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PLAY: King Henry VI Part 2 ACT/SCENE: 3.1 SPEAKER: Cardinal CONTEXT: CARDINAL
A breach that craves a quick expedient stop!
What counsel give you in this weighty cause?
YORK
That Somerset be sent as regent thither:
‘Tis meet that lucky ruler be employ’d;
Witness the fortune he hath had in France.
SOMERSET
If York, with all his far-fet policy,
Had been the regent there instead of me,
He never would have stay’d in France so long.
YORK
No, not to lose it all, as thou hast done:
I rather would have lost my life betimes
Than bring a burthen of dishonour home
By staying there so long till all were lost.
Show me one scar character’d on thy skin:
Men’s flesh preserved so whole do seldom win. DUTCH: Een bres voorwaar, die daad’lijk dichting eischt.
Wat raad geeft gij bij dit gewichtig nieuws?
MORE:
Schmidt:
Crave=Demand, require
Far-fet=(far-fetched): Layered, deep, cunning (without modern connotation of unlikely)
Betimes=Early, at an early hour
Burthen=Burden
Charactered=Written, inscribed, marked

Compleat:
To crave=Ootmoedig bidden, smeeken
Betimes=Bytyds, vroeg
Far-fetched=Ver gehaald
Burden=Last, pak, vracht
Character=Een merk, merkteken, letter, afbeeldsel, uitdruksel, print, stempel, uitgedruktbeeld, uitbeelding Topics: skill/talent, honour, age/experience

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: King Henry IV Part 1
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Hotspur
CONTEXT:
GLENDOWER
I can speak English, lord, as well as you,
For I was trained up in the English court,
Where being but young I framèd to the harp
Many an English ditty lovely well
And gave the tongue a helpful ornament—
A virtue that was never seen in you
HOTSPUR
Marry,
And I am glad of it with all my heart:
I had rather be a kitten and cry “mew”
Than one of these same meter balladmongers.
I had rather hear a brazen can’stick turned,
Or a dry wheel grate on the axletree,
And that would set my teeth nothing an edge,
Nothing so much as mincing poetry.
Tis like the forced gait of a shuffling nag.

DUTCH:
k Wil liever koop’ren luchters hooren draaien,
Of ongesmeerde wagenraadren knarsen;
Daar klemde ik zoo mijn tanden niet van saâm,
Als van die lisp’lend zoete poëzie;
Die is me, als ’t draven van een stijven knol.

MORE:
Schmidt:
Can’stick=candlestick
Axle-tree=Piece of timber on which the wheel turns
Mincing=Affectation
Virtue= Accomplishment
Compleat:
Mincing=Een trappelende gang

Topics: proverbs and idioms, invented or popularised, still in use, skill/talent, achievement, learning/education

PLAY: Twelfth Night
ACT/SCENE: 2.3
SPEAKER: Sir Andrew
CONTEXT:
MARIA
What a caterwauling do you keep here! If my lady have
not called up her steward Malvolio and bid him turn you
out of doors, never trust me.
SIR TOBY BELCH
My lady’s a Cataian. We are politicians, Malvolio’s a
Peg-a-Ramsey, and Three merry men be we. —Am not
I consanguineous? Am I not of her blood? Tillyvally!
“Lady”!
There dwelt a man in Babylon, lady, lady!
FOOL
Beshrew me, the knight’s in admirable fooling.
SIR ANDREW
Ay, he does well enough if he be disposed, and so do I too.
He does it with a better grace, but I do it more natural.

DUTCH:
Wat is dat hier voor een kattenconcert? Als de jonkvrouw
haren hofmeester Malvolio niet geroepen heeft om
u het huis uit te jagen, behoeft gij mij nooit meer te
gelooven.

MORE:
Politicians=Plotters
Peg-a-Ramsey=Song
Consanguineous=Blood relations
Tillyvally=Nonsense (interjection, like fiddlesticks)
Beshrew=Curse
Natural=Effortlessly
Compleat:
Consanguinity=Bloedvrindschap
Tilly-fally=Wisjewasje
Beshrew=Bekyven, vervloeken

Burgersdijk notes:
De jonkvrouw is een bagijntjen enz.
Er staat: My’lady ‘s a Cataian; we are politicians; Malvolio’s a Peg-a-Ramsey, , and „Three merry men are we” enz. Cataian is
Chinees, iemand uit Catai, zooals China in de middeleeuwen genoemd werd. Peg-a-Ramsey (Grietjen van Ramsey) is een volkslied, waarvan alleen de titel en de melodie bewaard zijn gebleven. Three merry men enz. komt meermalen als refrein in volksliederen voor. Het woord lady Jonkvrouw”, brengt aan jonker Tobias een volksliedjen in de gedachten: Of the godly constant wife Susanna, dat met de woorden: There dwelt a man in Babylon begint en in ieder couplet het refrein: Lady, Lady ! heeft, — Ook het volgende: “O! the twelfth day of December” is zeker uit een oud volkslied. — Evenzoo zijn de regels, die jonker Tobias en de Nar, bij afwisseling zingen, met de noodige wijziging ontleend aan een volkslied: Corydon’s Farewell to Phillis, dat in Percy’s Reliques of Ancient Poetry te vinden is, en dat een alleenspraak bevat van een verliefd jongeling, die bij zichzelven overlegt, of hij zijne weerbarstige geliefde zal laten loopen en bij andere meisjens troost zoeken, al of niet.

Topics: friendship, plans/intentions, skill/talent

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

PLAY: Othello
ACT/SCENE: 3.3
SPEAKER: Desdemona
CONTEXT:
DESDEMONA
Be thou assured, good Cassio, I will do
All my abilities in thy behalf.
EMILIA
Good madam, do. I warrant it grieves my husband
As if the cause were his.
DESDEMONA
Oh, that’s an honest fellow. Do not doubt, Cassio,
But I will have my lord and you again
As friendly as you were.
CASSIO
Bounteous madam,
Whatever shall become of Michael Cassio,
He’s never anything but your true servant.

DUTCH:
Wees, goede Cassio, hiervan overtuigd:
Wat ik vermag, ik zal het voor u doen.

MORE:
Grieves=Troubles
Bounteous=Generous
Compleat:
To grieve=Bedroeven, smarten, grieven
Bounteous=Milddaadig, goedertieren

Topics: skill/talent, loyalty, work

PLAY: Twelfth Night
ACT/SCENE: 3.3
SPEAKER: Antonio
CONTEXT:
SEBASTIAN
I would not by my will have troubled you,
But, since you make your pleasure of your pains,
I will no further chide you.
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.

DUTCH:
Die zonder gids en vriend is, vaak zich ruw
En onherbergzaam toont. Mijn vuur’ge vriendschap,
Door zulk een grond tot vrees nog aangedreven,
Moest voort en ijlde u na.

MORE:

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
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

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

PLAY: King Henry VI Part 2
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Suffolk
CONTEXT:
Tis like the commons, rude unpolish’d hinds,
Could send such message to their sovereign:
But you, my lord, were glad to be employ’d,
To show how quaint an orator you are:
But all the honour Salisbury hath won
Is, that he was the lord ambassador
Sent from a sort of tinkers to the king.

DUTCH:
Maar gij, mylord, gij laat u gaarne zenden,
Opdat gij toont, hoe fraai gij spreken kunt;

MORE:

Tinkers=(a) menders of metal pots and pans; (b) beggars and thieves
Hinds=Ignorant country folk
Quaint=Skilled (in speaking)
Sort=Group

Compleat:
Rude=Ruuw; onbeleefd
A rude, unpolished person=Een ruuw, onbeschaafd persoon
A quaint discourse=Een beschaafde reden
To speak quaintly=Cierlyk spreeken

Topics: order/society, language, skill/talent

PLAY: Hamlet
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: Polonius
CONTEXT:
By indirections find directions out.
So by my former lecture and advice
Shall you my son. You have me, have you not?

DUTCH:
Op averechtsche wijs den rechten weg /
Zo gaan wij, de slimmen en bekwamen, langs kronkelpaden recht op ons doel af.

MORE:
The effectiveness of indirect questioning (see “your bait of falsehood takes this carp of truth”).
Schmidt:
Indirection=oblique course or means
Compleat:
The directing of one’s intentions=Het bestieren van iemands voorneemen

Topics: truth, discovery, intellect, skill/talent

PLAY: The Taming of the Shrew
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: Gremio
CONTEXT:
GREMIO
I doubt it not, sir, but you will curse your wooing.—
neighbour, this is a gift very grateful,
I am sure of it. To express the like kindness, myself,
that have been more kindly beholding to you than any,
freely give unto you this young scholar that hath been long
studying at Rheims, as cunning in Greek, Latin, and
other languages as the other in music and mathematics.
His name is Cambio. Pray accept his service.

DUTCH:
(…) veroorloof ik mij, u dezen jeugdigen geleerde voor te stellen, die lang in Reims gestudeerd heeft en even zoo bedreven is in het Latijn, Grieksch en andere talen, als die ander in muziek en wiskunde ; zijn naam is Cambio; ik bid u, neem zijn diensten aan.

