224

82. In censure of his seeming. In forming an opinion of his appearance. See on i. 3. 69 above, and cf. W. T. iv. 4. 667, Cymb. v. 5. 65, etc. 83. If he steal, etc. Caldecott understands this to refer directly to possible manifestation of guilt on the part of the King; but of course all that Horatio means is, I'll watch him so closely that if he were trying to steal something I would pledge myself to detect him or else to pay for the stolen property.

On the whilst, cf. K. John, iv. 2. 194: "The whilst his iron did on the anvil cool," etc.

84. On theft the thing stolen, cf. Exod. xxii. 4 (Wr.).

85. Idle. Delius, St., Wr., and Schmidt make this refer to his feigned madness. Cf. iii. 4. 11 below and Lear, i. 3. 16. But though idle is often used in this sense, we are inclined here to agree with M., who explains the passage "I must appear to have nothing to do with the matter."

87. Fares. In his reply Hamlet plays upon the word; as Sly does in T. of S. ind. 2. 102: "Marry, I fare well; for here is cheer enough." Cf. P. P. 186:

88. Of the chameleon's dish. For another allusion to the popular belief that the chameleon fed on air, see T. G. of V. ii. 1. 178; and for references to its supposed changes of colour, Id. ii. 4. 26 and 3 Hen. VI. iii. 2. 191. For of, see Gr. 177.

90. I have nothing, etc. I have nothing to do with it. Cf. Cor. ii. 3. 81: "I have no further with you."

93. The university. "The practice of acting Latin plays in the universities of Oxford and Cambridge is very ancient, and continued to near the middle of the last century. They were performed occasionally for the entertainment of princes and other great personages; and regularly at Christmas, at which time a Lord of Misrule was appointed at Oxford to regulate the exhibitions, and a similar officer with the title of Imperator at Cambridge" (Malone). English plays were also sometimes performed; this very one of Hamlet among the number. See the titlepage of Ist quarto on p. 9 above.

96. Enact. Act, play. Cf. Temp. iv. I. 121:

97. Cæsar.

"Spirits, which by mine art

I have from their confines call'd to enact

My present fancies," etc.

A Latin play on the subject of Cæsar's death was performed at Oxford in 1582 (Malone).

On the erroneous notion that Cæsar was killed "i' the Capitol," see J. C. p. 155. Cf. A. and C. ii. 6. 18.

99. A brute part. Steevens quotes Sir John Harrington, Metamorphosis of Ajax, 1596: "O brave-minded Brutus! but this I must truly say, they were two brutish parts both of him and you; one to kill his sons for treason, the other to kill his father in treason.

IOI. Stay upon. Await. Cf. "stay upon your leisure" (A. W. iii. 5. 48, Macb. i. 3. 148), "stays upon your will" (A. and C. i. 2. 119), etc. Patience permission; as in "by your patience" (Temp. iii. 3. 3, A. Y.

L. v. 4. 186, Hen. V. iii. 6. 31, etc.), "with your patience" (1 Hen. VI. ii. 3. 78), etc.

108. Fig-maker. See on ii. 2. 486 above.

110. Within 's. Within this (Delius). Cf. R. and J. v. 2. 25: "Within this three hours," etc.

113. For I'll have a suit of sables. Warb. (followed by W. and H.) changed for to "fore." Capell and others take sables to mean the fur of the sable, which was used only in rich and splendid apparel. Malone says that by a statute of Henry VIII. no one under the rank of an earl could wear sables. Wr. sees here "an intended contrast combined with a play upon words," and Schmidt takes the same view of the passage. Cf. iv. 7. 79 below, where "sables" are mentioned, not as badges of mourning, but as “importing health and graveness "-the dignified apparel of age as opposed to "the light and careless livery" of youth.

117. Not thinking on. That is, being forgotten (K.).

118. The hobby-horse. A figure in the rural May-games and morrisdances, probably referred to in ballads of the time as "forgot," either because it came to be omitted from the games or because of the attempts of the Puritans to put down these sports. Cf. L. L. L. iii. 1. 30. Steevens quotes B. and F., Women Pleased, iv. 1: “Shall the hobby-horse be forgot then?" also Ben Jonson, Entertainment at Althorpe: "But see the hobbyhorse is forgot," etc.

The dumb-show. This stage-direction is as Steevens gives it, and agrees substantially with that in the folio. Why the "dumb-show" should have been introduced is a question that has been much discussed but not satisfactorily settled. See Furness, vol. i. pp. 241-243.

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120. Miching mallecho. Probably secret and insidious mischief" (Schmidt). Florio, in his Ital. Dict., 1598, defines acciapinare as "To miche, to shrug or sneake in some corner. Micher truant, occurs in

1 Hen. IV. ii. 4. 450. Minsheu gives "To Miche, or secretly to hide himselfe out of the way, as Truants doe from schoole." Mallecho is the Spanish malhecho (literally, ill-done). D. quotes Connelly's Spanish Dict.: "Malhecho An evil action, an indecent and indecorous behaviour; malefaction." Cf. Shirley, Gent. of Venice: "Be humble, Thou man of mallecho, or thou diest."

