*. Carrier: One whose trade was conveying goods, ususally by pack horses.
1. by the day: in the morning.
2. Charles' wain: Charlemagne's wagon; i.e., the constellation of the Great Bear.
3. horse: horses.
4. Anon: at once; i.e., coming.
5-6. beat: soften. Cut's saddle: packsaddle of the horse named Cut, meaning "bob-tailed." locks of wool in the point: tufts of wool in the pommel of the saddle (to make it more comfortable for the horse).
6. Poor jade, is wrung in the withers: the nag is chafed (by the saddle) along the ridge between its shoulders.
7. cess: measure, estimate.
9. next: nearest; i.e., quickest.
10. bots: intestinal worms, a disease of horses.
14. house: inn.
16. tench: spotted fish; probably an allusion to an ancient belief that the spots on certain fish were due to flea bites.
17. king christen: Christian king.
18. first cock: i.e., midnight.
19. jordan: chamber pot.
20. chamber-lie: urine.
21. like a loach: i.e., as fast as a loach (a kind of prolific fish) spawns loaches.
22. come away: come along, hurry up.
24. gammon of bacon: ham. razes: roots.
25. Charing-cross: village between London and Westminster.
26. pannier: basket.
28-30. An 'twere not as good deed as drink, to break the pate on thee: if it were not as good to clout you on the head as to take a drink.
39. Ay, when? can'st tell: don't you wish I would?; i.e., never.
45-46. they will along with company, for they have great charge: they will want to travel in a group because of the valuables they are carrying.
47. chamberlain: servant who tended the rooms of an inn.
48. At hand, quoth pick-purse: here I am right beside you, as the pickpocket said. Also, slang expression for "Coming immediately." Gadshill's reply shows the chamberlain's alliance with the robbers.
49. fair: apt. —Inn servants were notoriously dishonest.
50-52. thou variest no more from picking of purses than giving direction doth from laboring; thou layest the plot how: i.e., you stand in the same relation to pickpockets as a foreman does to workmen, for you make the plans that others carry out.
53. holds current: proves to be true. that: what.
54. franklin: a farmer owning his own land.
55.wild: weald (forest). three hundred marks: two hundred pounds (a mark was a coin of the value in that day of 13s, 6d).
57. auditor: accountant.
60. presently: at once.
61-62. Saint Nicholas' clerks: highwaymen. —In Elizabethan slang St. Nicholas was regarded as the patron of thieves.
63. I'll none of it: i.e., I don't want your neck.
69. Troyans: Trojans; i.e., slang for thieves, roisterers.
71. profession: i.e., robbery.
73. joined: associated. foot land-rakers: footpads.
74-75. long-staff sixpenny strikers: those who, armed only with cudgels (staves), will rob a man for sixpence; i.e., petty thieves. mad mustachio purple hued malt-worms: topers (drunkards) whose mustaches are stained with ale.
76. tranquility: those who lead easy lives. oneyers: Possibly a coinage from ones with pun on owner (?).
77. hold in: retain secrets, keep confidence.
82. boots: booty, with pun on "boots."
84. hold out water in foul way: keep one dryshod in muddy roads; i.e., protect one.
85. liquored: (1) made waterproof by oiling; (2) bribed; (3) made drunk.
86. as in a castle: i.e., in security (with an allusion to Sir John Oldcastle, the name originally given to Falstaff in this play).
87. receipt of fern-seed: procedure for finding fern-seed, which, almost invisible itself, was thought to confer invisibility on whoever carried it.
89. beholding: beholden, indebted.
92. purchase: booty. true: honest.
95. 'homo' is a common name to all men: i.e., all men are alike; you're just as bad. —"Homo" is Latin for "human being, man in general." Gadshill is answering the Chamberlin's joke about Gadshill being a false thief.
97. muddy: stupid.