52. I stay too long. "Laertes seems to think that Ophelia's spirited reply is giving the conversation a needless and inconvenient turn; for that for sisters to lecture brothers is an inversion of the natural order of things" (M.).

53. Double. Laertes had already taken leave of his father.

56. Sits. Often used of the wind. Cf. M. of V. i. 1. 18, Rich. II. ii. 1. 265, Hen. V. ii. 2. 12, etc.

59. Character. Write, inscribe. S. accents the verb either on the first or the second syllable; the noun on the first, except in Rich. III. iii. 1. 81 (Schmidt).

Dowden remarks on the passage: "The advice of Polonius is a cento of quotations from Lyly's Euphues.* Its significance must be looked for less in the matter than in the sententious manner. Polonius has been wise with the little wisdom of worldly prudence. He has been a master of indirect means of getting at the truth, 'windlaces and assays of bias.' In the shallow lore of life he has been learned. Of true wisdom he has never had a gleam. And what Shakspere wishes to signify in this speech is that wisdom of Polonius' kind consists in a set of maxims; all such wisdom might be set down for the head-lines of copy-books. That is to say, his wisdom is not the outflow of a rich or deep nature, but the little, accumulated hoard of a long and superficial experience. This is what the sententious manner signifies. And very rightly Shakspere has put into Polonius' mouth the noble lines,

'To thine own self be true,

And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.'

Yes; Polonius has got one great truth among his copy-book maxims, but it comes in as a little bit of hard, unvital wisdom like the rest. 'Dress well, don't lend or borrow money; to thine own self be true."

60. Unproportion'd. "Disorderly, unsuitable" (Schmidt).

61. Vulgar. The word denotes the extreme of familiar, or "free-andeasy' ‚” with everybody. Cf. 1 Hen. IV. iii. 2. 41 :

"So common-hackney'd in the eyes of men,

So stale and cheap to vulgar company.'

62. And their adoption. "And whose adoption thou hast tried" (Wr.); or, perhaps, "their adoption having been tried," as Delius and others explain it (Gr. 376, 377).

63. Grapple. Cf. Macb. iii. 1. 106: “Grapples you to the heart and love of us.' For hoops Pope substituted "hooks."

64. Do not dull, etc.

"Do not make thy palm callous by shaking every man by the hand" (Johnson). Wr. quotes Cymb. i. 6. 106:

* Mr. W. L. Rushton, in his Shakespeare's Euphuism, pp. 44-47, places side by side the precepts of Polonius and Euphues. "Pol. Give thy thoughts no tongue. Euph. Be not lavish of thy tongue. Pol. Do not dull thy palm, etc. Euph. Every one that shaketh thee by the hand is not joined to thee in heart. Pol. Beware of entrance to a quarrel, etc. Euph. Be not quarrelous for every light occasion. Pol. Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice. Euph. It shall be thrice better to hear what they say, than to speak what thou thinkest." Both Polonius and Euphues speak of the advice given as "these few precepts.

"join gripes with hands Made hard with hourly falsehood."

65. Comrade. Accented on the last syllable, as in 1 Hen. IV. iv. 1. 96; on the first in Lear, ii. 4. 213. S. uses the word only three times. The quartos have "courage" here.

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69. Censure. Opinion; as often. Cf. Macb. v. 4. 14: our just censures ;" and see note in our ed. p. 251. See also i. 4. 35 and iii. 2. 24 below.

70. Costly. Tschischwitz makes the construction." costly thy habit buy as thy purse can;" but it is simpler to make it "as costly be thy habit as," etc. Cf. Gr. 276.

71. Express'd in fancy. “Marked or singular in device” (M.), or, in modern slang, "loud."

74. A corrupt line. The 1st quarto reads: "Are of a most select and generall chiefe in that ;" the 2d and 3d: "Or of a most select and generous, chiefe in that," the "Or" being changed to "Ar" and "Are" in the 4th and 5th. The folio has "Are of a most select and generous cheff in that," which is followed (reading "chief") by K., V., M., and others; chief being explained as "eminence, superiority," or as "the upper part of a heraldic shield." The Coll. MS. changes chief to “choice." W. reads, very plausibly, “Are most select and generous in that." The reading in the text is due to Rowe, and is followed by D. (2d ed.), H., F., and others. Chief chiefly, especially.

77. Husbandry. Thrift, economy. Cf. Macb. ii. 1. 4: "There 's husbandry in heaven; Their candles are all out," etc.

81. Season. Mature, ripen" (Schmidt). Cf. iii. 3. 86 below.

83. Tend. Attend, are waiting; as in iv. 3. 44 below. Cf. the transitive use in Temp. i. 2. 47, Lear, ii. 4. 266, etc.

86. And you, etc. That is, I will remember it till you give me leave to forget it.

90. Bethought. Thought of. Cf. Per. v. 1. 44: "'T is well bethought." The verb is often used reflectively, as in M. of V. i. 1. 31, M. N. D. iv. 1. 155, etc. On marry, see Mer. p. 138.

