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PLAY: The Two Gentlemen of Verona
ACT/SCENE: 2.5
SPEAKER: Lance
CONTEXT:
SPEED
Lance, by mine honesty, welcome to Milan!
LANCE
Forswear not thyself, sweet youth, for I am not welcome. I reckon this always, that a man is never undone till he be hanged, nor never welcome to a place till some certain shot be paid and the hostess say “Welcome!”
SPEED
Come on, you madcap, I’ll to the alehouse with you presently, where, for one shot of five pence, thou shalt have five thousand welcomes. But, sirrah, how did thy master part with Madam Julia?

DUTCH:
Doe geen valschen eed, beste jongen, want ik ben niet
welkom. Ik reken dit altijd : een mensch is niet eer
verloren, dan als hij gehangen wordt, en ook niet eer
ergens welkom, dan als hij een zeker gelag heeft betaald,
en de waardin zegt: ,,welkom!”


MORE:
To forswear=To swear falsely, commit perjury
Undone=Ruined
Shot=Tavern bill
Madcap=Fool
Compleat:
To forswear one’s self=Eenen valschen eed doen, meyneedig zyn
To forswear a thing=Zweeren dat iets zo niet is
Shot=Het gelag
A mad-cap=Een gek, zotskap

Burgersdijk notes:
Welkom in Milaan. In den tekst der Folio-uitgave staat Padua, zooals in III. 1. en V.4. Verona voor Milaan. Het is mogelijk, dat Shakespeare zelf zoo geschreven heeft, voor hij vast bepaald had, waar hij het stuk zou laten spelen, maar ‘t kan ook aan een omwerker liggen.

Topics: truth, ruin, honesty, civility, debt/obligation

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Antipholus of Ephesus
CONTEXT:
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS
A man is well holp up that trusts to you!
I promisèd your presence and the chain,
But neither chain nor goldsmith came to me.
Belike you thought our love would last too long
If it were chained together, and therefore came not.
ANGELO
Saving your merry humour, here’s the note
How much your chain weighs to the utmost carat,
The fineness of the gold, and chargeful fashion,
Which doth amount to three-odd ducats more
Than I stand debted to this gentleman.
I pray you, see him presently discharged,
For he is bound to sea, and stays but for it.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS
I am not furnished with the present money.
Besides, I have some business in the town.
Good signior, take the stranger to my house,
And with you take the chain, and bid my wife
Disburse the sum on the receipt thereof.
Perchance I will be there as soon as you.

DUTCH:
Nu, die op u vertrouwt, is wel bediend!
Ik zeide ginds uw komst toe en den ketting,
Maar noch de keten, noch de goudsmid kwam.

MORE:
Holp=Helped
Belike=Perhaps
Saving=With due regard to
Note=Receipt
Discharged=Satisfied, his debt paid
Chargeful fashion=Expensive
I am not furnished=I do not have
Present=At the moment, now
Compleat:
Holpen=Geholpen; Holp op=Opgeholpen
Saving=Behouding, zaaligmaakig, bewaaring, redding, bespaaring
To discharge=Onstlaan, lossen, quytschelden
Chargeable=Lastig, kostelyk
Furnished=Verzorgd, voorzien, gestoffeerd

Topics: debt/obligation, value, trust

PLAY: Twelfth Night
ACT/SCENE: 3.3
SPEAKER: Sebastian
CONTEXT:
ANTONIO
I could not stay behind you. My desire,
More sharp than filèd steel, did spur me forth.
And not all love to see you, though so much
As might have drawn one to a longer voyage,
But jealousy what might befall your travel,
Being skilless in these parts, which to a stranger,
Unguided and unfriended, often prove
Rough and unhospitable. My willing love,
The rather by these arguments of fear,
Set forth in your pursuit.
SEBASTIAN
My kind Antonio,
I can no other answer make but thanks,
And thanks, and ever thanks. And oft good turns
Are shuffled off with such uncurrent pay.
But were my worth as is my conscience, firm,
You should find better dealing. What’s to do?
Shall we go see the relics of this town?

DUTCH:
Ik kan voor al uw zorg slechts dank u zeggen,
En dank, en altijd dank; vaak wordt een dienst,
Hoe groot, met die ongangb’re munt betaald;
Doch waar’ mijn kas zoo rijk, als ‘t hart in dank,
Dan vondt gij beter loon

MORE:
Proverb: One good turn asks (demands, requires) another

Unfriend as a noun dates back to the 12th or 13th century, its original meaning being ‘non-friend’ (though not necessarily enemy). Shakespeare first used unfriend as an adjective to mean loss of friendship in Twelfth Night (3.3) and King Lear (1.1).
Jealousy=Fear, concern
Skilless=Unfamiliar with
Rather=Sooner
Shuffled=Shrugged
Uncurrent=Worthless, not legal tender
Worth=Wealth
Conscience=Indebtedness
Firm=Substantial
Dealing=Treatment
Compleat:
Jealousy=Belgzucht, naayver, argwaan, volgyver, minnenyd, achterdocht
Skill=Eervaarenheyd, verstand, kennis
I have no skill in those things=Ik heb geen verstand van die dingen; in ben in die zaaken oneervaaren
The rather=The more quickly
To shuffle off a business=Een zaak afschuyven
Current=Loopende, gangbaar
Worth=Waarde, waardy
Conscience=Het geweeten, de conscientie
Firm=Vast, hecht
Dealing=Handeling

Topics: skill/talent, age/experience, loyalty, friendship, debt/obligation

PLAY: The Two Gentlemen of Verona
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Proteus
CONTEXT:
SPEED
Well, I perceive I must be fain to bear with you.
PROTEUS
Why, sir, how do you bear with me?
SPEED
Marry, sir, the letter, very orderly, having nothing but the word “noddy” for my pains.
PROTEUS
Beshrew me, but you have a quick wit.
SPEED
And yet it cannot overtake your slow purse.

DUTCH:
Verduiveld, gij zijt bij de hand!
– En toch kan mijn vlugge hand uw trage beurs niet
machtig worden.

MORE:
Fain=Be contented
Bear with=Put up with
Orderly=Properly
Beshrew=Curse
Noddy=Simpleton, foolish
Compleat:
Fain=Gaern, genoodzaakt
To bear with=Toegeeven, geduld hebben, zich verdraagzaam aanstellen
Pray bear with me=Ey lieve schik wat met my in
Orderly=Geschiktlyk, geregeld, ordentlyk
Beshrew=Bekyven, vervloeken

Topics: satisfaction, money, debt/obligation

PLAY: As You Like It
ACT/SCENE: 2.5
SPEAKER: Jaques
CONTEXT:
JAQUES
Nay, I care not for their names. They owe me nothing.
Will you sing?
AMIENS
More at your request than to please myself.
AMIENS
Only because you ask me, not to please myself.
JAQUES
Well then, if ever I thank any man, I’ll thank you.
But that they call “compliment” is like th’ encounter of
two dog-apes. And when a man thanks me heartily,
methinks I have given him a penny and he renders me the
beggarly thanks. Come, sing. And you that will not, hold
your tongues.
AMIENS
Well, I’ll end the song.—Sirs, cover the while; the
duke will drink under this tree.—He hath been all this
day to look you.

DUTCH:
Nu dan, als ik ooit een sterveling bedank, wil ik u
bedanken; maar wat zij complimenten noemen, is als
de ontmoeting van twee bavianen;

MORE:
Names=Punning on signatures in a legal sense (on bonds or lenders’ records)
Dog-apes=Baboons
Beggarly=Fulsome, exaggerated
Look=Look for
Compleat:
To beggar=Berooid maaken, uitputten, tot den bedelzak brengen

Topics: debt/obligation, civility, order/society

PLAY: Cymbeline
ACT/SCENE: 2.3
SPEAKER: Queen
CONTEXT:
CLOTEN
I have assailed her with music, but she vouchsafes no
notice.
CYMBELINE
The exile of her minion is too new;
She hath not yet forgot him: some more time
Must wear the print of his remembrance out,
And then she’s yours.
QUEEN
You are most bound to the king,
Who lets go by no vantages that may
Prefer you to his daughter. Frame yourself
To orderly solicits, and be friended
With aptness of the season; make denials
Increase your services; so seem as if
You were inspired to do those duties which
You tender to her; that you in all obey her,
Save when command to your dismission tends,
And therein you are senseless.

DUTCH:
Zorg, dat gij haar met ernst
Uw hulde brengt; maak u gelegenheid,
Den juisten tijd tot vriend;

MORE:
Vantages=Opportunities
Prefer=Commend
Frame=To mould, to fashion, to work into a certain shape
Orderly solicits=established (courtship) rituals
Be friended with=Favour
Aptness of the season=properly timed solicitation
Dismission=Rejection
Senseless=Insensitive, having no ear
Compleat:
Vantage=Toegift, toemaat, overmaat, overwigt
To prefer one=Iemand bevorderen
To frame=Een gestalte geeven, toestellen, maaken, ontwerpen, schikken, beraamen
Orderly=Geschiktlyk, geregeld, ordentlyk
Senseless=Gevoeleloos, ongevoelig, zinneloos

Topics: debt/obligation, duty, memory

PLAY: The Merchant of Venice
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Bassanio
CONTEXT:
BASSANIO
‘Tis not unknown to you, Antonio,
How much I have disabled mine estate,
By something showing a more swelling port
Than my faint means would grant continuance.
Nor do I now make moan to be abridged
From such a noble rate. But my chief care
Is to come fairly off from the great debts
Wherein my time something too prodigal
Hath left me gaged. To you, Antonio,
I owe the most in money and in love,
And from your love I have a warranty
To unburden all my plots and purposes
How to get clear of all the debts I owe.

DUTCH:
Antonio, ‘k ben aan u
Het meeste schuldig, geld niet slechts, maar liefde;
Diezelfde liefde is mij een borg, dat ik
U oop’ning doen mag van mijn plan, om al
Die schulden, die mij drukken, af te werpen.

MORE:
Disabled=Impaired, damaged
Swelling=Pompous
Make moan=Complain
I have a warranty=Gives me permission
Abridged=Reduced
Rate=Manner, style
Gage=Pledge
Compleat:
Disable=Onvermogend maaken
Moan or make a moan=Een geklag maaken, jammeren
Abridge=Verkorten, intrekken, besnoeijen

Topics: emotion and mood, misquoted

PLAY: The Merchant of Venice
ACT/SCENE: 1.3
SPEAKER: Shylock
CONTEXT:
BASSANIO
This is Signor Antonio.
SHYLOCK
How like a fawning publican he looks!
I hate him for he is a Christian,
But more for that in low simplicity
He lends out money gratis and brings down
The rate of usance here with us in Venice.
If I can catch him once upon the hip,
I will feed fat the ancient grudge I bear him.
He hates our sacred nation, and he rails,
Even there where merchants most do congregate,
On me, my bargains and my well-won thrift,
Which he calls “interest.” Cursed be my tribe
If I forgive him!

DUTCH:
Hoe lijkt hij een deemoedig tollenaar!
Ik haat hem reeds dewijl hij Christen is,
En meer nog, wijl, in lage onnoozelheid,
Hij gratis geld leent en de rente drukt,
Die we anders in Veneti  konden maken.

MORE:
Rate of usance=interest rate.
Catch on or upon the hip=get the better of, an advantage over.
Feed fat the ancient grudge=satisfy a long-held grudge
Compleat:
Usance=Koopmans gebruik, Uso, een woord onder de Koopluiden gebruikelyk omtrent de betaaling der Wisselbrieven, betekenende een maand tyd; en tusschen dit en Spanje, enz. twee maanden.
Double usance=Op dubbel Uso

De rente in Venetië. Een Engelsch schrijver over Italië (1561) schrijft, dat de joden in Venetië zeer rijk
werden, daar de gewone rente, die zij bij het uitleenen van geld wisten te maken, vijftien ten honderd ‘s jaars bedroeg.

