II. iv. 43. thy wound. The First Folio has 'they would,' which obviously does not make sense. The later Folios read 'their wound.' The present emendation, 'thy wound,' comes from Rowe.
II. iv. 51. peascod. 'The peascod is the husk or pod which contains the peas, but it here appears to be used for the plant itself (Wright). 'Touchstone surely means that he took both the cods from, and returned them to, the peascod, the representative of his mistress' (Staunton). There is a Suffolk superstition current today in which peascods play a part in love omens.
II. v. 3. turn. It has been suggested that this is a misprint for 'tune.' There is, however, good authority for this use of 'turn' in the sense given in the gloss.
II. v. 27. dog-apes. I.e., dog-faced baboons (?).
II. v. 54. ducdame. In spite of the plain warning given by Jaques of the purpose of his refrain, a number of scholars have made laborious guesses at its etymology.
II. v. 61. first-born of Egypt. Cf. Exodus 11. 4–5. 'And Moses said, Thus saith the Lord, About midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt: and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die . . .'
II. vii. 6. spheres. According to the Ptolemaic system of astronomy, the planets revolved in crystal spheres which made heavenly harmonies in their turnings.
II. vii. 16. rail'd . . . Fortune. I.e., apparently because the lady had not, in Touchstone's case, lived up to the proverb that 'fortune favors fools.'
II. vii. 28. thereby . . . tale. I.e., the commonplace story of every man.
II. vii. 30. chanticleer. I.e., 'laugh in triumph at my discovery, like the crowing of Chanticleer, the cock.'
