CJTranslations - All's Well That Ends Well

QUOTES BY TOPIC

‘Tis not the many oaths that makes the truth

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 4.2
SPEAKER: Diana
CONTEXT:
BERTRAM
How have I sworn!
DIANA
‘Tis not the many oaths that makes the truth,
But the plain single vow that is vowed true.
What is not holy, that we swear not by,
But take the High’st to witness: then, pray you, tell me,
If I should swear by God’s great attributes,
I loved you dearly, would you believe my oaths,
When I did love you ill? This has no holding,
To swear by him whom I protest to love,
That I will work against him: therefore your oaths
Are words and poor conditions, but unsealed,
At least in my opinion.
BERTRAM
Change it, change it;
Be not so holy-cruel: love is holy;
And my integrity ne’er knew the crafts
That you do charge men with. Stand no more off,
But give thyself unto my sick desires,
Who then recover: say thou art mine, and ever
My love as it begins shall so persever.

DUTCH:
Een tal van eeden maakt de trouw niet hecht;
Een eed, eenvoudig, waar en trouw, volstaat;
Men zweert slechts bij wat heilig is, vooral
Bij de’ Allerhoogste;

MORE:
Cited in Shakespeare’s Legal Maxims (William Lowes Rushton)

The many=The number of
Single=One; sincere
Ill=Poorly; not at all
Unsealed=Without a (validating) seal
Compleat:
Ill=Quaad, ondeugend, onpasselijk
Sealed=Gezegeld, verzegeld
To set a seal to a thing=Een zegel aan iets steeken/hangen

Topics: truth, honesty, love, promise

A dangerous and lascivious boy

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 4.3
SPEAKER: Parolles
CONTEXT:
PAROLLES
That is not the duke’s letter, sir; that is an
advertisement to a proper maid in Florence, one
Diana, to take heed of the allurement of one Count
Rousillon, a foolish idle boy, but for all that very
ruttish: I pray you, sir, put it up again.
FIRST SOLDIER
Nay, I’ll read it first, by your favour.
PAROLLES
My meaning in’t, I protest, was very honest in the
behalf of the maid; for I knew the young count to be
a dangerous and lascivious boy, who is a whale to
virginity and devours up all the fry it finds.
BERTRAM
Damnable both-sides rogue !

DUTCH:
Mijn bedoeling er mee, – dat betuig ik, -was geheel
eerlijk en in het belang van het meisjen, want ik wist,
dat de graaf een gevaarlijke en zeer wulpsche knaap is,
die een ware walvisch is voor al wat maagd is, en al
het jonge goed, dat hij aantreft, verslindt.

MORE:
Advertisement=Instruction, admonition
Ruttish=Lecherous, lustful
By your favour=By your leave
Put it up=Put it away
Both-sides=Double-tongued, two-faced
Fry=Small fish
Compleat:
Advertisement=Wasarschouwing, bekendmaaking, verwittiging
To favour=Begunstigen, gunste toedraagen
The fry of fish=’t Zaad der visschen
Jack on both sides=Slinks en rechts

Topics: honesty, loyalty

A most notable coward, an infinite and endless liar, an hourly promise-breaker, the owner of no one good quality.

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 3.6
SPEAKER: Second Lord
CONTEXT:
SECOND LORD
Nay, good my lord, put him to’t; let him have his way.
FIRST LORD
If your lordship find him not a hilding, hold me no
more in your respect.
SECOND LORD
On my life, my lord, a bubble.
BERTRAM
Do you think I am so far deceived in him?
SECOND LORD
Believe it, my lord, in mine own direct knowledge,
without any malice, but to speak of him as my
kinsman, he’s a most notable coward, an infinite and
endless liar, an hourly promise-breaker, the owner
of no one good quality worthy your lordship’s
entertainment.
FIRST LORD
It were fit you knew him; lest, reposing too far in
his virtue, which he hath not, he might at some
great and trusty business in a main danger fail you.

DUTCH:
Geloof mij, edel heer; naar mijn eigen onmiddellijke waarneming, zonder eenige de minste boosheid en om van hem te spreken als van een bloedverwant, hij is een erkende lafaard, een oneindige, grenzenlooze leugenaar, een, die om het uur zijn belofte breekt en geene enkele goede eigenschap bezit, die hem den omgang met uwe edelheid waardig kan maken.

MORE:
A hilding=Worthless, wretched being
Bubble=Cheat
Entertainment=Keeping in employment, service
Compleat:
To bubble=Bedriegen
A bubble=Een onnozel hals
Entertainment=Huysvesting, onderhoud

Topics: insult, reputation, deceit

A scar nobly got, or a noble scar, is a good livery of honour; so belike is that

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 4.5
SPEAKER: Lafew
CONTEXT:
CLOWN
O madam! yonder ‘s my lord your son with a
patch of velvet on ‘s face: whether there be a
scar under ‘t or no, the velvet knows; but ’tis a
goodly patch of velvet. His left cheek is a cheek
of two pile and a half, but his right cheek is worn
bare.
LAFEW
A scar nobly got, or a noble scar, is a good livery of honour; so belike is that.
CLOWN
But it is your carbonadoed face.
LAFEW
Let us go see your son, I pray you: I long to talk
with the young noble soldier.
CLOWN
Faith there’s a dozen of ’em, with delicate fine
hats and most courteous feathers, which bow the head
and nod at every man.

DUTCH:
Een roemvol verworven schram, of een roemvolle schram, kleedt den adel goed en zoo doet waarschijnlijk ook deze.

MORE:
Patch of velvet: velvet patches were used to cover scars or marks (cicatrice)
Pile=Measure of the depth of velvet (three pile being the thickest)
Belike=As it seems, it should seem, I suppose
Livery=Uniform
Belike=Probably
Compleat:
Her face was full of patches=Haar aangezigt was vol zwarte pleistertjes
Livery=Lievry

Topics: appearance, dignity, honour

A very tainted fellow, and full of wickedness. My son corrupts a well-derived nature with his inducement

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Countess
CONTEXT:
COUNTESS
Parolles, was it not?
FIRST GENTLEMAN
Ay, my good lady, he.
COUNTESS
A very tainted fellow, and full of wickedness.
My son corrupts a well-derived nature
With his inducement.
FIRST GENTLEMAN
Indeed, good lady,
The fellow has a deal of that too much,
Which holds him much to have.
COUNTESS
You’re welcome, gentlemen.
I will entreat you, when you see my son,
To tell him that his sword can never win
The honour that he loses: more I’ll entreat you
Written to bear along.

DUTCH:
Een recht nietswaardig wezen, vol van slechtheid ;
Mijn zoon verderft zijn eigen goeden aard
Door zijn verleiding .

MORE:
Well-derived=Inherited from birth
Inducement=Power of persuasion
A deal of that too much=An excess (of that inducement)
Holds him much=From which he profits
Compleat:
Derived=Afgeleyd, voortgekomen
Inducement=Aanleyding, beweegreeden
Inducer=Aanleyder, aanvoerder, overreeder

Topics: corruption, manipulation, honour

All her deserving is a reserved honesty, and that I have not heard examined

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 3.5
SPEAKER: Helen
CONTEXT:
HELEN
Ay, surely, mere the truth: I know his lady.
DIANA
There is a gentleman that serves the count
Reports but coarsely of her.
HELEN
What’s his name?
DIANA
Monsieur Parolles.
HELEN
O, I believe with him,
In argument of praise, or to the worth
Of the great count himself, she is too mean
To have her name repeated: all her deserving
Is a reserved honesty, and that
I have not heard examined.
DIANA
Alas, poor lady!
‘Tis a hard bondage to become the wife
Of a detesting lord.
WIDOW
I warrant, good creature, wheresoe’er she is,
Her heart weighs sadly: this young maid might do her
A shrewd turn, if she pleased.
HELEN
How do you mean?
May be the amorous count solicits her
In the unlawful purpose.

DUTCH:
O, ik geloof met hem,
Dat, als men van den grooten graaf den roem
En de of komst weegt, zij te gering is, om
Met hem genoemd te worden; haar verdienste
Is enkel strenge zedigheid; die hoorde ik
Nog nooit in twijfel trekken.

MORE:
Mere the=The absolute
Coarsely=Harshly
Believe with=Hold the same opinion
Argument=Respect
Mean=Lowly
Deserving=Worthy
Honesty=Chastity
Shewd turn=Play a nasty trick
Compleat:
Mere (meer)=Louter, enkel
Coarse=Grof
Argument=Bewys, bewysreden, dringreden; kort begrip der zaak die te bewyzen staat; inhoud
Mean=Gering, slecht
Deserving=Verdienende
Honesty=Eerbaarheid, vroomheid
Shrewd=Loos, doortrapt, sneedig, vinnig, fel
An ill turn=Een quaade dienst

Topics: merit, status, honesty

All’s well that ends well

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 4.4
SPEAKER: Helen
CONTEXT:
HELEN
Nor you, mistress,
Ever a friend whose thoughts more truly labour
To recompense your love: doubt not but heaven
Hath brought me up to be your daughter’s dower,
As it hath fated her to be my motive
And helper to a husband. But, O strange men!
That can such sweet use make of what they hate,
When saucy trusting of the cozened thoughts
Defiles the pitchy night: so lust doth play
With what it loathes for that which is away.
But more of this hereafter. You, Diana,
Under my poor instructions yet must suffer
Something in my behalf.
DIANA
Let death and honesty
Go with your impositions, I am yours
Upon your will to suffer.
HELEN
Yet, I pray you:
But with the word the time will bring on summer,
When briers shall have leaves as well as thorns,
And be as sweet as sharp. We must away;
Our wagon is prepared, and time revives us:
All’s well that ends well; still the fine’s the crown;
Whate’er the course, the end is the renown.

DUTCH:
Komt, wij moeten heen;
De wagen staat gereed; de tjd baart rozen;
Eind goed, al goed; aan ‘t einde hangt de kroon;
De loop zij zwaar, het einde brengt het loon.

MORE:
CITED IN US LAW:
In Re San Juan Dupont Plaza Hotel Fire Litigation, 907 F.2d 4, 6 (1st Cir. 1990)(per
curiam); Collett v. State, 133 Ga. App. 318, 211 S.E.2d 198 (Ga. Ct. App: 1974).

Proverb: All’s Well that Ends Well
Proverb: The end crowns (tries) all

Objective achieved; problems experienced along the way can be forgotten.
Shakespeare didn’t invent this; the earliest known version in print is from the 13th century, in The proverbs and idioms of Hendyng.
Fine=End, conclusion
Revive=To bring again to life, to reanimate
Compleat:
In fine=Eindelyk, ten laatsten
Revive=Herleeven, doen herleeven, weder bekomen, verquikken

Topics: cited in law, purpose, achievement, time, nature, proverbs and idioms, still in use

All’s well that ends well yet

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Helen
CONTEXT:
GENTLEMAN
Not, indeed:
He hence removed last night and with more haste
Than is his use..
WIDOW
Lord, how we lose our pains!
HELEN
All’s well that ends well yet,
Though time seem so adverse and means unfit.
I do beseech you, whither is he gone?
GENTLEMAN
Marry, as I take it, to Rousillon;
Whither I am going.
HELEN
I do beseech you, sir,
Since you are like to see the king before me,
Commend the paper to his gracious hand,
Which I presume shall render you no blame
But rather make you thank your pains for it.
I will come after you with what good speed
Our means will make us means.

DUTCH:
Eind goed, nog alles goed;
Wat tegenloop’, hoe zwak in midd’len, – moed!
Ik bid u, heer, waar is hij heengereisd ?

MORE:
Hence=From this place to another place
Remove=Depart
Lose=Waste (have wasted)
Pains=Efforts
Unfit=Unsuitable
Commend=Commit
Presume=Am pretty certain
Means=(1) Resources (2) Will allow
Compleat:
Hence=Van hier, hier uit
Remove=Een verschuiving, verstooting, afzetting, verplaatsing
Lose=Verliezen, quyt raaken
To take pains=Moeite doen, arbeid aanwenden
Unfit=Onbequaam, ongevoeglyk
To commend=Pryzen, aanbevoolen, aanpryzen
To presume=Vermoeden, waanen, zich vermeeten
Means=Middelen; Toedoen

Topics: work, achievement, merit

Am I or that or this for what he’ll utter, that will speak any thing?

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 5.3
SPEAKER: Bertram
CONTEXT:
BERTRAM
What of him?
He’s quoted for a most perfidious slave,
With all the spots o’ the world taxed and deboshed;
Whose nature sickens but to speak a truth.
Am I or that or this for what he’ll utter,
That will speak any thing?
KING
She hath that ring of yours.
BERTRAM
I think she has: certain it is I liked her,
And boarded her i’ the wanton way of youth:
She knew her distance and did angle for me,
Madding my eagerness with her restraint,
As all impediments in fancy’s course
Are motives of more fancy; and, in fine,
Her infinite cunning, with her modern grace,
Subdued me to her rate: she got the ring;
And I had that which any inferior might
At market-price have bought.

DUTCH:
O, waartoe dit?
Hij staat bekend als trouwelooze schelm,
Bevlekt met ied’re smet en blaam der wereld,
Die ziek wordt , als hij waarheid spreken moet .
En ben ik dit of dat, als hij het zegt,
Die alles zeggen kan?

MORE:
Quoted for=Reputed, known to be
Spots=Vices, stains, blemishes
Perfidious=Faithless, treacherous
Deboshed=Debauched
Compleat:
Quoted=Aangetrokken, bygebragt
Perfidious=Trouwloos
Spot=Een vlek, vlak, smet, plek
To debauch=Verleyden, vervoeren, oprokkenen

Topics: truth, honesty, reputation, order/society

And let me buy your friendly help thus far, which I will over-pay and pay again when I have found it

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 3.7
SPEAKER: Widow
CONTEXT:
HELEN
Take this purse of gold,
And let me buy your friendly help thus far,
Which I will over-pay and pay again
When I have found it. The count he wooes your daughter,
Lays down his wanton siege before her beauty,
Resolved to carry her: let her in fine consent,
As we’ll direct her how ’tis best to bear it.
Now his important blood will nought deny
That she’ll demand: a ring the county wears,
That downward hath succeeded in his house
From son to son, some four or five descents
Since the first father wore it: this ring he holds
In most rich choice; yet in his idle fire,
To buy his will, it would not seem too dear,
Howe’er repented after.
WIDOW
Now I see
The bottom of your purpose.
HELEN
You see it lawful, then: it is no more,
But that your daughter, ere she seems as won,
Desires this ring; appoints him an encounter;
In fine, delivers me to fill the time,
Herself most chastely absent: after this,
To marry her, I’ll add three thousand crowns
To what is passed already.

DUTCH:
Neem die beurs met goud,
En geef mij daarvoor vriend’lijk uwen bijstand;
‘k Betaal dien dubbel, tienmaal zelfs, indien gij
U trouw betoont.

MORE:
The bottom =Objective
Purpose=Plan, design
You see it=You see that it is
Fill the time=Keep the appointment
Compleat:
Bottom=Gronden, grondvesten
Purpose (design, resolution, project)=Voorneemen, besluit, ontwerp

Topics: plans/intentions, purpose

And make this haste as your own good proceeding, strengthened with what apology you think may make it probable need

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 2.4
SPEAKER: Parolles
CONTEXT:
HELEN
What’s his will else?
PAROLLES
That you will take your instant leave o’ the king
And make this haste as your own good proceeding,
Strengthened with what apology you think
May make it probable need.
HELEN
What more commands he?
PAROLLES
That, having this obtained, you presently
Attend his further pleasure.
HELEN
In every thing I wait upon his will.

DUTCH:
Dat gij den koning onverwijld vaarwel zegt,
En dezen spoed, als ging die van u nit,
Met zulke gronden stevigt, dat hij werk’lijk
Noodzaak’lijk blijke .

MORE:
Instant=Immediate
Make=Make out to be
Probable need=May make the need for haste plausible
Proceeding=Course of action
Compleat:
Instant=Aanhoudende, dringende
Proceeding=Handling

Topics: haste, reason, justification

And what impossibility would slay in common sense, sense saves another way

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: King
CONTEXT:
KING
Upon thy certainty and confidence
What darest thou venture?
HELEN
Tax of impudence,
A strumpet’s boldness, a divulged shame
Traduced by odious ballads: my maiden’s name
Seared otherwise; nay, worse—if worse—extended
With vilest torture let my life be ended.
KING
Methinks in thee some blessed spirit doth speak
His powerful sound within an organ weak:
And what impossibility would slay
In common sense, sense saves another way.
Thy life is dear; for all that life can rate
Worth name of life in thee hath estimate,
Youth, beauty, wisdom, courage, all
That happiness and prime can happy call:
Thou this to hazard needs must intimate
Skill infinite or monstrous desperate.
Sweet practiser, thy physic I will try,
That ministers thine own death if I die.
HELEN
If I break time, or flinch in property
Of what I spoke, unpitied let me die,
And well deserved: not helping, death’s my fee;
But, if I help, what do you promise me?

DUTCH:
Wat ‘s menschen geest verwerpt, onmoog’lijk acht,
Wordt door een hoog’ren geest tot eer gebracht.

MORE:
Divulged=Exposed
Traduced=Slandered
Seared otherwise=Branded differently
Extended=Stretched (on the rack, torture)
Impossibility would slay in common sense=What common sense would not accept
Estimate=Value
Prime=Prime of life
Hazard=Risk
Intimate=Suggest
Desperate=Desperation
Practiser=Practitioner, physic
Compleat:
Divulge=Gemeen maaken, onder ‘t volk verspreyden, ruchtbaar maaken
Traduce=Overhaalen, belasteren, hekelen
To sear=Schroeijen, branden, verzengen
In his prime=In zyn eerste jeugd; in ‘t bloeijen zyner jaaren
Sense=Het gevoel; gevoeligheid; besef; reden
Desperation=Wanhoop, twyfelmoedigheyd, hoopeloosheyd

Topics: haste, risk

And would not put my reputation now in any staining act

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 3.7
SPEAKER: Widow
CONTEXT:
HELEN
If you misdoubt me that I am not she,
I know not how I shall assure you further,
But I shall lose the grounds I work upon.
WIDOW
Though my estate be fallen, I was well born,
Nothing acquainted with these businesses;
And would not put my reputation now
In any staining act.
HELEN
Nor would I wish you.
First, give me trust, the count he is my husband,
And what to your sworn counsel I have spoken
Is so from word to word; and then you cannot,
By the good aid that I of you shall borrow,
Err in bestowing it.

DUTCH:
Ik ben verarmd, maar toch van goeden huize,
En ben met zulke zaken niet vertrouwd,
En zou mijn goeden nnam niet willen smetten
Door iets oneerbaars .

MORE:
Misdoubt=Doubt
But I shall lose the grounds I work upon=Unless I disclose my plan
Though=Although
Estate be fallen=Fortunes have declined, fallen on hard times
Give me trust=Trust me (that)
Staining=To cause shame
Counsel=Secrecy
Compleat:
Misdoubt=’t Onrecht twyfelen
Estate=Bezit, middelen
Stain=Bevlekken, besmetten, bezwalken
Err=Dwaalen, doolen

Topics: suspicion, risk, reputation

As thou art a knave, and no knave. What an equivocal companion is this!

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 5.3
SPEAKER: King
CONTEXT:
PAROLLES
He did love her, sir, as a gentleman loves a woman.
KING
How is that?
PAROLLES
He loved her, sir, and loved her not.
KING
As thou art a knave, and no knave. What an equivocal companion is this!
PAROLLES
I am a poor man, and at your majesty’s command.
LAFEW
He’s a good drum, my lord, but a naughty orator.