122. Belike. "As it seems, I suppose" (Schmidt). Cf. M. N. D. i. I. 130, Hen. V. iii. 7. 55, etc. It is followed by that in T. G. of V. ii. 4. 90. Argument plot; as in ii. 2. 346 above.

135. Posy. Motto. See Mer. p. 164. Hamlet refers to the brevity of the prologue, as Ophelia evidently understands.

138. Cart. Chariot; but obsolete in that sense in the time of S. Wr. quotes Chaucer, C. T. 2043: "The statue of Mars upon a carte stood." 139. Wash. The sea. In K. John, v. 6. 41 and v. 7. 63, it means the "flats," or land overflowed by the tide.

140. Sheen. Shine, light. Used by S. only here and in M. N. D. ii. 1. 29, where also it is a rhyming word.

143. Commutual. "An intensified form of mutual" (Wr.). 146. Woe is me. The old form was "woe is to me" is mine. See Gr. 230.

Р

147. Cheer. Cheerfulness. For its original meaning, see Mer. p. 152 or M. N. D. p. 163.

148. Distrust you.

"Am solicitous about you" (Schmidt).

150. For women's, etc. The quartos have an extra line here:

"For women feare too much, euen as they love,
And womens," etc.

Some editors believe that a line, rhyming with love, has been lost; others, that the extra line was superseded by 150, but accidentally retained at first in printing. The latter is the more probable explanation.

=

Holds quantity are proportioned to each other. Cf. M. N. D. i. 1. 232: "Things base and vile, holding no quantity,” etc. For holds, see Gr. 336.

151. In neither, etc. "They either contain nothing, or what they contain is in extremes "" (Gr. 388a).

153. Sized. Used by S. only here; but we find great-sized (large-sized, small-sized, etc. are still in colloquial use) in T. and C. iii. 3. 147 and v. 10. 26. Theo. quotes A. and C. iv. 15. 4.

154. Littlest. Walker quotes B. and F., Queen of Corinth, iv. I: "The poorest littlest page." He also gives examples of gooder and goodest, badder and baddest, from writers of the time. Chaucer has badder in C. T. 10538.

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157. Operant. Active; used by S. only here and in T. of A. iv. 3. 25: most operant poison." For leave, see on i. 2. 155; and for the infinitive in to do, Gr. 355.

164. Wormwood. For the figure, cf. R. of L. 893 and L. L. L. v. 2. 857. 165. Instances. Inducements, motives. Cf. A. W. iv. 1. 44: "What's the instance?" Rich. III. 3. 2. 25: "wanting instance,"

etc.

166. Respects. Considerations. Cf. iii. 1. 68 above. 167. Kill... dead. Elze compares T. A. iii. 1. 92: "he kill'd me dead." He might have added M. N. D. iii. 2. 269: “kill her dead?"

171-196. Mr. and Mrs. Cowden Clarke believe that these are the "dozen or sixteen lines" of ii. 2. 525, because the diction is different from the rest of the dialogue and is signally like Hamlet's own argumentative mood. Sievers, who was the first to try to point out the supposed insertion, had fixed upon 226-231. See on ii. 2. 525 above.

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171. Purpose, etc. 'Purposes last only so long as they are remembered" (M.).

172. Validity. Value, efficacy. Cf. A. W. v. 3. 192, T. N. i. 1. 12, etc. 174. Fall. For the "confusion of construction," see Gr. 415. Cf. destroy in 180 just below.

176. Most necessary, etc. "The performance of a resolution in which only the resolver is interested is a debt only to himself, which he may therefore remit at pleasure" (Johnson).

180. Enactures. Action (Schmidt); or, perhaps, resolutions (Johnson). 181. Where joy, etc. "The very temper that is most cast down with grief is also most capable of joy, and passes from one to the other with slenderest cause (M.).

184. Our loves. 186. Whether.

The love which others feel for us.
See on ii. 2. 17 above, or Gr. 466.

187. Favourites flies. The quartos have "favourite," a reading which, as Abbott says (Gr. 333), “completely misses the intention to describe the crowd of favourites scattering in flight from the fallen patron." Cf. V. and A. 1128:

"She lifts the coffer-lids that close his eyes

Where, lo! two lamps burnt out in darkness lies."

There, as here, the form seems to be due to the rhyme. See also Sonn. 41.3.

190. Not needs. Cf. Temp. v. 1. 38: “Whereof the ewe not bites,” etc. Gr. 305.

192. Seasons. Matures, ripens (Schmidt). Cf. i. 3. 81 above.

194. Contrary. The accent on the penult, as in "Mary, Mary, quite contrary," etc. Cf. K. John, iv. 2. 198, and T. of A. iv. 3. 144. Schmidt adds W. T. v. I. 45: "My lord should to the heavens be contrary;" but there it seems to have the other accent, as in R. and J. iii. 2. 64: "What storm is this that blows so contrary?" etc.

