I. ii. 177. All-hallown summer. The warm weather which comes at about the time of All Saints Day, November first; called in America Indian Summer. The reference is to Falstaff's youthful spirit in his old age.
I. ii. 199. Sirrah. The ordinary form of address to children and servants; here, a sign of Poins's undue familiarity with the Prince.
I. ii. 206. the third, i.e., Falstaff. Shakespeare's inaccuracy in unimportant details is well illustrated here. He has just mentioned four robbers (ll. 180-181), and now implies, at least, that there are to be but three. The phrase 'those men that we have already waylaid' (ll. 181-182) is also inaccurate and misleading. Falstaff and his three followers both waylay and rob the men, after Hal and Poins have withdrawn. But Shakespeare wrote primarily for the stage, and not for the closet, and inaccuracies of this sort are not apparent on the stage.
I. iii. 36. milliner. In Shakespeare's time, milliners, i.e., dealers in women's clothes from Milan, were, for the most part, men.
I. iii. 56. God save the mark. A deprecatory expression, of obscure origin, used when reference is made to an unpleasant subject.
I. iii. 137. Bolingbroke. King Henry is referred to by many names during the course of the play. Before his accession he was commonly known as Henry of Bolingbroke, from the fact that he was born in Bolingbroke castle in Lincolnshire. He also bore the titles Earl of Derby, Duke of Hereford, and, after his father's death, Duke of Lancaster.
I. iii. 145-146. The following genealogical table will help to make clear this question of the succession to the English throne:
