"When roses in the gardens grew, And not in ribbons on a shoe; Tschischwitz (who is much given to these fantastic tricks of emendation -God save the mark !) is sure that S. wrote "provisional roses!" 256. Razed. Slashed; that is, with cuts or openings in them (Steevens). Stubbes, in his Anatomie of Abuses, 1585, has a chapter on corked shoes, which, he says, are "some of black veluet, some of white, some of red, some of greene, razed, carued, cut, and stitched all ouer with Silke." Theo. conjectured "rais'd," that is, with high heels. Schmidt wavers between these two explanations. Cry. Company; literally, a pack of hounds. Cf. Cor. iii. 3. 120: "You common cry of curs!" (see also iv. 6. 148); Oth. ii. 3. 370: "not like a hound that hunts, but one that fills up the cry," etc. 258. Share. "The actors in our author's time had not annual salaries as at present. The whole receipts of each theatre were divided into shares, of which the proprietors of the theatre, or house-keepers, as they were called, had some; and each actor had one or more shares, or part of a share, according to his merit" (Malone). 259. A whole one, I. Malone's conjecture of "ay" for I has been adopted by Sr., W., and H. The meaning, as it stands, is "A whole one, say I" (Caldecott). Ay is always printed "I" in the old eds. 263. Pajock. Peacock; which is substituted by Pope, Warb., Coll., Sr., H., and others. The quartos have "paiock," the 1st folio "Paiocke," the 2d "Pajocke," etc. D. says: "I have often heard the lower classes in the north of Scotland call the peacock the 'pea-jock;' and their almost invariable name for the turkey-cock is bubbly-jock." Among the changes suggested, where none is needed, are 'paddock,” “hedjocke" (=hedgehog), "patchock" (=a clown), " Polack," etc. 66 264. Rhymed. "The natural rhyme, of course, is easily discerned, and expresses his contempt for his uncle, who has shown, as he intimates, consummate weakness in allowing himself to be so easily unmasked" (M.). 266. Pound. Cf. Rich. II. ii. 2. 91: "a thousand pound;" and see note in our ed. p. 182. 270. Recorders. A kind of flageolet. See M. N. D. p. 183. Distempered. Discomposed, disturbed. Cf. Temp. iv. 1. 145: "touch'd with anger so distemper'd," etc. The word was also used of bodily disorder (as in 2 Hen. IV. iii. 1. 41), and so Hamlet pretends to understand it (Wr.). 283. Should. Would. See on ii. 2. 202 above; and for more richer on ii. I. II. 284. Put him to his purgation. "A play upon the legal and medical senses of the word" (Wr.). Cf. A. Y. L. v. 4. 45, Hen. VIII. v. 3. 152, etc. 286. Into some frame. That is, "frame of sense" (M. for M. v. 1. 61). Cf. L. L. L. iii. 1. 193: "out of frame" (that is, disordered). 288. Pronounce. 7, etc. Speak out, say on. Cf. Temp. iii. 3. 76, Macb. iii. 4. 295. Pardon. Leave to go. See on i. 2. 56 above. 298. Wholesome. Reasonable (Schmidt); or sane, sensible (Wr.). Cf. Cor. ii. 3. 66: "Speak to 'em, I pray you, In wholesome manner." 303. Admiration. Wonder; as in i. 2. 192 above. 307. Closet. Chamber; as in ii. 1. 77, iii. 3. 27, etc. Cf. Matt. vi. 6. 310. Trade. Business. Cf. T. N. iii. 1. 83: "if your trade be to her," etc. 312. Pickers and stealers. Hands; which the church catechism admonishes us to keep from "picking and stealing" (Whalley). 313. Your cause of distemper. The cause of your distemper. Cf. i. 4 73: "your sovereignty of reason;" and see Gr. 423 for other examples. 317. The voice, etc. Cf. i. 2. 109 (Malone). 319. While the grass grows. Malone quotes the whole proverb from Whetstone's Promos and Cassandra, 1578: "Whylst grass doth growe, oft sterves the seely steede ;" and again in the Paradise of Daintie Devises, 1578: While grass doth growe, the silly horse he starves." 66 321. To withdraw with you. "A much-vexed passage, probably = to speak a word in private with you" (Schmidt). M. Mason proposed "So, withdraw you" or "So withdraw, will you?" St. takes it to be addressed to the players, and would read "So, (taking a recorder) withdraw with you." Tschischwitz conjectures "Go, withdraw with you." 322. Go about. Undertake, attempt. See M. N. D. p. 177 or Hen. V. p. 174. To recover the wind of me. A hunting term, meaning to get to windward of the game, so that it may not scent the toil or its pursuers (Sr.). Cf. Gentleman's Recreation: "Observe how the wind is, that you may set the net so as the hare and wind may come together; if the wind be sideways it may do well enough, but never if it blow over the net into the hare's face, for he will scent both it and you at a distance;" also Churchyard, Worthiness of Wales: "Their cunning can with craft so cloke a troeth 324. If my duty, etc. If my sense of duty makes me too bold, it is my love for you that causes it. Bold and unmannerly have essentially the same meaning. Tyrwhitt wanted to read "not unmannerly." 333. Ventages. Vents, holes. 345. 'Sblood. See on ii. 2. 358 above. These oaths were extremely common in that day, and indeed much earlier. Chaucer (C. T. 13886) makes the Pardoner say: "Her othes been so greet and so dampnable, That it is grisly for to hiere hem swere. Our blisful Lordes body thay to-tere; Hem thoughte Jewes rent him nought y-nough." 347. Fret. Douce notes the play upon the word: "though you can vex me, you cannot impose upon me; though you can stop the instrument, you cannot play on it." Frets are stops, or "small lengths of wire on which the fingers press the strings in playing the guitar" (Busby's Dict. of Musical Terms). Cf. North, Plutarch (Pericles): "Rhetoric and eloquence (as Plato saith) is an art which quickeneth men's spirits at her pleasure; and her chiefest skill is to know how to move passions and affections thoroughly, which are as stops and sounds of the soul, that would be played upon with a fine-fingered hand of a cunning master." 358. By and by. Presently, soon; as often in S. See Hen. V. p. 155. 359. To the top of my bent. To the utmost, as much as I could wish. For bent, see on ii. 2. 30 above. 363. 'Tis now, etc. Cf. Macb. ii. 1. 49 fol. 366. Bitter business. The folio reading; the quartos have "such business as the bitter day." 369. Nero. For another allusion to his murder of his mother, see K John, v. 2. 152. 371. Speak daggers. Cf. iii. 4. 93: "These words like daggers enter in mine ears;" and Much Ado, ii. 1. 255: "She speaks poniards, and every word stabs." See also Prov. xii. 18 (Wr.). Use none. Hunter says: "To be sure not; and strange it is that the Poet should have thought it necessary to put such a remark into the mouth of Hamlet," etc. It is not necessary to suppose that Hamlet had seriously thought of killing his mother. He may be recalling the injunction of the Ghost: Revenge my murder, but only on your uncle, not on your mother. And yet he must speak daggers to her, though he is to use none against her. 373. How ... soever. For the tmesis, cf. i. 5. 170 above; also M. W. iv. 2. 25, etc. How is sometimes = however; as in Much Ado, iii. 1. 60: "I never yet saw man, How wise, how noble, young, how rarely featur'd, Shent. "Put to the blush, shamed, reproached" (Schmidt). Cf. M. W. i. 4. 38: "We shall all be shent ;" Cor. v. 2. 104: "Do you hear how we are shent?" etc. It is the participle of shend, which is found (=destroy) in Fairfax's Tasso, vi. 4: "But we must yield whom hunger soon will shend." Cf. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 8. 12: "Thou dotard vile, That with thy brutenesse shendst thy comely age,' etc. 374. Give them seals. Confirm them by action. Cf. Cor. ii. 3. 115: "I will not seal your knowledge with showing them;" 2 Hen. IV. iv. 5. 104: "Thou hast seal'd up my expectation," etc. SCENE III.-3. Your commission. "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are therefore privy to the traitorous scheme for killing Hamlet in England" (M.). 30 and cf. 405. 4. Shall along. For the omission of the verb, see Gr. 66 7. Lunacies. The folio reading; that of the quartos is "browes,” which Theo. took to be a misprint of "lunes"= lunacies. 9. Many many. Cf. K. John, i. I. 183: “many a many foot." Wr. compares Hen. V. iv. 2. 33: 'A very little little let us do." The Coll. MS. reads "very many." II. The single and peculiar life. That is, the private individual (Wr.). 13. Noyance. Injury; not to be printed "'noyance," as it often is. Cf. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 12. 2: "A direfull stench of smoke and sulphure mixt Ensewd, whose noyaunce fild the feareful sted From the fourth howre of night untill the sixt." 14. Depends and rests. For the singular form, see Gr. 335. 15. Cease. Decease. The only other instance of cease as a noun noted by Schmidt is in Lear, v. 3. 264, where he thinks it may be a verb. 16. Gulf. Whirlpool; as often. Cf. R. of L. 557, Hen. V. ii. 4. 10, iv. 3. 