DUTCH:
Zooals gij een schelm en geen schelm zijt. Wat is dat een dubbeltongige kerel!

MORE:
Naughty (nichtig)=Worthless
Equivocal=Ambiguous
Compleat:
Knave=Een guit, boef
Equivocal=Dubbelzinnig

Topics: truth, honesty

Ay, and the particular confirmations, point from point, to the full arming of the verity

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 4.3
SPEAKER: First Lord
CONTEXT:
SECOND LORD
Hath the count all this intelligence?
FIRST LORD
Ay, and the particular confirmations, point from
point, so to the full arming of the verity.
SECOND LORD
I am heartily sorry that he’ll be glad of this.
FIRST LORD
How mightily sometimes we make us comforts of our
losses!
SECOND LORD
And how mightily some other times we drown our gain
in tears! The great dignity that his valour hath
here acquired for him shall at home be encountered
with a shame as ample.

DUTCH:
Ja en ook de bijzondere bewijzen, stuk voor stuk, zoodat
de waarheid met alle zekerheid is toegerust.

MORE:
Intelligence=Information
Point from point=Point by point
Arming=Reinforcement, strengthening (against attack)
Dignity=Honour
Encountered=Challenged, matched
Compleat:
Armed=Gewapend, toegerust
Dignity=Waardigheid
Verity=Waarheyd

Topics: evidence, truth, justification

Ay, is it not a language I speak?

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Lafew
CONTEXT:
LAFEW
Your lord and master did well to make his recantation.
PAROLLES
Recantation! My lord! My master!
LAFEW
Ay; is it not a language I speak?
PAROLLES
A most harsh one, and not to be understood without bloody succeeding. My master!

DUTCH:
Ja; is het geen verstaanbare taal, die ik spreek?

MORE:
Recantation=Disavowal or retraction
Bloody succeeding=Subsequent bloodshed
Harsh=Rough, rude, repulsive
Compleat:
Recant (Unsay) Recantation=Herroeping, Verzaaking
Harsh=Schor, ruuw, wrang, streng

Topics: regret, language

Be checked for silence. but never taxed for speech.

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Countess
CONTEXT:
COUNTESS
If the living be enemy to the grief, the excess
makes it soon mortal.
BERTRAM
Madam, I desire your holy wishes.
LAFEW
How understand we that?
COUNTESS
Be thou blest, Bertram ; and succeed thy father
In manners, as in shape! Thy blood and virtue
Contend for empire in thee; and thy goodness
Share with thy birthright ! Love all, trust a few,
Do wrong to none: be able for thine enemy
Rather in power than use, and keep thy friend
Under thy own life’s key: be checked for silence.
But never taxed for speech. What heaven more will
That thee may furnish, and my prayers pluck down,
Fall on thy head! Farewell, my lord;
‘Tis an unseasoned courtier; good my lord,
Advise him.

DUTCH:
Heb allen lief; schenk wein’gen uw vertrouwen;
Doe niemand onrecht; houd uw vijand eer
Door macht dan door haar uiting in bedwang;
Hoed als uw eigen leven dat uws vriends;
Dat men uw zwijgen, nooit uw spreken gispe!

MORE:
Proverb: Blood is inherited but Virtue is achieved
Proverb: Have but few friends though much acquaintance
Proverb: Keep under lock and key
Proverb: Keep well thy friends when thou has gotten them

Mortal=Fatal
Able=Have power to daunt (Be able for thine enemy)
Manners=Conduct
Blood=Inherited nature
Contend=Compete
Empire=Dominance
Rather than in power than in use=By having the power to act rather than acting
Checked=Rebuked
Taxed=Blamed
Furnish=Supply
Compleat:
Able=Sterk, robust
Manners=Zeden, manieren, manierlykheid
Check=Berispen, beteugelen, intoomen, verwyten
To tax (to blame)=Mispryzen, berispen
To furnish=Verschaffen, voorzien, verzorgen, stoffeeren, toetakelen

Topics: caution, trust, proverbs and idioms, still in use

Be magnanimous in the enterprise and go on

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 3.6
SPEAKER: Bertram
CONTEXT:
BERTRAM
Well, we cannot greatly condemn our success: some
dishonour we had in the loss of that drum; but it is
not to be recovered.
PAROLLES
It might have been recovered.
BERTRAM
It might; but it is not now.
PAROLLES
It is to be recovered: but that the merit of
service is seldom attributed to the true and exact
performer, I would have that drum or another, or
‘hic jacet.’
BERTRAM
Why, if you have a stomach, to’t, monsieur: if you
think your mystery in stratagem can bring this
instrument of honour again into his native quarter,
be magnanimous in the enterprise and go on; I will
grace the attempt for a worthy exploit: if you
speed well in it, the duke shall both speak of it.
and extend to you what further becomes his
greatness, even to the utmost syllable of your
worthiness.

DUTCH:
Ik houd niet van veel woorden.

MORE:
Condemn=Censure, reprove
Stomach=Inclination
Mystery=Skill
Magnanimous=Big-hearted
Enterprise=Undertaking
Speed=Succeed
Becomes=Is fitting for
Utmost=Last
Compleat:
Condemn=Veroordeelen, verdoemen, verwyzen
Stomach=Gramsteurigheyd
Mystery or mistery (trade)=Handel, konst, ambacht
Magnanimous=Grootmoedig, groothartig, kloekmoedig
Enterprise=Onderneemen, onderwinden, bestaan, aanvangen
To speed=Voortspoeden, voorspoedig zyn, wel gelukken
To become=Betaamen
Utmost=Uiterste

Topics: merit, courage, skill//talent

Bring forth this counterfeit module, he has deceived me, like a double-meaning prophesier

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 4.3
SPEAKER: Bertram
CONTEXT:
BERTRAM
I mean, the business is not ended, as fearing to hear of it hereafter. But shall we have this dialogue between the fool and the soldier? Come, bring forth this counterfeit module, he has deceived me, like a double-meaning prophesier.
SECOND LORD
Bring him forth: has sat i’ the stocks all night, poor gallant knave.
BERTRAM
No matter: his heels have deserved it, in usurping his spurs so long. How does he carry himself?

DUTCH:
Ik bedoel, dat de zaak nog niet ten einde is, daar ik vrees, er later nog wel van te zullen hooren .

MORE:
His heels have deserved it:
The ‘heels’ reference here is probably to the practice of baffling=originally a punishment of infamy, inflicted on recreant knights, one part of which was hanging them up by the heels (Nares). This practice is also referred to in 2.4 (Falstaff: If thou dost it half so gravely, so majestically, both in word and matter, hang me up by the heels for a rabbit- sucker or a poulter’s hare.)
Another punishment was ‘hacking’: chopping off the spurs of a knight when he was to be degraded.

Module=model (OED: “a person… eminently worthy of imitation; a perfect exemplar of some excellence”)
Double-meaning prophesier=Prophecies that can suggest one thing but interpreted to mean another (such as the witches in Macbeth)
Compleat:
Module (measure in architecture)=Model
To lay one by the heels (send to prison)=Iemand gevangen zetten
Stocks (pair of)=De Stok, daar men kwaaddoenders met de beenen insluit
Double (dissembling, treacherous)=Dubbelhartig, geveinst, verraaderlyk
Double-tongued=Tweetongig

Topics: punishment, deceit, fate/destiny

But most it is presumption in us when the help of heaven we count the act of men

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: Helen
CONTEXT:
KING
I must not hear thee; fare thee well, kind maid;
Thy pains not used must by thyself be paid:
Proffers not took reap thanks for their reward.
HELEN
Inspirèd merit so by breath is barr’d:
It is not so with Him that all things knows
As ’tis with us that square our guess by shows;
But most it is presumption in us when
The help of heaven we count the act of men.
Dear sir, to my endeavours give consent;
Of heaven, not me, make an experiment.
I am not an impostor that proclaim
Myself against the level of mine aim;
But know I think and think I know most sure
My art is not past power nor you past cure.
KING
Are thou so confident? within what space
Hopest thou my cure?

DUTCH:
Zoo stremt eens menschen adem ‘s hemels zegen!
O! ‘t is niet zoo bij Hem, die ‘t al doorschouwt,
Als bij den mensch, die op den schijn vertrouwt;
En wat de hulp des hemels heeft gedaan,
Ziet onze trots voor menschenwerk meest aan.

MORE:
Hear=Listen to
Pains=Efforts
Proffers=Offers
Took=Accepted
Inspirèd=Divine
Breath=Mortal words (as opposed to divinely inspired)
Square=Form
Guess=Surmise, conjecture
Shows=Outward appearance
Compleat:
To hear=Hooren, verhooren, toehooren
To take pains=Moeite doen, arbeid aanwenden
Proffer=Aanbieding
Inspired=Aangeblaazen [door den Geest]To square=Passen
Guess=Gissen, raamen, raaden
Show=Vertooning

Topics: hope/optimism, promise, work, money, authority, merit

Commend the paper to his gracious hand, which I presume shall render you no blame

DUTCH:
Ik bid u, heer,
Stel, daar gij eer dan ik den koning ziet,
Aan zijn genade dit geschrift ter hand;

Topics: work, achievement, merit

Damnable both-sides rogue!

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 4.3
SPEAKER: Bertram
CONTEXT:
BERTRAM
Damnable both-sides rogue !
FIRST SOLDIER
[Reads] ‘When he swears oaths, bid him drop gold, and take it;
After he scores, he never pays the score:
Half won is match well made; match, and well make it;
He ne’er pays after-debts, take it before;
And say a soldier, Dian, told thee this,
Men are to mell with, boys are not to kiss:
For count of this, the count’s a fool, I know it,
Who pays before, but not when he does owe it.
Thine, as he vowed to thee in thine ear, Parolles.’
BERTRAM
He shall be whipped through the army with this rhyme
in’s forehead.
SECOND LORD
This is your devoted friend, sir, the manifold linguist and the armipotent soldier.

DUTCH:
Die vervloekte, dubbeltongige schurk!

MORE:
Both-sides=Double-tongued, two-faced
Score=(1) Hit the mark (2) Bill
Half-won=Well negotiated is half the game
After-debts=Money payable upon receipt
Mell=Meddle, mess around with (sexually)
Pays before=Pays in advance
Armipotent=Mighty in arms
Manifold=Multiple
Compleat:
Jack on both sides=Slinks en rechts
To score=Op rekening zetten
Score=Rekening, kerfstok
Manifold=Veelvoudig, veelvuldig

Topics: insult, offence, integrity, truth

E’en a crow o’ the same nest; not altogether so great as the first in goodness, but greater a great deal in evil

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 4.3
SPEAKER: Parolles
CONTEXT:
FIRST LORD
He hath out-villained villany so far, that the
rarity redeems him.
BERTRAM
A pox on him, he’s a cat still.
FIRST SOLDIER
His qualities being at this poor price, I need not
to ask you if gold will corrupt him to revolt.
PAROLLES
Sir, for a quart d’ecu he will sell the fee-simple
of his salvation, the inheritance of it; and cut the
entail from all remainders, and a perpetual
succession for it perpetually.
FIRST SOLDIER
What’s his brother, the other Captain Dumain?
SECOND LORD
Why does he ask him of me?
FIRST SOLDIER
What’s he?
PAROLLES
E’en a crow o’ the same nest; not altogether so
great as the first in goodness, but greater a great
deal in evil: he excels his brother for a coward,
yet his brother is reputed one of the best that is:
in a retreat he outruns any lackey; marry, in coming
on he has the cramp.

DUTCH:
Geheel en al een kraai uit hetzelfde nest; niet volkomen
zoo groot als de andere in het goede, maar een good
deel slechter in bet booze.

MORE:
Proverb: A bird (egg) of the same nest

To stand seised in fee simple=A feudal term that meant to have both possession and title of property, a form of freehold ownership. (Absolute and perpetual ownership.) Shakespeare sometimes used the phrase to mean absoluteness.
Entail=Succession
Remainders=Possible future heirs (residual property rights)
Lackey=Footman (who would run in front of the master’s coach)
Come on=Advance
Compleat:
Seised=Beslagen, aangetast, gevat
Fee-simple=Een onbepaald leen ons en onze erfgenaamen voor altoos toehehoorende
Entail=By erfenisse vast gemaakt
Lackey (lacquey)=Een voetjongen, volgdienaar, lakkey

Topics: good and bad, law/legal, proverbs and idioms

For it will come to pass that every braggart shall be found an ass

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 4.3
SPEAKER: Parolles
CONTEXT:
FIRST SOLDIER
You are undone, captain, all but your scarf; that has a knot on’t yet
PAROLLES
Who cannot be crushed with a plot?
FIRST SOLDIER
If you could find out a country where but women were
that had received so much shame, you might begin an
impudent nation. Fare ye well, sir; I am for France too: we shall speak of you there.
PAROLLES
Yet am I thankful if my heart were great
‘Twould burst at this. Captain I’ll be no more;
But I will eat and drink, and sleep as soft
As captain shall: simply the thing I am
Shall make me live. Who knows himself a braggart,
Let him fear this; for it will come to pass
That every braggart shall be found an ass.
Rust, sword! cool, blushes! and, Parolles, live
Safest in shame! being fooled, by foolery thrive!
There ‘s place and means for every man alive.
I’ll after them.

DUTCH:
Wie zich pocher weet,
Hij lette op mij; dan ziet hij, dat in ‘t end
Elk pocher steeds als ezel wordt herkend.

MORE:
Impudent=Shameless
Braggart=Boaster
Found an ass=Shown to be an ass
Shame=Dishonour, disgrace
Compleat:
Impudent=Onbeschaamd, schaamteloos
Shame (reproach, ignominy)=Schande
Shamefull=Schandelyk, snood; Op een schandelyke wyze

Topics: truth, honesty, discovery

For where an unclean mind carries virtuous qualities, there commendations go with pity

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Countess
CONTEXT:
LAFEW
I would it were not notorious. Was this gentlewoman
the daughter of Gerard de Narbon?
COUNTESS
His sole child, my lord, and bequeathed to my
overlooking. I have those hopes of her good that
her education promises; her dispositions she
inherits, which makes fair gifts fairer; for where
an unclean mind carries virtuous qualities, there
commendations go with pity; they are virtues and
traitors too; in her they are the better for their
simpleness; she derives her honesty and achieves her
goodness.
LAFEW
Your commendations, madam, get from her tears.
COUNTESS
‘Tis the best brine a maiden can season her praise
in. The remembrance of her father never approaches
her heart but the tyranny of her sorrows takes all
livelihood from her cheek. No more of this, Helen;
go to, no more; lest it be rather thought you affect
a sorrow than have it.

DUTCH:
Ik heb alle verwachting van het goede, dat hare opvoeding belooft; de natuur, die zij geërfd heeft, maakt de schoone gaven, die opvoeding schenkt, nog schooner;

MORE:
Proverb: Blood is inherited but virtue is achieved

Overlooking=Guardianship
Fated=Fateful (see also King Lear “The plagues that hang fated over men’s faults”, 3.2)
Go with pity=Accompanied by regret
Simpleness=Plainness (being unmixed), unrefined nativeness, innocence
Unclean=(in a moral sense) Impure
Derive=Inherit
Compleat:
Disposition (or Inclination)=Genegenheid, Lust
Disposition of mind=Gesteltenis van gemoed
Simple=Onbeschadigend, eenvoudig
Fated=Door ‘t noodlot beschooren

Topics: nature, learning/education, virtue, innocence, fate/destiny, proverbs and idioms

From lowest place when virtuous things proceed, the place is dignified by the doer’s deed

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 2.3
SPEAKER: King
CONTEXT:
BERTRAM
But follows it, my lord, to bring me down
Must answer for your raising? I know her well:
She had her breeding at my father’s charge.
A poor physician’s daughter my wife! Disdain
Rather corrupt me ever!
KING
‘Tis only title thou disdain’st in her, the which
I can build up. Strange is it that our bloods,
Of colour, weight, and heat, poured all together,
Would quite confound distinction, yet stand off
In differences so mighty. If she be
All that is virtuous, save what thou dislikest,
A poor physician’s daughter, thou dislikest
Of virtue for the name: but do not so:
From lowest place when virtuous things proceed,
The place is dignified by the doer’s deed:
Where great additions swell’s, and virtue none,
It is a dropsied honour. Good alone
Is good without a name. Vileness is so:
The property by what it is should go,
Not by the title. She is young, wise, fair;
In these to nature she’s immediate heir,
And these breed honour: that is honour’s scorn,
Which challenges itself as honour’s born
And is not like the sire: honours thrive,
When rather from our acts we them derive
Than our foregoers: the mere word’s a slave
Debauched on every tomb, on every grave
A lying trophy, and as oft is dumb
Where dust and damned oblivion is the tomb
Of honoured bones indeed. What should be said?
If thou canst like this creature as a maid,
I can create the rest: virtue and she
Is her own dower; honour and wealth from me.

DUTCH:
Ontspruit een edel doen uit lagen staat,
Die wordt verhoogd, geadeld door de daad;
Wie zwelt van trots, op deugd niet, maar op bloed,
Heeft waterzuchtige’ adel.

MORE:
Proverb: There is no difference of bloods in a basin
Proverb: Man honours the place, not the place the man

Additions=Titles
Dignify=To give lustre to, to honour
Swell (swell us or swell is– debated)=Inflate
Dropsied=Diseased (with dropsy)
Dislike=Disapprove, regard with ill-will or disgust
Compleat:
Addition=Bydoening, byvoegsel
Dropsy=Waterzucht
Swell=Swellen, opblaazen; Uitzetten, grootr worden, oploopen; zwellen
Dislike=Mishaagen, misnoegen

Topics: virtue, order/society, status, dignity, status

Full oft we see cold wisdom waiting on superfluous folly

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Helen
CONTEXT:
HELEN
[Aside] One that goes with him: I love him for his sake;
And yet I know him a notorious liar,
Think him a great way fool, solely a coward;
Yet these fixed evils sit so fit in him,
That they take place, when virtue’s steely bones
Look bleak i’ the cold wind: withal, full oft we see
Cold wisdom waiting on superfluous folly.

DUTCH:
Vaak ziet men, dat de wijsheid, koud, armoedig,
Aan dwaasheid, warm en weeld’rig, dienstbaar is .

MORE:
A great way=Largely
Solely=Wholly
Sit so fit in=Suit
Superfluous=Excessive, abundant
Folly=Perversity of judgment, foolishness
Naturalize=Familiarise
Waiting on=Follow
Compleat:
Folly=Ondeugd, buitenspoorigheid, onvolmaaktheid
Wait upon=Op wachten, oppassen

Topics: love, honesty

Go to, thou art a witty fool; I have found thee

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 2.4
SPEAKER: Parolles
CONTEXT:
PAROLLES
Away ! th’ art a knave.
CLOWN
You should have said, sir, before a knave th’ art a knave; that ‘s, before me th ‘rt a knave: this had been truth, sir.
PAROLLES
Go to, thou art a witty fool; I have found thee.
CLOWN
Did you find me in yourself, sir, or were you
taught to find me ?

DUTCH:
Loop, loop, gij zijt een schelmsche nar; ik heb u in
mijn zak

MORE:
In yourself=By your own efforts
Knave=Rascal, villain
Found thee=Seen through you
Compleat:
Witty=Verstandig, vernuftig, schrander
Knave=Guyt, boef

Topics: truth, identity, independence

Good alone is good without a name. Vileness is so: the property by what it is should go, not by the title

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 2.3
SPEAKER: King
CONTEXT:
KING
Good alone
Is good without a name. Vileness is so:
The property by what it is should go,
Not by the title. She is young, wise, fair;
In these to nature she’s immediate heir,
And these breed honour: that is honour’s scorn,
Which challenges itself as honour’s born
And is not like the sire: honours thrive,
When rather from our acts we them derive
Than our foregoers: the mere word’s a slave
Debauched on every tomb, on every grave
A lying trophy, and as oft is dumb
Where dust and damned oblivion is the tomb
Of honoured bones indeed. What should be said?

DUTCH:
Goed is goed,
Ook zonder hoogen naam; en slecht is slecht;
Alleen op wat hij is, gronde elk zijn recht,
Op titels niet.

MORE:
Idiom: “Let’s write good angel on the devil’s horn, ‘Tis not the devil’s crest”

Alone=In and of itself
Name=Title
Property=Quality
Challenges itself=Urges as a right, makes a claim for itself
Foregoers=Forebears
Trophy=Memorial
Compleat:
Property=Eigenschap, natuurlyke hoedaanigheid
He challenges all to himself=Hy eigent zich alles toe
Trophy=Een zeegeteken, trofee

Topics: honour, merit, proverbs and idioms, good and bad, order/society

He has every thing that an honest man should not have; what an honest man should have, he has nothing

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 4.3
SPEAKER: Parolles
CONTEXT:
PAROLLES
He will steal, sir, an egg out of a cloister: for rapes and ravishments he parallels Nessus: he professes not keeping of oaths; in breaking ’em he is stronger than Hercules: he will lie, sir, with such volubility, that you would think truth were a fool: drunkenness is his best virtue, for he will be swine-drunk; and in his sleep he does little harm, save to his bed-clothes about him; but they know his conditions and lay him in straw. I have but little more to say, sir, of his honesty: he has every thing that an honest man should not have; what an honest man should have, he has nothing.

DUTCH:
[H]ij heeft alles, wat een rechtgeaard man niet moest hebben; en van wat een deugdzaam man wel moet hebben, heeft hij niets.

MORE:
Proverb: Dispraise by evil men is praise
Proverb: As drunk as a swine
Proverb: Honest is a fool

Egg=Eggs being worthless, of no value (so untrustworthy that he would steal something worthless from a sacred place)
Nessus=Centaur who attempted to rape Hercules’ wife
Professes=Claims (not to believe in)
Truth were a fool=To be honest is foolish
With such volubility=So fluently, easily
Compleat:
To profess=(hold a doctrine) Een leer belyden, gelooven, belydenis doen
Volubility=Raddigheyd, vloeijendheyd, rollendheyd

Topics: honesty, reputation, insult, proverbs and idioms

He has no pace, but runs where he will

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 4.5
SPEAKER: Lafew
CONTEXT:
LAFEW
A shrewd knave and an unhappy.
COUNTESS
So he is. My lord that’s gone made himself much
sport out of him : by his authority he remains here,
which he thinks is a patent for his sauciness; and,
indeed, he has no pace, but runs where he will.
LAFEW
I like him well; ’tis not amiss. And I was about to
tell you, since I heard of the good lady’s death and
that my lord your son was upon his return home, I
moved the king my master to speak in the behalf of
my daughter; which, in the minority of them both,
his majesty, out of a self-gracious remembrance, did
first propose: his highness hath promised me to do
it: and, to stop up the displeasure he hath
conceived against your son, there is no fitter
matter. How does your ladyship like it?

DUTCH:
Een doortrapte schelm, en boosaardig ook!

MORE:
Shrewd=Sly, cunning, artful, arch
Patent=Licence
Pace=Gait (trained horse)
Self-gracious=Own recollection, by his own grace
Compleat:
Shrewd=Loos, doortrapt, sneedig, vinnig, fel
Patent=Vergunnig, octroy
Pace=Stap, treede, schreede, tred, gang, pas, voertgang
Gracious=Genadig, genadenryk, aangenaam, lieftallig, gunstig

Topics: authority, understanding, remedy

He hath abandoned his physicians, madam; under whose practices he hath persecuted time with hope

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Lafew
CONTEXT:
COUNTESS
What hope is there of his majesty’s amendment?
LAFEW
He hath abandoned his physicians, madam; under whose
practices he hath persecuted time with hope, and
finds no other advantage in the process but only the
losing of hope by time.
COUNTESS
This young gentlewoman had a father, —O, that
‘had’! how sad a passage ’tis! —whose skill was
almost as great as his honesty; had it stretched so
far, would have made nature immortal, and death
should have play for lack of work. Would, for the
king’s sake, he were living! I think it would be
the death of the king’s disease.

DUTCH:
Hij heeft aan zijne artsen hun afscheid gegeven, mevrouw, nadat hij onder hunne behandeling den tijd met hoop vervolgd had, en er op den duur geen ander voordeel van heeft, dan dat hij met den tijd de hoop verloor.

MORE:
Amendment=Recovery
Persecute=To afflict, to harass; not very intelligibly used.
Persecuted time with hope=Wasted his time hoping for a cure.
Passage=Punning on passing
Compleat:
Persecute=Lastig vallen; vervolgen.

Topics: hope/optimism, remedy, time, trust, life, death

He that of greatest works is finisher oft does them by the weakest minister

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: Helen
CONTEXT:
HELEN
What I can do can do no hurt to try,
Since you set up your rest ‘gainst remedy.
He that of greatest works is finisher
Oft does them by the weakest minister:
So holy writ in babes hath judgment shown,
When judges have been babes; great floods have flown
From simple sources, and great seas have dried
When miracles have by the greatest been denied.
Oft expectation fails and most oft there
Where most it promises, and oft it hits
Where hope is coldest and despair most fits.
KING
I must not hear thee; fare thee well, kind maid;
Thy pains not used must by thyself be paid:
Proffers not took reap thanks for their reward.

DUTCH:
Brengt wat ik kan, geen baat, het schaadt ook niet,
Daar ge elke hoop in u hebt uitgewied.

MORE:
To set up one’s rest=To have fully made up one’s mind, to be resolved, stake everything (taken from gambling, where the rest was a large sum wagered by a very confident player)
Flown=Flowed
Hits=Hits the mark
Pains=Efforts
Proffers not took=Offers not taken up
To fit=To be fitting, appropriate: “oft it hits where hope is coldest and despair most fits”
Hope is coldest=Most hopeless
Hear=Listen to
Pains=Efforts
Proffers=Offers
Took=Accepted
Compleat:
To flow=Vloeijen, vlieten
To hit the mark=Het wit treffen
To fit=Passen, pas maaken, gereed maaken, voegen
You must fit your humour to it=Gy moet ‘er uw humeur toe schikken
To hear=Hooren, verhooren, toehooren
To take pains=Moeite doen, arbeid aanwenden
Proffer=Aanbieding

Topics: still in use, invented or popularised, achievement, hope/optimism

He was famous, sir, in his profession, and it was his great right to be so

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Countess
CONTEXT:
LAFEW
How called you the man you speak of, madam ?
COUNT
He was famous, sir, in his profession, and it was his great right to be so: Gerard de Narbon.
LAFEW
He was excellent indeed, madam: the king very
Lately spoke of him admiringly, and mourningly.
He was skilful enough to have lived still,
if knowledge could be set up against mortality.
BERTRAM
What is it, my good lord, the king languishes of?
LAFEW
A fistula, my lord.
BERTRAM
I heard not of it before.
LAFEW
I would it were not notorious. Was this gentlewoman
the daughter of Gerard de Narbon?

DUTCH:
Hij was zeer beroemd, heer, in zijn vak, en met het volste recht: Gerard van Narbonne .

MORE:
His great right=His fame was justified
Mortality=Subjection to death, necessity of dying
I would it were not=I don’t want it to be
Notorious=Well known, public knowledge
Compleat:
Mortality=Sterflykheid
Notorious=Kenlyk, kenbaar

Topics: death, life, skill/talent, legacy, merit

He’s shrewdly vexed at something

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 3.5
SPEAKER: Mariana
CONTEXT:
DIANA
That jack-an-apes with scarfs: why is he melancholy?
HELEN
Perchance he’s hurt i’ the battle.
PAROLLES
Lose our drum! well.
MARIANA
He’s shrewdly vexed at something: look, he has spied us.
WIDOW
Marry, hang you!
MARIANA
And your courtesy, for a ring-carrier!

DUTCH:
Er is iets, dat hem geweldig hindert . Kijk, hij heeft
ons in het oog gekregen!

MORE:
Jackanapes=Conceited fellow
Scarfs=Flags, colours
Shrewdly=Sorely
Vexed=Upset
Ring-carrier=Go-between
Compleat:
Jack an apes=Een aap; Quibus, een zot
Scarf=Een sluyer
Shrewdly (very much)=Sterk
To vex=Quellen, plaagen

Topics: emotion and mood, remedy

He’s very near the truth in this

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 4.3
SPEAKER:
CONTEXT:
BERTRAM
All’s one to him. What a past-saving slave is this!
FIRST LORD
You’re deceived, my lord: this is Monsieur
Parolles, the gallant militarist,—that was his own
phrase,— that had the whole theoric of war in the
knot of his scarf, and the practise in the chape of
his dagger.
SECOND LORD
I will never trust a man again for keeping his sword
clean. Nor believe he can have every thing in him
by wearing his apparel neatly.
FIRST SOLDIER
Well, that’s set down.
PAROLLES
Five or six thousand horse, I said,— I will say
true,—or thereabouts, set down, for I’ll speak truth.
FIRST LORD
He’s very near the truth in this.
BERTRAM
But I con him no thanks for’t, in the nature he
delivers it.

DUTCH:
In dit opzicht komt hij de waarheid zeer nabij .

MORE:
Chape=Dagger tip
Clean=Polished
Knot of his scarf=Tied by the lady giving a knight her favour
Con him no thanks=Give no gratitue
Nature=Manner
Compleat:
Chape=’t Beslag onder aan de scheede
Clean=Schoon, zuyver, reyn, net
To wear a favour=Een lint of iets dergelyks van zyne minnares draagen
Nature=Natuur, aardt

Topics: deceit, conflict, truth, trust, , appearance

His honour. clock to itself, knew the true minute when exception bid him speak

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: King
CONTEXT:
FIRST LORD
It is the Count Rousillon, my good lord,
Young Bertram.
KING
Youth, thou bear’st thy father’s face;
Frank nature, rather curious than in haste,
Hath well composed thee. Thy father’s moral parts
Mayst thou inherit too! Welcome to Paris.
BERTRAM
My thanks and duty are your majesty’s.
KING
I would I had that corporal soundness now,
As when thy father and myself in friendship
First tried our soldiership! He did look far
Into the service of the time and was
Discipled of the bravest: he lasted long;
But on us both did haggish age steal on
And wore us out of act. It much repairs me
To talk of your good father. In his youth
He had the wit which I can well observe
To-day in our young lords; but they may jest
Till their own scorn return to them unnoted
Ere they can hide their levity in honour;
So like a courtier, contempt nor bitterness
Were in his pride or sharpness; if they were,
His equal had awaked them; and his honour.
Clock to itself, knew the true minute when
Exception bid him speak, and at this time
His tongue obeyed his hand: who were below him
He used as creatures of another place.
And bowed his eminent top to their low ranks.
Making them proud of his humility.
In their poor praise he humbled. Such a man
Might be a copy to these younger times,
Which, followed well, would demonstrate them now
But goers backward.

DUTCH:
Een echte hoov’ling was hij, fier, niet trotsch,
Hoe scherp, nooit bitter, dan door zijns gelijken
Er toe gedreven; altijd gaf zijn eer,
Zichzelf tot uurwerk, de minuut hem aan,
Waarop hij spreken moest, en als de wijzer
Stond hem zijn tong ten dienst;

MORE:
Copy=Example
Equal=Equal ranking
Exception=Disapproval
Courtier=Paradigm of true courtesy
Used=Treated
Scorn=Derision
Unnoted=Ignored
Goers-backward=Regressives
Compleat:
Equal=Wedergade
Courtier=Hoveling
He made exception=Hy had er iets tegen te zeggen
To take exception=Zich over iets belgen

Topics: civility, life, age/experience, independence, order/society, respect, fashion/trends, understanding

I am a man whom fortune hath cruelly scratched

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 5.2
SPEAKER: Parolles
CONTEXT:
CLOWN
Here is a purr of fortune’s, sir, or of fortune’s
cat,—but not a musk-cat, —that has fallen into the
unclean fishpond of her displeasure, and, as he
says, is muddied withal: pray you, sir, use the
carp as you may; for he looks like a poor, decayed,
ingenious, foolish, rascally knave. I do pity his
distress in my similes of comfort and leave him to
your lordship.
PAROLLES
My lord, I am a man whom fortune hath cruelly
scratched.
LAFEW
And what would you have me to do? ‘Tis too late to
pare her nails now. Wherein have you played the
knave with fortune, that she should scratch you, who
of herself is a good lady and would not have knaves
thrive long under her? There’s a quart d’ecu for
you: let the justices make you and fortune friends:
I am for other business.

DUTCH:
Edel heer, ik ben een man, die door Fortuin wreed
gekrabd is.

MORE:
Purr or pur=Piece of dung, pun on cat’s purr; asl pun on the knave in a deck of cards
Carp=(1) Fish and (2) Some who talks or complains a lot
Withal=From it, as a consequence
Musk-cat=Musk-deer, valued for its scent (also known as muscat)
Similes of=Comparative
Compleat:
Musk-cat=Civet cat
Carp=Karper
To carp=Bedillen, muggeziften
Simile=Gelykenis, vergelyking

Topics: consequence, fate/destiny

I am a simple maid, and therein wealthiest, that I protest I simply am a maid

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 2.3
SPEAKER:
CONTEXT:
HELEN
I am a simple maid, and therein wealthiest,
That I protest I simply am a maid.
Please it your majesty, I have done already:
The blushes in my cheeks thus whisper me,
‘We blush that thou shouldst choose; but, be refused,
Let the white death sit on thy cheek for ever;
We’ll ne’er come there again.’
KING
Make choice; and, see,
Who shuns thy love shuns all his love in me.
HELEN
Now, Dian, from thy altar do I fly,
And to imperial Love, that god most high,
Do my sighs stream. Sir, will you hear my suit?
FIRST LORD
And grant it.
HELEN
Thanks, sir; all the rest is mute.
LAFEW
I had rather be in this choice than throw ames-ace
for my life.

DUTCH:
Ik ben slechts een eenvoudig meisjen, en
Hierin bet rijkst, dat ik niets ben dan dit. –
Uw majesteit vergunne, ik heb gedaan;
De blosjes op mijn wangen fluist’ren dit:

MORE:
Simply=Only
The rest is mute=I will say no more
Be=If you are
White=Paleness of
Ames-ace=Two aces, the lowest throw at dice (denoting bad luck)
Compleat:
Simply=Slechtelyk, eenvoudiglyk
Mute=Stom, spraakeloos
To shun=Vermyden, ontwyken, ontvlieden

Topics: remedy, love

I am for the house with the narrow gate, which I take to be too little for pomp to enter

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 4.5
SPEAKER: Clown
CONTEXT:
CLOWN
I am a woodland fellow, sir, that always loved a
great fire; and the master I speak of ever keeps a
good fire. But, sure, he is the prince of the
world; let his nobility remain in’s court. I am for
the house with the narrow gate, which I take to be
too little for pomp to enter: some that humble
themselves may; but the many will be too chill and
tender, and they’ll be for the flowery way that
leads to the broad gate and the great fire.
LAFEW
Go thy ways, I begin to be aweary of thee; and I
tell thee so before, because I would not fall out
with thee. Go thy ways: let my horses be well
looked to, without any tricks.
CLOWN
If I put any tricks upon ’em, sir, they shall be
jades’ tricks; which are their own right by the law of
nature.

DUTCH:
Ik ben voor het huis met de enge poort, die ik
voor te klein houd, dan dat pracht en praal er binnen
kunnen gaan; enkelen misschien, die zich vernederen,
komen er door, maar de meesten zullen te kouwelijk en
te gevoelig zijn, en zij zullen voor den bloemrijken weg
zijn, die naar de breede poort en het groote vuur leidt .

MORE:
Chill=Sensitive to cold, faint-hearted
Tender=Fond of comfort, self-interested
Compleat:
Chill=Koud, killig, huyverig
Tender=Teder, week, murw

Topics: good and bad, temptation

I am not a day of season for thou mayst see a sunshine and a hail in me at once

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 5.3
SPEAKER: King
CONTEXT:
LAFEW
He looks well on’t.
KING
I am not a day of season,
For thou mayst see a sunshine and a hail
In me at once: but to the brightest beams
Distracted clouds give way; so stand thou forth;
The time is fair again.
BERTRAM
My high-repented blames,
Dear sovereign, pardon to me.

DUTCH:
Ik ben geen dag van dit seizoen,
Want tegelijk zijn zonneschijn en hagel
In mij te zien; doch held’re stralen banen
Een weg zich door de wolken; treed dus voor;
Het weder is weer schoon.

MORE:
Proverb: After black clouds clear weather
Proverb: After rain (showers) comes air weather (the sun)
Proverb: After a storm comes a calm

Day of season=Seasonable day, sunshine and showers
Distracted=Agitated, divided
High-repented=Much repented
Compleat:
Distracted=Van een gescheurd, ontroerd
Distracted with one thing or another=Door de eene of de andere zaak weggeerukt, of verrukt
Repentant=Boetvaerdig

Topics: proverbs and idioms, emotion and mood, regret, optimism

I am there before my legs

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Clown
CONTEXT:
COUNTESS
An end, sir; to your business. Give Helen this,
And urge her to a present answer back:
Commend me to my kinsmen and my son:
This is not much.
CLOWN
Not much commendation to them.
COUNTESS
Not much employment for you: you understand me?
CLOWN
Most fruitfully: I am there before my legs.
COUNTESS
Haste you again.

DUTCH:
Recht vruchtdragend ; ik ben lang voor mijn beenen daar.

MORE:
Commend me=Send my compliments
Not much employment=Not an onerous task

Topics: haste

I did think thee, for two ordinaries, to be a pretty wise fellow

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 2.3
SPEAKER: Lafew
CONTEXT:
LAFEW
I did think thee, for two ordinaries, to be a pretty wise fellow: thou didst make tolerable vent of thy travel; it might pass: yet the scarfs and the bannerets about thee did manifoldly dissuade me from believing thee a vessel of too great a burthen.
I have now found thee; when I lose thee again, I care not; yet art thou good for nothing but taking up, and that thou’rt scarce worth.
PAROLLES
Hadst thou not the privilege of antiquity upon thee
LAFEW
Do not plunge thyself too far in anger, lest thou
hasten thy trial; which if—Lord have mercy on thee
for a hen! So, my good window of lattice, fare thee
well: thy casement I need not open, for I look
through thee. Give me thy hand.
PAROLLES
My lord, you give me most egregious indignity.

DUTCH:
Ik hield u, nadat ik een paar maal met u aan een open tafel gezeten had, voor een redelijk verstandigen knaap; gij maaktet tamelijk veel ophef van uw reizen;
dit kon er mee door; maar die wimpels en vlaggen aan u weerhielden mij telkens, u voor een schip met al te
groote lading te houden.

MORE:
Proverb: As good (better) lost as (than) found

Ordinaries=Mealtimes
Tolerable vent=Reasonable account
Banneret=Little flag
Taking up=Contradict
Window of lattice=Transparent like a latticed window (punning on Lettice, used for ruffs and caps)
Casement=Part of a window that opens on a hinge
Egregious=Extraordinary, enormous
Indignity=Contemptuous injury, insult
Compleat:
Ordinary=Drooggastery, Gaarkeuken, Ordinaris
Vent=Lugt, togt, gerucht
To eat ant an ordinary=In een ordinaris eten
Take up=Berispen; bestraffen
Lattice=Een houten traali
Casement=Een kykvernstertje, een glaze venster dat men open doet
Egregious=Treffelyk, braaf, heerlyk
Indignity=Smaad

Topics: proverbs and idioms, wisdom, appearance, discovery, understanding

I do affect a sorrow indeed, but I have it too

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Lafew
CONTEXT:
COUNTESS
‘Tis the best brine a maiden can season her praise
in. The remembrance of her father never approaches
her heart but the tyranny of her sorrows takes all
livelihood from her cheek. No more of this, HELEN;
go to, no more; lest it be rather thought you affect
a sorrow than have it.
HELEN
I do affect a sorrow indeed, but I have it too.
LAFEW
Moderate lamentation is the right of the dead,
excessive grief the enemy to the living.
COUNTESS
If the living be enemy to the grief, the excess
makes it soon mortal.

DUTCH:
t Is waar, ik toon kommer, maar ik heb dien ook.

MORE:
Affect=An outward show
Mortal=Deadly
Season=Preserve
Livelihood=Liveliness, spirit
Right=Owed to
Compleat:
Affect=Naäapen
Affectation=Gemaaktheid
Mortal=Sterflyk, doodelyk
Birth-right=Geboorte-recht
Lamentation=Weeklaage, jammerklagt, gekerm, geklag

Burgersdijk notes:
Kruiden kan. In ‘t Engelsch season, kruiden, waarbij het denkbeeld van conserveeren, bewaren, in frisschen staat houden, steeds komt; vergelijk Romeo en Julia, II.3, en Driekoningenavond, 1.1.
Als de levende een vijand is van droefenis. “If the living be enemy to the grief, the excess makes it soon mortal”. De gravin herhaalt en dringt aan, wat LAFEW gezegd heeft, dat HELEN zich niet te zeer aan hare droefheid moet overgeven, met de smart niet to zeer in vijandschap moet leven, want dat overmaat van smart doodelijk is . Mortal is namelijk hetzelfde als deadly, fatal .(…)

Topics: death, grief, appearance, excess

I do presume, sir, that you are not fallen from the report that goes upon your goodness

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Helen
CONTEXT:
HELEN
But this exceeding posting day and night
Must wear your spirits low; we cannot help it:
But since you have made the days and nights as one,
To wear your gentle limbs in my affairs,
Be bold you do so grow in my requital
As nothing can unroot you. In happy time;
This man may help me to his majesty’s ear,
If he would spend his power. God save you, sir.
GENTLEMAN
And you.
HELEN
Sir, I have seen you in the court of France.
GENTLEMAN
I have been sometimes there.
HELEN
I do presume, sir, that you are not fallen
From the report that goes upon your goodness;
An therefore, goaded with most sharp occasions,
Which lay nice manners by, I put you to
The use of your own virtues, for the which
I shall continue thankful.

DUTCH:
Ik hoop, heer, dat de roem, die van uw goedheid
Steeds uitging, altijd nog de waarheid meldt;

MORE:
Spend=Use
Report=Reputation
Sharp=Urgent
Occasion=Circumstances
Lay nice manners by=Make me neglect my manners
Put you to=Urge you
Compleat:
To spend=Besteeden, uytgeeven, koste doen, verquisten, doorbrengen, verspillen
He has a good report=Hy heeft een goeden naam
Sharp=Scherp, spits, bits, streng, scherpzinnig
Occasion=Gelegenheyd, voorval, oorzaak, nood
Put to=Toedringen, opdringen

Topics: reputation, virtue, civility

I have an answer will serve all men…
It is like a barber’s chair that fits all buttocks.

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Countess
CONTEXT:
CLOWN
Truly, madam, if God have lent a man any manners, he may easily put it off at court: he that cannot make a leg, put off’s cap, kiss his hand, and say nothing, has neither leg, hands, lip, nor cap; and indeed such a fellow, to say precisely, were not for the court. But for me, I have an answer will serve all men.
COUNTESS
Marry, that’s a bountiful answer that fits all questions.
CLOWN
It is like a barber’s chair that fits all buttocks, the pin-buttock, the quatch-buttock, the brawnbuttock, or any buttock.

DUTCH:
COUNTESS
Nu voorwaar, dat is een rijk antwoord, dat voor alle vragen passend is.
CLOWN
Het is als een scheerdersstoel, die voor alle achterstevens passend is, voor de spitse, voor de platte, voor de ronde, kortom voor alle achterstevens.

MORE:
Proverb: As common a a barber’s chair

Make a leg=A bow, an obeisance made by drawing one leg backward
Lent=To bestow on, to endow with, to adorn, to arm with
Put off=Doff
Bountiful=Of rich contents, full of meaning
Quatch=Squat
Compleat:
To make a leg=Buigen
To put off one’s hat=Zyn hoed afneemen
Bountiful=Milddaadig, goedertieren

Topics: reply, reason, understanding, loyalty, proverbs and idioms

I have forgiven and forgotten all

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 5.3
SPEAKER: King
CONTEXT:
KING
We lost a jewel of her; and our esteem
Was made much poorer by it: but your son,
As mad in folly, lacked the sense to know
Her estimation home.
COUNTESS
‘Tis past, my liege;
And I beseech your majesty to make it
Natural rebellion, done i’ the blade of youth;
When oil and fire, too strong for reason’s force,
O’erbears it and burns on.
KING
My honoured lady,
I have forgiven and forgotten all;
Though my revenges were high bent upon him,
And watched the time to shoot.

DUTCH:
Eed’le vrouw,
Vergeven heb ik alles en vergeten,
Hoe straf mijn toorn op hem gespannen waar’,
Den tijd voor ‘t schot bespiedend.

MORE:
Esteem=Worth (own worth)
Estimation=Value
Home=To the full
Make=Consider
Blade=Green shoot, callowness of youth
High bent=Bent to breaking point
Watch the time=Wait patiently
Compleat:
Esteem=Achting, waarde
Estimation=Waardering, schatting
Blade=Blad van een gewas; een Jonker
I have got the bent of his bow=Ik weet wel waar hy heen wil
Watch=Waaken, bespieden
Bent=Buiging, neiging

Topics: value, mercy, revenge, proverbs and idioms, still in use

I have found myself in my incertain grounds to fail as often as I guessed

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Second Lord
CONTEXT:
FIRST LORD
Holy seems the quarrel
Upon your grace’s part; black and fearful
On the opposer.
DUKE
Therefore we marvel much our cousin France
Would in so just a business shut his bosom
Against our borrowing prayers.
SECOND LORD
Good my lord,
The reasons of our state I cannot yield,
But like a common and an outward man,
That the great figure of a council frames
By self-unable motion: therefore dare not
Say what I think of it, since I have found
Myself in my incertain grounds to fail
As often as I guessed.

DUTCH:
En daarom durf ik
Niet uiten wat ik denk, daar ik mij reeds,
Als ik vermoedens waagde, heb bedrogen,
Zoo vaak ik giste.

MORE:
Yield=Give, explain
State=Body politic
Frame=Construct
Self-unable motion=Insight I do not have
Compleat:
Yield=Overgeeven, toegeeven, geeven
Motion=Beweeging, aandryving

Topics: reason, justification

I have seen a medicine that’s able to breathe life into a stone

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: Lafew
CONTEXT:
LAFEW
I have seen a medicine
That’s able to breathe life into a stone,
Quicken a rock, and make you dance canary
With spritely fire and motion, whose simple touch
Is powerful to araise King Pippen, nay,
To give great Charlemain a pen in ‘s hand
And write to her a love-line.

DUTCH:
k Heb
Een arts gezien, die steenen leven inblaast,
Een rots bezielt, en u kan dansen doen
Met vuur en vaart, door handoplegging koning
Pepijn kan doen herrijzen, en aan Karel
Den Groote een pen zou drukken in de hand,
Dat hij een vers haar schreef.

MORE:
Canary dance was a ‘fiery wooing dance’ originating from or inspired by the dance and song of the Canary Islands.
Medicine=Physician
Araise=Raise from the dead
Compleat:
Arisen=Opgestaan, ontstaan

Burgersdijk notes:
Dansen doen. Het Engelsch noemt den dans: make you dance canary . Canary was een levendige Fransche dans; Shakespeare maakt er een werkwoord van in „Veel gemin, Geen gewin”.

Topics: emotion and mood, remedy

I have to-night dispatched sixteen businesses, a month’s length a-piece, by an abstract of success

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 4.3
SPEAKER: Bertram
CONTEXT:
BERTRAM
I have to-night dispatched sixteen businesses, a
month’s length a-piece, by an abstract of success:
I have congeed with the duke, done my adieu with his
nearest; buried a wife, mourned for her; writ to my
lady mother I am returning; entertained my convoy;
and between these main parcels of dispatch effected
many nicer needs; the last was the greatest, but
that I have not ended yet.
SECOND LORD
If the business be of any difficulty, and this
morning your departure hence, it requires haste of
your lordship.
BERTRAM
I mean, the business is not ended, as fearing to
hear of it hereafter. But shall we have this
dialogue between the fool and the soldier? Come,
bring forth this counterfeit module, he has deceived
me, like a double-meaning prophesier.
SECOND LORD
Bring him forth: has sat i’ the stocks all night,
poor gallant knave.
BERTRAM
No matter: his heels have deserved it, in usurping
his spurs so long. How does he carry himself?

DUTCH:
Ik heb van avond zestien zaken, ieder een maand
lang, op beknopte wijze afgedaan.

MORE:
Businesses=Matters
A-piece=Each
Abstract=Summary, catalogue (of successful events)
Congeed (congéd) with=Taken leave of
Entertained=Arranged
Convoy=Transport
Compleat:
Business=Bezigheid, werk, zaak
Apiece=Elk, elk een
Abstract=Uyttreksel, aftreksel, verkortsel
Conge=Oorlof; buyging des lighaams in ‘t neemen van afscheyd
Entertain=Onthaalen, huysvesten, plaats vergunnen
Convoy=Geley, vrygeleyde, konvooi

Topics: work, achievement, deceit

I love not many words
– No more than a fish loves water

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 3.6
SPEAKER: Parolles
CONTEXT:
PAROLLES
I’ll about it this evening: and I will presently
pen down my dilemmas, encourage myself in my
certainty, put myself into my mortal preparation;
and by midnight look to hear further from me.
BERTRAM
May I be bold to acquaint his grace you are gone about
it?
PAROLLES
I know not what the success will be, my lord; but
the attempt I vow.
BERTRAM
I know thou’rt valiant; and, to the possibility of
thy soldiership, will subscribe for thee. Farewell.
PAROLLES
I love not many words.
SECOND LORD
No more than a fish loves water. Is not this a
strange fellow, my lord, that so confidently seems
to undertake this business, which he knows is not to
be done; damns himself to do and dares better be
damned than to do’t?

DUTCH:
Niet meer dan de visch van het water . – Is dat niet
een kostelijke kerel, graaf, die schijnbaar zoo vol vertrouwen deze zaak op zich neemt, schoon hij weet, dat
zij onuitvoerbaar is, zich verdoemt om haar te volbrengen
en toch eer verdoemd zou willen zijn dan haar uitvoeren?

MORE:
Proverb: To love it no more than (as well as) a fish loves water

Subscribe=Surety, guarantee
Steal himself=Creep furtively, insinuate himself
Compleat:
Subscribe=Onderschryven
Steal=Doorsluypen

Topics: language, work, trust, proverbs and idioms

I perceive, by this demand, you are not altogether of his counsel

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 4.3
SPEAKER: First Lord
CONTEXT:
FIRST LORD
I perceive, by this demand, you are not altogether
of his council.
SECOND LORD
Let it be forbid, sir; so should I be a great deal
of his act.
FIRST LORD
Sir, his wife some two months since fled from his
house: her pretence is a pilgrimage to Saint Jaques
le Grand; which holy undertaking with most austere
sanctimony she accomplished; and, there residing the
tenderness of her nature became as a prey to her
grief; in fine, made a groan of her last breath, and
now she sings in heaven.
SECOND LORD
How is this justified?
FIRST LORD
The stronger part of it by her own letters, which
makes her story true, even to the point of her
death: her death itself, which could not be her
office to say is come, was faithfully confirmed by
the rector of the place.
SECOND LORD
Hath the count all this intelligence?
FIRST LORD
Ay, and the particular confirmations, point from
point, so to the full arming of the verity.

DUTCH:
Ik zie uit deze vraag, dat gij niet juist in zijn raad zit.

MORE:
Of his council=Taken into his confidence
Act=Actions
Pretence=Stated objective
In fine=In conclusion
Justified=Verified, proven
Office=Function
Intelligence=Information
Compleat:
Council=Raad, Raadvergadering
Pretence=Voorgeeving, voorwending, schyn, dekmantel
Justified=Gerechtvaardigd, verdeedigd, gebillykt
Verified=Waargemaakt, bewaarheid
Office=Een Ampt, dienst
Intelligence=Kundschap, verstandhouding

Topics: evidence, truth

I will confess what I know without constraint: if ye pinch me like a pasty, I can say no more

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 4.3
SPEAKER: Parolles
CONTEXT:
PAROLLES
I will confess what I know without constraint: if
ye pinch me like a pasty, I can say no more.
FIRST SOLDIER
Bosko chimurcho.
FIRST LORD
Boblibindo chicurmurco.
FIRST SOLDIER
You are a merciful general. Our general bids you
answer to what I shall ask you out of a note.
PAROLLES
And truly, as I hope to live.
FIRST SOLDIER
‘First demand of him how many horse the
duke is strong.’ What say you to that?
PAROLLES
Five or six thousand; but very weak and
unserviceable: the troops are all scattered, and
the commanders very poor rogues, upon my reputation
and credit and as I hope to live.
FIRST SOLDIER
Shall I set down your answer so?
PAROLLES
Do: I’ll take the sacrament on’t, how and which way you
will.

DUTCH:
Ik wil alles belijden wat ik weet, zonder dwang; al kneedt gij mij ook als een pastei, ik kan niets meer zeggen.

MORE:
If=Even if
Horse=Horsemen
Unserviceable=Not fit for service
How and which way=Howsoever

Topics: reply, loyalty, betrayal

I will never trust a man again for keeping his sword clean. Nor believe he can have every thing in him by wearing his apparel neatly

DUTCH:
Ik wil nooit meer iemand vertrouwen, omdat hij zijn
degen blank houdt, en evenmin gelooven, dat er wel iets
in hem kan zitten, omdat hij zijn kleeding met zwier
draagt.

Topics: deceit, conflict, truth, trust, , appearance

I will show myself highly fed and lowly taught

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Clown
CONTEXT:
COUNTESS
Come on, sir; I shall now put you to the height of
your breeding.
CLOWN
I will show myself highly fed and lowly taught:
I know my business is but to the court.
COUNTESS
To the court! why, what place make you special,
when you put off that with such contempt? But to the
court!
CLOWN
Truly, madam, if God have lent a man any manners, he
may easily put it off at court: he that cannot make
a leg, put off’s cap, kiss his hand and say nothing,
has neither leg, hands, lip, nor cap; and indeed
such a fellow, to say precisely, were not for the
court; but for me, I have an answer will serve all
men.

DUTCH:
Ik zal mij ten hoogste gevoed en diep geleerd betoonen. Ik weet, dat mijn zending maar naar het hof is .

MORE:
Proverb: Better fed than taught

Put you to=Make you show
Height=Extent
Compleat:
“He is better fed than taught”=Hy is beter vegoed dan onderwezen
Business=Bezigheid, werk, zaak

Topics: order/society, learning/education, proverbs and idioms, civility

I would gladly have him see his company anatomized, that he might take a measure of his own judgments

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 4.3
SPEAKER: First Lord
CONTEXT:
FIRST LORD
Is it not meant damnable in us, to be trumpeters of
our unlawful intents? We shall not then have his
company to-night?
SECOND LORD
Not till after midnight; for he is dieted to his hour.
FIRST LORD
That approaches apace; I would gladly have him see
his company anatomized, that he might take a measure
of his own judgments, wherein so curiously he had
set this counterfeit.
SECOND LORD
We will not meddle with him till he come; for his
presence must be the whip of the other.

DUTCH:

MORE:
Trumpeter=Announcer
Anatomized=Interrogated, dissected (opened up)
Dieted=Restricted
Curiously=Carefully
Counterfeit=Fake
We will not meddle=We won’t do anything with him
Compleat:
Trumpeter=Bazuyener
To diet one=Iemand eenen eet-regel voorschryven
Curiously=Keuriglyk, netjes
Counterfeit=Naamaaksel
Meddle=Bemoeijen, moeijen

Topics: plans/intentions, trust

If he do not … offer to betray you and deliver all the intelligence in his power against you

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 3.6
SPEAKER: Second Lord
CONTEXT:
FIRST LORD
It were fit you knew him; lest, reposing too far in
his virtue, which he hath not, he might at some
great and trusty business in a main danger fail you.
BERTRAM
I would I knew in what particular action to try him.
FIRST LORD
None better than to let him fetch off his drum,
which you hear him so confidently undertake to do.
SECOND LORD
I, with a troop of Florentines, will suddenly
surprise him; such I will have, whom I am sure he
knows not from the enemy: we will bind and hoodwink
him so, that he shall suppose no other but that he
is carried into the leaguer of the adversaries, when
we bring him to our own tents. Be but your lordship
present at his examination: if he do not, for the
promise of his life and in the highest compulsion of
base fear, offer to betray you and deliver all the
intelligence in his power against you, and that with
the divine forfeit of his soul upon oath, never
trust my judgment in any thing.

DUTCH:
Dat uwe edelheid dan bij zijn verhoor tegenwoordig zij;
zoo hij dan niet, als hem het leven geschonken wordt,
en onder den sterksten aandrang van lage vrees, zich
bereid verklaart u te verraden en al de inlichtingen, die
hij in zijn bezit heeft, tegen u te geven, en wel terwijl
hij zijn ziel en zaligheid bij eede op het spel zet, behoeft
gij mij nimmermeer in iets ter wereld te vertrouwen.

MORE:
Fit=Suitable
Trusty=Requiring trust
Fetch off=Bring back
Surprise=Capture
Hoodwink=Blindfold
Leaguer=Camp (from Dutch ‘leger’)
Intelligence=Information
Compleat:
To fit=Passen, pas maaken, gereedmaaken, voegen
To fetch off=Afhaalen
Surprise=Overval, verrassing, overyling, ontsteltenis, onverwacht voorval
To hoodwink=Blinddoeken, blindhokken, verblinden
Leaguer=Leger
Intelligence=Kundschap, verstandhouding

Topics: trust, perception, caution, betrayal, judgment, evidence

If men could be contented to be what they are, there were no fear in marriage

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 1.3
SPEAKER: Clown
CONTEXT:
CLOWN
I am out o’ friends, madam; and I hope to have
friends for my wife’s sake.
COUNTESS
Such friends are thine enemies, knave.
CLOWN
You’re shallow, madam, in great friends; for the
knaves come to do that for me which I am aweary of.
He that ears my land spares my team and gives me
leave to in the crop; if I be his cuckold, he’s my
drudge: he that comforts my wife is the cherisher
of my flesh and blood; he that cherishes my flesh
and blood loves my flesh and blood; he that loves my
flesh and blood is my friend: ergo, he that kisses
my wife is my friend. If men could be contented to
be what they are, there were no fear in marriage;
for young Charbon the Puritan and old Poysam the
Papist, howsome’er their hearts are severed in
religion, their heads are both one; they may jowl
horns together, like any deer i’ the herd.

