Act III: French Scene 9
apace: quickly
Audrey: Saint Audrey was a princess of the East Angles. Twice wed in dynastic alliances, she did not consummate either marriage due to a vow of perpetual chastity. After years of wedded un-bliss, she finally took the veil and founded the Abbey of Ely in 673. In 679, Saint Audrey died of a tumor on her neck, which she viewed as divine retribution for the extravagant necklaces she had worn as a young woman. At the festival held in Ely on Saint Audrey's feast day (June 23), lace handkerchiefs were sold in commemoration of her death. These cheaply and shoddily produced necklaces were called "Saint Audrey lace" which became corrupted over time to "t'Audrey lace". Thus the name is the origin of the word "tawdry". It is unlikely that the Audrey of this play is appareled in a "tawdry" (cheap or gaudy) manner, but she is very likely "tawdry" (untidy, slovenly, ungraceful).
the man: your chosen man
simple feature: honest face
warrant: protect
Ovid was among the Gothes: In AD 8 the Roman emperor Augustus banished the poet Ovid to Constanta in what is now Romania to live among the Getae, who were often confused in Shakespeare day with the Gothes, an East Germanic tribe that inhabited the banks of the Black Sea. Ovid was probably banished for political reasons, but the pretext for his banishment was the licentiousness of his verses. Touchstone is like the capricious (fantastical) Ovid, banished among the goats rather than the Gothes. Refer to the glossary for the pronunciation of Gothes which was pronounced "gotes" at the time, further making the pun as aforementioned.
made thee poeticall: endowed you with the faculties of a poet
fai-ning: imaginative, deceptive
Now if thou wert a Poet, I might have some hope thou didst feigne: Since poets often fiegne (lie/fib), if Audrey were a poet swearing that she is honest, he might have some hope that she is lying and he will be able to sleep with her without marrying her first.
hard favour'd: ugly
honestie coupled to beautie, is to have Honie a sawce to Sugar: Because the beautie (female genitalia, cunt) of a beautie (beautiful woman) is not generally honest (chaste), a woman who possesses both honesty and beauty would be too precious. There may be an additional play on sawce as "semen" and honie as both "semen" and "sexual pleasure".
cast away honestie uppon a foule slut, were to put good meate into an uncleane dish: first meaning waste chastity on a foule (ill-favored) slut (awkward person or thing) would be a complete waste. Also meaning, to marry an unchaste slut (whore, strumpet) were to put good meate (male genetalia) into an uncleane (sexually impure) dish (vagina).
foule: Audrey thanks the Gods she is unattractive because it helps preserve her chastity.
Sir Oliver Mar-text: Probably an illiterate priest unable to understand Latin, the title Sir was a courtesy given to graduate clergy but not a symbol of knighthood.
Vicar: A curate, a parson, a countrie priest, a Priest that does not understand Latin (a callback to Rosalind's joke "A Priest that lacks Latine"). Not highly esteemed.
couple us: marry us
would fain: would like to