94. Put on me. Told me (Schmidt); or possibly a little stronger than that, and impressed upon me. Cf. A. Y. L. i. 2. 99, M. for M. ii. 2. 133, T. N. v. 1. 70, etc.

98. Give me up the truth. Cf. Rich. III. i. 4. 189: "have given their verdict up Unto the frowning judge."

IOI. Green. Still used colloquially in this sense-inexperienced, unsophisticated. Cf. V. and A. 806, W. T. iii. 2. 182, K. John, ii. 1. 472, iii. 4. 145, etc. See also "greenly," iv. 5. 66 below.

102. Unsifted. Untried; used by S. only here. Cf. Luke, xxii. 31. Circumstance is used collectively (Delius).

106. Tenders. That is, promises to pay. Cf. M. N. D. iii. 2. 87 and Sonn. 83. 4.

109. Running. The quartos have "Wrong," the folios "Roaming ;" the emendation is due to Coll. Wronging" and "Wringing" have

also been suggested.

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110. Importun'd. Accent on the second syllable, as regularly in S.

Cf. A. and C. iv. 15. 19: “I here importune death awhile, until ;" M. for M. v. 1. 438: "Against all sense you do importune her," etc.

114. Almost and holy are not in the folio, and except for the measure might well be spared.

115. Springes. Snares. Cf. v. 2. 294 below and W. T. iv. 3. 36. Woodcock was proverbial for a simpleton (Nares). Cf. T. of S. i. 2. 161: "O this woodcock, what an ass it is!" A. W. iv. I. 100: We have caught

the woodcock," etc. The bird was popularly supposed to have no brains. Cf. Ford, Lover's Melancholy, ii. 1: "A headpiece-of woodcock without brains in it."

116. Prodigal. Used adverbially. Gr. I.

measure, Pope Coleridge sugWalker would

117. Lends. The folio has "Giues." To eke out the gave "oh my daughter," and Capell "gentle daughter." gested "go to; these vows or "daughter, mark you." make daughter a trisyllable here and in some dozen other passages in S. and contemporary poets.

119. A-making. Cf. ii. 2. 573: "fall a-cursing;" also T. and C. i. 3. 159: "a-mending," etc. Gr. 24 (2).

120. Fire. A dissyllable. Gr. 478. The folio reads, "For this time daughter."

121. Somewhat. The quartos have "something.”

122. Your entreatments. "The invitations you receive" (Schmidt). Johnson makes entreatments=company, conversation (Fr. entretien). S. uses the word nowhere else.

126. In few. In few words, in short. Cf. Temp. i. 2. 144, Hen. V. i. 2. 245, etc.

127. Brokers. 568, T. and C. v. 128. That dye. Temp. ii. 1. 55:

"Procurer, go-between" (Schmidt). Cf. K. John, ii. 1. 10. 33, L. C. 173, etc.

Cf.

The folio has "the eye," which means the same. "With an eye of green in it" (=tinge of green). Investments. Vesture, dress; used by S. only here and in 2 Hen. IV. iv. I. 45: "white investments."

129. Implorators. Changed by Pope to "implorers," for the sake of the measure; not found elsewhere in S.

130. Bawds. Substituted by Theo. for the "bonds" of the early eds. and generally adopted. K., St., and M. retain "bonds"= vows, or, as M. explains it, "law papers headed with religious formula."

133. Slander. Disgrace (Johnson, Schmidt), or misuse (M.). Moment's. The 2d and 3d quartos and the folios have "moment," the later quartos "moments." Abbott (Gr. 430) gives "any-momentleisure" as a compound (cf. Gr. 22).

135. Come your ways. Used by S. oftener than Come your way. Cf. A. Y. L. i. 2. 221, ii. 3. 66, etc. So with go your ways (iii. 1. 129 below, M. W. i. 2. I, iv. I. 81, etc.).

SCENE IV.-Coleridge remarks: "The unimportant conversation with which this scene opens is a proof of Shakspeare's minute knowledge of human nature. It is a well-established fact, that on the brink of any

serious enterprise, or event of moment, men almost invariably endeavour to elude the pressure of their own thoughts by turning aside to trivial objects and familiar circumstances: thus this dialogue on the platform begins with remarks on the coldness of the air, and inquiries, obliquely connected, indeed, with the expected hour of the visitation, but thrown out in a seeming vacuity of topics, as to the striking of the clock and so forth. The same desire to escape from the impending thought is carried on in Hamlet's account of, and moralizing on, the Danish custom of wassailing he runs off from the particular to the universal, and in his repugnance to personal and individual concerns, escapes, as it were, from himself in generalizations, and smothers the impatience and uneasy feelings of the moment in abstract reasoning. Besides this, another purpose is answered; for by thus entangling the attention of the audience in the nice distinctions and parenthetical sentences of this speech of Hamlet's, Shakspeare takes them completely by surprise on the appearance of the Ghost, which comes upon them in all the suddenness of its visionary character. Indeed, no modern writer would have dared, like Shakspeare, to have preceded this last visitation by two distinct appearances, -or could have contrived that the third should rise upon the former two in impressiveness and solemnity of interest."

