonson (Discoveries) refers to as one of 'the perfumed terms of the time.' Bardolph is giving himself airs and imitating the affectations of fashionable gallants.
III. ii. 239. Bullcalf means to say: 'Here, in French crowns, is the equivalent of four English ten-shilling pieces, or ten-shilling pieces with King Henry's head on them.' As a matter of fact Henry VII was the first English king whose head appeared on ten shilling pieces.
III. ii. 264. three pound. Falstaffs followers adopt his own methods. Bardolph has collected four