MORE:
Grateful=Gracious, pleasing
Beholding=Beholden, indebted
The like kindness=My own affection
Compleat:
Gratefull=Dankbaar, erkentelyk
Beholding=Gehouden, verpligt, verschuldigd
I never saw the like=Ik heb diergelyk nooit gezien
Kindness=Vrindschap, vrindlykheyd, goedertierenheyd

Topics: skill/talent, learning/education, intellect, language

PLAY: Troilus and Cressida
ACT/SCENE: 5.5
SPEAKER: Nestor
CONTEXT:
NESTOR
Go, bear Patroclus’ body to Achilles;
And bid the snail-paced Ajax arm for shame.
There is a thousand Hectors in the field:
Now here he fights on Galathe his horse,
And there lacks work; anon he’s there afoot,
And there they fly or die, like scaled sculls
Before the belching whale; then is he yonder,
And there the strawy Greeks, ripe for his edge,
Fall down before him, like the mower’s swath:
Here, there, and every where, he leaves and takes,
Dexterity so obeying appetite
That what he will he does, and does so much
That proof is called impossibility.
ULYSSES
O, courage, courage, princes! great Achilles
Is arming, weeping, cursing, vowing vengeance:
Patroclus’ wounds have roused his drowsy blood,
Together with his mangled Myrmidons,
That noseless, handless, hacked and chipped, come to him,
Crying on Hector. Ajax hath lost a friend
And foams at mouth, and he is armed and at it,
Roaring for Troilus, who hath done to-day
Mad and fantastic execution,
Engaging and redeeming of himself
With such a careless force and forceless care
As if that luck, in very spite of cunning,
Bade him win all.

DUTCH:
Troilus, die zich op heden
Dolzinnig, ongeloof’lijk heeft geweerd,
Zich in gevaar begeven en bevrijd,
Zoo zorgloos krachtvol en zoo krachtloos zorgend,
Alsof ‘t geluk, elk krijgsbeleid ten trots,
Hem alles winnen deed.

MORE:
Scull=Shoal of fish
Belching=Spouting
Edge=Blade
Swath=Sweep of the scythe ( Nestor picturing Hector as a Grim Reaper figure)
Appetite=Inclination
Proof=Fact
Mangled=Gored
Fantastic=Extravagant
Engaging=(1) Binding, pledging; (2) Close fighting
Careless force=Reckless strength
Forceless care=Effortless diligence
Compleat:
Belch=Oprisping
Edge=Snee van een mes
To swathe=Zwachtelen, in de luyeren vinden, bakeren
Appetite=Graagte, lust, begeerte, trek
Proof=Beproeving
Mangled=Opgereeten, van een gescheurd, gehakkeld
Fantastick=Byzinnig, eygenzinnig, grilziek
To engage=Verpligten, verbinden, verpanden. To engage in war=Zich in oorlog inwikkelen
To engage in an actoin=Zich in eenig bedryf mengen, zich in iets steeken
Careless=Zorgeloos, kommerloos, achteloos, onachtzaam

Topics: skill/talent, conflict, anger, courage

PLAY: Julius Caesar
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Caesar
CONTEXT:
CAESAR
Would he were fatter! But I fear him not.
Yet if my name were liable to fear,
I do not know the man I should avoid
So soon as that spare Cassius. He reads much.
He is a great observer, and he looks
Quite through the deeds of men. He loves no plays,
As thou dost, Antony. He hears no music.
Seldom he smiles, and smiles in such a sort
As if he mocked himself and scorned his spirit
That could be moved to smile at anything.
Such men as he be never at heart’s ease
Whiles they behold a greater than themselves,
And therefore are they very dangerous.
I rather tell thee what is to be feared
Than what I fear, for always I am Caesar.
Come on my right hand, for this ear is deaf,
And tell me truly what thou think’st of him.

DUTCH:
Veel neemt hij waar en goed, en hij doorschouwt
Volkomen ‘s menschen doen ;

MORE:
Proverb: An envious man grows lean
Proverb: To turn (give) a deaf ear

Quite=Entirely
Looks through=Sees through
Sort=Manner
Heart’s ease=Heart’s content
This ear is deaf=Proverbially, this ear doesn’t want to hear/accept this message
Compleat:
Quite=t’Eenemaal, geheelendal, geheel, ganschelyk
Sort=Slach, wyze

Topics: proverbs and idioms, still in use, risk, loyalty, skill/talent

PLAY: Troilus and Cressida
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Alexander
CONTEXT:
ALEXANDER
They say he is a very man per se,
And stands alone.
CRESSIDA
So do all men, unless they are drunk, sick, or have no
legs.
ALEXANDER
This man, lady, hath robbed many beasts of their
particular additions; he is as valiant as the lion,
churlish as the bear, slow as the elephant: a man
into whom nature hath so crowded humours that his
valour is crushed into folly, his folly sauced with
discretion: there is no man hath a virtue that he
hath not a glimpse of, nor any man an attaint but he
carries some stain of it: he is melancholy without
cause, and merry against the hair: he hath the
joints of every thing, but everything so out of joint
that he is a gouty Briareus, many hands and no use,
or purblind Argus, all eyes and no sight.

DUTCH:
Hij is zwaarmoedig zonder
oorzaak, en vroolijk tegen alle reden in.

MORE:
Proverb: It goes against the hair

Stands alone=Is unrivalled
Additions=Attributes
Humours=Inclinations, moods
Glimpse=Glimmer
Attaint=Taint, defect
Against the hair=Against the grain
Out of joint=Confused, not as it should be
Purblind=Partially blind
Argus=Deprived of his eyes for falling asleep when on guard
Compleat:
Addition=Bydoening, byvoegsel
The humours=De humeuren van het lichaam; grillen
Humour (dispositon of the mind)=Humeur, of gemoeds gesteldheid
Glimpse=Een Blik, flikkering, schemering
To attaint=Overtuigen van misdaad, schuldig verklaaren, betichten; bevlekken, bederf aanzetten
Attainted=Overtuigd van misdaad, misdaadig verklaard
Purblind=Stikziende

Topics: proverbs and idioms, leadership, skill/talent, dignity

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

PLAY: King Henry IV Part 2
ACT/SCENE: 4.2
SPEAKER: Falstaff
CONTEXT:
I have a whole school of tongues in this belly of mine, and not a tongue of them all speaks any other word but my name. An I had but a belly of any indifferency, I were simply the most active fellow in Europe. My womb, my womb, my womb undoes me. Here comes our general.

DUTCH:
Ik heb een gansche school van tongen in dezen mijnen
buik, en geen van al die tongen spreekt een ander woord dan mijn naam.

MORE:

Indifferency=Average, moderate measure
Womb=Belly

Compleat:
Indifference=Onverschilligheid; middelmaatigheid

Topics: language, identity, skill/talent

PLAY: As You Like It
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Rosalind
CONTEXT:
JAQUES
I have neither the scholar’s melancholy, which is
emulation; nor the musician’s, which is fantastical; nor
the courtier’s, which is proud; nor the soldier’s,
which is ambitious; nor the lawyer’s, which is politic;
nor the lady’s, which is nice; nor the lover’s, which is
all these, but it is a melancholy of mine own,
compounded of many simples, extracted from many objects,
and indeed the sundry contemplation of my travels, in
which my often rumination wraps me in a most humorous
sadness.
ROSALIND
A traveler. By my faith, you have great reason to be
sad. I fear you have sold your own lands to see other
men’s. Then to have seen much and to have nothing is to
have rich eyes and poor hands.
JAQUES
Yes, I have gained my experience.
ROSALIND
And your experience makes you sad. I had rather have a
fool to make me merry than experience to make me sad—and
to travel for it, too.

DUTCH:
Ik heb noch de melancholie van den geleerde, die niets
dan naijver is, noch die van den musicus, die phantastisch, noch die van den hoveling, die trotsch, noch die van den soldaat, die roemgierig, noch die van den jurist, die staatzuchtig …is;

MORE:
Emulation=Rivalry; jealousy, envy, envious contention
Fantastical=Indulging the vagaries of imagination, capricious, whimsical
Politic=Prudent, wise, artful, cunning
Humorous=Sad
Compleat:
Emulation=Haayver, volgzucht, afgunst
Fantastical=Byzinnig, eigenzinnig, grilziek
Politick (or cunning)=Slim, schrander, doorsleepen

Topics: life, nature, skill/talent, identityemotion and mood

PLAY: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Helena
CONTEXT:
HERMIA
“Puppet”? Why so? Ay, that way goes the game.
Now I perceive that she hath made compare
Between our statures. She hath urged her height,
And with her personage, her tall personage,
Her height, forsooth, she hath prevailed with him.
And are you grown so high in his esteem
Because I am so dwarfish and so low?
How low am I, thou painted maypole? Speak.
How low am I? I am not yet so low
But that my nails can reach unto thine eyes.
HELENA
I pray you, though you mock me, gentlemen,
Let her not hurt me. I was never cursed.
I have no gift at all in shrewishness.
I am a right maid for my cowardice.
Let her not strike me. You perhaps may think,
Because she is something lower than myself,
That I can match her.

DUTCH:
Nu haar toch tegen! Twistziek was ik nooit;
‘k Heb geen talent voor kijven, maar ik ben
Echt meisjensachtig schuchter, bloode en laf.