1. Shrewdly. Sharply, keenly. See Hen. V. p. 170, and cf. J. C. p. 145. The folio reads, "is it very cold?"

2. Eager.

5. It then. 8. Rouse.

9. Wassail.

Sharp, biting (Fr. aigre). Cf. i. 5. 69 below.
The folio reads "then it."

See on i. 2. 127.

Drinking - bout, carousal.

wakes and wassails," etc. See Mach. p. 180.

Cf. L. L. L. v. 2. 318: "At

Upspring. Probably a wild German dance. Steevens quotes Chapman's Alphonsus, Emperor of Germany:

"We Germans have no changes in our dances,
An Almain and an up-spring, that is all."

According to Elze, the word is a translation of the German Hüpfauf, the last and wildest dance at the old German merry-makings; but Schmidt says that "Hüpfauf is an apochryphal dance and may as well be translated from upspring." Pope substituted "upstart," and some make upspring upstart.

Reels is a verb with upspring for its object, as Schmidt and F. explain it; not a noun, as St. makes it.

10. Rhenish. Cf. M. of V. i. 2. 104: "a deep glass of Rhenish wine;" Id. iii. I. 44: "red wine and Rhenish." See also v. 1. 170 below.

II. Kettle-drums. Douce quotes Cleaveland, Fuscara: "As Danes carowse by kettle-drums."

12. The triumph, etc. "The universal acceptance of his pledge" (M.); or the expression may be "bitterest irony" (Delius).

15. Manner. Custom, fashion; with perhaps a reference to manor. Cf. the play on the words in L. L. L. i. 1. 207 fol.

16. D. quotes from an old play: "He keeps his promise best that breaks with hell."

17. This heavy-headed revel, etc. Lines 17-38 are omitted in the folios.

East and west. As Johnson points out, these words modify traduc'd,

not revel.

"Why, who cries out on pride,

That can therein tax any private party," etc.

See also A. Y. L. p. 142, note on Taxation; and cf. Webster, Cure for a Cuckold, i. I: "She is without taxation."

19. Clepe. Call. Cf. Macb. iii. 1. 94, and see note in our ed. p. 209. Drunkards. Steevens says that in Queen Elizabeth's time there was a Dane in London who is referred to in Rowland's Looke to It as follows: "You that will drinke Reynaldo vnto death:

The Dane, that would carowse out of his Boote."

Cf. Oth. ii. 2. 84: "Why, he drinks you, with facility, your Dane dead drunk."

With swinish phrase, etc. Stain our name by calling us swine. Addition=title, as in Macb. i. 3. 106, etc. Hunter thinks there may be an allusion to "some parody on the style of the kings of Denmark," and Wr. suggests the possibility of a pun on Sweyn, a common name of those kings.

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21. At height. "To the utmost" (Caldecott). Cf. Sonn. 15. 9: at height decrease," etc.

22. The pith, etc. "The best and most valuable part of the praise that would otherwise be attributed to us" (Johnson); or, more concisely, the best part of our reputation. For attribute = reputation, Schmidt compares T. and C. ii. 3. 125 and Per. iv. 3. 18.

24. Mole of nature. Natural blemish.

25. Malone quotes R. of L. 538:

"For marks descried in men's nativity

Are nature's faults, not their own infamy."

On as namely, see Gr. 113.

26. His. Its. Gr. 228.

27. Complexion. "Temperament, natural disposition" (Schmidt). Cf. M. of V. iii. 1. 32 and v. 2. 99 below.

30. Plausive. Plausible, pleasing. Cf. A. W. i. 2. 53 and iv. I. 29. 32. Nature's livery, etc. A defect either natural (cf. "mole of nature above) or accidental. Star a mark like a star. Cf. Cymb. v. 5. 364: Upon his neck a mole, a sanguine star." Ritson says it is a term in farriery. Theo. substituted "

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scar."

33. Their. The quartos have "His," which S. may have written. Cf. the change from singular to plural in iii. 2. 173, 174 below, and see Gr. 415.

34. Undergo. Experience, enjoy (Schmidt). Cf. M. for M. i. 1. 24: "To undergo such ample grace and honour."

35. Censure. Opinion, judgment. See on i. 3. 69 above.

36, 37. A corrupt passage, not satisfactorily mended by any of the countless attempts to do it. F. fills six closely printed pages with a summary of these, and they are more amusing than edifying. Some of

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