alchemy: the ancient system of chemistry and philosophy having the aim of changing base metals into gold.
an hour past meridian: 1:00 p.m.
anathemas: curses things or persons greatly detested.
anemones and columbines: flowers of the buttercup family.
Ann Turner: an alleged witch who supposedly helped in the poisoning in the previously mentioned Overbury case.
Anne Hutchinson: a religious dissenter (1591-1643). In the 1630s she was excommunicated by the Puritans and exiled from Boston and moved to Rhode Island.
Antinomian: a believer in the Christian doctrine that faith alone, not obedience to the moral law, is necessary for salvation; to the Puritans, the Antinomian doctrine is heretical.
Apostle Eliot: the Rev. John Eliot who preached to Native Americans near Boston.
apotheosized: elevated to the status of God, glorified, exalted.
appellation: a name or title that describes or identifies a person or thing.
apple-peru: a plant that is part of the nightshade family; poisonous.
aqua-vitae: literally, water of life. Here, a strong liquor such as whiskey.
asperity: harshness or sharpness of temper.
auditors: hearers or listeners.
Bacon, Coke, Noye and Finch: English lawyers of the 16th and 17th centuries who added to British common law.
bale-fire: an outdoor fire; bonfire; here, a beacon fire.
beadle: a minor parish officer who keeps order in church.
Black Man: the devil who “haunts the forest.”
Bristol: a British seaport.
buckramed: having a covering of cloth made stiff with paste.
burdock: any of several plants with large basal leaves and purple-flowered heads covered with hooked prickles.
cabalistic figures: secret or occult figures.
Chronicles of England: a history of England by Holinshed, written in 1577.
College of Arms: a group which approves titles and coats of arms for hereditary aristocracy in England.
commodiousness: the condition of having plenty of room; spaciousness.
compeer: a person of the same rank or status; equal; peer.
contumaciously disobedient: stubbornly resisting authority.
cope: a vestmentworn by priests for certain ceremonies. Here, anything that covers like a cope, a canopy over, or the sky.
Cornhill: part of Washington Street. Now part of City Hall Plaza.
Cornwall and Devonshire: two counties in southwestern England.
