a third Th. Dekker "P. and Q."

Stephen Goranson goranson at DUKE.EDU
Wed Apr 22 16:03:20 UTC 2009


Quoting Mark Mandel <thnidu at GMAIL.COM>:

> On Wed, Apr 22, 2009 at 8:52 AM, Stephen Goranson <goranson at duke.edu> wrote:
>
>> Thomas Dekker. Match Me in London. (published 1631 but apparently
>> written many
>> years earlier)
>> Act 2 Scene 1
>>
>> A shop opened, Enter Bilbo and Lazarillo.
>> ....
>> [Gallants enter, no sale, and exit]
>> Laz. Their powder is dankish and will not take fire.
>> Bilbo. Reach that paper of gloves, what marke is't?
>> Laz. P. and Q.
>> Enter Malevento.
>> Bilbo. P. and Q., chafe these, chafe, chafe, here's a world to make
>> Shopkeepers chafe.
>
> What the heck does that last line mean?

According to Introductions, Notes...Dekker, by Fredson Bowers (1980)
line 19 "chafe these, in order to release the scent of the perfumed
gloves; cf.
lines 157-160."

Stephen Goranson
http://www.duke.edu/~goranson

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



More information about the Ads-l mailing list