Page:As You Like It (1919) Yale.djvu/125

As You Like It  extent. A legal term derived from 'extendi facias,' a writ seizing house and lands upon the forfeiture of a debt. It is not here used in its strict legal sense, since the seizure is an act of arbitrary power on the Duke's part.

 thrice-crowned. I.e., in her triple capacity as Proserpina, Luna, and Diana.

 huntress' name. Orlando calls his mistress one of Diana's huntresses, as being a votary of her order because a virgin (Cowden Clarke).

 worms-meat. The idea that man's bodily fate is ultimately to feed worms occurs several times in Shakespeare; for example, in Hamlet, IV. iii.

 incision. 'Bloodletting' by an incision was regarded by the Elizabethans as a cure for most ills.

 cuckoldy. I.e., because of the symbolical horns upon his head. Another example of the inexhaustible Elizabethan jest concerning the imaginary horns upon the forehead of a husband whose wife had proved unfaithful.

 butter-women's rank. I.e., these verses amble monotonously along like files of butter-women riding nags to market.

 civil sayings. Sayings relating to orderly social life such as are illustrated by the examples cited in the lines immediately following.

 span. Cf. the Prayer-Book, Psalm 39. 6. 'Behold, thou hast made my days as it were a span long.'

 quintessence. A term in alchemy. The fifth essence of ancient and mediaeval philosophy, supposed to be the substance of which the heavenly bodies were composed, and to be actually latent in all things: hence, pure essence or extract, essential part of a thing (Murray).

 in little. Possibly, to adopt a sug-