198. Die. The 3d person imperative, or "subjunctive used imperatively" (Gr. 364). See other examples in the speech that follows, and in 210, 211, etc.

202. An anchor's cheer. An anchorite's fare. Steevens quotes the old Romance of Robert the Devil, printed by Wynkyn de Worde: "We have robbed and killed nonnes, holy aunkers, preestes;" and again: "the foxe will be an aunker, for he begynneth to preche;" and The Vision of Piers Plowman: "As ancres and heremites," etc.

203. Opposite. Contrary thing; as in A. and C. i. 2. 130. Oftener in S. it is opponent, adversary; as in v. 2. 62 below. Cf. Lear, v. 3. 42: "you have the captives

That were the opposites of this day's strife;"

and Id. v. 3. 153: "An unknown opposite."

Blanks. Blanches, makes pale; the only instance of the verb in S. 208. Deeply sworn. Cf. Rich. III. iii. 1. 158: "Thou art sworn as deeply to effect," etc. Wr. quotes K. John, iii. 1. 231: "deep-sworn faith."

215. Argument. See on 122 above.

The king could hardly be in doubt as to the plot of the play after seeing the "dumb-show." Halliwell asks: "Is it allowable to direct that the king and queen should be whispering confidentially to each other during the dumb-show, and so escape a sight of it?" If the dumb-show is to be introduced on the stage, that would not be a bad way out of the difficulty (see on 118 above). If S. is responsible for the dumb-show, we may consider it a piece of carelessness like making Philostrate in M. N. D. speak of shedding "merry tears" at the rehearsal of the clowns' play when he certainly could not have been present at the rehearsal-to say nothing of the fact that the play as rehearsed in iii. 1. is entirely different from the play as acted in v. 1. (see M. N. D. p. 122).

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220. Tropically. By a trope, or 'a figure in rhetoric" (A. Y. L. v. 1. 45); used by S. nowhere else.

221. Image. Representation; as in Macb. ii. 3. 83, Lear, v. 3. 264, etc.

Cf. 21 above. For Vienna the 1st quarto has "Guiana," perhaps due to the short-hand writer's mishearing the name (Coll.).

222. Duke's. Elsewhere he is a king. Walker shows that king, duke, and count were often confounded in sense. In the mouths of Dull, Armado, and Dogberry, duke may have been intended as a blunder, but hardly so in the case of the princess in L. L. L. ii. 1. 38. Cf. Viola's use of count in T. N. v. 1. 263 with Id. i. 2. 25.

Baptista. Properly a man's name, as in T. of S. Hunter says that he has known it to be a female name in England; and it is sometimes so used even in Italy.

224. Free. See on ii. 2. 548 above.

225. Let the gail'd jade. Apparently a proverb. Steevens quotes Edwards, Damon and Pythias, 1582: "I know the gall'd horse will soonest wince;" and Wr. adds from Lyly's Euphues: "For well I know none will winch except she bee gawlded.” ́On jade, see Hen. V.

p. 170.

227. Chorus. Explaining the action of the play, as in W. T., R. and J., and Hen. V. (Delius).

228. I could interpret, etc. Alluding to the interpreter who used to sit on the stage at puppet-shows and explain them to the audience. Cf. T.

G. of V. ii. I. 101 and T. of A. i. I. 34. Steevens quotes Greene, Groatsworth of Wit: "It was I that . . . for seven years' space was absolute interpreter of the puppets." In the present passage some of the critics see an indirect meaning; but, as Schmidt remarks, it is more probable that the allusion is simply “to a puppet-show in which Ophelia and her lover were to play a part."

232. The croaking raven, etc. Mr. Simpson (in the London Academy, Dec. 19, 1874) says: "Hamlet rolls into one two lines of an old familiar

play, The True Tragedie of Richard the Third:

"The screeking raven sits croking for revenge,

Whole herds of beasts comes bellowing for revenge."

235. Confederate. Conspiring, favouring, assisting.

236. Midnight weeds. Steevens compares Macb. iv. 1. 25: "Root of hemlock digg'd i' the dark."

237. Hecate. For the pronunciation, see Macb. p. 187.

239. On wholesome life usurp. Wr. compares Per. iii. 2. 82: "Death may usurp on nature many hours." Add T. A. iii. 1. 269. 250. Strucken. The folio reading; the quartos have " "stroken." See 7. C. p. 146 or Gr. 344.

"strooken or

The stanza is probably a quotation from some ballad (D.). 254. Feathers. Much worn on the stage in the time of S. (Malone). 255. Turn Turk. Proverbially to undergo a complete change for the worse (Schmidt). Cf. Much Ado, iii. 4. 57. Steevens quotes Cook, Green's Tu Quoque: "This it is to turn Turk, from an absolute and most compleat gentleman, to a most absurd, ridiculous, and fond lover."

Provincial. Some make this refer to Provence, others to Provins near Paris. Both were famous for their roses. The reference is to rosettes of ribbon worn on shoes. Fairholt quotes Friar Bacon's Prophecy, 1604: