III. iii. 40. Cf. Psalm 104. 4: Who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire.
III. iii. 60. Partlet. The name of the hen in the famous story of the Cock and the Fox; cf. Chaucer's Nonne Preestes Tale. The hen-like characteristics of the hostess are apparent in the conversation immediately following.
III. iii. 128-129. Maid Marian. The mistress of Robin Hood, often impersonated by a man in the morris-dances, in which she was traditionally a rather disreputable person. 'As regards womanliness,' says Falstaff to the hostess, 'in comparison with you, Maid Marian is as respectable a person as the wife of the deputy-alderman of this ward.'
III. iii. 181. injuries. 'As the pocketing of injuries was a common phrase, I suppose the Prince calls the contents of Falstaff's pockets injuries.' (Steevens.) Cf. 182-183.
III. iii. 205. unwashed hands. Without stopping to wash your hands, i.e., at once; or, possibly, without any over-fastidious scruples.
III. iii. 228. drum. Used here in the sense of rallying-point or recruiting station.
IV. i. 4-5. Another figurative expression referring to coinage; cf. II. iii. 97-99. 'Your fame would circulate more widely than that of any soldier of this season's coinage.'
IV. i. 53. 'Whereas now we have the pleasant prospect of future possession.'
IV. i. 56. 'The comfort of having something to fall back upon.'
IV. i. 98-99. 'All plumed like ostriches that flap their wings in the wind like eagles that have lately bathed.' The obscurity of this passage is caused by the double comparison, of men with ostriches, and ostriches with eagles. Bate means literally to beat