MORE:
Made compare=Compared
Statures=Heights
Urged=Asserted
Maypole=A tall man (in jest)
Shrewishness=Being ill-tempered, having a sharp tongue
Lower=Shorter
Can match=Will be a match for
Compleat:
Stature=Gestalte, groote, lyfsstal
Of low/tall stature=Kort/lang van persoon
May-pole=een May-paal, meyboom
Shrew=Een kyfachtig wyf, een vinnige feeks
To match=Paaren, passen, samenkoppelen; overeenstemming

Topics: skill/talent, appearance, perception

PLAY: Othello
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Iago
CONTEXT:
IAGO
Despise me
If I do not. Three great ones of the city
(In personal suit to make me his lieutenant)
Off-capped to him, and by the faith of man
I know my price, I am worth no worse a place.
But he (as loving his own pride and purposes)
Evades them with a bombast circumstance
Horribly stuffed with epithets of war,
And in conclusion
Nonsuits my mediators. For “Certes,” says he,
“I have already chose my officer.”
And what was he?
Forsooth, a great arithmetician,
One Michael Cassio, a Florentine
A fellow almost damned in a fair wife
That never set a squadron in the field,
Nor the division of a battle knows
More than a spinster—unless the bookish theoric,
Wherein the toged consuls can propose
As masterly as he. Mere prattle without practice
Is all his soldiership. But he, sir, had th’ election
And I, of whom his eyes had seen the proof
At Rhodes, at Cyprus, and on other grounds
Christian and heathen, must be belee’d and calmed
By debitor and creditor. This counter-caster
He (in good time) must his lieutenant be
And I, bless the mark, his Moorship’s ancient.

DUTCH:
Niets minder komt mij toe, ik ken mijn waarde;

MORE:

Off-capped=Doffed caps
Suit=Petition
Bombast circumstance=Inflated rhetoric, circumlocution
Bombast=Cotton used to stuff out garments (hence ‘stuffed with epithets’)
Non-suit=Rejection of petition, causing withdrawal of petition
Preferment=Advancement, promotion
Letter and affection=Influence and favouritism
Gradation=Regular advance from step to step
Affined=Bound
Just=Conforming to the laws and principles of justice, equitable
Term=Expression, word
Beleeed=To place on the lee, in a positoin unfavourable to the wind
Ancient=The next in command under the lieutenant
Compleat:
Gradation=Een trafspreuk, opklimming in eene reede
To come to preferment=Bevorderd worden
Preferment=Verhooging, voortrekking, bevordering tot Staat
Bombast=Bombazyne of kattoene voering; fustian
Bombast=Hoogdraavende wartaal, ydel gezwets
To bumbast=Met bombazyn voeren
Bumbast: Bombazyn als ook Brommende woorden

Burgersdijk notes:
Een groote cijfermeester, Een Michel Cassio, een Florentijner. Florence was niet, zooals Venetië, telkens in oorlogen gewikkeld; hoe zou Cassio daar de krijgskunst geleerd hebben? Ontvangsten en uitgaven, winsten en verliezen te berekenen, ja. dit kon men zich daar eigen maken. – Het volgende „verslingerd op een schoone vrouw,” heet in het Engelsch : almost damned in a fair wife „bijna verdoemd”. Het gerucht liep, dat Cassio van plan was de schoone Bianca, met wie hij verkeer had, te trouwen Door zulk een huwelijk zou hij zich, naar Jago’s opvatting , in de verdoemenis storten.

Topics: corruption, loyalty, relationship, skill/talent, age/experience

PLAY: The Merchant of Venice
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Duke
CONTEXT:
DUKE
With all my heart.—Some three or four of you
Go give him courteous conduct to this place.—
Meantime the court shall hear Bellario’s letter.
[reads]“Your grace shall understand that at the receipt of
your letter I am very sick, but in the instant that your
messenger came, in loving visitation was with me a
young doctor of Rome. His name is Balthazar. I
acquainted him with the cause in controversy between the
Jew and Antonio the merchant. We turned o’er many books
together. He is furnished with my opinion,
which—bettered with his own learning, the greatness
whereof I cannot enough commend—comes with him at my
importunity to fill up your grace’s request in my stead.
I beseech you, let his lack of years be no impediment to
let him lack a reverend estimation, for I never knew so
young a body with so old a head. I leave him to your
gracious acceptance, whose trial shall better publish
his commendation.”

DUTCH:
Ik verzoek u dringend, laat zijn jeugdige leeftijd geen oorzaak wezen om hem eerbiedige achting te doen derven, want nooit zag ik een jong hoofd, zoo grijs in kennis.

MORE:
Proverb: An old head on young shoulders

Reverend=Testifying veneration, humble
Estimation=Value, worth
Publish=bring to light, show
Commendation=Value
Let=Cause (him to)
Compleat:
Reverent=Eerbiedig
Estimation=Waardeering, schatting
Publish=Openbaarmaken, bekendmaken

Topics: emotion and mood, misquoted

PLAY: Twelfth Night
ACT/SCENE: 2.3
SPEAKER: Maria
CONTEXT:
SIR TOBY BELCH
Do ’t, knight. I’ll write thee a challenge. Or I’ll
deliver thy indignation to him by word of mouth.
MARIA
Sweet Sir Toby, be patient for tonight. Since the youth
of the count’s was today with thy lady, she is much out
of quiet. For Monsieur Malvolio, let me alone with him.
If I do not gull him into a nayword and make him a
common recreation, do not think I have wit enough to lie
straight in my bed. I know I can do it.

DUTCH:
Wat dien sinjeur
Malvolio betreft, laat mij maar met hem begaan;
als ik hem er niet zoo in laat loopen, dat hij tot
een spreekwoord wordt en tot een verlustiging voor het
volk, geloof dan van mij, dat ik geen verstand genoeg
heb om rechtuit in mijn bed te liggen; ik weet zeker,
dat ik het kan.

MORE:
Gull=Trick
Nayword=Watchword
Common recreation=Source of general amusement
Compleat:
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
Recreation=Vermaak, uytspanning, verlustiging

Topics: deceit, insults, conspiracy, skill/talent

PLAY: Twelfth Night
ACT/SCENE: 1.4
SPEAKER: Viola
CONTEXT:
SIR ANDREW
And I think I have the back-trick simply as strong as
any man in Illyria.
SIR TOBY BELCH
Wherefore are these things hid? Wherefore have these
gifts a curtain before ’em? Are they like to take dust,
like Mistress Mall’s picture? Why dost thou not go to
church in a galliard and come home in a coranto? My very
walk should be a jig. I would not so much as make water
but in a sink-a-pace. What dost thou mean? Is it a
world to hide virtues in? I did think, by the excellent
constitution of thy leg, it was formed under the star of
a galliard.
SIR ANDREW
Ay, ’tis strong, and it does indifferent well in a
dun-coloured stock. Shall we set about some revels?
SIR TOBY BELCH
What shall we do else? Were we not born under Taurus?

DUTCH:
Hoe komt gij hiertoe? is het tegenwoordig een tijd om zijn
talenten te verstoppen? Ik heb al wel eens gedacht, om den
prachtigen bouw van uw been, dat het onder het gesternte
van de Gaillarde moest gevormd zijn.

MORE:

Back-trick=Dance step
Curtain=Hanging to protect paintings
Mall=Mary
Coranto=Fast dance
Cinquepace=Dance, galliard
Indifferent=Moderate
Stock=Stocking
Taurus=The bull, thought to rule the neck and throat (appropriate to drinkers)
Compleat:
Indifferent=Onvercheelig, middelmaatig, koelzinnig, onzydig, passelyk, taamelyk, tussenbeyde
Stocking=Kous

Burgersdijk notes:
Hoe ver hebt gij het in de Gaillarde gebracht. De Gaillarde is een vroolijke dans, evenals de coranto of courante. De caper, „capriool” (hier flikker genoemd) en de back-trick, ,,terugsprong” (hier bokkesprong) zijn figuren uit de Gaillarde. In ‘t Engelsch is hier nog een woordspeling, die onvertaald moest blijven. Op de vraag van Tobias zegt Andries: I can cut a caper. Het woord caper, waarmee Andries „luchtsprong” bedoelt, vat Tobias op als caper, kapper, de bekende plant; en daar kappertjessaus bij schapenvleesch gebruikt wordt, antwoordt hij: And I can cut the mutton to ‘t.

De Stier? Dat is de borst en het hart. Volgens de astrologische begrippen der middeleeuwen beheerschten de gesternten bepaalde lichaamsdeelen van den mensch.
De begaafde jonker beeft ten minste zijn kalender, waaruit hij in dit opzicht wijsheid putten kon , bestudeerd, maar ook dezen niet goed, want volgens deze autoriteiten staan niet borst en hart, maar hals en keel onder den invloed van het hemelteeken des Stiers.

Topics: skill/talent, pride

PLAY: King Henry VI Part 2
ACT/SCENE: 4.2
SPEAKER: Holland
CONTEXT:
BEVIS
I tell thee, Jack Cade the clothier means to dress
the commonwealth, and turn it, and set a new nap upon it.
HOLLAND
So he had need, for ’tis threadbare. Well, I say it was never merry world in England since gentlemen came up.
BEVIS
O miserable age! Virtue is not regarded in handicrafts-men.
HOLLAND
The nobility think scorn to go in leather aprons.
BEVIS
Nay, more, the king’s council are no good workmen.

DUTCH:
Dat is ook hoognoodig, want afgedragen is hij. Ik
zeg maar, met hel vroolijk leven is het uit in Engeland,
sinds de edellieden er zoo de baas zijn.