DUTCH:
Als de mannen tevreden waren met te zijn wat ze zijn, zou niemand in het huwelijk iets duchten.

MORE:
Proverb: Young flesh and old fish are best
Proverb: Hearts may agree though heads differ

Shallow=Shallow of understanding
In great friends=About great friends; ingrate friends
Charbon (Chair bonne) (for Puritans who were opposed to fasting)
Poysam (Poisson) (appropriate for Roman Catholics)
Ears=Ploughs
To in=Gather, collect: “to in the crop”
Howsome’er=Howsoever
Jowl=Lock horns
Compleat:
Shallow=Ondiep
Shallowness, shallow wit=Kleinheid van begrip, dommelykheid
To ear=Land bouwen
Cuckold=Hoorndraager
Drudge=Iemand die het vuilste en slobbigste werk doet

Topics: marriage, friendship, satisfaction, proverbs and idioms

If thou engrossest all the griefs are thine, thou robb’st me of a moiety

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Countess
CONTEXT:
COUNTESS
Brought you this letter, gentlemen?
FIRST GENTLEMAN
Ay, madam;
And for the contents’ sake are sorry for our pain.
COUNTESS
I prithee, lady, have a better cheer;
If thou engrossest all the griefs are thine,
Thou robb’st me of a moiety: he was my son;
But I do wash his name out of my blood,
And thou art all my child. Towards Florence is he?
SECOND GENTLEMAN
Ay, madam.
COUNTESS
And to be a soldier?
SECOND GENTLEMAN
Such is his noble purpose; and believe ‘t,
The duke will lay upon him all the honour
That good convenience claims.

DUTCH:
Ik bid u, lieve dochter, vat meer moed;
Als gij geheel dien kommer de’ uwen rekent,
Ontrooft gij mij mijn deel.

MORE:
Have a better cheer=Cheer up
Engrossest=Claim
Moeity=Share
Good convenience=Propriety
Compleat:
Chear up=Moed scheppen, moed in spreeken
To engross=Te boek stellen, in ‘t net stellen
Moeity=De helft
Convenience=Bequaamheyd, gelegenheyd, geryflykheyd

Topics: commnication, news, claim, relationship

Iif thou be’st not an ass, I am a youth of fourteen

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 2.3
SPEAKER:
CONTEXT:
LAFEW
There’s one grape yet; I am sure thy father drunk
wine: but if thou be’st not an ass, I am a youth
of fourteen; I have known thee already.
HELEN
I dare not say I take you; but I give
Me and my service, ever whilst I live,
Into your guiding power. This is the man..
KING
Why, then, young Bertram, take her; she’s thy wife.
BERTRAM
My wife, my liege! I shall beseech your highness,
In such a business give me leave to use
The help of mine own eyes.
KING
Know’st thou not, Bertram,
What she has done for me?

DUTCH:
Dat is ten minste een druif; – ik wed, dat uw vader
wijn dronk. – Maar als gij geen ezel zijt, wil ik een
bengel zijn van veertien; ik heb u reeds doorzien.

MORE:
Proverb: Good wine makes good blood
Proverb: A falser water-drinker there lives not

Grape=Man (fruit of noble stock)
Drunk wine=Passed on good blood
Known=Found out
Compleat:
Known=Bekend, gekend

Topics: relationship, status, marriage, proverbs and idioms

In such a business give me leave to use the help of mine own eyes

DUTCH:
Mijn vrouw, mijn leenheer! ‘k Moet uw hoogheid smeeken,
Vergun ‘t gebruik mij van mijn eigen oogen
In zulk een zaak.

MORE:
Proverb: Good wine makes good blood
Proverb: A falser water-drinker there lives not

Grape=Man (fruit of noble stock)
Drunk wine=Passed on good blood
Known=Found out
Compleat:
Known=Bekend, gekend

Topics: relationship, status, marriage, proverbs and idioms

It is a charge too heavy for my strength, but yet we’ll strive to bear it

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 3.3
SPEAKER: Bertram
CONTEXT:
DUKE
The general of our horse thou art; and we,
Great in our hope, lay our best love and credence
Upon thy promising fortune.
BERTRAM
Sir, it is
A charge too heavy for my strength, but yet
We’ll strive to bear it for your worthy sake
To the extreme edge of hazard.
DUKE
Then go thou forth;
And fortune play upon thy prosperous helm,
As thy auspicious mistress!
BERTRAM
This very day,
Great Mars, I put myself into thy file:
Make me but like my thoughts, and I shall prove
A lover of thy drum, hater of love.

DUTCH:
Wees overste onzer ruiterij; wij vesten,
Vol hoop, de beste vriendschap, groot vertrouwen,
Op uw geluk, dat schoone dingen spelt.

MORE:
Horse=Cavalry
Great in our hope=”Pregnant with great hope”
Credence=Faith, trust
File=Rank of soldiers
Compleat:
Cavalry=Ruytery
Credence=Geloof, achting
A file of soldiers=Een gelid of ry soldaaten

Topics: hope/optimism, trust, fate/destiny, risk

It is in us to plant thine honour where we please to have it grow

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 2.3
SPEAKER: King
CONTEXT:
KING
My honour’s at the stake; which to defeat,
I must produce my power. Here, take her hand,
Proud scornful boy, unworthy this good gift;
That dost in vile misprision shackle up
My love and her desert; that canst not dream,
We, poising us in her defective scale,
Shall weigh thee to the beam; that wilt not know,
It is in us to plant thine honour where
We please to have it grow. Check thy contempt:
Obey our will, which travails in thy good:
Believe not thy disdain, but presently
Do thine own fortunes that obedient right
Which both thy duty owes and our power claims;
Or I will throw thee from my care for ever
Into the staggers and the careless lapse
Of youth and ignorance; both my revenge and hate
Loosing upon thee, in the name of justice,
Without all terms of pity. Speak; thine answer.
BERTRAM
Pardon, my gracious lord; for I submit
My fancy to your eyes: when I consider
What great creation and what dole of honour
Flies where you bid it, I find that she, which late
Was in my nobler thoughts most base, is now
The praised of the king; who, so ennobled,
Is as ’twere born so.

DUTCH:
Gij, die en mijne gunst en haar verdienste
Minachtend boeien aanlegt, niet begrijpt,
Dat mijn gewicht, op haar te lichte schaal
Geworpen, haar den doorslag geeft, niet inziet,
Dat onze macht uw adel planten kan,
Waar wij zijn groei begeeren.

MORE:
Misprision=1) Contempt; 2) Mistake, wrong or false imprisonment
Desert=Something deserved, either a reward or punishment
Defective=Lighter end (of the scale)
To the beam=Outweigh (raising the lighter end to the crossbeam)
Dropsied=Swollen
Plant=(Figuratively)=To give rise, to create
Check=Control
Staggers=Bewilderment, giddy confusion (a horse disease)
Careless=Reckless
Fancy=Love
Compleat:
Misprision=Verwaarloozing, verzuyming, verachteloozing
Desert=Verdienste
Defective=Gebreklyk, onvolkomen
Dropsy or dropsie=Waterzucht
The staggers=De duyzeling van een paard
Careless=Zorgeloos, kommerloos, achteloos, onachtzaam

Topics: respect, ingratitude, value, authority

It must be a very plausive invention that carries it: they begin to smoke me

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Parolles
CONTEXT:
PAROLLES
Ten o’clock: within these three hours ’twill be
time enough to go home. What shall I say I have
done? It must be a very plausive invention that
carries it: they begin to smoke me; and disgraces
have of late knocked too often at my door. I find
my tongue is too foolhardy; but my heart hath the
fear of Mars before it and of his creatures, not
daring the reports of my tongue.
SECOND LORD
This is the first truth that e’er thine own tongue
was guilty of.

DUTCH:
Wat zal ik zeggen, dat ik gedaan heb? Het meet een zeer waarschijnlijke vond zijn, als zij mij helpen zal.

MORE:
Proverb: I will smoke you

Plausive=Plausible
Smoke=Scent (suspect)
Creatures=Soldiers
Daring=Daring to do
Compleat:
Plausible=Op een schoonschynende wyze, met toejuyghinge

Topics: proverbs and idioms, suspicion, honesty, courage

Let us assay our plot; which, if it speed, is wicked meaning in a lawful deed

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 3.7
SPEAKER: Helen
CONTEXT:
WIDOW
I have yielded:
Instruct my daughter how she shall persever,
That time and place with this deceit so lawful
May prove coherent. Every night he comes
With musics of all sorts and songs composed
To her unworthiness: it nothing steads us
To chide him from our eaves; for he persists
As if his life lay on’t.
HELEN
Why then to-night
Let us assay our plot; which, if it speed,
Is wicked meaning in a lawful deed
And lawful meaning in a lawful act,
Where both not sin, and yet a sinful fact:
But let’s about it.

DUTCH:
Nu dan, deze’ avond
De zaak beproefd; en zoo ‘t gelukt, begaat
Een boosgezind gemoed een goede daad.

MORE:
Persever=Persevere
Coherent=Fitting
Stead=Assist (we have nothing to gain)
Lay=Depended
Assay=Attempt
Speed=Succeed
Fact=Deed, crime
Compleat:
Persevere=Volharden, volstandig blyven
Coherent=’t Zamenhangende
To stand in good stead=Dienstelyk zyn, goeden dienst doen
That will not stand them in stead=Dat zal hen niet te passe komen; ‘t zal hen niet baaten
To speed=Voortspoeden, voorspoedig zyn, wel gelukken
The business speeds well=Die zaak spoeit wel voort
Fact=Daad, feyt

Topics: conspiracy, plans/intentions

Let us from point to point this story know, to make the even truth in pleasure flow

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 5.3
SPEAKER: King
CONTEXT:
LAFEW
Mine eyes smell onions; I shall weep anon:
Good Tom Drum, lend me a handkerchief: so,
I thank thee: wait on me home, I’ll make sport with thee:
Let thy courtesies alone, they are scurvy ones.
KING
Let us from point to point this story know,
To make the even truth in pleasure flow.
If thou be’st yet a fresh uncropped flower,
Choose thou thy husband, and I’ll pay thy dower;
For I can guess that by thy honest aid
Thou keep’st a wife herself, thyself a maid.
Of that and all the progress, more or less,
Resolvedly more leisure shall express:
All yet seems well; and if it end so meet,
The bitter past, more welcome is the sweet.

DUTCH:
Dit alles zij ons, punt voor punt, verhaald,
Zoodat de waarheid zelf van vreugde straalt.

MORE:
Anon=Soon
Wait on=Accompany
Sport=Fun
Scurvy=Contemptible
Even=Plain
Progress=Events
More or less=Big or small
Resolvedly=Definitely
Compleat:
Anon=Daadelyk, straks, aanstonds
Wait upon=Op wachten, oppassen
Sport=Spel, kortswyl
Scurvy=Kwaad, slecht
Even=Effen
Resolvedly=Opzettelyk, met opzet

Topics: civility, order/society, respect

Let’s take the instant by the forward top

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 5.3
SPEAKER: King
CONTEXT:
BERTRAM
My high-repented blames,
Dear sovereign, pardon to me.
KING
All is whole;
Not one word more of the consumed time.
Let’s take the instant by the forward top;
For we are old, and on our quick’st decrees
The inaudible and noiseless foot of Time
Steals ere we can effect them. You remember
The daughter of this lord

DUTCH:
t Is alles goed ;
Geen woord meer van ‘t verleed’ne. ‘t Oogenblik
Zij bij de voorhoofdslok door ons gegrepen;
Want wij zijn oud, en wat wij ras ontwerpen,
Besluipt de zachte onhoorb’re voet des tijds,
Eer ‘t is volvoerd .

MORE:
Proverb: Take time (occasion) by the forelock, for she is bald behind

Take the instant by the forward top=Seize the moment
Quickest=Most keenly felt
Compleat:
At this very instant=Op dit eygenste Oogenblik
Quick=Scherp
Cut to the quick=Tot aan ‘t leeven snyden

Topics: time, risk, caution, purpose, proverbs and idioms

Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none: be able for thine enemy rather in power than use

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Countess
CONTEXT:
COUNTESS
If the living be enemy to the grief, the excess
makes it soon mortal.
BERTRAM
Madam, I desire your holy wishes.
LAFEW
How understand we that?
COUNTESS
Be thou blest, Bertram; and succeed thy father
In manners, as in shape! Thy blood and virtue
Contend for empire in thee; and thy goodness
Share with thy birthright ! Love all, trust a few,
Do wrong to none: be able for thine enemy
Rather in power than use, and keep thy friend
Under thy own life’s key: be checked for silence.
But never taxed for speech. What heaven more will
That thee may furnish, and my prayers pluck down,
Fall on thy head! Farewell, my lord;
‘Tis an unseasoned courtier; good my lord,
Advise him.

Topics: caution, trust, proverbs and idioms, still in use, nature

Lustig, as the Dutchman says

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 2.3
SPEAKER: Lafew
CONTEXT:
LAFEW
In a most weak—and debile minister, great power, great
transcendence: which should, indeed, give us a further
use to be made than alone the recovery of the king, as
to be—generally thankful.
PAROLLES
I would have said it; you say well. Here comes the king.
LAFEW
Lustig, as the Dutchman says: I’ll like a maid
the better, whilst I have a tooth in my head.
Why, he’s able to lead her a carranto.
PAROLLES
Mort du vinaigre! is not this Helen?

DUTCH:
En lustigjes, lustigjes, zooals de Hollander zegt; nu mag ik de meisjes nog te meer lijden, zoolang ik een tand in mijn mond heb. Wel, ik acht hem in staat een coranto met haar te dansen.

MORE:
Lustig: Dutch word used by English writers in Shakespeare’s time (lustick, lustique).
Carranto (Coranto)=Lively dance (from French courant or couranto)
Mort du vinaigre=What a ridiculous oath
Compleat:
Coranto (Courant)=Een soort van een dans
Stout (lusty)=Lustig

Burgersdijk notes:
En lustigjes, lustigjes, zooals de Hollander zegt. De folio heeft: Lustique, as the Dutchman saies. Capell teekent bij deze plaats aan: ,In een oud stuk, dat groote verdiensten bezit, getiteld The Weakest goeth to the Wall, gedrukt in 1600, maar hoeveel vroeger en door wien geschreven, is mij onbekend, – komt een Hollander voor, Jacob van Smelt geheeten, die een mengelmoes van Hollandsch en onze taal spreekt en bij verschillende gelegenheden ditzelfde woord (lustick) gebruikt, dat in het Engelsch lusty is .”

Topics: life, age/experience

Many likelihoods informed me of this before, which hung so tottering in the balance that I could neither believe nor misdoubt

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 1.3
SPEAKER: Countess
CONTEXT:
STEWARD
Madam, I was very late more near her than I think
she wished me: alone she was, and did communicate
to herself her own words to her own ears; she
thought, I dare vow for her, they touched not any
stranger sense. Her matter was, she loved your son:
Fortune, she said, was no goddess, that had put
such difference betwixt their two estates; Love no
god, that would not extend his might, only where
qualities were level; Dian no queen of virgins, that
would suffer her poor knight surprised, without
rescue in the first assault or ransom afterward.
This she delivered in the most bitter touch of
sorrow that e’er I heard virgin exclaim in: which I
held my duty speedily to acquaint you withal;
sithence, in the loss that may happen, it concerns
you something to know it.
COUNTESS
You have discharged this honestly; keep it to
yourself: many likelihoods informed me of this
before, which hung so tottering in the balance that
I could neither believe nor misdoubt. Pray you,
leave me: stall this in your bosom; and I thank you
for your honest care: I will speak with you further
anon. (…)

DUTCH:
Uit allerlei omstandigheden had ik dit reeds vermoed, maar deze lagen zoo onzeker in de weegschaal, dat ik noch gelooven, noch twijfelen kon.

MORE:
Stranger sense=In anyone else’s hearing
Matter=Subject
Estates=Stations
Might=Power
Qualities=Status, ranking
Level=Equal
Suffer=Allow
Surprised=Ambushed, captured
Exclaim=Lament
Sithence=Since
Tottering=Wavering
Stall=Enclose
Likelihoods=That from which a conclusion may be drawn, appearances, sign, indication
Misdoubt=Suspicion, diffidence, apprehension; have dounts as to
Compleat:
Stranger=Vreemdeling
Matter=Stof
Estate=Bezit, middelen
Might=Magt, vermoogen, kracht
Qualities=Aart, hoedanigheid, eigenschap van een ding
Level=Gelyk, vlak, effen, water-pas
Exclaim=Uytroepen, uytschreeuwen
Likelihood=Waarschynelykheid
Totter=Schudden, waggelen
Titter-totter=Waggelen, gereen zyn om te vallen
Misdoubt=’t Onrecht twyffelen

Topics: honesty, suspicion, caution

Methinks I hear him now: his plausive words he scattered not in ears, but grafted them, to grow there and to bear

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: King
CONTEXT:
BERTRAM
His good remembrance, sir,
Lies richer in your thoughts than on his tomb;
So in approof lives not his epitaph
As in your royal speech.
KING
Would I were with him! He would always say—
Methinks I hear him now: his plausive words
He scatterd not in ears, but grafted them,
To grow there and to bear ;—” Let me not live,”
Thus his good melancholy oft began,
On the catastrophe and heel of pastime.
When it was out,—” Let me not live,” quoth he,
“After my flame lacks oil, to be the snuff
Of younger spirits, whose apprehensive senses
All but new things disdain; whose judgments are
Mere fathers of their garments; whose constancies
Expire before their fashions. This he wished;
I after him do after him wish too,
Since I nor wax nor honey can bring home,
I quickly were dissolved from my hive,
To give some labourers room.

DUTCH:
O, dat ik bij hem waar! Hij zeide steeds:
Mij is ‘t, als hoor ik hem; hij strooide niet
Zijn gulden taal in ‘t oor, maar entte er die,
Zoodat ze er vruchten droeg,

MORE:
Approof=Testimony
Plausive=Pleasing, specious, plausible
Catastrophe, Heel=Both meaning end
Scattered not but grafted=Not thrown carelessly but carefully planted
Snuff=The burning wick of a candle, as darkening the flame or remaining after it.
Apprehensive=Imaginative
Compleat:
Plausible=Op een schoonschynende wyze
To snuff out a candle=Een kaars uitsnuiten
Apprehensive (sensible of)=Een ding gewaar worden

Topics: fashion/trends, language, reason, understanding, memory, legacy

Moderate lamentation is the right of the dead, excessive grief the enemy to the living.

DUTCH:
Matige bejammering is het recht van den doode, overmatige droefenis de vijand van den levende.

Topics: death, grief, appearance, excess

My honour’s at the stake; which to defeat, I must produce my power

DUTCH:
Mijn eer staat op het spel, en dit gevaar
Verdwijne voor mijn macht .

Topics: honour, reputation

My lord, you do me most insupportable vexation

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 2.3
SPEAKER: Lafew
CONTEXT:
PAROLLES
My lord, you give me most egregious indignity.
LAFEW
Ay, with all my heart; and thou art worthy of it.
PAROLLES
I have not, my lord, deserved it.
LAFEW
Yes, good faith, every dram of it; and I will not
bate thee a scruple.
PAROLLES
Well, I shall be wiser.
LAFEW
Even as soon as thou canst, for thou hast to pull at
a smack o’ the contrary. If ever thou be’st bound
in thy scarf and beaten, thou shalt find what it is
to be proud of thy bondage. I have a desire to hold
my acquaintance with thee, or rather my knowledge,
that I may say in the default, he is a man I know.
PAROLLES
My lord, you do me most insupportable vexation.
LAFEW
I would it were hell-pains for thy sake, and my poor
doing eternal: for doing I am past: as I will by
thee, in what motion age will give me leave.