Topics: emotion and mood, misquoted

PLAY: Timon of Athens
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Senators
CONTEXT:

SENATOR
Get on your cloak, and haste you to Lord Timon;
Importune him for my moneys; be not ceased
With slight denial, nor then silenced when—
‘Commend me to your master’—and the cap
Plays in the right hand, thus: but tell him,
My uses cry to me, I must serve my turn
Out of mine own; his days and times are past
And my reliances on his fracted dates
Have smit my credit: I love and honour him,
But must not break my back to heal his finger;
Immediate are my needs, and my relief
Must not be tossed and turned to me in words,
But find supply immediate. Get you gone:
Put on a most importunate aspect,
A visage of demand; for, I do fear,
When every feather sticks in his own wing,
Lord Timon will be left a naked gull,
Which flashes now a phoenix. Get you gone.

DUTCH:
Zijn dagen zijn verstreken;
En dat ik rekende op zijn stipt betalen,
Heeft mijn crediet geschokt. Ik eer, bemin hem;
Maar moet mijn hals niet breken, om zijn vinger
Te heelen. Dringend is mijn nood; ik ben
Met toegeworpen woorden niet geholpen,
Maar met terstond betalen.

MORE:
CITED IN US LAW:
Brown v. Felsen, 442 U.S. 127, 137, n.8, 99 S.Ct. 2205, 2212, 60 L.Ed.2d 767 (1979)(Blackmun, J.). (The Court turns to Timon of Athens, Shakespeare’s satire on friends and creditors, and writes,
“In the words of a Shakespearean creditor, fearing the worst: ‘When every feather sticks in his own wing,/Which Timon will be left a naked Gull,/Which flashes now a Phoenix.'”) (William Domnarski, Shakespeare in the Law).

Proverb: If ever bird had (should take) his own feathers he should be as rich as a new-shorn sheep (you would be naked)

Importune=Urge, impel
Ceased=Stopped
Uses=Needs
Serve my turn=Protect my interests
Fracted dates=Exceeded deadlines
Smit=Damaged
Importunate=Unrelenting
Gull=Fool
Compleat:
Importune=Lastig vallen, zeer dringen, gestadig aanhouden, overdringen, aandringen
To cease=Ophouden, aflaaten, staaken, uitscheiden, stilhouden, afstaan
To come with cap in hand=Met den hoed in de hand komen
Smit=Getroffen
Serve my turn=Uit eigenbaat
Importunate=Hard aanhoudend, overlastig, moeijelyk, aandringend
Gull=Bedrieger
To gull=Bedriegen, verschalken. You look as if you had a mind to gull me=Hete schynt of gy voorneemens waart om my te foppen

Topics: cited in law, proverbs and idioms, debt/obligation, claim, money

PLAY: Cymbeline
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Second Lord
CONTEXT:
CLOTEN
If my shirt were bloody, then to shift it. Have I
hurt him?
SECOND LORD
No, faith, not so much as his patience.
FIRST LORD
Hurt him? His body’s a passable carcass if he be not hurt.
It is a thoroughfare for steel if it be not hurt.
SECOND LORD
His steel was in debt; it went o’ th’ backside the town.
CLOTEN
The villain would not stand me.
SECOND LORD
No, but he fled forward still, toward your face.
FIRST LORD
Stand you? You have land enough of your
own, but he added to your having, gave you some
ground.

DUTCH:
Zijn staal bleef in gebreke te betalen; het liep achteraf straten om.

MORE:
Proverb: He dares not show his head (himself) for debt

Passable=Can be passed through, in this case referring to the pass of a rapier.
Stand=Resist
Not so much as=Not even
The backside of the town=Like a debtor hiding in the back alleys to avoid a creditor. Also (from “An Account of King James I’s Visit to Cambridge”), certain Jesuits were not suffered to come through Cambridge, but were “by the Sheriff carried over the backe side of the town to Cambridge castle.”
Compleat:
Thorough-fare=Een doorgang
Passable=Doorganklyk, inschikkelyk, middelmaatig, schappelyk
Money that is passable=Gangbaar geld
A passable hand=Een tamelyke hand
Stand (against or before)=Tegen houden, tegenstaan, verweeren

Burgersdijk notes:
Zijn staal bleef in gebreke te betalen; het liep achterafstraten om. Er staat woordelijk: „Zijn staal had schulden en liep de stad achterom,” evenals een schuldenaar, die zich niet vrij door de stad bewegen durft; Posthumus’ staal spaarde Cloten. — De meening zou ook kunnen zijn: Cloten’s staal trof Posthumus niet.

Topics: debt/obligation, reason, law/legal, proverbs and idioms

PLAY: Cymbeline
ACT/SCENE: 1.4
SPEAKER: Iachimo
CONTEXT:
IACHIMO
Ay, and the approbation of those that weep this
lamentable divorce under her colours are wonderfully
to extend him; be it but to fortify her judgment,
which else an easy battery might lay flat, for
taking a beggar without less quality. But how comes
it he is to sojourn with you? How creeps
acquaintance?
PHILARIO
His father and I were soldiers together; to whom I
have been often bound for no less than my life.
Here comes the Briton: let him be so entertained
amongst you as suits, with gentlemen of your
knowing, to a stranger of his quality.
I beseech you all, be better known to this
gentleman; whom I commend to you as a noble friend
of mine: how worthy he is I will leave to appear
hereafter, rather than story him in his own hearing.
FRENCHMAN
Sir, we have known together in Orleans.
POSTHUMUS LEONATUS
Since when I have been debtor to you for courtesies,
which I will be ever to pay and yet pay still.

DUTCH:
Maar hoe komt het, dat hij bij u zijn intrek genomen heeft? Waar rankt zich deze bekendheid aan vast?

MORE:
Weep=Lament
Colours=Banner (on her behalf)
To extend him=Exaggerate his qualities
Be it but=Were it only
Easy=Light, slight
Battery=Assault
Without less=With no more
How creeps acquaintance=How did you get to know one another
Suits=Is fitting
Knowing=Knowlege, experience
Story him=Talk about him, sing his praises
Every to pay and yet pay still=Can never repay
Compleat:
To weep (lament)=Klaagen, jammeren
Colour=Een vaandel
Extend=Uitbreiden, wyder uitstrekken
Battery=Een schietschans, beukery, stormkat, battery
To creep=Kruipen, sluipen
To creep into one’s favour=Zich behendig in iemands gunste wikkelen
To story=Verhaalen, vertellen

Topics: marriage, wisdom, reputation, debt/obligation

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Antipholus of Ephesus
CONTEXT:
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS
A man is well holp up that trusts to you!
I promisèd your presence and the chain,
But neither chain nor goldsmith came to me.
Belike you thought our love would last too long
If it were chained together, and therefore came not.
ANGELO
Saving your merry humour, here’s the note
How much your chain weighs to the utmost carat,
The fineness of the gold, and chargeful fashion,
Which doth amount to three-odd ducats more
Than I stand debted to this gentleman.
I pray you, see him presently discharged,
For he is bound to sea, and stays but for it.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS
I am not furnished with the present money.
Besides, I have some business in the town.
Good signior, take the stranger to my house,
And with you take the chain, and bid my wife
Disburse the sum on the receipt thereof.
Perchance I will be there as soon as you.

DUTCH:
Ik heb op ‘t oogenblik het geld niet bij mij,
En heb ook in de stad nog iets te doen.

MORE:
Holp=Helped
Belike=Perhaps
Saving=With due regard to
Note=Receipt
Discharged=Satisfied, his debt paid
Chargeful fashion=Expensive
I am not furnished=I do not have
Present=At the moment, now
Compleat:
Holpen=Geholpen; Holp op=Opgeholpen
Saving=Behouding, zaaligmaakig, bewaaring, redding, bespaaring
To discharge=Onstlaan, lossen, quytschelden
Chargeable=Lastig, kostelyk
Furnished=Verzorgd, voorzien, gestoffeerd

Topics: debt/obligation, value, trust

PLAY: Othello
ACT/SCENE: 1.3
SPEAKER: Iago
CONTEXT:
RODERIGO
It cannot be.
IAGO
It is merely a lust of the blood and a permission of
the will. Come, be a man. Drown thyself? Drown cats and
blind puppies! I have professed me thy friend, and I
confess me knit to thy deserving with cables of
perdurable toughness. I could never better stead thee
than now. Put money in thy purse. Follow thou the wars,
defeat thy favour with an usurped beard. I say, put
money in thy purse. It cannot be long that Desdemona
should continue her love to the Moor—put money in thy
purse—nor he his to her. It was a violent commencement
in her, and thou shalt see an answerable
sequestration—put but money in thy purse. These Moors
are changeable in their wills—fill thy purse with
money. The food that to him now is as luscious as
locusts shall be to him shortly as bitter as
coloquintida. She must change for youth. When she is
sated with his body she will find the errors of her
choice. Therefore, put money in thy purse. If thou wilt
needs damn thyself, do it a more delicate way than
drowning. Make all the money thou canst. If sanctimony
and a frail vow betwixt an erring barbarian and
supersubtle Venetian be not too hard for my wits and all
the tribe of hell, thou shalt enjoy her. Therefore
make money. A pox of drowning thyself! ‘Tis clean out
of the way. Seek thou rather to be hanged in compassing
thy joy than to be drowned and go without her.

DUTCH:
Ik heb mij uw vriend verklaard en ik erken, dat ik door kabels van de duurzaamste taaiheid aan uw verdiensten verknocht ben; nooit kon ik u nuttiger zijn dan nu.

MORE:
Perdurable=Lasting
Stead=Serve
Defeat thy favour=Change your appearance
Usurped=False, appropriated
Answerable=Corresponding
Sequestration=Termination, separation
Coloquintida=Bitter-apple, a purgative
Supersubtle=Refined, sensitive
Compleat:
Perdurable=Overduurzaam
To stand in good stead=Dienstelyk zyn, goeden dienst doen
To usurp=’t Onrecht aanmaatigen, met geweld in ‘t bezit dringen, overweldigen
Usurpation=Een onrechtmaatige bezitneeming, of indrang, dwinggebruik, overweldiging
Answerable=Verantwoordelyk, overeenkomelyk
Sequestration=Verbeurdmaaking, affscheyding der partyen van ‘t bezit waarover zy in verschil zyn, in bewaarder-hand stelling; alsook de inzameling der inkomsten van een openstaande prove voor den naastkomenden bezitter
Subtil, subtile or subtle=Listig, loos; sneedig, spitsvindig

Topics: loyalty, friendship, debt/obligation, death, money

PLAY: The Merchant of Venice
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Shylock
CONTEXT:
SHYLOCK
My deeds upon my head. I crave the law,
The penalty, and forfeit of my bond.
PORTIA
Is he not able to discharge the money?
BASSANIO
Yes, here I tender it for him in the court—
Yea, twice the sum. If that will not suffice,
I will be bound to pay it ten times o’er,
On forfeit of my hands, my head, my heart.
If this will not suffice, it must appear
That malice bears down truth.—
And I beseech you,
Wrest once the law to your authority.
To do a great right, do a little wrong,
And curb this cruel devil of his will.