MORE:

Set a new nap=Reform, change direction (the nap of a woven fabric being the direction)
Came up=Arrived, became fashionable
Think scorn=Are contemptuous, disdainful of
King’s Council=Assembly, privy counsellors
Regarded=Valued

Compleat:
The nap of cloth=De wol of noppen van laken
To come up=Opkomen
Regard=Achting

Topics: honesty, status, order/society, skill/talent, value, fashion/trends

PLAY: Twelfth Night
ACT/SCENE: 3.4
SPEAKER: Malvolio
CONTEXT:
MALVOLIO
Oh, ho! Do you come near me now? No worse man than Sir
Toby to look to me. This concurs directly with the
letter. She sends him on purpose that I may appear
stubborn to him, for she incites me to that in the
letter. “Cast thy humble slough,” says she. “Be opposite
with a kinsman, surly with servants. Let thy tongue
tang with arguments of state. Put thyself into the trick
of singularity,” and consequently sets down the manner
how: as, a sad face, a reverend carriage, a slow tongue,
in the habit of some sir of note, and so forth. I have
limed her, but it is Jove’s doing, and Jove make me
thankful! And when she went away now, “Let this fellow
be looked to.” “Fellow!” Not “Malvolio,” nor after my
degree, but “fellow.” Why, everything adheres together,
that no dram of a scruple, no scruple of a scruple, no
obstacle, no incredulous or unsafe circumstance—what can
be said? Nothing that can be can come between me and
the full prospect of my hopes. Well, Jove, not I, is the
doer of this, and he is to be thanked.

DUTCH:
Zij zendt hem opzettelijk tot mij, opdat ik hem stug behandelen kan, want daartoe wekt zij mij in den brief op. „Werp uwe deemoedige huid af,” zegt zij, kant u tegen een bloedverwant, wees norsch jegens bedienden; Iaten er staatsaangelegenheden van uwe tong ruischen; zorg eigenaardig te zijn in uwe manieren,” en daarop beschrijft zij de manier hoe;

MORE:
Come near=Understand, value
Stubborn=Harsh
Consequently=Subsequently
Habit=Dress
Sir of note=Distinguished gentleman
Limed=Trapped (ref. to bird lime)
Adheres together=Conspires, converges
Dram=Small weight
Scruple=Tiny scrap
Unsafe=Dangerous, untrustworthy
Compleat:
Draw near=Naderen
Stubborn=Hardnekkig, halstarrig, wederspannig
Habit=Heblykheyd, gewoonte, gesteltenis
Of note=Van aanzien, aanzienlyk
Bird-lime=Vogellym
Dram=Vierendeel loods; een zoopje, een borrel
Scruple=Een gewigtje van xx greinen

Topics: language, communication, persuasion, skill/talent

PLAY: As You Like It
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Rosalind
CONTEXT:
ORLANDO
But will my Rosalind do so?
ROSALIND
By my life, she will do as I do.
ORLANDO
Oh, but she is wise.
ROSALIND
Or else she could not have the wit to do this. The
wiser, the waywarder. Make the doors upon a woman’s wit,
and it will out at the casement. Shut that, and ’twill
out at the keyhole. Stop that, ’twill fly with the smoke
out at the chimney.

DUTCH:
Sluit voor een vrouwenvernuft de deur, en het gaat door het venster naar buiten; sluit dit toe en het kruipt door het sleutelgat; stop dit dicht, en het vliegt met den rook den schoorsteen uit.

MORE:
CITED IN US LAW:
American Gas Association v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 912 F.2d 1496, 1516, (D.C.Cir. l990)(Williams, J.).

Wit=Intellect
Wayward=Capricious and obstinate
Check=Rebuke, reproof; “patience bide each check”.
Compleat:
Wit (understanding)=Vinding, schranderheid, verstand
Wayward=Kribbig, korsel, nors, boos
Check=Berisping, beteugeling, intooming

Topics: wisdom, intellect, skill/talent, cited in law

PLAY: Othello
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Iago
CONTEXT:

IAGO
Despise me
If I do not. Three great ones of the city
(In personal suit to make me his lieutenant)
Off-capped to him, and by the faith of man
I know my price, I am worth no worse a place.
But he (as loving his own pride and purposes)
Evades them with a bombast circumstance
Horribly stuffed with epithets of war,
And in conclusion
Nonsuits my mediators. For “Certes,” says he,
“I have already chose my officer.”
And what was he?
Forsooth, a great arithmetician,
One Michael Cassio, a Florentine
(A fellow almost damned in a fair wife)
That never set a squadron in the field,
Nor the division of a battle knows
More than a spinster—unless the bookish theoric,
Wherein the toged consuls can propose
As masterly as he. Mere prattle without practice
Is all his soldiership. But he, sir, had th’ election
And I, of whom his eyes had seen the proof
At Rhodes, at Cyprus, and on other grounds
Christian and heathen, must be belee’d and calmed
By debitor and creditor. This counter-caster
He (in good time) must his lieutenant be
And I, bless the mark, his Moorship’s ancient.
RODERIGO
By heaven, I rather would have been his hangman.
IAGO
Why, there’s no remedy. ‘Tis the curse of service.
Preferment goes by letter and affection,
And not by old gradation, where each second
Stood heir to th’ first. Now sir, be judge yourself,
Whether I in any just term am affined
To love the Moor.

DUTCH:
En die van slagorde even weinig weet
Als oude vrijsters; theorie uit boeken,
Waarvan een raat’lend raadsheer even goed
Als hij kan zwetsen; praatjens, geen praktijk,
Is al zijn krijgskunst

MORE:

Off-capped=Doffed caps
Suit=Petition
Bombast circumstance=Inflated rhetoric, circumlocution
Bombast=Cotton used to stuff out garments (hence ‘stuffed with epithets’)
Non-suit=Rejection of petition, causing withdrawal of petition
Preferment=Advancement, promotion
Letter and affection=Influence and favouritism
Gradation=Regular advance from step to step
Affined=Bound
Just=Conforming to the laws and principles of justice, equitable
Term=Expression, word
Beleeed=To place on the lee, in a positoin unfavourable to the wind
Ancient=The next in command under the lieutenant
Compleat:
Gradation=Een trafspreuk, opklimming in eene reede
To come to preferment=Bevorderd worden
Preferment=Verhooging, voortrekking, bevordering tot Staat
Bombast=Bombazyne of kattoene voering; fustian
Bombast=Hoogdraavende wartaal, ydel gezwets
To bumbast=Met bombazyn voeren
Bumbast: Bombazyn als ook Brommende woorden

Burgersdijk notes:
Een groote cijfermeester, Een Michel Cassio, een Florentijner. Florence was niet, zooals Venetië, telkens in oorlogen gewikkeld; hoe zou Cassio daar de krijgskunst geleerd hebben? Ontvangsten en uitgaven, winsten en verliezen te berekenen, ja. dit kon men zich daar eigen maken. – Het volgende „verslingerd op een schoone vrouw,” heet in het Engelsch : almost damned in a fair wife „bijna verdoemd”. Het gerucht liep, dat Cassio van plan was de schoone Bianca, met wie hij verkeer had, te trouwen Door zulk een huwelijk zou hij zich, naar Jago’s opvatting , in de verdoemenis storten.

Topics: corruption, loyalty, relationship, skill/talent, age/experience

PLAY: Othello
ACT/SCENE: 1.3
SPEAKER: First Senator
CONTEXT:
DUKE
Now, what’s the business?
SAILOR
The Turkish preparation makes for Rhodes,
So was I bid report here to the state
By Signior Angelo.
DUKE
How say you by this change?
FIRST SENATOR
This cannot be,
By no assay of reason. ‘Tis a pageant,
To keep us in false gaze. When we consider
Th’ importancy of Cyprus to the Turk,
And let ourselves again but understand
That as it more concerns the Turk than Rhodes
So may he with more facile question bear it,
For that it stands not in such warlike brace
But altogether lacks th’ abilities
That Rhodes is dressed in. If we make thought of this
We must not think the Turk is so unskillful
To leave that latest which concerns him first,
Neglecting an attempt of ease and gain
To wake and wage a danger profitless.

DUTCH:
Dat hij, wat meest hem aangaat, zou verschuiven,
En met versmading van vermoed’lijk voordeel,
Zich nutt’loos in gevaren steken zou.

MORE:
What’s the business=What news?
Preparation=Force
Assay of reason=Test of common sense
False gaze=Looking the wrong way, misdirected
Pageant=Show
Brace=Defence position
Dressed=Equipped
Attempt of ease and gain=Chance at easy victory
Wake and wage=Raise and risk, undertake
Compleat:
Preparation=Bereyding, toerustng, voorbereydsel
To assay=Beproeven, toetsen, onderstaan, keuren
Reason=Reden, overweeging
Pageant=een Triomfhoog, triomfwagen; schijn
To brace=Binden, omringen, spannen, vastbinden
To dress=Optooijen, opschikken, toetakelen, toemaaken, toerechten, havenen
To wage=Onderneemen, wedden

Topics: skill/talent, wisdom

PLAY: Timon of Athens
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Flavius
CONTEXT:
FLAVIUS
No care, no stop! so senseless of expense,
That he will neither know how to maintain it,
Nor cease his flow of riot: takes no account
How things go from him, nor resumes no care
Of what is to continue: never mind
Was to be so unwise, to be so kind.
What shall be done? he will not hear, till feel:
I must be round with him, now he comes from hunting.
Fie, fie, fie, fie!

DUTCH:
Hij berekent niet,
Wat door zijn vingers druipt, wil niet bedenken,
Hoe ‘t voort kan gaan. Nooit was er een gemoed,
Bij zooveel onverstand zoo innig goed.
En wat te doen? Hij hoort niet eer hij voelt;
Toch, als hij van de jacht komt, zal ik spreken.