DUTCH:
Mijn heer, gij doet mij den uitgezochtsten schimp aan .

MORE:

Egregious=Extraordinary, enormous
Indignity=Contemptuous injury, insult
Bate=Deduct, abate
Pull at=Swallow
A smack=A taste
Insupportable=Unbearable
Vexation=Anger, agitation
Compleat:
Egregious=Treffelyk, braaf, heerlyk
Indignity=Smaad
To bate=Verminderen, afkorten, afsyaan
Smack=Smaak
Insupportable=Onverdraagbaar, ondraagelyk, onlydelyk
Vexation=Quelling, plaaging, quellaadje

Topics: merit, offence, punishment

My poor body, madam, requires it: I am driven on by the flesh; and he must needs go that the devil drives

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 1.3
SPEAKER: Clown
CONTEXT:
COUNTESS
Wilt thou needs be a beggar?
CLOWN
I do beg your good will in this case.
COUNTESS
In what case?
CLOWN
In Isbel’s case and mine own. Service is no
heritage: and I think I shall never have the
blessing of God till I have issue o’ my body; for
they say barnes are blessings.
COUNTESS
Tell me thy reason why thou wilt marry.
CLOWN
My poor body, madam, requires it: I am driven on
by the flesh; and he must needs go that the devil
drives.

DUTCH:
Mijn arm lichaam, doorluchte vrouw, verlangt het; ik
word door het vleesch er toe gedreven; en wien de duivel aandrijft, die moet loopen.

MORE:
Proverb: He must needs go that the devil drives
Proverb: Service is no heritage (inheritance)

Issue=Offspring
Compleat:
He must needs go that the devil drives=Hy moet wel loopen die door de duivel gedreven word

Topics: marriage, reason, proverbs and idioms, still in use, invented or popularised, necessity

Nay, ’tis strange, ’tis very strange, that is the brief and the tedious of it

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 2.3
SPEAKER: Parolles
CONTEXT:
PAROLLES
Nay, ’tis strange, ’tis very strange, that is the
brief and the tedious of it; and he’s of a most
facinerious spirit that will not acknowledge it to be
the—
LAFEW
Very hand of heaven.
PAROLLES
Ay, so I say.
LAFEW
In a most weak—and debile minister, great power, great
transcendence: which should, indeed, give us a further
use to be made than alone the recovery of the king, as
to be—generally thankful.
PAROLLES
I would have said it; you say well. Here comes the
king.

DUTCH:
Ja, ‘t is wonderbaar, ‘t is recht wonderbaar, dat is het korte en het lange er van ; en hij is zeker een vervloekte vrijgeest, die niet wil erkennen, dat het –

MORE:
Brief and tedious=Short and long
Facinerious=Wicked
Debile=Feeble
Minister=Agent
Generally=Universally
Compleat:
Brief=Kort
Tedious=Langwylig; verdrietig
Debiltiy=Zwakte, zieklykheyd

Topics: custom, authority, remedy

No legacy is so rich as honesty

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 3.5
SPEAKER: Mariana
CONTEXT:
WIDOW
We have lost our labour; they are gone a contrary
way: hark! you may know by their trumpets.
MARIANA
Come, let’s return again, and suffice ourselves with
the report of it. Well, Diana, take heed of this
French earl: the honour of a maid is her name; and
no legacy is so rich as honesty.
WIDOW
I have told my neighbour how you have been solicited
by a gentleman his companion.

DUTCH:
Geen nalatenschap is zo rijk als eerlijkheid./
De eer van een meisjen is haar schat, en geen erfenis is zoo rijk als haar goede naam.

MORE:
Proverb: He that will not labour must not eat
Proverb: You lose your labour

Honesty also used to mean virginity.
Suffice ourselves=Be satisfied with
Heed=Suspicious watch, caution
Compleat:
Honesty (chastity)=Kuisheid (also a plant)
Heed=Hoede, zorg, acht, toezigt

Topics: honour, honesty, proverbs and idioms

Now I see the bottom of your purpose

DUTCH:
Thans doorzie ik Uw plan tot op den grond

Topics: plans/intentions, purpose

O, let me live, and all the secrets of our camp I’ll show, their force, their purposes

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Parolles
CONTEXT:
FIRST SOLDIER
The general is content to spare thee yet;
And, hoodwinked as thou art, will lead thee on
To gather from thee: haply thou mayst inform
Something to save thy life.
PAROLLES
O, let me live!
And all the secrets of our camp I’ll show,
Their force, their purposes; nay, I’ll speak that
Which you will wonder at.
FIRST SOLDIER
But wilt thou faithfully?
PAROLLES
If I do not, damn me.
FIRST SOLDIER
Acordo linta.
Come on; thou art granted space.

DUTCH:
O, laat mij leven ;
En ik vertel u elk geheim van ‘t kamp,
De sterkte en plannen ; ja, ik deel u mee,
Wat u verbazen zal.

MORE:
Lead thee on=Deceive you more
Gather=Collect information
Haply=Perhaps
Space=Reprieve
Compleat:
Gather=Inzamelen
Haply=Misschien
Space=ruymte; tyd

Topics: secrecy, betrayal

Oft expectation fails, and most oft there where most it promises

DUTCH:
Verwachting faalt niet zelden, ‘t meest, wanneer
Zij ‘t meest belooft; en vaak maakt ze alles goed,
Als hoop, verkild, voor wanhoop wijken moet.

Topics: still in use, invented or popularised, achievement, hope/optimism

Oft our displeasures, to ourselves unjust, destroy our friends and after weep their dust

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 5.3
SPEAKER: King
CONTEXT:
BERTRAM
Admiringly, my liege, at first
I stuck my choice upon her, ere my heart
Durst make too bold a herald of my tongue
Where the impression of mine eye infixing,
Contempt his scornful perspective did lend me,
Which warp’d the line of every other favour;
Scorn’d a fair colour, or express’d it stolen;
Extended or contracted all proportions
To a most hideous object: thence it came
That she whom all men praised and whom myself,
Since I have lost, have loved, was in mine eye
The dust that did offend it.
KING
Well excused:
That thou didst love her, strikes some scores away
From the great compt: but love that comes too late,
Like a remorseful pardon slowly carried,
To the great sender turns a sour offence,
Crying, ‘That’s good that’s gone.’ Our rash faults
Make trivial price of serious things we have,
Not knowing them until we know their grave:
Oft our displeasures, to ourselves unjust,
Destroy our friends and after weep their dust
Our own love waking cries to see what’s done,
While shame full late sleeps out the afternoon.
Be this sweet Helen’s knell, and now forget her.
Send forth your amorous token for fair Maudlin:
The main consents are had; and here we’ll stay
To see our widower’s second marriage-day.

DUTCH:
Vaak drijft ons booze dolheid, en verslaan
We een vriend, om weenend aan zijn graf te staan;

MORE:
Stuck=Fixed
Perspectives=(a) Multifaceted crystal balls, often mounted; (b) A type of painting which, when viewed obliquely, reveals another (more complex or deeper) meaning
Scores=debits
Compt=Account
Remorseful=Regretful, guilty
Compleat:
Perspective=Een verschiet, doorzigt
A piece of perspective=Een afbeelding in ‘t verschiet
A perspective glass=Een verrekyker
Score=Rekening, kerfstok
Scored up=Op rekening, op de kerfstok gezet
Accompt=Rekening, begrooting
Remorse=Knaaging, wroeging, berouw

Topics: regret, guilt, sorrow

Only sin and hellish obstinacy tie thy tongue, that truth should be suspected

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 1.3
SPEAKER: Countess
CONTEXT:
COUNTESS
Yes, Helen, you might be my daughter-in-law:
God shield you mean it not! daughter and mother
So strive upon your pulse. What, pale again?
My fear hath catched your fondness: now I see
The mystery of your loneliness, and find
Your salt tears’ head: now to all sense ’tis gross
You love my son; invention is ashamed,
Against the proclamation of thy passion,
To say thou dost not: therefore tell me true;
But tell me then, ’tis so ; for, look, thy cheeks
Confess it, th’ one to th’ other; and thine eyes
See it so grossly shown in thy behaviours,
That in their kind they speak it: only sin
And hellish obstinacy tie thy tongue,
That truth should be suspected. Speak, is ‘t so ?
If it be so, you have wound a goodly clew;
If it be not, forswear ‘t : howe’er, I charge thee,
As heaven shall work in me for thine avail,
To tell me truly.

DUTCH:
Slechts zonde
En wederspannige onwil boeit uw tong,
Dat die de waarheid heel’.

MORE:
Proverb: In being your own foe, you spin a fair thread
Proverb: You have spun a fine (fair) thread

Gross=Palpable
Grossly=Conspicuously
Clew=Ball of thread
Compleat:
Gross=Grof, plomp, onbebouwen
You grossly mistake my meaning=Gy vergist u grootelyks omtrent myn meening
Clew=Een kluwen (garen)

Topics: truth, deceit, love, appearance, proverbs and idioms

Our dearest friend prejudicates the business and would seem to have us make denial

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: King
CONTEXT:
KING
The Florentines and Senoys are by the ears;
Have fought with equal fortune and continue
A braving war.
FIRST LORD
So ’tis reported, sir.
KING
Nay, ’tis most credible; we here received it
A certainty, vouch’d from our cousin Austria,
With caution that the Florentine will move us
For speedy aid; wherein our dearest friend
Prejudicates the business and would seem
To have us make denial.
FIRST LORD
His love and wisdom,
Approved so to your majesty, may plead
For amplest credence.

DUTCH:
En waarschuwt, dat Florence om rasschen bijstand
Ons vragen zal; ja, onze waarde vriend
Spreekt reeds vooruit zijn oordeel uit en wenscht ,
Dat wij het weig’ren.

MORE:
By the ears=In a scuffle
Braving war=Defiant war
Vouched=Affirmed
Move=Urge
Prejudicates=Prejudges
Plead for=Serve as
Compleat:
To set people together by the ears=’t Volk tegen malkanderen ophitsen
To brave=Trotsen, braveeren, trotseeren, moedig treden
To vouch=Staande houden, bewyzen, verzekeren
To move=Verroeren, gaande maaken; voorstellen
Prejudicate=Vooroordeelig, vooringenomen

Topics: courage, conflict, wisdom, advice

Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie which we ascribe to heaven

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Helen
CONTEXT:
HELEN
Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie,
Which we ascribe to heaven: the fated sky
Gives us free scope, only doth backward pull
Our slow designs when we ourselves are dull.
What power is it which mounts my love so high,
That makes me see, and cannot feed mine eye?
The mightiest space in fortune nature brings
To join like likes and kiss like native things.
Impossible be strange attempts to those
That weigh their pains in sense and do suppose
What hath been cannot be: who ever strove
To show her merit, that did miss her love?
The king’s disease—my project may deceive me,
But my intents are fixed and will not leave me.

DUTCH:
Vaak vinden we in onszelf de hulp en baat,
Die wij den hemel vragen. ‘t Noodlot laat
Den weg ons vrij, en spert dien enkel dan,
Wanneer wij loom en traag zijn, zonder plan.

MORE:
Proverb: Like will to like (“To join like likes”)

Fated=Fateful (see also King Lear “The plagues that hang fated over men’s faults”, 3.2)
Mightiest space in fortune=Greatest difference in social rank
Weigh their pains=Count the cost
In sense=In advance
Miss=Fail to gain
Compleat:
Fated=Door ‘t noodlot beschooren
Sense=Het gevoel; gevoeligheid; besef; reden
To take pains=Moeite doen, arbeid aanwenden

Topics: independence, fate/destiny , remedy, satisfaction, achievement, proverbs and idioms

Praising what is lost makes the remembrance dear

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 5.3
SPEAKER: King
CONTEXT:
LAFEW
This I must say,
But first I beg my pardon, the young lord
Did to his majesty, his mother and his lady
Offence of mighty note; but to himself
The greatest wrong of all. He lost a wife
Whose beauty did astonish the survey
Of richest eyes, whose words all ears took captive,
Whose dear perfection hearts that scorn’d to serve
Humbly call’d mistress.
LAFEW
Praising what is lost
Makes the remembrance dear. Well, call him hither;
We are reconciled, and the first view shall kill
All repetition: let him not ask our pardon;
The nature of his great offence is dead,
And deeper than oblivion we do bury
The incensing relics of it: let him approach,
A stranger, no offender; and inform him
So ’tis our will he should.

DUTCH:
Lofprijzingen van het verleden laten ons verdrinken in dierbare herinneringen./
‘t Verloor’ne hoog te roemen, Maakt ons ‘t herdenken dierbaar.

MORE:
Proverb: Praising what is lost makes the remembrance dear

‘The first view shall kill all repetition’=after the first meeting the past will be forgotten
Incensing relics=Relics that “receive a perfuming with or offering of incense” (OED)
Compleat:
Praising=Pryzing
Remembrance=Gedachtenis, geheugenis

Topics: value, mercy, friendship, proverbs and idioms, still in use

Proffers not took reap thanks for their reward

DUTCH:
Verloren moeite moet zichzelf betalen;
Slechts dank wordt voor versmaden dienst verkregen.

Topics: still in use, invented or popularised, achievement, hope/optimism

Service is no heritage

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 1.3
SPEAKER: Lavatch
CONTEXT:
COUNTESS
Wilt thou needs be a beggar?
CLOWN
I do beg your good will in this case.
COUNTESS
In what case?
CLOWN
In Isbel’s case and mine own. Service is no
heritage: and I think I shall never have the
blessing of God till I have issue o’ my body; for
they say barnes are blessings.
COUNTESS
Tell me thy reason why thou wilt marry.
CLOWN
My poor body, madam, requires it: I am driven on
by the flesh; and he must needs go that the devil
drives.

DUTCH:
In Bella’s en mijn eigen zaak. Dienst is geen erfdeel, en ik geloof, dat ik Gods zegen nimmer bezitten zal, voor ik telgen mijns lichaams rijk ben; want het zeggen is, kinderen zijn een zegen .

MORE:
Proverb: Service is no inheritance

Barnes (bairns)=Children
Service=Place and office of a servant
Compleat:
Service=Dienstbaarheid
Service is no inheritance=Den dienst is geen erfgoed
Barn (or bearn)=Een kind

Topics: work, order/society, poverty and wealth, value, proverbs and idioms

So we seem to know, is to know straight our purpose: choughs’ language, gabble enough, and good enough

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Second Lord
CONTEXT:
SECOND LORD
He must think us some band of strangers i’ the
adversary’s entertainment. Now he hath a smack of
all neighbouring languages; therefore we must every
one be a man of his own fancy, not to know what we
speak one to another; so we seem to know, is to
know straight our purpose: choughs’ language,
gabble enough, and good enough. As for you,
interpreter, you must seem very politic. But couch,
ho! here he comes, to beguile two hours in a sleep,
and then to return and swear the lies he forges.

DUTCH:
Nu heeft hij van alle naburige talen wat opgepikt; daarom moet ieder van ons maar zijn eigen wartaal maken, zoodat de een niet verstaat wat de ander zegt; als wij ons maar
houden of wij elkaar verstaan, is dit volkomen voldoende; raafgekras en kraaigeschreeuw, hoe zinloozer, des te beter. Wat u betreft, tolk, gij moet met beleid uw rol spelen.

MORE:
Strangers=Foreigners
Smack=Smattering
Chough=Jackdaw, crow
Politic=Cunning
Couch=Hide, lie low
Compleat:
Stranger=Vreemdeling
Smack=Smaak, smak
He has a smack of his country-speech=Zyne tong hangt nog wat na zyn eygene spraak
Chough=Kaauw
Politick (or cunning)=Slim, schrander, doorsleepen

Topics: conflict, plans/intentions

Speak what terrible language you will: though you understand it not yourselves, no matter

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Second Lord
CONTEXT:
SECOND LORD
He can come no other way but by this hedge-corner.
When you sally upon him, speak what terrible
language you will: though you understand it not
yourselves, no matter; for we must not seem to
understand him, unless some one among us whom we
must produce for an interpreter.
FIRST SOLDIER
Good captain, let me be the interpreter.
SECOND LORD
Art not acquainted with him? knows he not thy voice?
FIRST SOLDIER
No, sir, I warrant you.
SECOND LORD
But what linsey-woolsey hast thou to speak to us again?

DUTCH:
Spreek, als gjj hem overvalt, een vreeselijke taal, hoe
ook; al verstaat gij die zelf niet, het doet er niet toe;
want wij moeten doen alsof wij hem niet verstaan, op
een van ons na, dien wij voor een tolk moeten uitgeven.

MORE:
Sally upon=Ambush
Linsey-woolsey=Nonsense, mish-mash (originally a fabric mixdure of linen and wool)
Compleat:
Linsey woolsey=Tierenteyn, stof van half garen en half wol, boezel stof, miscellaan
Sally=Een uytval
To saly forth=Uytvallen, eenen uytval doen

Topics: language, misunderstanding, conflict

Such a man might be a copy to these younger times, which, followed well, would demonstrate them now but goers backward

DUTCH:
Een man als hij kon onzen jong’ren tijd
Een voorbeeld zijn, dat, nagevolgd, zou toonen,
Hoe deze tijd teruggaat.

Topics: civility, life, age/experience, independence, order/society, respect, fashion/trends, understanding

Such were our faults, or then we thought them none

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 1.3
SPEAKER: Countess
CONTEXT:
COUNTESS
You have discharged this honestly; keep it to
yourself: many likelihoods informed me of this
before, which hung so tottering in the balance that
I could neither believe nor misdoubt. Pray you,
leave me: stall this in your bosom; and I thank you
for your honest care: I will speak with you further
anon.
Even so it was with me when I was young:
If ever we are nature’s, these are ours; this thorn
Doth to our rose of youth rightly belong;
Our blood to us, this to our blood is born;
It is the show and seal of nature’s truth,
Where love’s strong passion is impress’d in youth:
By our remembrances of days foregone,
Such were our faults, or then we thought them none.
Her eye is sick on’t: I observe her now.

DUTCH:
Natuur bezegelt jeugd als waar en goed,
Plant zij haar zulk een hartstocht in ‘t gemoed;
Ja, ‘k pleegde in mijne dagen van voorheen
Gelijk vergrijp, of dacht, bet was er geen.

MORE:
Likelihoods=That from which a conclusion may be drawn, appearances, sign, indication
Misdoubt=Suspicion, diffidence, apprehension; have dounts as to
Show=Sign
Compleat:
Likelihood=Waarschynelykheid
Misdoubt=’t Onrecht twyffelen
Show=Vertooning

Topics: honesty, suspicion, caution

That you may well perceive I have not wrong’d you

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 4.4
SPEAKER: Helen
CONTEXT:
HELEN
That you may well perceive I have not wrong’d you,
One of the greatest in the Christian world
Shall be my surety; ‘fore whose throne ’tis needful,
Ere I can perfect mine intents, to kneel:
Time was, I did him a desired office,
Dear almost as his life; which gratitude
Through flinty Tartar’s bosom would peep forth,
And answer, thanks: I duly am inform’d
His grace is at Marseilles; to which place
We have convenient convoy. You must know
I am supposed dead: the army breaking,
My husband hies him home; where, heaven aiding,
And by the leave of my good lord the king,
We’ll be before our welcome.
WIDOW
Gentle madam,
You never had a servant to whose trust
Your business was more welcome.

DUTCH:
Opdat gij ziet, dat ik u niet bedroog,
Zal een der grootsten uit de christenheid
Mijn borg zijn, voor wiens troon ik knielen moet,
Eer ik mijn doel geheel bereiken kan.