DUTCH:
Mijn daden op mijn hoofd; ik eisch de wet,
De boete, de voldoening van mijn schuldbrief

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

Bond=A deed by which one binds oneself to another to make a payment or fulfil a contract
Compleat:
Bond=een Bond, verbinding, verbindschrift, obligatie
Bond of appearance=een Borgstelling van voor ‘t Recht te zullen verschynen
Enter into a bond=In een verband treeden, zich verbinden

Topics: emotion and mood, misquoted

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Antipholus of Ephesus
CONTEXT:
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS
Consent to pay thee that I never had?—
Arrest me, foolish fellow, if thou dar’st.
ANGELO
Here is thy fee. Arrest him, officer.
I would not spare my brother in this case
If he should scorn me so apparently.
OFFICER
I do arrest you, sir. You hear the suit.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS
I do obey thee till I give thee bail.
But, sirrah, you shall buy this sport as dear
As all the metal in your shop will answer.
ANGELO
Sir, sir, I will have law in Ephesus,
To your notorious shame, I doubt it not.

DUTCH:
Ik onderwerp mij, tot ik borgtocht stel. —
Maar, heerschap, gij bekoopt die scherts zoo duur,
Dat heel uw winkel zoo veel goud niet levert.

MORE:
Apparently=Openly, evidently
Sport=Jest, mockery
Buy=Pay (dearly) for
Compleat:
Apparently=Schynbaarlyk
To make sport=Lachen, speelen
To pay dear for a thing=Ergens zeer duur voor betaalen, veel geld voor geeven

Topics: law/legal, offence, security, debt/obligation, claim

PLAY: King Henry VI Part 1
ACT/SCENE: 5.3
SPEAKER: Suffolk
CONTEXT:
REIGNIER
And I again, in Henry’s royal name,
As deputy unto that gracious king,
Give thee her hand, for sign of plighted faith.
SUFFOLK
Reignier of France, I give thee kingly thanks,
Because this is in traffic of a king.
[Aside] And yet, methinks, I could be well content
To be mine own attorney in this case.
I’ll over then to England with this news,
And make this marriage to be solemnized.
So farewell, Reignier: set this diamond safe
In golden palaces, as it becomes.

DUTCH:
Reignier van Frankrijk, ‘k zeg u koningsdank,
Naardien dit hand’len voor een koning is.

MORE:

Plighted=Pledged
In traffic of=Is the business of
To be mine own attorney=To act for myself
Becomes=Is befitting

Compleat:
To plight=Zich verplichten, zich door zyn woord verbinden
It becomes=Het betaamt, past

Topics: debt/obligation, promise

PLAY: Twelfth Night
ACT/SCENE: 3.4
SPEAKER: Viola
CONTEXT:
ANTONIO
I must entreat of you some of that money.
VIOLA
What money, sir?
For the fair kindness you have showed me here,
And part being prompted by your present trouble,
Out of my lean and low ability
I’ll lend you something. My having is not much.
I’ll make division of my present with you.
Hold, there’s half my coffer.
ANTONIO
Will you deny me now?
Is ’t possible that my deserts to you
Can lack persuasion? Do not tempt my misery,
Lest that it make me so unsound a man
As to upbraid you with those kindnesses
That I have done for you.
VIOLA
I know of none,
Nor know I you by voice or any feature.
I hate ingratitude more in a man
Than lying, vainness, babbling, drunkenness,
Or any taint of vice whose strong corruption
Inhabits our frail blood—

DUTCH:
Ik haat ondankbaarheid meer in een man,
Dan valschheid, trots, praatziekte, dronkenschap,
Of een’ge boosheid, die ons zwak gemoed
Vergiftigt en bederft.

MORE:
Proverb: Ingratitude comprehends all faults

Part=In part, partly
Present=Current (money) trouble
Coffer=Money chest
Persuasion=Persuasiveness
Unsound=Unprincipled
Upbraid=Reproach
Compleat:
Part=Een deel, gedeelte
Coffer=Een koffer, kist
Persuasion=Overreeding, overtuiging, overstemming, aanraading, wysmaaking
Unsound (corrupt, rotten)=Bedurve, verrot, ongaaf
To upbraid=Verwyten, smaadelyk toedryven

Topics: proverbs and idioms, money, debt/obligation, ingratitude

PLAY: The Merchant of Venice
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Shylock
CONTEXT:
SHYLOCK
I have possessed your grace of what I purpose,
And by our holy Sabbath have I sworn
To have the due and forfeit of my bond.
If you deny it, let the danger light
Upon your charter and your city’s freedom.
You’ll ask me why I rather choose to have
A weight of carrion flesh than to receive
Three thousand ducats. I’ll not answer that
But say it is my humour. Is it answered?
What if my house be troubled with a rat
And I be pleased to give ten thousand ducats
To have it baned? What, are you answered yet?
Some men there are love not a gaping pig,
Some that are mad if they behold a cat,
And others, when the bagpipe sings i’ th’ nose,
Cannot contain their urine. For affection,
Mistress of passion, sways it to the mood
Of what it likes or loathes. Now, for your answer:
As there is no firm reason to be rendered
Why he cannot abide a gaping pig;
Why he, a harmless necessary cat;
Why he, a woollen bagpipe, but of force
Must yield to such inevitable shame
As to offend, himself being offended—
So can I give no reason, nor I will not
(More than a lodged hate and a certain loathing
I bear Antonio), that I follow thus
A losing suit against him. Are you answered?

DUTCH:
Ik deelde uw hoogheid mee wat ik verlang,
En ik bezwoer bij onzen heil’gen sabbath,
Te vord’ren, wat mij toekomt door mijn schuldbrief.

MORE:
To possess=To inform, acquaint (To put one in possession of)
Due and forfeit=Debt and penalty
Humour=Whim
Baned=Poisoned
Affection=Impulse
Of force=Perforce
Lodged=Deep-seated
Bond=A deed by which one binds oneself to another to make a payment or fulfil a contract
Compleat:
To possess one with an opinion=Iemand tot een gevoelen overbaalen, voorinnemen
Light on (his head)=’t zal op zyn kop aankomen
Enter into a bond=In een verband treeden, zich verbinden
Bane=Verderf, vergif

Topics: emotion and mood, misquoted

PLAY: Timon of Athens
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Senators
CONTEXT:

SENATOR
Get on your cloak, and haste you to Lord Timon;
Importune him for my moneys; be not ceased
With slight denial, nor then silenced when—
‘Commend me to your master’—and the cap
Plays in the right hand, thus: but tell him,
My uses cry to me, I must serve my turn
Out of mine own; his days and times are past
And my reliances on his fracted dates
Have smit my credit: I love and honour him,
But must not break my back to heal his finger;
Immediate are my needs, and my relief
Must not be tossed and turned to me in words,
But find supply immediate. Get you gone:
Put on a most importunate aspect,
A visage of demand; for, I do fear,
When every feather sticks in his own wing,
Lord Timon will be left a naked gull,
Which flashes now a phoenix. Get you gone.

DUTCH:
Zijn dagen zijn verstreken;
En dat ik rekende op zijn stipt betalen,
Heeft mijn crediet geschokt. Ik eer, bemin hem;
Maar moet mijn hals niet breken, om zijn vinger
Te heelen. Dringend is mijn nood; ik ben
Met toegeworpen woorden niet geholpen,
Maar met terstond betalen.

MORE:
CITED IN US LAW:
Brown v. Felsen, 442 U.S. 127, 137, n.8, 99 S.Ct. 2205, 2212, 60 L.Ed.2d 767 (1979)(Blackmun, J.). (The Court turns to Timon of Athens, Shakespeare’s satire on friends and creditors, and writes,
“In the words of a Shakespearean creditor, fearing the worst: ‘When every feather sticks in his own wing,/Which Timon will be left a naked Gull,/Which flashes now a Phoenix.'”) (William Domnarski, Shakespeare in the Law).

Proverb: If ever bird had (should take) his own feathers he should be as rich as a new-shorn sheep (you would be naked)
Importune=Urge, impel
Ceased=Stopped
Uses=Needs
Serve my turn=Protect my interests
Fracted dates=Exceeded deadlines
Smit=Damaged
Importunate=Unrelenting
Gull=Fool
Compleat:
Importune=Lastig vallen, zeer dringen, gestadig aanhouden, overdringen, aandringen
To cease=Ophouden, aflaaten, staaken, uitscheiden, stilhouden, afstaan
To come with cap in hand=Met den hoed in de hand komen
Smit=Getroffen
Importunate=Hard aanhoudend, overlastig, moeijelyk, aandringend
Gull=Bedrieger
To gull=Bedriegen, verschalken. You look as if you had a mind to gull me=Hete schynt of gy voorneemens waart om my te foppen

Topics: cited in law, proverbs and idioms, debt/obligation, claim, money

PLAY: King Henry VI Part 1
ACT/SCENE: 4.4
SPEAKER: Somerset
CONTEXT:
LUCY
And York as fast upon your grace exclaims;
Swearing that you withhold his levied host,
Collected for this expedition.
SOMERSET
York lies; he might have sent and had the horse;
I owe him little duty, and less love;
And take foul scorn to fawn on him by sending.
LUCY
The fraud of England, not the force of France,
Hath now entrapp’d the noble-minded Talbot:
Never to England shall he bear his life;
But dies, betray’d to fortune by your strife.

DUTCH:
York liegt; ‘k had ze afgestaan, had hij gevraagd;
‘k Ben hem geen dienst, nog minder liefde schuldig;
‘t Waar’ laag, ‘t waar’ vleien, zoo ik zelf haar zond.

MORE:

Levied host=Raised army (some versions have ‘levied horse’, interpreted as horsemen)
Expedition=A warlike enterprise
Sent and had=Sent for and have had
Foul=Disgraceful, derogatory
Scorn=Disdain, contempt
Fawn upon=To wheedle, to cringe, to be overcourteous; to court servilely and in the manner of a dog
Fraud=Falseness, faithlessness

Compleat:
Host (army)=Een heir, heirleger
Expedition=Een krygsverrichting
Scorn=Versmaading, verachting
To fawn upon=Vleijen, streelen

Topics: deceit, failure, conflict, duty, debt/obligation

PLAY: As You Like It
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Rosalind
CONTEXT:
ROSALIND
Ay, go your ways, go your ways. I knew what you would
prove. My friends told me as much, and I thought no
less. That flattering tongue of yours won me. ‘Tis but
one cast away, and so, come, death. Two o’clock is your
hour?
ORLANDO
Ay, sweet Rosalind.
ROSALIND
By my troth, and in good earnest, and so God mend me,
and by all pretty oaths that are not dangerous, if you
break one jot of your promise or come one minute behind
your hour, I will think you the most pathetical
break-promise and the most hollow lover and the most
unworthy of her you call Rosalind that may be chosen out
of the gross band of the unfaithful. Therefore beware
my censure, and keep your promise.

DUTCH:
Bij mijn eer en trouw, en in allen ernst, en zoo waar de Hemel mij bijsta, en bij alle kleine eeden, die niet gevaarlijk zijn, als gij een tittel van uw beloften breekt, of één minuut over uw uur komt, dan acht ik u den meest snoevenden eedverkrachter;

MORE:
Go your ways=Go on
So God mend me=A mild oath
Behind your hour=Late
Pathetical=Pathetic (wretched and deplorable)
Gross=Entire
Compleat:
Pathetical=Beweegelyk, hartroerend, zielroerend
Gross=Gros

Topics: debt/obligation, time, contract, duty, promise

PLAY: King Henry VI Part 1
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Lord Talbot
CONTEXT:
WINCHESTER
Stay, my lord legate: you shall first receive
The sum of money which I promised
Should be deliver’d to his holiness
For clothing me in these grave ornaments.
LEGATE
I will attend upon your lordship’s leisure.
OF WINCHESTER
Now Winchester will not submit, I trow,
Or be inferior to the proudest peer.
Humphrey of Gloucester, thou shalt well perceive
That, neither in birth or for authority,
The bishop will be overborne by thee:
I’ll either make thee stoop and bend thy knee,
Or sack this country with a mutiny.

