*. solus: alone.
3. house: family He: —The writer of the letter is never identified.
12. unsorted: unsuitable.
15. hind: menial.
21. lord of York: i.e., Archbishop Scroop.
29. pagan: unbelieving.
30. very: veritable.
32. divide myself and go to buffets: split myself in two and have a boxing-match with myself. —"I could kick myself" is a modern (C.E. 2008) equivalent.
41. stomach: appetite.
47. faint: light. watch'd: lain awake.
49. terms of manage: commands [to a horse].
52. palisadoes: stakes set in the ground for defense. frontiers: ramparts.
53. basilisks: heavy ordnance; large cannon. culverin: light ordnance; long cannon.
55. currents: occurrences. heady: headlong.
62. hest: behest, command.
63. heavy: (1) weighty; (2) sorrowful.
71. esperance: Hope. —This was the motto of the house of Percy.
78. spleen: nervous energy, impulsiveness.
82. title: claim to the throne.
83. line: support, strengthen.
85. paraquito: little parrot; term of endearment.
92. mammets: dolls or, perhaps, breasts.
94. pass them current: cause them to circulate as legal tender; i.e., give them in exchange. Hotspur is playing on two senses of "crowns": (1) heads; (2) coins. Cracked coins were not normally accepted as currency. God's me: God save me.
101. a': on.
104. whereabout: about what.
109. for: as for.
117. of force: of necessity.