MORE:
Office=Service
Convenient=Suitable, appropriate
Convoy=Transport
Breaking=Disbanding
Hie=Hasten
Our welcome=When we are expected
Compleat:
Office=Een Ampt, dienst
Convenient=Bequaam, gelegen, geryflyk
Convoy=Geley, vrygeleyde, konvooi
The armies will soon break up=De Leegers zullen haast opbreeken
To hie (hye)=Reppen, haasten
Welcome=Onthaal; welkomst

Topics: trust, loyalty, justification

The complaints I have heard of you I do not all believe; ’tis my slowness that I do not

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 1.3
SPEAKER: Countess
CONTEXT:
COUNTESS
I will now hear; what say you of this gentlewoman?
STEWARD
Madam, the care I have had to even your content, I
wish might be found in the calendar of my past
endeavours; for then we wound our modesty and make
foul the clearness of our deservings, when of
ourselves we publish them.
COUNTESS
What does this knave here? Get you gone, sirrah:
the complaints I have heard of you I do not all
believe: ’tis my slowness that I do not; for I know
you lack not folly to commit them, and have ability
enough to make such knaveries yours.
CLOWN
‘Tis not unknown to you, madam, I am a poor fellow.
COUNTESS
Well, sir.
CLOWN
No, madam, ’tis not so well that I am poor, though
many of the rich are damned: but, if I may have
your ladyship’s good will to go to the world, Isbel
the woman and I will do as we may.

DUTCH:
[D]e klachten, die ik over u hoorde, wil ik niet alle gelooven; ‘t is uit lankmoedigheid, dat ik het niet doe; want ik weet, dat het u niet aan dwaasheid ontbreekt om zulke streken te begaan, en dat gij handigheid genoeg hebt om ze uit te voeren .

MORE:
Slowness=Dullness of intellect or comprehension (OED)
Folly=Perversity of judgment, absurdity
Knaveries=Roguish tricks
Even=Make even, even out
Compleat:
Slowness=Traagheyd, loomheyd
Folly (vice, excess, imperfection)=Ondeugd, buitenspoorigheid, onvolmaaktheid
Knavery=Guitery, boertery
To even=Effenen, vereffenen, effenmaaken, gelykmaaken

Topics: insult, offence, integrity, truth, trust, gullibility

The hind that would be mated with the lion must die for love

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Helen
CONTEXT:
HELEN
O, were that all! I think not on my father;
And these great tears grace his remembrance more
Than those I shed for him. What was he like?
I have forgot him: my imagination
Carries no favour in’t but Bertram’s.
I am undone: there is no living, none,
If Bertram be away. ‘Twere all one
That I should love a bright particular star
And think to wed it, he is so above me:
In his bright radiance and collateral light
Must I be comforted, not in his sphere.
The ambition in my love thus plagues itself:
The hind that would be mated by the lion
Must die for love. ‘Twas pretty, though plague,
To see him every hour; to sit and draw
His arched brows, his hawking eye, his curls,
In our heart’s table; heart too capable
Of every line and trick of his sweet favour:
But now he’s gone, and my idolatrous fancy
Must sanctify his relics. Who comes here?
HELEN
One that goes with him: I love him for his sake;
And yet I know him a notorious liar,
Think him a great way fool, solely a coward;
Yet these fixed evils sit so fit in him,
That they take place, when virtue’s steely bones
Look bleak i’ the cold wind: withal, full oft we see
Cold wisdom waiting on superfluous folly.

DUTCH:
De hinde, die den leeuw als gade wenscht,
Komt om door liefde

MORE:
Proverb: One may point at a star but not pull at it

Radiance=Rays of light
Undone=Ruined
Sphere=Orbit
Plague=Punish
Hawking=Sharp
Sanctify=Worship
Compleat:
Undone=Ontdaan, losgemaakt
Plague=Plaagen, quellen
Sanctify=Heyligen, heylig maaken

Topics: relationship, order/society, love, proverbs and idioms

The inaudible and noiseless foot of time steals ere we can effect them

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 5.3
SPEAKER: King
CONTEXT:
KING
I am not a day of season,
For thou mayst see a sunshine and a hail
In me at once: but to the brightest beams
Distracted clouds give way; so stand thou forth;
The time is fair again.
BERTRAM
My high-repented blames,
Dear sovereign, pardon to me.
KING
All is whole;
Not one word more of the consumed time.
Let’s take the instant by the forward top;
For we are old, and on our quick’st decrees
The inaudible and noiseless foot of Time
Steals ere we can effect them . You remember
The daughter of this lord

MORE:
Proverb: Take time (occasion) by the forelock, for she is bald behind

Take the instant by the forward top=Seize the moment
Quickest=Most keenly felt
Compleat:
At this very instant=Op dit eygenste Oogenblik
Quick=Scherp
Cut to the quick=Tot aan ‘t leeven snyden

Topics: time, age/experience, emotion and mood

The rather will I spare my praises towards him: knowing him is enough

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: Helen
CONTEXT:
HELEN
Ay, my good lord.
Gerard de Narbon was my father;
In what he did profess, well found.
KING
I knew him.
HELEN
The rather will I spare my praises towards him:
Knowing him is enough. On’s bed of death
Many receipts he gave me: chiefly one.
Which, as the dearest issue of his practice,
And of his old experience the oily darling,
He bade me store up, as a triple eye,
Safer than mine own two, more dear; I have so;
And hearing your high majesty is touched
With that malignant cause wherein the honour
Of my dear father’s gift stands chief in power,
I come to tender it and my appliance
With all bound humbleness.

DUTCH:
Te minder heb ik noodig hem te roemen;
Genoeg is ‘t hem te kennen.

MORE:
Receipt=Prescription
Dearest issue=Most valuable product
Malignant cause=Disease
Honour=Virtue
Chief in power=Has most effect
Appliance=Treatment
Bound=Dutiful, appropriate
Compleat:
Receipt (receit)=Geneesmiddel
Issue=Uytkomst, uytslag; afkomst, afkomeling
Dear=Waard, lief, dierbaar, dier
Bound=Gebonden, verbonden, verpligt, dienstbaar
Humbleness=Ootmoedigheyd, nederigheyd

Topics: honour, skill

The troops are all scattered, and the commanders very poor rogues

DUTCH:
Vijf- of zesduizend ; maar zeer zwak en slecht geoefend;
de troepen zijn allen verspreid en de aanvoerders recht
arme sukkels, op mijn eer en goeden naam en zoowaar
ik in het leven hoop te blijven.

MORE:
If=Even if
Horse=Horsemen
Unserviceable=Not fit for service
How and which way=Howsoever

Topics: reply, loyalty, betrayal

The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 4.3
SPEAKER: First Lord
CONTEXT:
FIRST LORD
How mightily sometimes we make us comforts of our
losses!
SECOND LORD
And how mightily some other times we drown our gain
in tears! The great dignity that his valour hath
here acquired for him shall at home be encountered
with a shame as ample.
FIRST LORD
The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and
ill together: our virtues would be proud, if our
faults whipped them not; and our crimes would
despair, if they were not cherished by our virtues.

DUTCH:
Het weefsel van ons leven bestaat uit gemengd garen,
goed en slecht dooreen; onze deugden zouden trotsch
zijn, indien zij niet door onze ondeugden gestriemd werden; en onze slechtheid zou wanhopig zijn, als ze niet door onze deugden vertroost werd.

MORE:
Cherish=Comfort, encourage, console
Despair=Cause (us to) despair
Whipped (Metaphorically)=to lash with sarcasm, to have a lash at, to put to the blush
Compleat:
To put to the blush=Iemand eene kleur aanjaagen, beschaamd maaken
Cherish=Koesteren, opkweeken, streelen, aankweeken

Topics: life, virtue, good and bad

Then my dial goes not true: I took this lark for a bunting

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 2.5
SPEAKER: Lafew
CONTEXT:
BERTRAM
Yes, my lord, and of very valiant approof.
LAFEW
You have it from his own deliverance.
BERTRAM
And by other warranted testimony.
LAFEW
Then my dial goes not true: I took this lark for a bunting.
BERTRAM
I do assure you, my lord, he is very great in knowledge, and accordingly valiant.
LAFEW
I have then sinned against his experience and transgressed against his valour; and my state that way is dangerous, since I cannot yet find in my heart to repent. Here he comes ; I pray you, make us friends ; I will pursue the amity.

DUTCH:
Dan gaat mijn uurwerk niet goed. Ik hield dezen leeuwrik voor een gors.

MORE:
Proverb: To take a bunting for a lark

“The bunting is, in feather, size, and form, so like the skylark, as to require nice attention to discover the one from the other; it also ascends and sinks in the air nearly in the same manner; but it has little or no song, which gives estimation to the skylark.” (Johnson).

Approof=Proven (valour)
Deliverance=Account
Accordingly=Correspondingly
Dangerous=At risk (of damnation)
Amity=Friendship
Compleat:
Amity=Vrindschap, vreede, eendracht
Deliverance=Overlevering, verlossing

Burgersdijk notes:
Ik hield dezen leeuwrik voor een gors. De bedoelde gors, in het Engelsch bunting, is de grauwe gors, ook wel gierstvogel genoemd. Terwijl de leeuwrik zich hoog in de lucht verheft en aangenaam zingt, zet de gors zich op steenen palen, struiken of lage boomen en laat daar vaak zijn schor, bijna knarsend geluid hooren, dat nauwelijks een zang te noemen is. Het zeggen van LAFEW doet zien, hoe goed Sh. de vogels kende, want de gors en Ieeuwrik gelijken in kleur van gevederte veel op elkaar, en de gorzen, die in den herfst en den winter in troepen bijeen leven, worden, omdat zij dan zeer vet zijn, in Engeland en elders vaak gevangen en, onder den naam van leeuwriken, voor de tafel verkocht.

Topics: gullibility, appearance, offence, error, regret, proverbs and idioms

There can be no kernel in this light nut; the soul of this man is his clothes

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 2.5
SPEAKER: Lafew
CONTEXT:
LAFEW
Fare you well, my lord; and
believe this of me, there can be no kernel in this
light nut; the soul of this man is his clothes.
Trust him not in matter of heavy consequence;
I have kept of them tame, and know their natures.
Farewell, monsieur: I have spoken better
of you than you have or will to deserve at my
hand; but we must do good against evil.

DUTCH:
Vaarwel, mijn heer, en geloof mij, in deze vooze noot kan geen pit schuilen; de ziel van dezen mensch zit in zijn kleederen.

MORE:
Light nut=Lightweight
Consequence=Influence, importance
Compleat:
Consequence=Belang

Topics: status, merit, respect, good and bad, appearance, fashion/trend

They say, our French lack language to deny

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: King
CONTEXT:
KING
Farewell, young lords; these warlike principles
Do not throw from you: and you, my lords, farewell:
Share the advice betwixt you; if both gain all,
The gift doth stretch itself as ’tis received,
And is enough for both.
FIRST LORD
‘Tis our hope, sir,
After well enter’d soldiers, to return
And find your grace in health.
KING
No, no, it cannot be; and yet my heart
Will not confess he owes the malady
That doth my life besiege. Farewell, young lords;
Whether I live or die, be you the sons
Of worthy Frenchmen: let higher Italy,—
Those bated that inherit but the fall
Of the last monarchy,—see that you come
Not to woo honour, but to wed it; when
The bravest questant shrinks, find what you seek,
That fame may cry you loud: I say, farewell.
SECOND LORD
Health, at your bidding, serve your majesty!
KING
Those girls of Italy, take heed of them:
They say, our French lack language to deny,
If they demand: beware of being captives,
Before you serve.

DUTCH:
Neemt u in acht voor de Italiaansche vrouwen ;
De Franschen, zegt men, weten niet te weig’ren,
Als die iets vragen ; geeft u niet gevangen,
Reeds voor gij strijdt.

MORE:
Warlike=Military
All=Shared, without being divided
Well-entered=Properly initiated
Be you=Act as if you are
Bated=Abated, dwindling
But=Only
Fall=Decline
Questant=Of those on a quest, seeking
Compleat:
Warlike=Strydbaar, oorlogs, krygs
Warlike discipline=Krygstugt
Initiated=Ingewyd, in de eerste gronden onderweezen, in eenig konstgenootschap aangenomen
Bate=Verminderen, afkorten, afslaan
Fall=Val, verval
Quest=Onderzoek [omtrent misdryf]

Topics: integrity, advice, legacy, courage

They wear themselves in the cap of the time, there do muster true gait, eat, speak, and move under the influence of the most received star

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: Parolles
CONTEXT:
PAROLLES
Use a more spacious ceremony to the
noble lords; you have restrained yourself within the
list of too cold an adieu: be more expressive to
them: for they wear themselves in the cap of the
time, there do muster true gait, eat, speak, and
move under the influence of the most received star;
and though the devil lead the measure, such are to
be followed: after them, and take a more dilated
farewell.
BERTRAM
And I will do so.
PAROLLES
Worthy fellows; and like to prove most sinewy
sword-men.

DUTCH:
[D]ruk meer hartelijkheid tegen hen uit; want de nieuwe tjjd draagt hen als het ware op zijn muts; gij hebt in hen toonbeelden, hoe men gaan, eten, spreken en zich bewegen moet onder den invloed van het meest geliefd gesternte; en al danste de duivel voor, zulke menschen moet men volgen.

MORE:
Spacious=Expansive
Ceremony=Courtesy
Dilated=Extended
Wear the cap of time=Are fashionable
Received=Fashionable
Compleat:
Spacious=Ruym, wyd
Ceremony=Plegtigheyd
Dilate=Verwyden, uitweyden

Topics: fashion/trends, independence

Thou this to hazard needs must intimate skill infinite or monstrous desperate

DUTCH:
Waagt gij dit alles, o, uw kunst moet groot,
Onfeilbaar zijn, of driest tot in den dood .
‘k Beproef dus, lieflijke arts, uw artsenij,
Die, zoo zij mijn dood is, ook de uwe zij .

Topics: haste, risk

Thy casement I need not open, for I look through thee

DUTCH:
En daarmee, mijn good tralievenster, vaarwel! ik behoef uw luik niet te openen, want ik zie u door en door. Geef mij de hand.

MORE:
Proverb: As good (better) lost as (than) found

Topics: proverbs and idioms, wisdom, appearance, discovery, understanding

To say nothing, to do nothing, to know nothing, and to have nothing is to be a great part of your title

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 2.4
SPEAKER: Clown
CONTEXT:
CLOWN
So that you had her wrinkles and I her money,
I would she did as you say.
PAROLLES
Why, I say nothing.
CLOWN
Marry, you are the wiser man; for many a man’s
tongue shakes out his master’s undoing: to say
nothing, to do nothing, to know nothing, and to have
nothing, is to be a great part of your title; which
is within a very little of nothing.
PAROLLES
Away! thou’rt a knave.

DUTCH:
Het wijste, wat gij doen kunt, want menigen dienaar’s
tong praat zijn meester in het verderf. Niets zeggen,
niets doen, niets weten en niets hebben, maakt een
groot deel van uw waardigheid uit, die uit een zeer
klein deel van niets bestaat.

MORE:
Title=Intrinsic value, position
Undoing=Ruin
Compleat:
Undoing=Losmaaking, bederving
That was the undoing of him=Dat was zyn verderf

Topics: respect, order/society, ruin

To what metal this counterfeit lump of ore will be melted

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 3.6
SPEAKER: First Lord
CONTEXT:
SECOND LORD
I, with a troop of Florentines, will suddenly
surprise him; such I will have, whom I am sure he
knows not from the enemy: we will bind and hoodwink
him so, that he shall suppose no other but that he
is carried into the leaguer of the adversaries, when
we bring him to our own tents. Be but your lordship
present at his examination: if he do not, for the
promise of his life and in the highest compulsion of
base fear, offer to betray you and deliver all the
intelligence in his power against you, and that with
the divine forfeit of his soul upon oath, never
trust my judgment in any thing.
FIRST LORD
O, for the love of laughter, let him fetch his drum;
he says he has a stratagem for’t: when your
lordship sees the bottom of his success in’t, and to
what metal this counterfeit lump of ore will be
melted, if you give him not John Drum’s
entertainment, your inclining cannot be removed.
Here he comes.

DUTCH:
Als uwe edelheid den uitslag doorziet en opmerkt, tot
welk metaal die valsche goudklomp smelt, en hem dan niet
een roffel geeft, dat hij nooit terugkomt, dan is uwe liefde
voor hem inderdaad niet uit te roeien.

MORE:
Proverb: Jack (John) Drum’s entertainment

Surprise=Capture
Hoodwink=Blindfold
Leaguer=Camp (from Dutch ‘leger’)
Intelligence=Information
John Drum’s entertainment=To be thrown out
Compleat:
Surprise=Overval, verrassing, overyling, ontsteltenis, onverwacht voorval
To hoodwink=Blinddoeken, blindhokken, verblinden
Leaguer=Leger
Intelligence=Kundschap, verstandhouding

Topics: trust, perception, caution, betrayal, judgment, evidence, proverbs and idioms

We make trifles of terrors, ensconcing ourselves into seeming knowledge

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 2.3
SPEAKER: Lafew
CONTEXT:
LAFEW
They say miracles are past; and we have our
philosophical persons, to make modern and familiar, things supernatural and causeless. Hence is it that
we make trifles of terrors, ensconcing ourselves
into seeming knowledge, when we should submit
ourselves to an unknown fear.
PAROLLES
Why, ’tis the rarest argument of wonder that hath
shot out in our latter times.

DUTCH:
Men zegt, dat de tijd der wonderen voorbij is; en wij hebben onder ons wijsgeerige koppen genoeg, die bovennatuurlijke en onverklaarbare dingen tot alledaagsche en gewone zaken maken.

MORE:
Modern=Common, everyday
Causeless=Without explanation
Supernatural=Not produced according to the laws of nature, miraculous:
Ensconcing=Sheltering
Unknown fear=Recognition of the inexplicable
Compleat:
Causeless=Zonder oorzaak
Seeming=Schynende
A man of great seeming piety=Een man van eene groote uitwendige vroomheid
Trifle=Kleinigheid

Topics: learning/education, caution, understanding, justification

We may pick a thousand salads ere we light on such another herb

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 4.5
SPEAKER: Lafew
CONTEXT:
LAFEW
‘Twas a good lady, ’twas a good lady: we may pick a thousand salads ere we light on such another herb.
CLOWN
Indeed, sir, she was the sweet marjoram of the salad, or rather the herb of grace.
LAFEW
They are not herbs, you knave; they are nose-herbs.
CLOWN
I am no great Nebuchadnezzar, sir; I have not much skill in grass.

DUTCH:
Zij was een good meisjen, een good meisjen; wij kunnen duizendmaal veldsalade zoeken, eer wij zulk een kruid weer lezen.

MORE:
Herb of grace=Rue
Nose-herbs=Scented flowers (nosegay) cultivated for fragrance
Grass/grace pun: Nebuchadnezzar lost his sanity and “was driven from men and did eat grass as oxen”.
Compleat:
Nosegay=Een ruikertje, tuiltje
Burgersdijk notes:
Het genadekruid. “The herb of grace”. Een oogenblik later zegt de nar: “I have not much skill in grass”. De woordspeling met grace en grass was natuurljjk niet terug te geven .Het genadekruid is de wijnruit, Ruta graveolens. Verg. Richard II, 3.4.

