EIGHT GOODLY QUESTIONS WITH THEIR AUNSWERS: NOTES
19 coffour. This scribal emendation is found in the Bannatyne manuscript. Thynne reads tree. See Fox and Ringler, eds., Bannatyne Manuscript.
32 to lye. Perhaps a double entendre suggesting both "to slander" and "to have intercourse with."
42 Sir Guy. This is either an idiomatic name for a swindler or is perhaps a reference to the villain Guy of Gisborne. In Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne, Robin states, "Thou hast beene traytor all thy liffe, / Which thing must have an ende" (lines 165-66). The earliest extant version of this ballad dates from the seventeenth century, but the episode is thought to be based on a much older version. See Knight and Ohlgren, eds., Robin Hood and Other Outlaw Tales.
51 There is no indent in the print.
56 Proverbial; see Whiting G217 and C751.
58 There is no indent in the print.
62-63 had I venged . . . furred halfe so warme. In other words, "had I spent all my energy avenging my injuries, I would not be half as prosperous."