82, etc. 17. Massy. S. uses the word five times (cf. Temp. iii. 3. 67, Much Ado, iii. 3. 147, T. and C. prol. 17, ii. 3. 18), massive not at all. See quotation in note on iii. 1. 77 above. 21. Annexment. A word not found elsewhere (Wr.). curs in L. C. 208. 24. Arm you. Annexion oc Prepare yourselves. Cf. M. N. D. i. 1. 117 : 25. Fear. Object of fear; as in M. N. D. v. 1. 21: 26. We will haste us. See Gr. 212. Elze gives this speech to Rosencrantz alone, on the ground that he is regularly the spokesman, while Guildenstern seems to be a subordinate attendant; but the king and queen treat them both alike as "gentlemen (see ii. 2. 1-26, 33, 34, etc.), and so does Hamlet (ii. 2. 224, etc.). Elze cites iv. 3. 16, which is sufficiently explained by the context. 29. Tax him home. Reprove him soundly. See on i. 4. 18 above. Cf. iii. 4. I below; also M. for M. iv. 3. 148: “ Áccuse him home and home," etc. 66 30. As you said. 'Polonius's own suggestion, which, courtier-like, he ascribes to the king" (M.). 32. Them. That is, mothers. 33. Of vantage. By some opportunity of secret observation (Warb.). Cf. Gr. 165. 37. Eldest. Used now only in the sense of eldest-born. Cf. Temp. v. 1. 186: "your eld'st acquaintance cannot be three hours." 39. Will. Hanmer substituted "'t will" and Warb. "th' ill;" but inclination and will are not identical. As Boswell says, "I may will to do a thing because my understanding points it out to me as right, though I am not inclined to it." 42. In pause. In doubt or consideration. Cf. iii. 1. 68 above. 47. Confront. To face, or rather outface. 49. To be forestalled, etc. "What is the very meaning of prayer, except that we pray first not to be led into temptation, and then to be delivered from evil?" (M.). On forestall=prevent, cf. v. 2. 207 below. 55. Ambition. The realization of my ambition; the cause for the effect, like offence in the next line (Delius). Cf. theft in iii. 2. 84. 57. Currents. Courses (Schmidt). D. and F. adopt Walker's conjecture of "currents"="occurrents" (see v. 2. 345 below); but the mixing or blending of metaphors is no worse than in the use of the very same word in iii. 1. 87 above; and though, as F. pleads, it is easily avoided here by the apostrophe, we prefer to stick to the old text. 59. Prize. The Coll. MS. has "purse;" but the meaning obviously is that the guilty gain itself (or a part of it) is used to bribe the officers of the law; as has often happened in these latter days. 61. Lies. Used in the legal sense (Wr.). 62. His. Its. See Gr. 228; and for the ellipsis of the auxiliary with compell'd, Gr. 403 (cf. 95). 66 64. Rests. Remains. See A. Y. L p. 146. 65. Can. Can do. Cf. Temp. iv. I. 27 : Gr. 307. 68. Limed. Caught (as with bird-lime). lim'd no secret bushes fear." See also 3 2. 34, etc. 'Our worser genius can," etc. Cf. R. of L. 88 :." Birds never Hen. VI. v. 6. 13, 17, Macb. iv. 69. Engaged. Entangled. It is curious that neither Worc. nor Wb. recognizes this meaning, though both give "disentangle as one of the meanings of disengage. Cf. Milton, Comus, 193: They had engag'd their wandering steps too far ;" and P. R. iii. 347 (where Satan is trying to ensnare Christ): "That thou mayst know I seek not to engage In architecture, engaged columns are probably so called because they are caught or entangled, as it were, in the wall. Make assay. According to Brae (quoted by F.), assay here=charge, onset, and make assay="throng to the rescue." Cf. Hen. V. i. 2. 151: Galling the gleaned land with hot assays;" and ii. 2. 71 above: "the assay of arms.' This meaning is not recognized by Worc. or Wb., but Schmidt gives it for the two passages just quoted. Here he makes assay =trial; but the other meaning would be at once more forcible and more poetical. J. H. thinks that make assay is addressed to himself, not to the angels. 73. Pat, now. The quartos have "but now." For pat, cf. M. N. D. iii. 1. 2, v. 1. 188, and Lear, i. 2. 146. This speech has been considered inhuman and unworthy of Hamlet. According to Coleridge, it is rather his way of excusing himself for putting off the act of vengeance. It seems better, however, with M., to regard this notion of killing soul and body at once as the natural impulse of his mind. It does not strike us as unnatural that the sight of the king at prayer should suggest the idea that killing him then and there would be sending him straight to heaven, and that for the moment Hamlet should |