DUTCH:
Ik zal u leeren bukken, ja, en knielen,
Of twist en omkeer zal dit land vernielen!

MORE:

Legate=Ambassador of the Pope
Grave=Worthy, sober, dignified
Ornaments=Attire
I trow=I dare say, I should think
Peer=Nobleman
Sack=Ransack, plunder

Compleat:
Legate=Een gezant, afgezant, afgezondene, Pauzelyk gezant
Grave=Deftig, stemmig, staatig
Ornaments=Verciersel
I trow=Ik denk, ik acht
Peer=Gelyk, weerga; de Ryksraaden
Sack=Plunderen

Topics: debt/obligation, authority

PLAY: King Henry V
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Fluellen
CONTEXT:
PISTOL
I take thy groat in earnest of revenge.
FLUELLEN
If I owe you anything, I will pay you in cudgels. You shall be a woodmonger and buy nothing of me but cudgels. God be wi’ you and keep you and heal your pate.

DUTCH:
Als ik u iets schuldig ben, zal ik u petalen in knuppels; gij moet in hout gaan doen en niets koopen van mij dan knuppels.

MORE:

Groat=Coin valued at four pence
Earnest=Handsel, part paid beforehand as a pledge, monetary pledge, down payment

Compleat:
An earnest=Een pand, onderpand
To give in earnest=Te bande geeven
Handsel, Hansel=Handgift
To give/take hansel=Handgift geeven/ontvangen
To hansel something=een ding voor ‘t eerst gebruiken
I took hansel before my shop was quite open=Ik ontving handgeld voor dat myn winkel nog ter deeg open was.
Cudgel=Knods, knuppel
To cross cudgels=’t Geweer neerleggen, ‘t gewonnen geeven
To cudgel one’s brains about a thing=Zyn hoofd ergens méde breeken. Cudgelled=Geknuppeld

Topics: debt/obligation, duty, business

PLAY: The Merchant of Venice
ACT/SCENE: 1.3
SPEAKER: Antonio
CONTEXT:
ANTONIO
I am as like to call thee so again,
To spet on thee again, to spurn thee too.
If thou wilt lend this money, lend it not
As to thy friends, for when did friendship take
A breed for barren metal of his friend?
But lend it rather to thine enemy,
Who, if he break, thou mayst with better face
Exact the penalty.
SHYLOCK
Why, look you how you storm!
I would be friends with you and have your love,
Forget the shames that you have stained me with,
Supply your present wants and take no doit
Of usance for my moneys—and you’ll not hear me!
This is kind I offer.
BASSANIO
This were kindness.

DUTCH:
Wilt gij dit geld ons leenen, leen het niet
Als aan uw vrienden, — vriendschap zou geen vrucht
Van dood metaal ooit eischen van zijn vriend, —
Maar leen ‘t veeleer uw vijand uit, want blijft
Die in gebreke, des te scherper kunt gij
Het uiterste eischen.

MORE:
Take a breed for barren metal=Charge interest
For=For the sake of
With better face=With no loss of face
Storm=Rage
Doit=Coin of little value
Usance=Interest
Kind=Kindness, an act of generosity
Compleat:
Face=’t Aangezigt, gelaat, gedaante
To storm=Bestormen, raazen en tieren
He storms and rages mightily=Hy buldert en raast geweldig
Doit=Een duyt (achttste deel van een stuyver)
Usance=Koopmans gebruik, Uso, een woord onder de Koopluiden gebruikelyk omtrent de betaaling der Wisselbrieven, betekenende een maand tyd; en tusschen dit en Spanje, enz. twee maanden.

Topics: emotion and mood, misquoted

PLAY: Richard III
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Duchess
CONTEXT:
DUCHESS
Was never mother had so dear a loss.
Alas, I am the mother of these griefs.
Their woes are parcelled; mine are general.
She for an Edward weeps, and so do I;
I for a Clarence weep; so doth not she.
These babes for Clarence weep and so do I;
I for an Edward weep; so do not they.
Alas, you three, on me, threefold distressed,
Pour all your tears. I am your sorrow’s nurse,
And I will pamper it with lamentations.
DORSET
Comfort, dear mother. God is much displeased
That you take with unthankfulness, his doing.
In common worldly things, ’tis called ungrateful
With dull unwillingness to repay a debt
Which with a bounteous hand was kindly lent;
Much more to be thus opposite with heaven,
For it requires the royal debt it lent you.

DUTCH:
Ondankbaar beet het steeds in ‘s werelds doen
Met tragen onwil golden weer te geven,
Met milde hand weiwillend ons geleend ;
Veel meer dan, zoo te twisten met den hemel,
Wijl die zijn vorst’lijk leengoed weder eischt.

MORE:
Parcelled=Specific, single
Pamper=Overindulge
Compleat:
To parcel=In hoopen verdeelen, in partyen deelen
To pamper=Mesten, wel onthaalen

Topics: debt/obligation, ingratitude, trust, promise

PLAY: Troilus and Cressida
ACT/SCENE: 5.3
SPEAKER: Cassandra
CONTEXT:
CASSANDRA
The gods are deaf to hot and peevish vows:
They are polluted offerings, more abhorred
Than spotted livers in the sacrifice.
ANDROMACHE
O, be persuaded! do not count it holy
To hurt by being just: it is as lawful,
For we would give much, to use violent thefts,
And rob in the behalf of charity.
CASSANDRA
It is the purpose that makes strong the vow;
But vows to every purpose must not hold:
Unarm, sweet Hector.
HECTOR
Hold you still, I say;
Mine honour keeps the weather of my fate:
Life every man holds dear; but the brave man
Holds honour far more precious-dear than life.

DUTCH:
t Is de inhoud, die een eed verbindend maakt;
Niet iedere eed, van eiken inhoud, bindt.
Ontwapen u, mijn Hector!

MORE:
Proverb: Either live or die with honour

Peevish=Headstrong
Polluted=Defiled
Must not=Need not
Hold=Be binding
Keeps the weather=Has the advantage of (ref to being windward in sailing)
Compleat:
Peevish=Kribbig, gemelyk
To pollute=Bevlekken, besmetten, bezoedelen

Burgersdijk notes:
Te kwetsen uit lout’re zucht tot recht. D.i. uit zucht om een te lichtzinnig gezworen eed te houden. De folio heeft hier drie regels, die in de quarto ontbreken, doch een er van is bedorven of er is een regel verloren gegaan. De zin is echter duidelijk genoeg.

Topics: proverbs and idioms, promise, debt/obligation

PLAY: Cymbeline
ACT/SCENE: 1.4
SPEAKER: Philario
CONTEXT:
IACHIMO
Ay, and the approbation of those that weep this
lamentable divorce under her colours are wonderfully
to extend him; be it but to fortify her judgment,
which else an easy battery might lay flat, for
taking a beggar without less quality. But how comes
it he is to sojourn with you? How creeps
acquaintance?
PHILARIO
His father and I were soldiers together; to whom I
have been often bound for no less than my life.
Here comes the Briton: let him be so entertained
amongst you as suits, with gentlemen of your
knowing, to a stranger of his quality.
I beseech you all, be better known to this
gentleman; whom I commend to you as a noble friend
of mine: how worthy he is I will leave to appear
hereafter, rather than story him in his own hearing.
FRENCHMAN
Sir, we have known together in Orleans.
POSTHUMUS LEONATUS
Since when I have been debtor to you for courtesies,
which I will be ever to pay and yet pay still.

DUTCH:
Daar komt onze Bril aan. Laat zijn ontvangst
door u zoo hoffelijk wezen, als een vreemdeling van zijn
rang recht heeft te verwachten van edellieden van uwen
stempel.

MORE:
Weep=Lament
Colours=Banner (on her behalf)
To extend him=Exaggerate his qualities
Be it but=Were it only
Easy=Light, slight
Battery=Assault
Without less=With no more
How creeps acquaintance=How did you get to know one another
Suits=Is fitting
Knowing=Knowlege, experience
Story him=Talk about him, sing his praises
Every to pay and yet pay still=Can never repay
Compleat:
To weep (lament)=Klaagen, jammeren
Colour=Een vaandel
Extend=Uitbreiden, wyder uitstrekken
Battery=Een schietschans, beukery, stormkat, battery
To creep=Kruipen, sluipen
To creep into one’s favour=Zich behendig in iemands gunste wikkelen
To story=Verhaalen, vertellen

Topics: marriage, wisdom, reputation, debt/obligation

PLAY: The Merchant of Venice
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Shylock
CONTEXT:
SALERIO
There is more difference between thy flesh and hers
than between jet and ivory, more between your bloods
than there is between red wine and rhenish. But tell us,
do you hear whether Antonio have had any loss at sea or
no?
SHYLOCK
There I have another bad match!— a bankrupt, a prodigal
who dare scarce show his head on the Rialto, a beggar
that was used to come so smug upon the mart. Let him
look to his bond. He was wont to call me usurer; let him
look to his bond. He was wont to lend money for a
Christian courtesy; let him look to his bond.
SALERIO
Why, I am sure, if he forfeit thou wilt not take his flesh.
What’s that good for?

DUTCH:
Dat is ook al weer een kwade zaak voor me; een
bankroetier, een verkwister, die te nauwernood zijn gezicht
op den Rialto durft laten kijken; — een bedelaar,
die altijd als een groot heer op de markt kwam, — laat
hem denken aan zijn schuldbrief; hij noemde mij altoos
een woekeraar, — laat hem denken aan zijn schuldbrief;
hij leende altijd geld uit christelijke liefelijkheid , — laat
hem denken aan zijn schuldbrief!

MORE:
Match=bargain. Bad match=bad deal.
Rhenish (“Reinish, Rennish, Renish”)=Rhine wine
Bond=A deed by which one binds oneself to another to make a payment or fulfil a contract.
Usurer=lender of money who charges interest (which was thought disreputable in Shakespeare’s time)
Compleat:
Rhenish=Rinse (of Rhynse) wyn
Usurer=woekeraar
Enter into a bond=In een verband treeden, zich verbinden
To sute with (or agree)=Overeenkomen

Topics: emotion and mood, misquoted

PLAY: The Merchant of Venice
ACT/SCENE: 1.3
SPEAKER: Shylock
CONTEXT:
SHYLOCK
Signor Antonio, many a time and oft
In the Rialto you have rated me
About my moneys and my usances.
Still have I borne it with a patient shrug,
For sufferance is the badge of all our tribe.
You call me misbeliever, cutthroat dog,
And spet upon my Jewish gaberdine—
And all for use of that which is mine own.
Well then, it now appears you need my help.
Go to, then! You come to me and you say,
“Shylock, we would have moneys.” You say so!—
You, that did void your rheum upon my beard
And foot me as you spurn a stranger cur
Over your threshold! Moneys is your suit.
What should I say to you? Should I not say,
“Hath a dog money? Is it possible
A cur can lend three thousand ducats?” Or
Shall I bend low and in a bondman’s key
With bated breath and whispering humbleness
Say this: “Fair sir, you spet on me on Wednesday last;
You spurned me such a day; another time
You called me ’dog’—and for these courtesies
I’ll lend you thus much moneys?”

