five wits - Usually, the five (bodily) senses; often vaguely, the perceptions or mental faculties generally.
to give rise to* - to occasion, to bring about, to cause; riser - one that rises.
skim - to read rapidly or carelessly; to glance over without close attention.
comic - a comic writer
quip - a sharp or sarcastic remark directed against a person; a clever gird or hit. In later use also without implication of sharpness: A clever, smart, or witty saying; Freq. in phr. quips and cranks.
quire - a set of four sheets of parchment or paper doubled so as to form eight leaves, a common unit in mediæval manuscripts; hence, any collection or gathering of leaves, one within the other, in a manuscript or printed book.
in plenty - plentiful, abundant; in abundance
censer - obs. form of censure
picturesque - Of language, narrative, etc.: Strikingly graphic or vivid; sometimes implying disregard of fact in the effort for effect.
prelate - an ecclesiastical dignitary of exalted rank and authority, as a bishop, archbishop, metropolitan, or patriarch.
licet (l) - it is allowed
ut (l) - to
set up - to arrange (type) in words or blocks of words; to put (a book, etc.) into type.
put out - to publish, issue, put in circulation
dismally - in a dismal manner; dreadfully; gloomily, dolorously
strike up - to start, set afoot (a friendship, an acquaintance, a conversation, trade, etc. with another).
nodding acquaintance - a slight acquaintance (with a person), extending no further than recognition by a nod.
nates - the buttocks, haunches
liddle - representing a foreign pronunciation of, or used hypocoristically for, little.
flimsy* - In immaterial sense: Destitute of solid value, slight, trivial, paltry
sifted - that has been passed through a sieve. Also fig.
flageolet* - a small wind instrument, having a mouthpiece at one end, six principal holes, and sometimes keys.
sacrametal - Of an oath, obligation, etc.: Peculiarly sacred, ratified by a religious sanction.
sacerdos* - the Latin word for 'priest'
vignette - an ornamental or decorative design on a blank space in a book or among printed matter, esp. at the beginning or end of a chapter or other division, usually one of small size or occupying a small proportion of the space; spec. any embellishment, illustration, or picture uninclosed in a border, or having the edges shading off into the surrounding paper.
to cut short - to stop short, be brief; to abridge, curtail. lit. and fig.
betterment* - amendment, improvement, amelioration, reformation
sought - sickness, illness, disease thoughts
palsied - affected with palsy, paralysed past
Canterbury* - in the 17th c. taken as a representative of High Church Anglicanism.
schismatic* - one who promotes or countenances schism or breach of external unity in the Church.
hemd (d) - shirt hand
aye - ever, always, at all times, on all occasions
cog - to produce or put forth cunningly and fraudulently
brook - to put up with, bear with, endure, tolerate
breach - fig. The breaking of a command, rule, engagement, duty, or of any legal or moral bond or obligation.
toff - to dress up like a 'toff' (a person who is stylishly dressed)
vesta* - a virgin
ekumene (gr) - belonging to the whole world
merry hell* - a disturbance, upheaval, great trouble