MORE:
Senseless=Insensitive, having no ear
Flow of riot=Destructive path
Till feel=Until he suffers, experiences
Be round=Speak plainly
Compleat:
Senseless=Gevoeleloos, ongevoelig, zinneloos
To riot=Optrekken, rinkinken, pypestellen
Riot=(in law, the forcible doing of an unlawful thing by three or more persons): Eene geweldenaary door drie of vier persoonen bedreven
To feel=Voelen, tasten, gevoelen, vewaar worden
Roundly=(Honestly, sincerely): Oprechtelyk, voor de vuist

Topics: life, nature, trust, offence, skill/talent

PLAY: Othello
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Iago
CONTEXT:

IAGO
Despise me
If I do not. Three great ones of the city
(In personal suit to make me his lieutenant)
Off-capped to him, and by the faith of man
I know my price, I am worth no worse a place.
But he (as loving his own pride and purposes)
Evades them with a bombast circumstance
Horribly stuffed with epithets of war,
And in conclusion
Nonsuits my mediators. For “Certes,” says he,
“I have already chose my officer.”
And what was he?
Forsooth, a great arithmetician,
One Michael Cassio, a Florentine
(A fellow almost damned in a fair wife)
That never set a squadron in the field,
Nor the division of a battle knows
More than a spinster—unless the bookish theoric,
Wherein the toged consuls can propose
As masterly as he. Mere prattle without practice
Is all his soldiership. But he, sir, had th’ election
And I, of whom his eyes had seen the proof
At Rhodes, at Cyprus, and on other grounds
Christian and heathen, must be belee’d and calmed
By debitor and creditor. This counter-caster
He (in good time) must his lieutenant be
And I, bless the mark, his Moorship’s ancient.
RODERIGO
By heaven, I rather would have been his hangman.
IAGO
Why, there’s no remedy. ‘Tis the curse of service.
Preferment goes by letter and affection,
And not by old gradation, where each second
Stood heir to th’ first. Now sir, be judge yourself,
Whether I in any just term am affined
To love the Moor.

DUTCH:
Daar helpt niets aan; die vloek rust op den dienst;
Bevord’ring gaat bij gunst en aanbeveling,
Niet als voorheen naar diensttijd, waarbij ieder
Zijn voorman opvolgt

MORE:

Off-capped=Doffed caps
Suit=Petition
Bombast circumstance=Inflated rhetoric, circumlocution
Bombast=Cotton used to stuff out garments (hence ‘stuffed with epithets’)
Non-suit=Rejection of petition, causing withdrawal of petition
Preferment=Advancement, promotion
Letter and affection=Influence and favouritism
Gradation=Regular advance from step to step
Affined=Bound
Just=Conforming to the laws and principles of justice, equitable
Term=Expression, word
Beleeed=To place on the lee, in a positoin unfavourable to the wind
Ancient=The next in command under the lieutenant
Compleat:
Gradation=Een trafspreuk, opklimming in eene reede
To come to preferment=Bevorderd worden
Preferment=Verhooging, voortrekking, bevordering tot Staat
Bombast=Bombazyne of kattoene voering; fustian
Bombast=Hoogdraavende wartaal, ydel gezwets
To bumbast=Met bombazyn voeren
Bumbast: Bombazyn als ook Brommende woorden

Burgersdijk notes:
Een groote cijfermeester, Een Michel Cassio, een Florentijner. Florence was niet, zooals Venetië, telkens in oorlogen gewikkeld; hoe zou Cassio daar de krijgskunst geleerd hebben? Ontvangsten en uitgaven, winsten en verliezen te berekenen, ja. dit kon men zich daar eigen maken. – Het volgende „verslingerd op een schoone vrouw,” heet in het Engelsch : almost damned in a fair wife „bijna verdoemd”. Het gerucht liep, dat Cassio van plan was de schoone Bianca, met wie hij verkeer had, te trouwen Door zulk een huwelijk zou hij zich, naar Jago’s opvatting , in de verdoemenis storten.

Topics: corruption, loyalty, relationship, skill/talent, age/experience

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Menenius
CONTEXT:
MENENIUS
Consider this: he has been bred i’ the wars
Since he could draw a sword, and is ill schooled
In bolted language; meal and bran together
He throws without distinction. Give me leave,
I’ll go to him, and undertake to bring him
Where he shall answer, by a lawful form,
In peace, to his utmost peril.
FIRST SENATOR
Noble tribunes,
It is the humane way: the other course
Will prove too bloody, and the end of it
Unknown to the beginning.

DUTCH:
Bedenkt nog dit: sinds hij een zwaard kon trekken,
Wies hij in de’ oorlog op en leerde nooit
Zijn woorden ziften; meel en zeem’len werpt hij
Er uit, zooals het valt.

MORE:
Bolted language=Refined phraseology.
To bolt=To sift is often used figuratively, in this case carefully chosen words
Answer=Answer a charge, meet accusation, give an account under peaceful forms of law
To his utmost peril=Whatever the danger it involves
End… beginning. See The Tempest 2.1 “The latter end of his commonwealth forgets the beginning.”
Compleat:
Utmost=Uiterste
Peril=Gevaar, perykel, nood
To bolt out=Uitschieten, uitpuilen
To bolt meal=Meel builen

Topics: language, learning/education, skill/talent

PLAY: Troilus and Cressida
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Cressida
CONTEXT:
ALEXANDER
They say he is a very man per se,
And stands alone.
CRESSIDA
So do all men, unless they are drunk, sick, or have no
legs.
ALEXANDER
This man, lady, hath robbed many beasts of their
particular additions; he is as valiant as the lion,
churlish as the bear, slow as the elephant: a man
into whom nature hath so crowded humours that his
valour is crushed into folly, his folly sauced with
discretion: there is no man hath a virtue that he
hath not a glimpse of, nor any man an attaint but he
carries some stain of it: he is melancholy without
cause, and merry against the hair: he hath the
joints of every thing, but everything so out of joint
that he is a gouty Briareus, many hands and no use,
or purblind Argus, all eyes and no sight.

DUTCH:
Dat doen alle mannen, als zij niet beschonken, ziek
of zonder beenen zijn.

MORE:
Proverb: It goes against the hair

Stands alone=Is unrivalled
Additions=Attributes
Humours=Inclinations, moods
Glimpse=Glimmer
Attaint=Taint, defect
Against the hair=Against the grain
Out of joint=Confused, not as it should be
Purblind=Partially blind
Argus=Deprived of his eyes for falling asleep when on guard
Compleat:
Addition=Bydoening, byvoegsel
The humours=De humeuren van het lichaam; grillen
Humour (dispositon of the mind)=Humeur, of gemoeds gesteldheid
Glimpse=Een Blik, flikkering, schemering
To attaint=Overtuigen van misdaad, schuldig verklaaren, betichten; bevlekken, bederf aanzetten
Attainted=Overtuigd van misdaad, misdaadig verklaard
Purblind=Stikziende

Topics: proverbs and idioms, leadership, skill/talent, dignity

PLAY: Julius Caesar
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Caesar
CONTEXT:
CAESAR
Would he were fatter! But I fear him not.
Yet if my name were liable to fear,
I do not know the man I should avoid
So soon as that spare Cassius. He reads much.
He is a great observer, and he looks
Quite through the deeds of men. He loves no plays,
As thou dost, Antony. He hears no music.
Seldom he smiles, and smiles in such a sort
As if he mocked himself and scorned his spirit
That could be moved to smile at anything.
Such men as he be never at heart’s ease
Whiles they behold a greater than themselves,
And therefore are they very dangerous.
I rather tell thee what is to be feared
Than what I fear, for always I am Caesar.
Come on my right hand, for this ear is deaf,
And tell me truly what thou think’st of him.

DUTCH:
Nooit is bij zulke mannen ‘t hart voldaan,
Zoolang zij iemand grooter zien dan zij;
En dat is ‘t, wat hen zoo gevaarlijk maakt.

MORE:
Proverb: An envious man grows lean
Proverb: To turn (give) a deaf ear

Quite=Entirely
Looks through=Sees through
Sort=Manner
Heart’s ease=Heart’s content
This ear is deaf=Proverbially, this ear doesn’t want to hear/accept this message
Compleat:
Quite=t’Eenemaal, geheelendal, geheel, ganschelyk
Sort=Slach, wyze

Topics: proverbs and idioms, still in use, risk, loyalty, skill/talent

PLAY: The Merchant of Venice
ACT/SCENE: 1.3
SPEAKER: Antonio
CONTEXT:
ANTONIO
Mark you this, Bassanio,
The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.
An evil soul producing holy witness
Is like a villain with a smiling cheek,
A goodly apple rotten at the heart.
Oh, what a goodly outside falsehood hath!
SHYLOCK
Three thousand ducats—’tis a good round sum.
Three months from twelve, then. Let me see. The rate—
ANTONIO
Well, Shylock, shall we be beholding to you?

DUTCH:
Merk dit op, Bassanio;
De duivel zelf beroept zich op de schrift.
Een boos gemoed, dat heil’ge woorden spreekt,
Is als een fielt met liefelijken lach;
Een schijnschoone appel, maar in ‘t hart verrot;
O, glanzend schoon is ‘t uiterlijk der valschheid!