DUTCH:
Signore Antonio, meermalen, vaak,
Hebt gij me op den Rialto doorgehaald
Ter zake van mijn leenera en mijn rente

MORE:
CITED IN US LAW:
Eckles v. State, 306 Ore. 380, 402 (1986) (contractual obligations): “Were specific performance required, the state, if it made an unwise or unfortunate bargain, might find itself in the position of Antonio, who, having agreed to forfeit a pound of his flesh upon failure to repay 3000 ducats, could not obtain mercy from Shylock even though friends offered to repay the debt many times over. Obligees with less of a point to prove than Shylock would nonetheless be in a position to extract an onerous settlement from the state.”
Rialto=Venetian Stock Exchange where merchants met to transact business deals
Rated = berated
My moneys and my usances=money and charging of interest
Compleat:
Usance=Koopmans gebruik, Uso, een woord onder de Koopluiden gebruikelyk omtrent de betaaling der Wisselbrieven, betekenende een maand tyd; en tusschen dit en Spanje, enz. twee maanden.
Double usance=Op dubbel Uso

Burgersdijk notes:
Zooals ik op den Rialto vernam. Onder Rialto is de plaats te verstaan, die als beurs diende. Een tijdgenoot van Sh. beschrijft die als een groot gebouw met open galerijen, waar de kooplieden tweemaal daags samenkwamen, ‘s morgens tissen 11 en 12 en ‘s namiddags tusschen 5 en 6 uren.

Topics: emotion and mood, misquoted

PLAY: Cymbeline
ACT/SCENE: 5.4
SPEAKER: Posthumus
CONTEXT:
JAILER
You shall not now be stol’n; you have locks upon you.
So graze as you find pasture
SECOND JAILER
Ay, or a stomach
POSTHUMUS
Most welcome, bondage! for thou art a way,
think, to liberty: yet am I better
Than one that’s sick o’ the gout; since he had rather
Groan so in perpetuity than be cured
By the sure physician, death, who is the key
To unbar these locks. My conscience, thou art fetter’d
More than my shanks and wrists: you good gods, give me
The penitent instrument to pick that bolt,
Then, free for ever! Is’t enough I am sorry?
So children temporal fathers do appease;
Gods are more full of mercy. Must I repent?
I cannot do it better than in gyves,
Desired more than constrain’d: to satisfy,
If of my freedom ’tis the main part, take
No stricter render of me than my all.
I know you are more clement than vile men,
Who of their broken debtors take a third,
A sixth, a tenth, letting them thrive again
On their abatement: that’s not my desire:
For Imogen’s dear life take mine; and though
‘Tis not so dear, yet ’tis a life; you coin’d it:
‘Tween man and man they weigh not every stamp;
Though light, take pieces for the figure’s sake:
You rather mine, being yours: and so, great powers,
If you will take this audit, take this life,
And cancel these cold bonds. O Imogen!
I’ll speak to thee in silence.

DUTCH:
Mijn geweten,
Gij draagt meer kluisters dan mijn pols en enkels;
O, goden, moog’ mijn boete ‘t werktuig zijn,
Die kluisters te oop nen; dan, voor eeuwig Vrij!

MORE:
You shall not now be stolen=Alluding to the custom of puting a lock on a horse’s leg when it is put out to pasture (Johnson)
Penitent instrument=A means of freeing conscience of its guilt (Rolfe)
Groan=To utter a mournful voice in pain or sorrow
Temporal=Pertaining to this life or this world, not spiritual, not eternal
Gyves=fetters
Render=A surrender, a giving up
Stricter=More rigorous
Stamp=Coin with the sovereign’s head impressed
Though light, take pieces…=It was common practice for forgers lighten the weight of coins in order to conserve material.
Take this audit=Accept this settlement of accounts
Clement=Disposed to kindness, mild
Compleat:
Gyves=Boeijen, kluisters
Constrained=Bedwongen, gedrongen, gepraamd
Strict=Gestreng
Clement=Goedertieren, zachtzinnig
Audit=Het nazien der Rekeningen
Penitent=Boetvaardig, berouw toonend
Temporal (secular, not spiritual)=Waereldlyk

Burgersdijk notes:
“Nu steelt u niemand, met dat blok aan ‘t been; Graas nu zoover gij weide hebt”. Zooals men wel een paard in de weide met een ketting en slot bevestigt opdat het niet gestolen worde of wegloope.

Topics: regret, guilt, remedy, conscience, debt/obligation

PLAY: Troilus and Cressida
ACT/SCENE: 5.3
SPEAKER: Cassandra
CONTEXT:
CASSANDRA
The gods are deaf to hot and peevish vows:
They are polluted offerings, more abhorred
Than spotted livers in the sacrifice.
ANDROMACHE
O, be persuaded! do not count it holy
To hurt by being just: it is as lawful,
For we would give much, to use violent thefts,
And rob in the behalf of charity.
CASSANDRA
It is the purpose that makes strong the vow;
But vows to every purpose must not hold:
Unarm, sweet Hector.
HECTOR
Hold you still, I say;
Mine honour keeps the weather of my fate:
Life every man holds dear; but the brave man
Holds honour far more precious-dear than life.

DUTCH:
0, laat u raden; ‘t is niet vroom, te kwetsen
Uit lout’re zucht tot recht; ‘t ware even lof lijk ,
Om veel te geven, and’ren te berooven,
En door een zucht tot weldoen, dief te zijn.

MORE:
Proverb: Either live or die with honour

Peevish=Headstrong
Polluted=Defiled
Must not=Need not
Hold=Be binding
Keeps the weather=Has the advantage of (ref to being windward in sailing)
Compleat:
Peevish=Kribbig, gemelyk
To pollute=Bevlekken, besmetten, bezoedelen

Burgersdijk notes:
Te kwetsen uit lout’re zucht tot recht. D.i. uit zucht om een te lichtzinnig gezworen eed te houden. De folio heeft hier drie regels, die in de quarto ontbreken, doch een er van is bedorven of er is een regel verloren gegaan. De zin is echter duidelijk genoeg.

Topics: proverbs and idioms, promise, debt/obligation

PLAY: Cymbeline
ACT/SCENE: 3.3
SPEAKER: Belarius
CONTEXT:
BELARIUS
Now for our mountain sport: up to yond hill;
Your legs are young; I’ll tread these flats. Consider,
When you above perceive me like a crow,
That it is place which lessens and sets off;
And you may then revolve what tales I have told you
Of courts, of princes, of the tricks in war:
This service is not service, so being done,
But being so allow’d: to apprehend thus,
Draws us a profit from all things we see;
And often, to our comfort, shall we find
The sharded beetle in a safer hold
Than is the full-wing’d eagle. O, this life
Is nobler than attending for a cheque,
Richer than doing nothing for a bauble,
Prouder than rustling in unpaid-for silk:
Such gain the cap of him that makes ’em fine,
Yet keeps his book uncross’d: no life to ours.
GUIDERIUS
Out of your proof you speak. We poor unfledged
Have never winged from view o’ th’ nest, nor know not
What air ’s from home. Haply this life is best
If quiet life be best, sweeter to you
That have a sharper known, well corresponding
With your stiff age; but unto us it is
A cell of ignorance, travelling a-bed,
A prison for a debtor that not dares
To stride a limit.

DUTCH:
O, dit leven
Is eed’ler dan als hoveling te dienen,
Waarvoor verwijten vaak het loon zijn;

MORE:
Attending=Dancing attendance
Check=Rebuke
Sharded=Having scaly wings
Gain the cap=Have someone (in this case, the tailor) doff their cap to them
Book uncrossed=Debts not struck out
Proof=Experience
Haply=Perhaps
Compleat:
Attendance=Opwachting, oppassing, behartiging; Een stoet van oppasssers, hofgezin, dienstbooden
To dance attendance=Lang te vergeefsch wagten
To cross out=Doorstreepen, doorhaalen
Proof (mark or testimony)=Getuigenis
Haply=Misschien

Topics: age/experience, life, evidence, debt/obligation, authority

PLAY: Twelfth Night
ACT/SCENE: 3.4
SPEAKER: Viola
CONTEXT:
ANTONIO
I must entreat of you some of that money.
VIOLA
What money, sir?
For the fair kindness you have showed me here,
And part being prompted by your present trouble,
Out of my lean and low ability
I’ll lend you something. My having is not much.
I’ll make division of my present with you.
Hold, there’s half my coffer.
ANTONIO
Will you deny me now?
Is ’t possible that my deserts to you
Can lack persuasion? Do not tempt my misery,
Lest that it make me so unsound a man
As to upbraid you with those kindnesses
That I have done for you.
VIOLA
I know of none,
Nor know I you by voice or any feature.
I hate ingratitude more in a man
Than lying, vainness, babbling, drunkenness,
Or any taint of vice whose strong corruption
Inhabits our frail blood—

DUTCH:
En ook omdat uw ongeval mij treft,
Wil ik, hoe schraal mijn midd’len mogen zijn,
U graag wat leenen

MORE:
Proverb: Ingratitude comprehends all faults

Part=In part, partly
Present=Current (money) trouble
Coffer=Money chest
Persuasion=Persuasiveness
Unsound=Unprincipled
Upbraid=Reproach
Compleat:
Part=Een deel, gedeelte
Coffer=Een koffer, kist
Persuasion=Overreeding, overtuiging, overstemming, aanraading, wysmaaking
Unsound (corrupt, rotten)=Bedurve, verrot, ongaaf
To upbraid=Verwyten, smaadelyk toedryven

Topics: proverbs and idioms, money, debt/obligation, ingratitude

PLAY: Cymbeline
ACT/SCENE: 3.3
SPEAKER: Guiderius
CONTEXT:
BELARIUS
Now for our mountain sport: up to yond hill;
Your legs are young; I’ll tread these flats. Consider,
When you above perceive me like a crow,
That it is place which lessens and sets off;
And you may then revolve what tales I have told you
Of courts, of princes, of the tricks in war:
This service is not service, so being done,
But being so allow’d: to apprehend thus,
Draws us a profit from all things we see;
And often, to our comfort, shall we find
The sharded beetle in a safer hold
Than is the full-wing’d eagle. O, this life
Is nobler than attending for a cheque,
Richer than doing nothing for a bauble,
Prouder than rustling in unpaid-for silk:
Such gain the cap of him that makes ’em fine,
Yet keeps his book uncross’d: no life to ours.
GUIDERIUS
Out of your proof you speak: we, poor unfledged,
Have never wing’d from view o’ the nest, nor know not
What air’s from home. Haply this life is best,
If quiet life be best; sweeter to you
That have a sharper known; well corresponding
With your stiff age: but unto us it is
A cell of ignorance; travelling a-bed;
A prison for a debtor, that not dares
To stride a limit.

DUTCH:
Gij spreekt uit uw ervaring; maar wij, armen,
Wij vlogen nooit van ‘t nest nog weg, en weten
Volstrekt nog niet, hoe elders wel de lucht is.

MORE:
Attending=Dancing attendance
Check=Rebuke
Sharded=Having scaly wings
Gain the cap=Have someone (in this case, the tailor) doff their cap to them
Book uncrossed=Debts not struck out
Proof=Experience
Haply=Perhaps
Compleat:
Attendance=Opwachting, oppassing, behartiging; Een stoet van oppasssers, hofgezin, dienstbooden
To dance attendance=Lang te vergeefsch wagten
To cross out=Doorstreepen, doorhaalen
Proof (mark or testimony)=Getuigenis
Haply=Misschien

Topics: age/experience, life, evidence, debt/obligation, authority, perception

PLAY: Troilus and Cressida
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Hector
CONTEXT:
HECTOR
Paris and Troilus, you have both said well,
And on the cause and question now in hand
Have glozed, but superficially: not much
Unlike young men, whom Aristotle thought
Unfit to hear moral philosophy:
The reasons you allege do more conduce
To the hot passion of distempered blood
Than to make up a free determination
‘Twixt right and wrong, for pleasure and revenge
Have ears more deaf than adders to the voice
Of any true decision. Nature craves
All dues be rendered to their owners: now,
What nearer debt in all humanity
Than wife is to the husband? If this law
Of nature be corrupted through affection,
And that great minds, of partial indulgence
To their benumbed wills, resist the same,
There is a law in each well-ordered nation
To curb those raging appetites that are
Most disobedient and refractory.