Topics: virtue, reputation

We’ll sift this matter further

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 5.3
SPEAKER: King
CONTEXT:
KING
Thou speak’st it falsely, as I love mine honour;
And makest conjectural fears to come into me
Which I would fain shut out. If it should prove
That thou art so inhuman,—’twill not prove so;—
And yet I know not: thou didst hate her deadly,
And she is dead; which nothing, but to close
Her eyes myself, could win me to believe,
More than to see this ring. Take him away.
My fore-past proofs, howe’er the matter fall,
Shall tax my fears of little vanity,
Having vainly feared too little. Away with him!
We’ll sift this matter further.
BERTRAM
If you shall prove
This ring was ever hers, you shall as easy
Prove that I husbanded her bed in Florence,
Where yet she never was.
KING
I am wrapp’d in dismal thinkings.

DUTCH:
Hoe ‘t loope, wat ik vroeger van hem zag,
Spreekt van lichtvaardigheid mijn argwaan vrij ,
Want al te arg’loos was ik. Weg met hem!
Wij onderzoeken ‘t nader.

MORE:
As I love mine honour=Upon my honour
Conjectural=Based on conjecture, guesswork
Fain=Gladly
Tax=Charge, accuse
Vanity=Foolishness
Fore-past=Antecedent
Compleat:
Fain=Gaern
Conjectural=Op gissing steunende
Vanity=Ydelheid
To tax=Beschuldigen

Topics: truth, honesty, evidence

What I can do can do no hurt to try, since you set up your rest ‘gainst remedy

DUTCH:
Brengt wat ik kan, geen baat, het schaadt ook niet,
Daar ge elke hoop in u hebt uitgewied.

Topics: still in use, invented or popularised, achievement, hope/optimism

What sharp stings are in her mildest words!

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 3.4
SPEAKER: Countess
CONTEXT:
STEWARD
I am Saint Jaques’ pilgrim, thither gone:
Ambitious love hath so in me offended,
That barefoot plod I the cold ground upon,
With sainted vow my faults to have amended.
Write, write, that from the bloody course of war
My dearest master, your dear son, may hie:
Bless him at home in peace, whilst I from far
His name with zealous fervor sanctify:
His taken labours bid him me forgive;
I, his despiteful Juno, sent him forth
From courtly friends, with camping foes to live,
Where death and danger dogs the heels of worth:
He is too good and fair for death and me:
Whom I myself embrace, to set him free.
COUNTESS
Ah, what sharp stings are in her mildest words!
Rinaldo, you did never lack advice so much,
As letting her pass so: had I spoke with her,
I could have well diverted her intents,
Which thus she hath prevented.
STEWARD
Pardon me, madam:
If I had given you this at over-night,
She might have been o’erta’en; and yet she writes,
Pursuit would be but vain.

DUTCH:
Wat scherpe doornen in haar zachtste woorden! –
Rinaldo, nooit waart gij zoo onbedacht,
Als toen gij haar liet gaan; had ik met haar
Gesproken, ‘k had haar afgebracht van ‘t plan,
Wat zij aldus voorkwam.

MORE:
Sainted vow=Sacred vow (to a saint)
Amended=Made amends, pardoned
Hie=Hurry
In peace=Not at war
Taken=Undertaken
Despiteful=Cruel
To dog=To hunt, pursue
Compleat:
Sanctified=Geheyligd
To hie (hye)=Reppen, haasten
Hie thee=Rep u, haast u
To undertake=Onderneemen, by der hand vatten
Despiteful=Spytig, boosaardig
To dog one=Iemand van achteren volgen

Topics: status, order/society, love, error, promise

When his disguise and he is parted, tell me what a sprat you shall find him

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 3.6
SPEAKER: Parolles
CONTEXT:
FIRST LORD
You do not know him, my lord, as we do: certain it
is that he will steal himself into a man’s favour and
for a week escape a great deal of discoveries; but
when you find him out, you have him ever after.
BERTRAM
Why, do you think he will make no deed at all of
this that so seriously he does address himself unto?
SECOND LORD
None in the world; but return with an invention and
clap upon you two or three probable lies: but we
have almost embossed him; you shall see his fall
to-night; for indeed he is not for your lordship’s
respect.
FIRST LORD
We’ll make you some sport with the fox ere we case
him. He was first smoked by the old lord LAFEW:
when his disguise and he is parted, tell me what a
sprat you shall find him; which you shall see this
very night.
SECOND LORD
I must go look my twigs: he shall be caught.

DUTCH:
Wij zullen een grap met den vos hebben, eer wij hem
het vel aftrekken. De oude heer Lafeu was de eerste,
die de lucht van hem heeft gekregen; als zijn vermomming hem is afgerukt, zeg mij dan eens, welk een katvisch gij hem bevindt ; gij zult het nog deze nacht zien .

MORE:
Steal himself=Creep furtively, insinuate himself
Make no deed=Do nothing
Embossed=Ambushed, cornered (hunting term)
Smoked=Scented, smoked from its hole
Twigs=Trap (often smeared with bird lime)
Compleat:
Steal=Doorsluypen
Emboss=Dryven
To emboss a deer=Een hart in ‘t woud jaagen
Bird-lime=Vogellym

Topics: truth, discovery, promise, debt/obligation, work

When oil and fire, too strong for reason’s force, o’erbears it and burns on

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 5.3
SPEAKER: Countess§
CONTEXT:
KING
We lost a jewel of her; and our esteem
Was made much poorer by it: but your son,
As mad in folly, lacked the sense to know
Her estimation home.
COUNTESS
‘Tis past, my liege;
And I beseech your majesty to make it
Natural rebellion, done i’ the blade of youth;
When oil and fire, too strong for reason’s force,
O’erbears it and burns on.
KING
My honoured lady,
I have forgiven and forgotten all;
Though my revenges were high bent upon him,
And watched the time to shoot.

DUTCH:
t Is voorbij, mijn vorst;
En ik verzoek uw hoogheid: in uw oogen
Zij ‘t oproer van het jeugdig bloed, dat blaakt,
Als vuur en olie, sterker dan de rede,
Haar overheert en voortbrandt.

Topics: value, mercy, revenge, proverbs and idioms, still in use

When thou hast leisure, say thy prayers; when thou hast none, remember thy friends

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Parolles
CONTEXT:
HELEN
You go so much backward when you fight.
PAROLLES
That’s for advantage.
HELEN
So is running away, when fear proposes the safety;
but the composition that your valour and fear makes
in you is a virtue of a good wing, and I like the wear
well.
PAROLLES
I am so full of businesses, I cannot answer thee
acutely. I will return perfect courtier; in the
which, my instruction shall serve to naturalize
thee, so thou wilt be capable of a courtier’s
counsel and understand what advice shall thrust upon
thee; else thou diest in thine unthankfulness, and
thine ignorance makes thee away: farewell. When
thou hast leisure, say thy prayers; when thou hast
none, remember thy friends; get thee a good husband,
and use him as he uses thee; so, farewell.

DUTCH:
Als gij tijd hebt, zeg dan uwe gebeden op, en hebt gij dien niet, denk dan aan uwe vrienden.

MORE:
Answer thee acutely=Give a witty response
“None” believed by some to be a misprint for “money”.
Courtier=Paradigm of true courtesy
Use=Treat
Makes thee away=Finishes you off
Compleat:
Leisurably=By ledigen tyd
Courtier=Hoveling

Topics: marriage, friendship, loyalty, civility, ingratitude

When you have spoken it, ’tis dead, and I am the grave of it

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 4.3
SPEAKER: Second Lord
CONTEXT:
FIRST LORD
He has much worthy blame laid upon him for shaking
off so good a wife and so sweet a lady.
SECOND LORD
Especially he hath incurred the everlasting
displeasure of the king, who had even tuned his
bounty to sing happiness to him. I will tell you a
thing, but you shall let it dwell darkly with you.
FIRST LORD
When you have spoken it, ’tis dead, and I am the
grave of it.

DUTCH:
Als gij het uitgesproken hebt, is het dood, en ik ben
het graf er van.

MORE:
Dwell darkly=it will go no further
Bounty=Hearty disposition to do one good, active benevolence
Compleat:
Dwell=Woonen, verblyven
Bounty=Goedertierenheid, mildheid
Tune=Stellen
Darkly=Duisterlyk

Topics: secrecy, trust

Who cannot be crushed with a plot?

DUTCH:
Wie kan niet door een complot vernietigd worden?

MORE:
Impudent=Shameless
Braggart=Boaster
Found an ass=Shown to be an ass
Shame=Dishonour, disgrace
Compleat:
Impudent=Onbeschaamd, schaamteloos
Braggart, braggard or Braggadochio=Een pocher, Blaaskaak
Shame (reproach, ignominy)=Schande

Topics: conspiracy, loyalty

Whose villainous saffron would have made all the unbaked and doughy youth of a nation in his colour

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 4.5
SPEAKER: LAFEW
CONTEXT:
LAFEW
No, no, no, your son was misled with a snipped-taffeta
fellow there, whose villainous saffron would have
made all the unbaked and doughy youth of a nation in
his colour: your daughter-in-law had been alive at
this hour, and your son here at home, more advanced
by the king than by that red-tailed humble-bee I speak of.
COUNTESS
I would I had not known him; it was the death of the
most virtuous gentlewoman that ever nature had
praise for creating. If she had partaken of my
flesh, and cost me the dearest groans of a mother, I
could not have owed her a more rooted love.

DUTCH:
Neen, neen, neen; uw zoon werd daar ginds verleid
door een uitgesneden-taf-kerel, wiens ellendige saffraanstijfsel de geheele halfbakken en ongare jeugd van zijn volk met zijn kleur had kunnen gerieven

MORE:
Snipped- or snipt-taffeta was silk slashed to show another material underneath (ref to Parolles’ flashy costume).
Saffron=Used as a starch
Humble-bee=Bumble-bee
Compleat:
Saffron=Saffraan
Humble-bee=Hommel

Topics: deceit, influence, manipulation

Why, do you think he will really make no attempt at all to do this thing he so seriously vows to do?

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 3.6
SPEAKER: Bertram
CONTEXT:
FIRST LORD
You do not know him, my lord, as we do: certain it
is that he will steal himself into a man’s favour and
for a week escape a great deal of discoveries; but
when you find him out, you have him ever after.
BERTRAM
Why, do you think he will make no deed at all of
this that so seriously he does address himself unto?
SECOND LORD
None in the world; but return with an invention and
clap upon you two or three probable lies: but we
have almost embossed him; you shall see his fall
to-night; for indeed he is not for your lordship’s
respect.
FIRST LORD
We’ll make you some sport with the fox ere we case
him. He was first smoked by the old lord LAFEW:
when his disguise and he is parted, tell me what a
sprat you shall find him; which you shall see this
very night.
SECOND LORD
I must go look my twigs: he shall be caught.

DUTCH:
Dus meent gij inderdaad, dat hij niets zal doen van
dat alles, dat hij met zooveel ernst op zich genomen heeft?

MORE:
Steal himself=Creep furtively, insinuate himself
Make no deed=Do nothing
Probable=Plausible
Embossed=Ambushed, cornered (hunting term)
Smoked=Scented, smoked from its hole
Twigs=Trap (often smeared with bird lime)
Compleat:
Steal=Doorsluypen
Emboss=Dryven
To emboss a deer=Een hart in ‘t woud jaagen
Bird-lime=Vogellym

Topics: truth, discovery

Will your answer serve fit to all questions?

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Countess
CONTEXT:
COUNTESS
Will your answer serve fit to all questions?
CLOWN
As fit as ten groats is for the hand of an attorney,
as your French crown for your taffeta punk, as Tib’s
rush for Tom’s forefinger, as a pancake for Shrove
Tuesday, a morris for May-day, as the nail to his
hole, the cuckold to his horn, as a scolding quean
to a wrangling knave, as the nun’s lip to the
friar’s mouth, nay, as the pudding to his skin.
COUNTESS
Have you, I say, an answer of such fitness for all
questions?
CLOWN
From below your duke to beneath your constable, it
will fit any question.
COUNTESS
It must be an answer of most monstrous size that
must fit all demands.
CLOWN
But a trifle neither, in good faith, if the learned
should speak truth of it: here it is, and all that
belongs to’t. Ask me if I am a courtier: it shall
do you no harm to learn.
COUNTESS
To be young again, if we could: I will be a fool in
question, hoping to be the wiser by your answer. I
pray you, sir, are you a courtier?

DUTCH:
Hebt gij, zeg ik, een antwoord, dat zoo voor alle vragen
dienst kan doen

MORE:
Groat=Four pennies
French crown=Coin
Punk=Prostitute
Rush=Ring twitsted from rushes for a mock marriage
Morris=Morris dance
Quean=Whore
But a trifle neither=Just a trifle
Compleat:
Groat=Vier-stuyvers stukje
Punk=Een oolyke hoer of hoere-waardin
Quean=Hoer, slons, sloery
Trifle=Beuzeling, kleynigheyd

Topics: reply

You are not worth another word, else I’d call you knave

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 2.3
SPEAKER: Lafew
CONTEXT:
LAFEW
The devil it is that’s thy master. Why dost thou
garter up thy arms o’ this fashion? dost make hose of
sleeves? do other servants so? Thou wert best set
thy lower part where thy nose stands. By mine
honour, if I were but two hours younger, I’ld beat
thee: methinks, thou art a general offence, and
every man should beat thee: I think thou wast
created for men to breathe themselves upon thee.
PAROLLES
This is hard and undeserved measure, my lord.
LAFEW
Go to, sir; you were beaten in Italy for picking a
kernel out of a pomegranate; you are a vagabond and
no true traveller: you are more saucy with lords
and honourable personages than the commission of your
birth and virtue gives you heraldry. You are not
worth another word, else Ied call you knave. I leave
you.

DUTCH:
Gij zijt geen woord verder waard; anders zou ik u een schurk noemen.

MORE:
True traveller=Traveller with a government licence
Vagabond=Tramp
Commission=A warrant by which any trust is held, or power exercised
Heraldry=Rank and accomplishments
Knave=Rascal, villain
Compleat:
Vagabond=Een landlooper, schooijer, zwerver
Commission=Last, volmagt, lastbrief, provisie
Knave=Guyt, boef

Topics: insult, order/society, status, respect

You do so grow in my requital as nothing can unroot you

DUTCH:
Zijt ge in mijn dankbaarheid, ja, zoo gegroeid,
Dat niets u ooit ontwortelt . – Nu, dit treft!

MORE:
Posting=Haste
Happy time=Good timing, at the right time
Wear=Wear out, tire
Requital=Repayment, debt
Unroot=Uproot, deracinate
Compleat:
Post-hast=Met groote spooed, te post
To wear=Slyten
Requital=Vergelding
Unroot=Ontwortelen

Topics: debt, promise

You have made shift to run into ‘t, boots and spurs and all, like him that leaped into the custard

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 2.5
SPEAKER: Lafew
CONTEXT:
BERTRAM
I have writ my letters, casketed my treasure,
Given order for our horses; and to-night,
When I should take possession of the bride,
End ere I do begin.
LAFEW
A good traveller is something at the latter end of a
dinner; but one that lies three thirds and uses a
known truth to pass a thousand nothings with, should
be once heard and thrice beaten. God save you, captain.
BERTRAM
Is there any unkindness between my lord and you,
monsieur?
PAROLLES
I know not how I have deserved to run into my lord’s
displeasure.
LAFEW
You have made shift to run into ‘t, boots and spurs
and all, like him that leaped into the custard; and
out of it you’ll run again, rather than suffer
question for your residence.
BERTRAM
It may be you have mistaken him, my lord.
LAFEW
And shall do so ever, though I took him at ‘s
prayers. Fare you well, my lord; and believe this
of me, there can be no kernel in this light nut; the
soul of this man is his clothes. Trust him not in
matter of heavy consequence; I have kept of them
tame, and know their natures. Farewell, monsieur:
I have spoken better of you than you have or will to
deserve at my hand; but we must do good against evil.

DUTCH:
BERTRAM.
Bestaat er eenig misverstand tusschen dezen edelman
en u, monsieur?
PAROLLES
Ik weet niet, hoe ik het verdiend heb, de ongenade
van dezen heer te beloopen .
LAFEW
Gij hebt het er op toegelegd, om er in te loopen, gelaarsd,
gespoord en al, zooals de nar van den Lord-Mayor, die in de pastei sprong; en gij zult er wel eer weder uitspringen, dan verslag geven over uw verblijf er in.

MORE:
Proverb: A traveller may lie with authority
Proverb: Set good against evil (Do good for evil)

Made shift=Managed, contrived
Leaped into the custard=Reference to the custom at the Lord Mayor of London’s show, of a jester leaping into an enormous custard
Residence=Presence
Compleat:
To make a shift=Zich behelpen, zich redden

Topics: preparation, dispute, proverbs and idioms

You need not to stop your nose, sir. I spake but by a metaphor.

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 5.2
SPEAKER: Parolles
CONTEXT:
PAROLLES
Good Monsieur Lavatch, give my Lord LAFEW this
letter: I have ere now, sir, been better known to
you, when I have held familiarity with fresher
clothes; but I am now, sir, muddied in fortune’s
mood, and smell somewhat strong of her strong
displeasure.
CLOWN
Truly, fortune’s displeasure is but sluttish, if it
smell so strongly as thou speakest of: I will
henceforth eat no fish of fortune’s buttering.
Prithee, allow the wind.
PAROLLES
Nay, you need not to stop your nose, sir; I spake
but by a metaphor.
CLOWN
Indeed, sir, if your metaphor stink, I will stop my
nose; or against any man’s metaphor. Prithee, get thee further.
PAROLLES
Pray you, sir, deliver me this paper.
CLOWN
Foh! prithee, stand away: a paper from fortune’s
close-stool to give to a nobleman! Look, here he
comes himself.

DUTCH:
Neen, gij behoeft uw neus niet dicht te houden, heer;
ik bediende mij daar van beeldspraak .

MORE:
Sluttish=Unclean, nasty
Allow the wind=Stand downwind
Stop=Block, hold your nose
Close-stool=Chamber pot
Compleat:
Sluttish=Sloeriachtig, morsig, kladdig
Close-stool=Kakstoel

Topics: fate/destiny

You that have so traitorously discovered the secrets of your army and made such pestiferous reports of men very nobly held

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 4.3
SPEAKER: First Soldier
CONTEXT:
FIRST SOLDIER
I’ll whisper with the general, and know his pleasure.
PAROLLES
I’ll no more drumming; a plague of all
drums! Only to seem to deserve well, and to
beguile the supposition of that lascivious young boy
the count, have I run into this danger. Yet who
would have suspected an ambush where I was taken?
FIRST SOLDIER
There is no remedy, sir, but you must die: the
general says, you that have so traitorously
discovered the secrets of your army and made such
pestiferous reports of men very nobly held, can
serve the world for no honest use; therefore you
must die. Come, headsman, off with his head.
PAROLLES
O Lord, sir, let me live, or let me see my death!
FIRST LORD
That shall you, and take your leave of all your
friends.

DUTCH:
Er helpt niets aan, vriend, gij moet toch sterven. De
generaal zegt, dat gij, die zoo verraderlijk de geheimen
van uw leger verklapt hebt, en zulke vergiftige berichten
gegeven van mannen, door ieder voor hoogst edel
gehouden, op de wereld voor niets goeds te gebruiken zijt ;

MORE:
Seem to deserve well=To appear worthy
Beguile the supposition=Fool the opposition
Discovered=Revealed
Pestiferous=Malignant
Held=Regarded
Compleat:
To deserve=Verdienen
To deserve not well of one=Iemand ondienst doen
To discover=Ontdekken, bespeuren, aan ‘t licht brengen
Pestiferous=Pestveroorzaakend, verderflyk
To hold=Houden, vatten

Topics: courage, appearance, betrayal, punishment