MORE:
CITED IN US LAW – some examples:
In re Amy B, 1997 Conn. Super LEXIS at 28;
Harris v. Superior Court, 3 Cal. App. 4th 661, 666 (Cal. 1992);
Shattuck Denn Mining Corporation v. National labour Relations Board, 362 F.2d 466, 469 (9th Cir. 1966);
Middleton Development Corp v Gust, 44 Mich. App.71, 79, 205, NW 2d.39,43 (1972);
Delmarva Power and Light Company of Maryland v. Eberhard, 247 Md. 273, 230 A.2d 644 (Md. Ct. App, 1966);
United States ex rel. Green v. Peters, WL 8258, 17, n. 11 (1994), where the court clarified that “its figure of speech does not of course suggest that the Attorney General has literally joined the forces of darkness”. (!)

Proverb: Sodom apples outwardly fair, ashes at the
Beholding=Beholden, indebted

Topics: emotion and mood, misquoted

PLAY: Hamlet
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Gravedigger
CONTEXT:
Why, there thou sayst. And the more pity that great folk should have countenance in this world to drown or hang themselves more than their even Christian. Come, my spade. There is no ancient gentleman but gardeners, ditchers, and grave-makers. They hold up Adam’s profession.

DUTCH:
Kom, schoppie, er is geen ouwere adel dan tuinlieden, dood­ gravers en grafmakers. /
Er bestaat geen oudere adel dan die van tuinlui, sloot-en doodgravers. /
De oudste grondheeren zijn tuinlui, aardwerkers en doodgravers.

MORE:
Schmidt:
Countenance=Authority, credit, patronage
Compleat:
Countenance=Gelaat, gezigt, uytzigt, weezen, bescherming

Topics: poverty and wealth, business, skill/talent, status, order/society

PLAY: Measure for Measure
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Duke Vincentio
CONTEXT:
Let him be but testimonied in his own
bringings-forth, and he shall appear to the
envious a scholar, a statesman and a soldier.
Therefore you speak unskilfully: or if your
knowledge be more it is much darkened in your malice.

DUTCH:
Daarom, gij spreekt zonder eenig inzicht; of, als gij er meer kennis van hebt, dan is die door uwe boosaardigheid zeer verduisterd.

MORE:
Schmidt:
Testimonied=Attested, witnessed, proved by testimony
Compleat:
Testimony=Getuigen. To bear testimony against one=Tegen iemand getuigen
In testimony whereof=Ten bewyze daar van

Topics: skill/talent, learning/education, evidence, language

PLAY: Troilus and Cressida
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Alexander
CONTEXT:
ALEXANDER
They say he is a very man per se,
And stands alone.
CRESSIDA
So do all men, unless they are drunk, sick, or have no
legs.
ALEXANDER
This man, lady, hath robbed many beasts of their
particular additions; he is as valiant as the lion,
churlish as the bear, slow as the elephant: a man
into whom nature hath so crowded humours that his
valour is crushed into folly, his folly sauced with
discretion: there is no man hath a virtue that he
hath not a glimpse of, nor any man an attaint but he
carries some stain of it: he is melancholy without
cause, and merry against the hair: he hath the
joints of every thing, but everything so out of joint
that he is a gouty Briareus, many hands and no use,
or purblind Argus, all eyes and no sight.

DUTCH:
Nu, die man is, zoo zegt men, zonder weêrgâ;
Hij staat alleen.

MORE:
Proverb: It goes against the hair

Stands alone=Is unrivalled
Additions=Attributes
Humours=Inclinations, moods
Glimpse=Glimmer
Attaint=Taint, defect
Against the hair=Against the grain
Out of joint=Confused, not as it should be
Purblind=Partially blind
Argus=Deprived of his eyes for falling asleep when on guard
Compleat:
Addition=Bydoening, byvoegsel
The humours=De humeuren van het lichaam; grillen
Humour (dispositon of the mind)=Humeur, of gemoeds gesteldheid
Glimpse=Een Blik, flikkering, schemering
To attaint=Overtuigen van misdaad, schuldig verklaaren, betichten; bevlekken, bederf aanzetten
Attainted=Overtuigd van misdaad, misdaadig verklaard
Purblind=Stikziende

Topics: proverbs and idioms, leadership, skill/talent, dignity

PLAY: Twelfth Night
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Viola
CONTEXT:
FOOL
The matter, I hope, is not great, sir, begging but a
beggar. Cressida was a beggar. My lady is within, sir. I
will construe to them whence you come. Who you are and
what you would are out of my welkin, I might say
“element,” but the word is overworn.
VIOLA
This fellow is wise enough to play the fool;
And to do that well craves a kind of wit:
He must observe their mood on whom he jests,
The quality of persons, and the time,
And, like the haggard, check at every feather
That comes before his eye. This is a practice
As full of labour as a wise man’s art
For folly that he wisely shows is fit;
But wise men, folly-fall’n, quite taint their wit.

DUTCH:
Die knaap is wijs genoeg om nar te spelen;
En ja, dit goed te zijn, eischt schranderheid,
Hij moet de luim van hen, met wie hij schertst,
Persoon en tijd met scherpen blik bespién,
En als de valk op ied’re veder stooten,
Die voor zijn oogen kom

MORE:
Proverb: He is out of his element
Proverb: To be in one’e element
Proverb: No man can play the fool as well as the wise man

Overworn=Spoiled by too much use
Welkin=Sky
Construe=Explain (also ‘conster’)
Wit=Intelligence
Haggard=Hawk
Check=Start, be startled
Feather=Fig., birds in general
Practice=Skill
Wisely=Deliberately
Fit=Appropriate
Taint=Discredit
Compleat:
Overworn=Gantsch afgesleeten, uitgesleeten, afgeleefd
Construe (conster)=Woordenschikken; t’Zamenschikken, t’zamenstellen
Wit (understanding)=Vinding, schranderheid, verstand
Hagard=Wild. A hagard hawk=Een wilde valk
To take check a a thing=Zich aan iets stooten, of ergeren
Practize=Oeffening, bewerking, praktyk
Well practised in the Law=Wel in de Rechten geoeffend
Wisely=Wyslyk
Fit=Bequaam, dienstig, betaaamelyk, raadzaam
To taint (attaint)=Overtuigen van misdaad, schuldig verklaaren, betichten; bevlekken, bederf aanzetten

Topics: proverbs and idioms, still in use, skill/talent, language, intellect, appearance

PLAY: Othello
ACT/SCENE: 3.4
SPEAKER: Clown
CONTEXT:
CLOWN
I know not where he lodges, and for me to devise a
lodging and say he lies here, or he lies there, were to
lie in mine own throat.
DESDEMONA
Can you inquire him out and be edified by report?
CLOWN
I will catechise the world for him, that is, make
questions, and by them answer.
DESDEMONA
Seek him, bid him come hither. Tell him I have moved my
lord on his behalf, and hope all will be well.
CLOWN
To do this is within the compass of man’s wit, and
therefore I will attempt the doing it.

DUTCH:
Ik weet niet waar hij verblijf houdt, en als ik u een verblijf verzin en zeg: hij schuilt hier of hij schuilt daar, dan verschuil ik mij achter een leugen.

MORE:
Devise=Invent
Lies=Lodges
Lie in the throat=A deliberate lie
Inquire out=Seek out by asking
Edified=Instructed
Catechise=To try by questions (allusion to instructional method)
Compass=Scope
Compleat:
To devise=Bedenken, verzinnen, uytvinden
Catechise=In ‘t geloof onderwyzen, katechizeren; een vermaaning geven
Compass=Omtrek, omkreits, begrip, bestek, bereik
It is not within the compass of humane skill=’t Gaat het bereik van ‘s menschen verstand te boven
Edify (to set examples of piety)=Stichten door een goed voorbeeld

Topics: truth, honesty, persuasion, skill/talent

PLAY: Othello
ACT/SCENE: 3.4
SPEAKER: Clown
CONTEXT:
CLOWN
I know not where he lodges, and for me to devise a
lodging and say he lies here, or he lies there, were to
lie in mine own throat.
DESDEMONA
Can you inquire him out and be edified by report?
CLOWN
I will catechise the world for him, that is, make questions, and by them answer.
DESDEMONA
Seek him, bid him come hither. Tell him I have moved my lord on his behalf, and hope all will be well.
CLOWN
To do this is within the compass of man’s wit: and therefore I will attempt the doing of it.

DUTCH:
Dit te doen valt binnen het bereik van een gewoon menschenverstand en daarom wil ik wel beproeven het te doen.

MORE:

Devise=Invent
Lies=Lodges
Lie in the throat=A deliberate lie
Inquire out=Seek out by asking
Edified=Instructed
Catechise=To try by questions (allusion to instructional method)
Compass=Reach, range, scope Is it beyond the wit of man?)
Compleat:
Compass=Omtrek, omkreits, begrip, bestek, bereik
It is not within the compass of humane skill=’t Gaat het bereik van ‘s menschen verstand te boven
Catechise=In ‘t geloof onderwyzen, katechizeren; een vermaaning geven
Edify (to set examples of piety)=Stichten door een goed voorbeeld

Topics: skill/talent, intellect, truth, honesty

PLAY: Antony and Cleopatra
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Cleopatra
CONTEXT:
ANTONY
Fie, wrangling Queen!
Whom every thing becomes—to chide, to laugh,
To weep, whose every passion fully strives
To make itself, in thee, fair and admired!
No messenger but thine, and all alone
Tonight we’ll wander through the streets and note
The qualities of people. Come, my Queen,
Last night you did desire it.—
Speak not to us.
DEMETRIUS
Is Caesar with Antonius prized so slight?
PHILO
Sir, sometimes when he is not Antony
He comes too short of that great property
Which still should go with Antony.
DEMETRIUS
I am full sorry
That he approves the common liar, who
Thus speaks of him at Rome, but I will hope
Of better deeds tomorrow. Rest you happy!