DUTCH:
The reasons you allege do more conduce
To the hot passion of distempered blood
Than to make up a free determination
‘Twixt right and wrong, for pleasure and revenge
Have ears more deaf than adders to the voice
Of any true decision.

MORE:
Proverb: Give everyone his due
Proverb: As deaf as an adder

To gloze=Expand, expound. Veil with specious comments (OED)
Glozes=Pretentious talk
Conduce=Contribute, cite
Affection=Emotion; partiality
Partial=Prejudiced
Distempered=Ill-humoured; deranged
Benumbed=Dulled, inured
Refractory=Unmanageable
Compleat:
To gloze=Vleijen, flikflooijen
To conduce=Vorderlyk zyn, dienstig zyn, baaten
Affection=Toegeneegenheid, aandoening
Partial=Eenzydig, partydig
Distempered=Niet wel te pas, kwaalyk gesteld, uit zyn schik
To benum=Verstyven
Refractory=Wederspannig

Burgersdijk notes:
Door Aristoteles. Nu Shakespeare een Griekschen wijsgeer wil vermelden, kiest hij een algemeen bekenden, zonder te vragen, of deze niet vele eeuwen na den Trojaanschen oorlog leefde en of hij inderdaad de jeugd onvatbaar heeft genoemd voor de beoefening der moraal -philosophie.
Zijn doover nog dan slangen. Dat slangen voor doof gehouden werden, blijkt ook uit 2 K. Hendrik IV, en uit Sonnet CXII.

Topics: proverbs and idioms, law/legal, judgment, debt/obligation

PLAY: Timon of Athens
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: Senator
CONTEXT:

SENATOR
Get on your cloak, and haste you to Lord Timon;
Importune him for my moneys; be not ceased
With slight denial, nor then silenced when—
‘Commend me to your master’—and the cap
Plays in the right hand, thus: but tell him,
My uses cry to me, I must serve my turn
Out of mine own; his days and times are past
And my reliances on his fracted dates
Have smit my credit: I love and honour him,
But must not break my back to heal his finger;
Immediate are my needs, and my relief
Must not be tossed and turned to me in words,
But find supply immediate. Get you gone:
Put on a most importunate aspect,
A visage of demand; for, I do fear,
When every feather sticks in his own wing,
Lord Timon will be left a naked gull,
Which flashes now a phoenix. Get you gone.

DUTCH:
Zet een gezicht, dat maant, dat onverbidd’lijk
De kwijting vraagt; ja, want voorwaar, ik vrees,
Steekt ied’re veder in den rechten vleugel,
Dan blijkt deze eed’le Timon, schoon hij thans
Nog als een feniks glans’, een naakte nest’ling.

MORE:
CITED IN US LAW:
Brown v. Felsen, 442 U.S. 127, 137, n.8, 99 S.Ct. 2205, 2212, 60 L.Ed.2d 767 (1979)(Blackmun, J.). (The Court turns to Timon of Athens, Shakespeare’s satire on friends and creditors, and writes,
“In the words of a Shakespearean creditor, fearing the worst: ‘When every feather sticks in his own wing,/Which Timon will be left a naked Gull,/Which flashes now a Phoenix.'”) (William Domnarski, Shakespeare in the Law).

Proverb: If ever bird had (should take) his own feathers he should be as rich as a new-shorn sheep (you would be naked)

Importune=Urge, impel
Ceased=Stopped
Uses=Needs
Serve my turn=Protect my interests
Fracted dates=Exceeded deadlines
Smit=Damaged
Gull=Fool
Compleat:
Importune=Lastig vallen, zeer dringen, gestadig aanhouden, overdringen, aandringen
To cease=Ophouden, aflaaten, staaken, uitscheiden, stilhouden, afstaan
To come with cap in hand=Met den hoed in de hand komen
Smit=Getroffen
Importunate=Hard aanhoudend, overlastig, moeijelyk, aandringend
Gull=Bedrieger
To gull=Bedriegen, verschalken. You look as if you had a mind to gull me=Hete schynt of gy voorneemens waart om my te foppen

Topics: cited in law, proverbs and idioms, debt/obligation, claim, money

PLAY: The Merry Wives of Windsor
ACT/SCENE:
SPEAKER: Fenton
CONTEXT:
HOST
Which means she to deceive, father or mother?
FENTON
Both, my good host, to go along with me:
And here it rests, that you’ll procure the vicar
To stay for me at church ‘twixt twelve and one,
And, in the lawful name of marrying,
To give our hearts united ceremony.
HOST
Well, husband your device; I’ll to the vicar:
Bring you the maid, you shall not lack a priest.
FENTON
So shall I evermore be bound to thee;
Besides, I’ll make a present recompense.

DUTCH:
Nu dan, voorwaar, blijf ik u immer dankbaar,
En loon u bovendien terstond den dienst.

MORE:
Procure=Cause to ‘come hither’
Lawful name of=Name of lawful
Ceremony=Solemn celebration (of marriage)
Husband=Manage
Bring you=You bring, if you bring
Present=Immediate
Compleat:
Procure=Te wege brengen, verkrygen, bekomen, erlangen
Ceremony=Kerkgebaar, plegtigheyd, kerkzeede, pligtpleeging
To husband=To supply with a husband, to marry
Present=Tegenwoordig
Recompense=Vergelding, beloning

Topics: deceit|marriage|plans/intentions|debt/obligation

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 4.2
SPEAKER: Dromio of Syracuse
CONTEXT:
ADRIANA
What, is he arrested? Tell me at whose suit.
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
I know not at whose suit he is arrested well,
But he’s in a suit of buff which ’rested him; that can I tell.
Will you send him, mistress, redemption—the money in his desk?
ADRIANA
Go fetch it, sister.
This I wonder at,
That he, unknown to me, should be in debt.
Tell me, was he arrested on a bond?
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
Not on a bond, but on a stronger thing:
A chain, a chain. Do you not hear it ring?

DUTCH:
Ga ‘t halen, zuster. — ‘k Sta verwonderd, dat
Mijn man zoo iets als stille schulden had. —
Waarom werd hij gegijzeld? om een schuldbrief?

MORE:
Suit=Petition or entreaty
Buff=Hardwearing material; buff jerkins were worn by the sergeant
Bond=Loan
Compleat:
Suit=Een verzoek, rechtsgeding
Buff leather=Buffels of ossen leer op zeem bereid

Topics: debt/obligation, money, offence

PLAY: The Merchant of Venice
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Gobbo
CONTEXT:
LAUNCELOT
In very brief, the suit is impertinent to myself, as your worship shall know by this honest old man—and though I say it, though old man, yet poor man, my father
BASSANIO
One speak for both. What would you?
LAUNCELOT
Serve you, sir.
GOBBO
That is the very defect of the matter, sir.
BASSANIO
I know thee well. Thou hast obtained thy suit.
Shylock thy master spoke with me this day,
And hath preferred thee.

DUTCH:

Ja, dat is het, dat wij u willen opponeeren, heer.

MORE:
Gobbo using a malapropisms here: defect = effect.
Impertinent=Pertinent
Preferred=Recommended
Defect=Gist (malapropism: effect)
Compleat:
To take effect=Stand grypen, gelukken
Effect=Uitkomst, uitwerking, gewrocht
Gedicht van Nicolaas Beets uit 1882:
“Gelijk men zegt: ‘Ik zoek, ik zocht,
Ik breng, ik brocht,’
Zoo zei men ook: ‘Ik werk, ik wrocht,’
Zoolang het volk zijn taal verstond.
Thans hoor ik, uit geleerden mond:
‘Ik wrocht, ik wrochtte, heb gewrocht’….
Nu ja! – een wangedrocht!”

Topics: emotion and mood, misquoted

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 4.2
SPEAKER: Dromio of Syracuse
CONTEXT:
ADRIANA
The hours come back? That did I never hear.
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
O yes, if any hour meet a sergeant, he turns back for very fear.
ADRIANA
As if time were in debt. How fondly dost thou reason!
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
Time is a very bankrupt and owes more than he’s worth to season.
Nay, he’s a thief too. Have you not heard men say
That time comes stealing on by night and day?
If he be in debt and theft, and a sergeant in the way,
Hath he not reason to turn back an hour in a day?
ADRIANA
Go, Dromio. There’s the money. Bear it straight,
And bring thy master home immediately.
Come, sister, I am pressed down with conceit:
Conceit, my comfort and my injury.

DUTCH:
Als of de tijd in schulden stak! hoe dol! wie hoorde ‘t ooit?

MORE:
Hours come back=Go backwards
Sergeant=Officer often responsible for arrests
Fondly=Foolishly
Pressed down=Depressed
Conceit=Imagination
Compleat:
Fond=Zot, dwaas, ongerymt
Sergeant=Een gerechtsdienaar, gerechtsboode
Fond=Zot, dwaas, ongerymt
To press down=Neerdrukken
Conceit=Waan, bevatting, opvatting, meening

Topics: time, reason, debt/obligation, imagination, emotion and mood

PLAY: Troilus and Cressida
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Hector
CONTEXT:
HECTOR
Paris and Troilus, you have both said well,
And on the cause and question now in hand
Have glozed, but superficially: not much
Unlike young men, whom Aristotle thought
Unfit to hear moral philosophy:
The reasons you allege do more conduce
To the hot passion of distempered blood
Than to make up a free determination
‘Twixt right and wrong, for pleasure and revenge
Have ears more deaf than adders to the voice
Of any true decision. Nature craves
All dues be rendered to their owners: now,
What nearer debt in all humanity
Than wife is to the husband? If this law
Of nature be corrupted through affection,
And that great minds, of partial indulgence
To their benumbed wills, resist the same,
There is a law in each well-ordered nation
To curb those raging appetites that are
Most disobedient and refractory.

DUTCH:
De gronden, die gij bijbrengt, voeren meer
Tot heete opbruising van ontstoken bloed,
Dan tot het onbevangen, juist erkennen
Van recht en onrecht.

MORE:
Proverb: Give everyone his due
Proverb: As deaf as an adder

To gloze=Expand, expound. Veil with specious comments (OED)
Glozes=Pretentious talk
Conduce=Contribute, cite
Affection=Emotion; partiality
Partial=Prejudiced
Distempered=Ill-humoured; deranged
Benumbed=Dulled, inured
Refractory=Unmanageable
Compleat:
To gloze=Vleijen, flikflooijen
To conduce=Vorderlyk zyn, dienstig zyn, baaten
Affection=Toegeneegenheid, aandoening
Partial=Eenzydig, partydig
Distempered=Niet wel te pas, kwaalyk gesteld, uit zyn schik
To benum=Verstyven
Refractory=Wederspannig

Burgersdijk notes:
Door Aristoteles. Nu Shakespeare een Griekschen wijsgeer wil vermelden, kiest hij een algemeen bekenden, zonder te vragen, of deze niet vele eeuwen na den Trojaanschen oorlog leefde en of hij inderdaad de jeugd onvatbaar heeft genoemd voor de beoefening der moraal -philosophie.
Zijn doover nog dan slangen. Dat slangen voor doof gehouden werden, blijkt ook uit 2 K. Hendrik IV, en uit Sonnet CXII.

