RALPH: By now, you can see that our cobbler is quite the wit. Here he makes a clever pun on the word, “all.”  He makes “all” of his living with the “awl.” An awl is the tool used for punching holes in leather—a tool a cobbler would often use.

SERVILIA: Then he says: “I meddle with no tradesman's matters, nor women’s matters, but with all.” He doesn’t just repair men’s shoes or women’s shoes—he repairs ALL shoes.

RALPH: But there’s more to this passage.

SERVILIA:  In medieval England, each trade, or profession, was organized into a guild that governed the profession. When the cobbler says that he doesn’t “meddle in tradesman matters,” it sounds as if he’s saying that he doesn’t get involved in the guild’s regulatory or political affairs.

RALPH: But then the cobbler makes a little bawdy joke by adding that he doesn’t meddle in women’s matters either. In Shakespeare’s day, “to meddle” was slang for having sex, and women’s “matters” was slang for their private parts.