DUTCH:
Geen bode, neen! Slechts de uwe, alleen met u,
Doorkruisen wij de stad van avond, slaan
Het volk eens gade.

MORE:
Wrangling=Quarrelling
Becomes=Suits
No messenger but thine=I will only hear your messages
Prized=Valued
Property=Characteristic
Approves=Proves
Compleat:
Wrangling=Krakeeling, kyving
To become=Betaamen
To prize=Waarderen, achten, schatten, op prys stellen
Property=Eigenschap, natuurlyke hoedaanigheid

Burgersdijk notes:
Doorkruisen wij de stad van avond.
Volgens Plutarchus deden Ant. en Cleop. dit verkleed meermalen.

Topics: skill/talent, order/society

PLAY: Timon of Athens
ACT/SCENE: 4.3
SPEAKER: Timon
CONTEXT:
TIMON
Nor on the beasts themselves, the birds, and fishes;
You must eat men. Yet thanks I must you con
That you are thieves professed, that you work not
In holier shapes: for there is boundless theft
In limited professions. Rascal thieves,
Here’s gold. Go, suck the subtle blood o’ the grape,
Till the high fever seethe your blood to froth,
And so ‘scape hanging: trust not the physician;
His antidotes are poison, and he slays
Moe than you rob: take wealth and lives together;
Do villainy, do, since you protest to do’t,
Like workmen. I’ll example you with thievery.
The sun’s a thief, and with his great attraction
Robs the vast sea: the moon’s an arrant thief,
And her pale fire she snatches from the sun:
The sea’s a thief, whose liquid surge resolves
The moon into salt tears: the earth’s a thief,
That feeds and breeds by a composture stolen
From general excrement: each thing’s a thief:
The laws, your curb and whip, in their rough power
Have unchecked theft. Love not yourselves: away,
Rob one another. There’s more gold. Cut throats:
All that you meet are thieves: to Athens go,
Break open shops; nothing can you steal,
But thieves do lose it: steal no less for this
I give you; and gold confound you howsoe’er! Amen.

DUTCH:
Vertrouwt geen arts;
Zijn tegengift is gift; hij moordt meer menschen,
Dan gij berooft.

MORE:
To con thanks=Be thankful
Limited professions=Restricted professions
Blood of the grape=Wine
Seethe=Boil
Froth=Churn
Resolves=Melts
Composture=Manure of animals, compost
Curb=Restraint
Howsoe’er=Anyway
Compleat:
To conn one thanks=Iemand bedanken
Profession (trade or calling)=Beroep, handteering, kostwinning
To seeth=Zieden, kooken
To froth=Schuimen, opschuimen
To resolve (melt)=Smelten, ontbinden, oplossen
To curb=Betoomen, intoomen, bedwingen, beteugelen
To curb one’s ambition=Iemands hoogmoed fnuiken

Topics: life, nature, trust, offence, skill/talent

PLAY: Twelfth Night
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Olivia
CONTEXT:
VIOLA
Cesario is your servant’s name, fair princess.
OLIVIA
My servant, sir! ‘Twas never merry world
Since lowly feigning was call’d compliment.
You’re servant to the Count Orsino, youth.
VIOLA
And he is yours, and his must needs be yours:
Your servant’s servant is your servant, madam.
OLIVIA
For him, I think not on him. For his thoughts,
Would they were blanks, rather than fill’d with me.
VIOLA
Madam, I’ve come on his behalf to improve your feelings
towards him.

DUTCH:
Mijn dienaar? Ach, het ziet er treurig uit,
Sinds laffe vleierij beleefdheid heet.

MORE:
Proverb: He is out of his element
Proverb: To be in one’e element
Proverb: No man can play the fool as well as the wise man

Overworn=Spoiled by too much use
Welkin=Sky
Construe=Explain (also ‘conster’)
Wit=Intelligence
Haggard=Hawk
Check=Start, be startled
Feather=Fig., birds in general
Practice=Skill
Wisely=Deliberately
Fit=Appropriate
Taint=Discredit
Compleat:
Overworn=Gantsch afgesleeten, uitgesleeten, afgeleefd
Construe (conster)=Woordenschikken; t’Zamenschikken, t’zamenstellen
Wit (understanding)=Vinding, schranderheid, verstand
Hagard=Wild. A hagard hawk=Een wilde valk
To take check a a thing=Zich aan iets stooten, of ergeren
Practize=Oeffening, bewerking, praktyk
Well practised in the Law=Wel in de Rechten geoeffend
Wisely=Wyslyk
Fit=Bequaam, dienstig, betaaamelyk, raadzaam
To taint (attaint)=Overtuigen van misdaad, schuldig verklaaren, betichten; bevlekken, bederf aanzetten

Topics: proverbs and idioms, still in use, skill/talent, language, intellect, appearance, flattery

PLAY: Troilus and Cressida
ACT/SCENE: 5.5
SPEAKER: Nestor
CONTEXT:
NESTOR
Go, bear Patroclus’ body to Achilles;
And bid the snail-paced Ajax arm for shame.
There is a thousand Hectors in the field:
Now here he fights on Galathe his horse,
And there lacks work; anon he’s there afoot,
And there they fly or die, like scaled sculls
Before the belching whale; then is he yonder,
And there the strawy Greeks, ripe for his edge,
Fall down before him, like the mower’s swath:
Here, there, and every where, he leaves and takes,
Dexterity so obeying appetite
That what he will he does, and does so much
That proof is called impossibility.
ULYSSES
O, courage, courage, princes! great Achilles
Is arming, weeping, cursing, vowing vengeance:
Patroclus’ wounds have roused his drowsy blood,
Together with his mangled Myrmidons,
That noseless, handless, hacked and chipped, come to him,
Crying on Hector. Ajax hath lost a friend
And foams at mouth, and he is armed and at it,
Roaring for Troilus, who hath done to-day
Mad and fantastic execution,
Engaging and redeeming of himself
With such a careless force and forceless care
As if that luck, in very spite of cunning,
Bade him win all.

DUTCH:
Hier, daar, alomme, spaart hij en verderft;
En kloekheid staat zijn strijdlust zoo ter zij,
Dat, wat hij wil, hij ‘t doet, en zooveel doet,
Dat zelfs wie ‘t ziet, het nog onmoog’lijk noemt.

MORE:
Scull=Shoal of fish
Belching=Spouting
Edge=Blade
Swath=Sweep of the scythe ( Nestor picturing Hector as a Grim Reaper figure)
Appetite=Inclination
Proof=Fact
Mangled=Gored
Fantastic=Extravagant
Engaging=(1) Binding, pledging; (2) Close fighting
Careless force=Reckless strength
Forceless care=Effortless diligence
Compleat:
Belch=Oprisping
Edge=Snee van een mes
To swathe=Zwachtelen, in de luyeren vinden, bakeren
Appetite=Graagte, lust, begeerte, trek
Proof=Beproeving
Mangled=Opgereeten, van een gescheurd, gehakkeld
Fantastick=Byzinnig, eygenzinnig, grilziek
To engage=Verpligten, verbinden, verpanden. To engage in war=Zich in oorlog inwikkelen
To engage in an actoin=Zich in eenig bedryf mengen, zich in iets steeken
Careless=Zorgeloos, kommerloos, achteloos, onachtzaam

Topics: skill/talent, conflict, anger, courage

PLAY: King Henry IV Part 1
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Falstaff
CONTEXT:
PRINCE HENRY
Why, thou owest God a death.
Tis not due yet. I would be loath to pay Him before His day. What need I be so forward with Him that calls not on me? Well, ’tis no matter. Honour pricks me on. Yea, but how if honour prick me off when I come on? How then? Can honor set to a leg? no. Or an arm? no. Or take away the grief of a wound? No. Honour hath no skill in surgery, then? No. What is honour? A word. What is in that word “honour”? What is that “honour”? Air. A trim reckoning. Who hath it? He that died o’ Wednesday. Doth he feel it? No. Doth he hear it? No. ‘Tis insensible, then? Yea, to the dead. But will it not live with the living? No. Why? Detraction will not suffer it. Therefore, I’ll none of it. Honour is a mere scutcheon. And so ends my catechism.

DUTCH:
Wat is eer? Een woord. Wat is het woord eer? Lucht. De rekening sluit! — Wie Iieeft haar? Die woensdag gestorven is. Voelt hij ze? Neen. Hoort hij ze? Neen. Is ze dus niet waar te nemen? Neen, door de dooden niet. Maar leeft ze dan nooit bij de levenden? Neen. Waarom niet? De afgunst duldt dit niet.

MORE:
Death. Debt. The word-play on “death” and “debt” occurs as early as 1400.
Onions:
Prick on=Encourage, incite
Prick off=to mark or indicate by a ‘prick’ or tick, mark or tick off
Set to a leg=Restore a leg cut off
Insensible=Not to be apprehended by the senses
Scutcheon=A shield with armorial ensigns. Scutcheon is the lowest description of heraldic ensign used for funerals.
Compleat:
Scutcheon=Schild, wapenschild
REFERENCED IN E&W LAW: AM v Local Authority & Anor [2009] EWCA Civ 205 (16 March 2009)
Burgersdijk notes:
De eer is niets dan een wapenschild. Dat bij de begrafenis van een edelman mede rond gedragen wordt, zonder dat de doode er iets aan heeft. — Falstaff noemt, wat hij gezegd heeft, een catechismus, omdat hij in vragen en antwoorden zijn geloofsbelijdenis heeft afgelegd.