Topics: proverbs and idioms, law/legal, judgment, debt/obligation, good and bad

PLAY: Timon of Athens
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Timon
CONTEXT:
VENTIDIUS
Most honoured Timon,
It hath pleased the gods to remember my father’s age,
And call him to long peace.
He is gone happy, and has left me rich:
Then, as in grateful virtue I am bound
To your free heart, I do return those talents,
Doubled with thanks and service, from whose help
I derived liberty.
TIMON
O, by no means,
Honest Ventidius; you mistake my love:
I gave it freely ever; and there’s none
Can truly say he gives, if he receives:
If our betters play at that game, we must not dare
To imitate them; faults that are rich are fair.

DUTCH:
Neen, gij miskent mijn hart; ik schonk dat alles
Geheel, voor immer; wie verklaart naar waarheid,
Dat hij iets geeft, als hij terug ontvangt?
Zij zulk een spel bij hoog’ren ook gewoon,
Wij doen ‘t niet na; wat grooten doen, heet schoon.

MORE:
Long peace=Everlasting sleep
Free=Generous
Talent=Unit of weight to measure precious metal value, currency
Betters=Wealthier people
Compleat:
Free=Vry, openhartig
Talent=Een talent; pond
Betters=Meerderen

Burgersdijk notes:
Bij hoog’ren. Meermalen wordt in dit stuk aan de Atheensche senatoren woeker te last gelegd

Topics: death, legacy, flaw/fault, debt/obligation, poverty and wealth

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Second Merchant
CONTEXT:
SECOND MERCHANT
You know since Pentecost the sum is due,
And since I have not much importuned you,
Nor now I had not, but that I am bound
To Persia, and want guilders for my voyage.
Therefore make present satisfaction,
Or I’ll attach you by this officer.
ANGELO
Even just the sum that I do owe to you
Is growing to me by Antipholus.
And in the instant that I met with you,
He had of me a chain. At five o’clock
I shall receive the money for the same.
Pleaseth you walk with me down to his house,
I will discharge my bond and thank you too.

DUTCH:
Gelief mij dus onmidd’lijk te betalen,
Of deze man voert u ter gijz’ling heen.

MORE:
Importuned=Demanded, begged
Want guilders=Lack money
Present=Now
Make satisfaction=Pay the debt
Attach=Arrest
Growing=Owing, accruing
Discharge=Pay my debt
Compleat:
Importune=Lastig vallen, zeer dringen, gestadig aanhouden, overdringen, aandringen
Want=Gebrek
Present=Tegenwoordig
Satisfaction=Vergoeding, voldoening
Attach=Beslaan, de hand opleggen, in verzekering neemen
To discharge=Onstlaan, lossen, quytschelden

Topics: debt/obligation, money

PLAY: Timon of Athens
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Flavius
CONTEXT:
FLAVIUS
I have been bold—
For that I knew it the most general way—
To them to use your signet and your name;
But they do shake their heads, and I am here
No richer in return.
TIMON
Is’t true? can’t be?
FLAVIUS
They answer, in a joint and corporate voice,
That now they are at fall, want treasure, cannot
Do what they would; are sorry—you are honourable,—
But yet they could have wished—they know not—
Something hath been amiss —a noble nature
May catch a wrench—would all were well—’tis pity;—
And so, intending other serious matters,
After distasteful looks and these hard fractions,
With certain half-caps and cold-moving nods
They froze me into silence.

DUTCH:
Uit éenen mond was aller antwoord, dat
Er eb was in hun beurs; — helaas, zij konden
Niet doen wat zij wel wilden;

MORE:
Signet=Seal
Joint and corporate=United
At fall=Low in funds
Catch a wrench=Suffer misfortune
Hard fractions=Half sentences
Half-caps=Caps half doffed
Cold-moving=Grudging
Compleat:
Signet=Een zegelring, merk-ring
Joint (joynt)=Gezaamentlyk
Wrench=Verdraaijing, verstuiking
Fraction=Breeking; (quarrel)=Krakeel

Topics: authority, claim, debt/obligation

PLAY: The Merchant of Venice
ACT/SCENE: 1.3
SPEAKER: Shylock
CONTEXT:
SHYLOCK
This kindness will I show.
Go with me to a notary, seal me there
Your single bond, and—in a merry sport—
If you repay me not on such a day,
In such a place, such sum or sums as are
Expressed in the condition, let the forfeit
Be nominated for an equal pound
Of your fair flesh, to be cut off and taken
In what part of your body pleaseth me.

DUTCH:
Ik doe die vriendlijkheid.— Ga mee naar den notaris, teeken daar Uw schuldbrief op uw naam.

MORE:
CITED IN US LAW:
Miller v. Niedzielska, 176 Pa. 409, 411 (1896): “An examination of the records now before us leads us to the conclusion that this is a proper case for the application of the principle enunciated by Portia in a celebrated case reported by Shakespeare in the Merchant of Venice. The plaintiff was permitted in that case to secure the pound of flesh, ‘nominated in the bond,’ if he could do so without taking a drop of blood. Blood had not been stipulated for in the covenant on which the plaintiff sued. This limitation did not deny the right, but it affected the remedy. This case presents a somewhat similar question.”
Henslee v. D. M. Cent. Transp., Inc., 870 F. Supp. 764 (1994): “This is a suit by a law firm to recover under a contingent fee agreement. The underlying lawsuit was settled for cash and a promise of re-employment by the client acting alone and against the firm’s advice. The contract states that the law firm is entitled to 25% of “the gross amount … realize[d] on this claim.” With Shakespearian “kindness,” the law firm argues that “the gross amount” includes not only the cash settlement received, but also the dollar value of all compensation connected with the re-employment.”
In re Keniston, 60 Bankr., 742 (1986): “In question is the fortuitous circumstance that he is now remarried to a fairly wealthy woman. The record of the trial of this matter, involving the literal language of the “document you signed” as opposed to the underlying intent of the parties, has a good bit of the flavor of Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice” in that regard.”
In re Estate of Shoptaw, 54 Wash. 2d 602, 606 (1959): “What makes this result particularly irksome is the realization that in some areas the United States does not exact the pound of flesh merely because it is “so nominated in the bond” (Merchant of Venice, Act IV, Scene 1).”.
Queen City Coach Co. v. Carolina Coach Co., 237 N.C. 697, 705 (1953): “We turn to the courtroom scene in The Merchant of Venice for the conclusive answer to the argument of Virginia that the policies and endorsements imposed on Liberty and Lloyds contractual duties to make good to Queen the loss arising out of the collision of the Queen bus and the Perkins car.It was not ‘so nominated in the bond.'”
CITED IN HONG KONG LAW:
Tins’ Industrial Co Ltd v Kono Insurance Ltd (CACV 136/1987)

Seal=authenticate, attest or confirm or final addition to complete and secure
In a merry sport=just for fun
Compleat:
To set his seal to a thing=Zyn zégel aan iets steeken (of hangen)
To put the seal upon=Zégelen
A private seal for letters=Een byzonder signet voor brieven

Topics: emotion and mood, misquoted

PLAY: King Henry V
ACT/SCENE: 4.7
SPEAKER: Fluellen
CONTEXT:
KING HENRY
It may be his enemy is a gentleman of great sort, quite from the answer of his degree.
FLUELLEN
Though he be as good a gentleman as the devil is, as Lucifer and Beelzebub himself, it is necessary, look your Grace, that he keep his vow and his oath. If he be perjured, see you now, his reputation is as arrant a villain and a Jack Sauce as ever his black shoe trod upon God’s ground and His earth, in my conscience, la.

DUTCH:
Al was hij een zoo goede edelman, als de tuifel het
is, als Lucifer en Pelzepup zelf, toch is het noodig, versta
uwe genade, dat hij zijn gelofte houdt en zijn eed.

MORE:

Proverb: As good a man as ever trod on shoe (neat’s) leather (as ever went on legs)
The answer of his degree=A question of rank (knights were only bound to fight with one of equal rank)

Arrant=Arch
Good=important

Compleat:
An arrant knave=Een overgegeven guit

Topics: status, promise, debt/obligation, reputation, proverbs and idioms

PLAY: Cymbeline
ACT/SCENE: 3.3
SPEAKER: Belarius
CONTEXT:
BELARIUS
Now for our mountain sport: up to yond hill;
Your legs are young; I’ll tread these flats. Consider,
When you above perceive me like a crow,
That it is place which lessens and sets off;
And you may then revolve what tales I have told you
Of courts, of princes, of the tricks in war:
This service is not service, so being done,
But being so allow’d: to apprehend thus,
Draws us a profit from all things we see;
And often, to our comfort, shall we find
The sharded beetle in a safer hold
Than is the full-wing’d eagle. O, this life
Is nobler than attending for a cheque,
Richer than doing nothing for a bauble,
Prouder than rustling in unpaid-for silk:
Such gain the cap of him that makes ’em fine,
Yet keeps his book uncross’d: no life to ours.
GUIDERIUS
Out of your proof you speak. We poor unfledged
Have never winged from view o’ th’ nest, nor know not
What air ’s from home. Haply this life is best
If quiet life be best, sweeter to you
That have a sharper known, well corresponding
With your stiff age; but unto us it is
A cell of ignorance, traveling abed,
A prison for a debtor that not dares
To stride a limit.

DUTCH:
Daar is een dienst geen dienst, wijl hij gedaan,
Maar wijl hij zoo beschouwd wordt. Zoo te wikken,
Trekt ons gewin uit alles wat wij zien;

MORE:
Attending=Dancing attendance
Check=Rebuke
Sharded=Having scaly wings
Gain the cap=Have someone (in this case, the tailor) doff their cap to them
Book uncrossed=Debts not struck out
Proof=Experience
Haply=Perhaps
Compleat:
Attendance=Opwachting, oppassing, behartiging; Een stoet van oppasssers, hofgezin, dienstbooden
To dance attendance=Lang te vergeefsch wagten
To cross out=Doorstreepen, doorhaalen
Proof (mark or testimony)=Getuigenis
Haply=Misschien

Topics: age/experience, life, evidence, debt/obligation, authority, perception

PLAY: Troilus and Cressida
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Hector
CONTEXT:
HECTOR
Paris and Troilus, you have both said well,
And on the cause and question now in hand
Have glozed, but superficially: not much
Unlike young men, whom Aristotle thought
Unfit to hear moral philosophy:
The reasons you allege do more conduce
To the hot passion of distempered blood
Than to make up a free determination
‘Twixt right and wrong, for pleasure and revenge
Have ears more deaf than adders to the voice
Of any true decision. Nature craves
All dues be rendered to their owners: now,
What nearer debt in all humanity
Than wife is to the husband? If this law
Of nature be corrupted through affection,
And that great minds, of partial indulgence
To their benumbed wills, resist the same,
There is a law in each well-ordered nation
To curb those raging appetites that are
Most disobedient and refractory.
If Helen then be wife to Sparta’s king,
As it is known she is, these moral laws
Of nature and of nations speak aloud
To have her back returned: thus to persist
In doing wrong extenuates not wrong,
But makes it much more heavy. Hector’s opinion
Is this in way of truth; yet ne’ertheless,
My spritely brethren, I propend to you
In resolution to keep Helen still,
For ’tis a cause that hath no mean dependance
Upon our joint and several dignities.

DUTCH:
“Men zende haar terug; zoo te volharden
In ‘t onrecht, maakt het onrecht wis niet minder,
Neen, eer veel zwaarder.”

MORE:
Proverb: Give everyone his due
Proverb: As deaf as an adder

To gloze=Expand, expound. Veil with specious comments (OED)
Glozes=Pretentious talk
Conduce=Contribute, cite
Affection=Emotion; partiality
Partial=Prejudiced
Distempered=Ill-humoured; deranged
Benumbed=Dulled, inured
Refractory=Unmanageable
Compleat:
To gloze=Vleijen, flikflooijen
To conduce=Vorderlyk zyn, dienstig zyn, baaten
Affection=Toegeneegenheid, aandoening
Partial=Eenzydig, partydig
Distempered=Niet wel te pas, kwaalyk gesteld, uit zyn schik
To benum=Verstyven
Refractory=Wederspannig

Burgersdijk notes:
Door Aristoteles. Nu Shakespeare een Griekschen wijsgeer wil vermelden, kiest hij een algemeen bekenden, zonder te vragen, of deze niet vele eeuwen na den Trojaanschen oorlog leefde en of hij inderdaad de jeugd onvatbaar heeft genoemd voor de beoefening der moraal -philosophie.
Zijn doover nog dan slangen. Dat slangen voor doof gehouden werden, blijkt ook uit 2 K. Hendrik IV, en uit Sonnet CXII.

Topics: proverbs and idioms, law/legal, judgment, debt/obligation

PLAY: Twelfth Night
ACT/SCENE: 3.4
SPEAKER: Olivia
CONTEXT:
OLIVIA
I have said too much unto a heart of stone
And laid mine honor too unchary on ’t.
There’s something in me that reproves my fault,
But such a headstrong potent fault it is
That it but mocks reproof.
VIOLA
With the same ‘havior that your passion bears
Goes on my master’s grief.
OLIVIA
Here, wear this jewel for me. ‘Tis my picture.
Refuse it not. It hath no tongue to vex you.
And I beseech you come again tomorrow.
What shall you ask of me that I’ll deny,
That honour, saved, may upon asking give?

DUTCH:
Wat kunt gij vragen, dat ik weig’ren zou,
Als ik het u in eere geven kan?

MORE:
Unchary=Heedlessy, carelessly
Reprove=Condemn
Vex=Taunt, torment
Compleat:
Chary=Bezorgd, voorzigtig, bekommerd
To reprove=Bestraffen, berispen
To vex=Quellen, plaagen

Topics: hope/optimism, honour, love, debt/obligation

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

PLAY: Antony and Cleopatra
ACT/SCENE: 3.6
SPEAKER: Caesar
CONTEXT:
MAECENAS
Let Rome be thus informed.
AGRIPPA
Who, queasy with his insolence already,
Will their good thoughts call from him.
CAESAR
The people knows it, and have now received
His accusations.
AGRIPPA
Who does he accuse?
CAESAR
Caesar, and that, having in Sicily
Sextus Pompeius spoiled, we had not rated him
His part o’ th’ isle. Then does he say he lent me
Some shipping, unrestored. Lastly, he frets
That Lepidus of the triumvirate
Should be deposed, and, being, that we detain
All his revenue.

DUTCH:
t Volk, zijn overmoed reeds moe,
Komt van zijn goede meening dan terug.

MORE:
Thus=Accordingly
Queasy=Disgusted
Spoiled=Plundered, stripped
Rated=Allocated
Detain=Withhold
Compleat:
Thus=Dus, aldus, zo
Queasy=Braakachtig
To spoil=Bederven, vernielen, berooven

Topics: blame, justification, equality, debt/obligation

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 4.2
SPEAKER: Dromio of Syracuse
CONTEXT:
ADRIANA
What, is he arrested? Tell me at whose suit.
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
I know not at whose suit he is arrested well,
But he’s in a suit of buff which ’rested him; that can I tell.
Will you send him, mistress, redemption—the money in his desk?
ADRIANA
Go fetch it, sister.
This I wonder at,
That he, unknown to me, should be in debt.
Tell me, was he arrested on a bond?
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
Not on a bond, but on a stronger thing:
A chain, a chain. Do you not hear it ring?

DUTCH:
k Weet niet, op welke klacht hij in hecht’nis is gebracht,
Maar die het deed, was in een buffelleêren dracht.
Wilt gij het losgeld sturen, de goudbeurs uit zijn kist?

MORE:
Suit=Petition or entreaty
Buff=Hardwearing material; buff jerkins were worn by the sergeant
Bond=Loan
Compleat:
Suit=Een verzoek, rechtsgeding
Buff leather=Buffels of ossen leer op zeem bereid

Topics: debt/obligation, money, offence

PLAY: Troilus and Cressida
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Pandarus
CONTEXT:
PANDARUS
Come, come, what need you blush? shame’s a baby.
Here she is now: swear the oaths now to her that
you have sworn to me. What, are you gone again?
you must be watched ere you be made tame, must you?
Come your ways, come your ways; an you draw backward,
we’ll put you i’ the files. Why do you not speak to
her? Come, draw this curtain, and let’s see your
picture. Alas the day, how loath you are to offend
daylight! an ’twere dark, you’d close sooner.
So, so; rub on, and kiss the mistress. How now!
a kiss in fee-farm! build there, carpenter; the air
is sweet. Nay, you shall fight your hearts out ere
I part you. The falcon as the tercel, for all the
ducks i’ the river: go to, go to.
TROILUS
You have bereft me of all words, lady.
PANDARUS
Words pay no debts, give her deeds: but she’ll
bereave you o’ the deeds too, if she call your
activity in question. What, billing again? Here’s
‘In witness whereof the parties interchangeably’—
Come in, come in: I’ll go get a fire.

DUTCH:
Woorden betalen geen schulden, geef haar daden;
maar zij zal u ook van de daden berooven, als zij uwe
werkzaamheid op de proef stelt.

MORE:
Proverb: Not words but deeds
Proverb: Words pay no debts

Shame’s a baby=Blushing is for babies
Watched=Hawks were kept awake at night to tame them
Tamed=Imagery common to training hawks
Keen=Another hawking reference
Files or fills=Shafts (ponies were backed into the shafts of carts)
Close=Agree
Rub on=Move on, slowing down (bowling term)
Tercel=Male falcon
Compleat:
Shame=Schaamte
To shame=Beschamen, beschaamd maaken, schande aandoen
Keen=Scherp, bits, doordringend
To close=Overeenstemmen; besluiten
Things rub on bravely=Men vordert geweldig, men gaat er braaf mede voort
Tercel or tassel-hawk=Mannetje van een valk

Burgersdijk notes:
Iets verder geschoven, dicht bijeen! Het oorspronkelijke is onvertaalbaar: Rub on, kiss the mistress. Een uitdrukking aan het kegelspel ontleend: to rub on, de kegels even aanraken en voortgaan”, to kiss the mistress, “de koningin”, d. i. den koning van het kegelspel, “kussen, raken, omwerpen”.
Valkentersel. ,”Tersel” mannetjes-jachtvalk. Het is een derde kleiner dan het wijfjen; van daar tiercelet, in den mond der Hollandsche. valkeniers tot tersel geworden.
Al weder trekkebekken! In ‘t Engelsch: billing again? Here’s, In witness thereof etc. To bill beteekent
“trekkebekken”, kussen”, maar ook “bij contract vaststellen”.

Topics: proverbs and idioms, language, debt/obligation

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Antipholus of Syracuse
CONTEXT:
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
Yea, dost thou jeer and flout me in the teeth?
Think’st thou I jest? Hold, take thou that and that.
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
Hold, sir, for God’s sake! Now your jest is earnest.
Upon what bargain do you give it me?
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
Because that I familiarly sometimes
Do use you for my fool and chat with you,
Your sauciness will jest upon my love
And make a common of my serious hours.
When the sun shines, let foolish gnats make sport,
But creep in crannies when he hides his beams.
If you will jest with me, know my aspect,
And fashion your demeanor to my looks,
Or I will beat this method in your sconce.

DUTCH:
Antipholus van Syracuse.
Zoo, waagt gij ‘t weer, den draak met mij te steken?
Acht gij dat scherts? Hier, neem dan dit, en dat!
Dromio van Syracuse.
Om gods wil, heer! houd op, uw jok wordt ernst,
Wat jokte ik dan, dat gij mij zoo betaalt?

MORE:
Proverb: Leave jesting while it pleases lest it turn to earnest
Proverb: To cast (hit) in the teeth

Bargain=Mercantile transaction

Compleat:
Bargain=Een verding, verdrag, koop
To flout=Bespotten, beschimpen
To flout and jeer at one=Iemand uitjouwen
To lay in the teeth=Verwyten, braaveren
To trow something in one’s teeth=Iemand iets in de neus wryven, voor de scheenen werpen, verwyten
To jest=Boerten, schertsen, jokken, gekscheeren
To speak a thing betwixt jest and earnest=Iets zeggen half jok half ernst

Topics: misunderstanding, money, debt/obligation, dispute, proverbs and idioms

PLAY: Troilus and Cressida
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Pandarus
CONTEXT:
PANDARUS
Come, come, what need you blush? shame’s a baby.
Here she is now: swear the oaths now to her that
you have sworn to me. What, are you gone again?
you must be watched ere you be made tame, must you?
Come your ways, come your ways; an you draw backward,
we’ll put you i’ the fills. Why do you not speak to
her? Come, draw this curtain, and let’s see your
picture. Alas the day, how loath you are to offend
daylight! an ’twere dark, you’d close sooner.
So, so; rub on, and kiss the mistress. How now!
a kiss in fee-farm! build there, carpenter; the air
is sweet. Nay, you shall fight your hearts out ere
I part you. The falcon as the tercel, for all the
ducks i’ the river: go to, go to.
TROILUS
You have bereft me of all words, lady.
PANDARUS
Words pay no debts, give her deeds: but she’ll
bereave you o’ the deeds too, if she call your
activity in question. What, billing again? Here’s
‘In witness whereof the parties interchangeably’—
Come in, come in: I’ll go get a fire.

DUTCH:
Gij hebt mij van alle woorden beroofd, jonkvrouw.

MORE:
Proverb: Not words but deeds
Proverb: Words pay no debts

Shame’s a baby=Blushing is for babies
Watched=Hawks were kept awake at night to tame them
Tamed=Imagery common to training hawks
Keen=Another hawking reference
Files or fills=Shafts (ponies were backed into the shafts of carts)
Close=Agree
Rub on=Move on, slowing down (bowling term)
Tercel=Male falcon
Compleat:
Shame=Schaamte
To shame=Beschamen, beschaamd maaken, schande aandoen
Keen=Scherp, bits, doordringend
To close=Overeenstemmen; besluiten
Things rub on bravely=Men vordert geweldig, men gaat er braaf mede voort
Tercel or tassel-hawk=Mannetje van een valk

Burgersdijk notes:
Iets verder geschoven, dicht bijeen! Het oorspronkelijke is onvertaalbaar: Rub on, kiss the mistress. Een uitdrukking aan het kegelspel ontleend: to rub on, de kegels even aanraken en voortgaan”, to kiss the mistress, “de koningin”, d. i. den koning van het kegelspel, “kussen, raken, omwerpen”.
Valkentersel. ,”Tersel” mannetjes-jachtvalk. Het is een derde kleiner dan het wijfjen; van daar tiercelet, in den mond der Hollandsche. valkeniers tot tersel geworden.
Al weder trekkebekken! In ‘t Engelsch: billing again? Here’s, In witness thereof etc. To bill beteekent
“trekkebekken”, kussen”, maar ook “bij contract vaststellen”.

Topics: proverbs and idioms, language, debt/obligation

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