Topics: honour, cited in law, skill/talent, life

PLAY: As You Like It
ACT/SCENE: 3.3
SPEAKER: Touchstone
CONTEXT:
TOUCHSTONE
When a man’s verses cannot be understood nor a man’s
good wit seconded with the forward child, understanding,
it strikes a man more dead than a great reckoning in a
little room. Truly, I would the gods had made thee
poetical.
AUDREY
I do not know what “poetical” is. Is it honest in deed
and word? Is it a true thing?
TOUCHSTONE
No, truly, for the truest poetry is the most feigning,
and lovers are given to poetry, and what they swear in
poetry may be said as lovers they do feign.
AUDREY
Do you wish then that the gods had made me poetical?
TOUCHSTONE
I do, truly, for thou swear’st to me thou art honest.
Now, if thou wert a poet, I might have some hope thou
didst feign.

DUTCH:
Als iemands verzen niet begrepen worden en iemands geestigheid niet wordt bijgestaan door het voorlijke kind Verstand,

MORE:
Seconded with=Supported by
Reckoning (substantively)=The money charged by a host (a Bill)
Honest=Respectable
Feigning=Imaginative (and thus deceptive)
Feign=Pretend
Honest=Chaste
Compleat:
Seconded=Bygestaan, bygesprongen, geholpen
Reckoning=(in a public house) Gelach
Honest=Eerlyk, oprecht, vroom
Feigning=Verdichting, veynzing

Topics: intellect, understanding, skill/talent, language

PLAY: The Taming of the Shrew
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: Katherine
CONTEXT:
PETRUCHIO
Did ever Dian so become a grove
As Kate this chamber with her princely gait?
Oh, be thou Dian, and let her be Kate,
And then let Kate be chaste and Dian sportful.
KATHERINE
Where did you study all this goodly speech?
PETRUCHIO
It is extempore, from my mother wit.
KATHERINE
A witty mother! Witless else her son.
PETRUCHIO
Am I not wise?
KATHERINE
Yes, keep you warm.

DUTCH:
Waar hebt gij al dien schoonen praat geleerd?

MORE:
Proverb: He is wise enough that can keep himself warm

Dian=Goddess Diana
Grove=Wood
Extempore=Improvised, off the cuff
Mother wit=Natural intelligence
Compleat:
Grove=Een kleyn bosch, een hout
Extempore=Voor de vuyst, opstaandevoet

Burgersdijk notes:
Nu, houd dien geest maar warm. Yes, keep you warm. Een spreekwoordelijk zeggen, vollediger uitgedrukt in “Veel leven om niets”, 1.1: If he have wit enough to keep himself warm, „als hij geest genoeg heeft om zich warm te houden”.

Topics: proverbs and idioms, wisdom, intellect, language, skill/talent

PLAY: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Hermia
CONTEXT:
DEMETRIUS
Disparage not the faith thou dost not know,
Lest to thy peril thou aby it dear.
Look, where thy love comes. Yonder is thy dear.
HERMIA
Dark night, that from the eye his function takes,
The ear more quick of apprehension makes.
Wherein it doth impair the seeing sense,
It pays the hearing double recompense.
Thou art not by mine eye, Lysander, found.
Mine ear, I thank it, brought me to thy sound
But why unkindly didst thou leave me so?
LYSANDER
Why should he stay, whom love doth press to go?
HERMIA
What love could press Lysander from my side?

DUTCH:
De nacht ontneem’ zijn werking aan ‘t gezicht,
Wel dubbel goed vervult het oor zijn plicht;
En wat het zintuig van ‘t gezicht verloor,
Hergeeft de nacht verdubbeld aan ‘t gehoor;

MORE:
Disparage=Vilify, be contemptuous of
Aby=Pay for, atone for
Compleat:
Disparagement=Verachting, verkleining, kleinachting
Recompense=Vergelding, beloning

Topics: skill/talent, love, nature

PLAY: The Two Gentlemen of Verona
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: Sylvia
CONTEXT:
SYLVIA
Yes, yes. The lines are very quaintly writ,
But, since unwillingly, take them again.
Nay, take them.
VALENTINE
Madam, they are for you.
SYLVIA
Ay, ay. You writ them, sir, at my request,
But I will none of them. They are for you.
I would have had them writ more movingly.
VALENTINE
Please you, I’ll write your ladyship another.
SYLVIA
And when it’s writ, for my sake read it over.
And if it please you, so; if not, why, so.

DUTCH:
Ja, ja, gij schreeft dit, heer, op mijn verzoek;
Maar ik begeer het niet; het is voor u;
Ik had nog meer gevoel er in gewenscht.

MORE:
Quaintly=Skilfully
Unwillingly=Not deliberately
Compleat:
Quaintly=Aardiglyk, cierlyk, netjes
Unwilling=Ongewillig, ongeneegen

Topics: skill/talent, communication, language

PLAY: Julius Caesar
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Caesar
CONTEXT:
CAESAR
Let me have men about me that are fat,
Sleek-headed men and such as sleep a-nights.
Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look.
He thinks too much. Such men are dangerous.
ANTONY
Fear him not, Caesar. He’s not dangerous.
He is a noble Roman and well given.

DUTCH:
Die Cassius ziet er schraal en hong’rig uit;
Hij denkt te veel; die mannen zijn gevaarlijk.

MORE:
Proverb: An envious man grows lean

Yond=Pronoun, used in pointing to a person or thing at a distance, not always within view; yonder. (Yon is generally within view)
Sleek-headed=Smooth haired
Well given=Well-disposed
Compleat:
Yon=Gins
Yonder=Ginder
Sleek=Glad, gelekt. To sleen linnen=Linnen lekken

Topics: proverbs and idioms, still in use, risk, loyalty, skill/talent

PLAY: Julius Caesar
ACT/SCENE: 4.3
SPEAKER: Cassius
CONTEXT:
CASSIUS
Brutus, bait not me.
I’ll not endure it. You forget yourself
To hedge me in. I am a soldier, I,
Older in practice, abler than yourself
To make conditions.
BRUTUS
Go to. You are not, Cassius.
CASSIUS
I am.
BRUTUS
I say you are not.
CASSIUS
Urge me no more, I shall forget myself.
Have mind upon your health, tempt me no further.
BRUTUS
Away, slight man!
CASSIUS
Is ’t possible?

DUTCH:
Gij vergeet uzelf,
Brengt gij me in ‘t nauw. Ik ben een krijger ik,
Van ouder oef’ning, en veel meer geschikt
Om u den weg te wijzen.

MORE:
Bait=Provoke
Endure=Stand for, accept
Older in practice=More experienced
Make conditions=Manage things
Urge=Provoke
Tempt=Provoke
Slight=Little, insignificant
Compleat:
Bait=Aas leggen, lokken lokaazen
To endure=Verdraagen, harden, duuren
To urge=Dringen, pressen, aandringen, aanstaan
To tempt=Aanvechten, verzoeken, bekooren, bestryden
Slight=Van weinig belang, een beuzeling

Topics: dispute, age/experience, patience, skill/talent, error

PLAY: Timon of Athens
ACT/SCENE: 5.2
SPEAKER: Timon
CONTEXT:
TIMON
E’en so, sir, as I say. And, for thy fiction,
Why, thy verse swells with stuff so fine and smooth
That thou art even natural in thine art.
But, for all this, my honest-natured friends,
I must needs say you have a little fault:
Marry, ’tis not monstrous in you, neither wish I
You take much pains to mend.
BOTH
Beseech your honour
To make it known to us.
TIMON
You’ll take it ill.
BOTH
Most thankfully, my lord.
TIMON
Will you, indeed?
BOTH
Doubt it not, worthy lord.
TIMON
There’s never a one of you but trusts a knave,
That mightily deceives you.
BOTH
Do we, my lord?
TIMON
Ay, and you hear him cog, see him dissemble,
Know his gross patchery, love him, feed him,
Keep in your bosom: yet remain assured
That he’s a made-up villain.

DUTCH:
Ja, en gij hoort hem liegen, ziet hem huichlen ,
En kent zijn grof geknoei, bemint hem, voedt hem,
Bewaart hem in uw boezem; maar geloof mij,
‘t Is een volleerde schurk.

MORE:
Fiction=Poetry; invention
Swells=Overflows
Even=Equally
Never a one=Both
Compleat:
Fiction=Een verdichtsel, verciering
To swell=Opzwellen
Even=Gelyk

Topics: skill/talent, trust, deceit

PLAY: Hamlet
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: Polonius
CONTEXT:
Your bait of falsehood takes this carp of truth.
And thus do we of wisdom and of reach,
With windlasses and with assays of bias,
By indirections find directions out.
So by my former lecture and advice
Shall you my son. You have me, have you not?

DUTCH:
Uw leugenig lokaas vangt dien waren karper /
Met kunstaas haalt men echte karpers op

MORE:
Schmidt:
Indirection= oblique course or means
Windlasses=Roundabout ways
Bias (in a bad sense)=that which is from the straight line, indirect ways, shifts
Compleat:
To bias=Overhellen, doen overzwaaijen
Windlass=Een katrel met verscheidene schyven, een windaas

Topics: truth, discovery, intellect, skill/talent

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