p. 134.

look heauily." In the second folio 'now' was restored to the place from which it had evidently been dropped by accident. The 4to. of 1604 has, before the Queen's entrance, "But stay what noyse!" which many editors have added to the text.

aslant the brook": - So the folio; the 4to. of 1603, "by a brook;" the 4to. of 1604, "ascaunt the brook."

"

"

did she come" : - The 4to. of 1604 has, "did she make," which has the same meaning. snatches of old tunes": - So the folio; the 4to., "old lands," a word singularly inappropriate.

"

her melodious lay" : - The folio misprints,

"buy."

p. 135.

this folly douts it": -i. e., does it out. The

4tos., "drownes it."

ACT FIFTH.

SCENE I.

p. 136.

and therefore make her grave straight":- Is it necessary to remark that this means, make her grave directly, straightway, right away?

"

their even Christian": - i. e., their equal or fellow-Christian.

p. 137. "Go, get thee to Yaughan": - I suspect that Yaughan' is a misprint for 'Tavern.' But some local allusion understood at the day may lurk under it. The 4tos. have only, "Get the in."

p. 138.

1

"In youth, when I did love," &c.: - The three staves sung by the grave-digger are from a ballad by Lord Vaux, called "The Aged Lover renounceth Love," which will be found in Book II. of Vol. I. of Percy's Reliques. The clown's text, however, is most corrupt.

"Hath claw'd me" : - The folio, "Hath caught me."

"

- which this ass now o'er-reaches": - So the 4tos.; the folio, "ore offices;" but circumvent,' in the next clause, shows that the 4to. reading is the right one.

"- to play at loggats": - Loggats were little logs, small pieces of wood, which it seems were thrown at a stake in the ground.

his statutes":- Not statute laws, but a process

p. 140.

p. 141.

known as statute merchant, by which the lands of a debtor were placed in the possession of a creditor until his claim was satisfied out of their rents or profits.

the heel of the courtier": - So the 4tos.; the folio, "our courtier" - a misprint perhaps of "your courtier."

"he that is mad": - The folio, "that was mad." "This same scull, sir": - The 4tos, do not repeat these words. If their repetition were accidental in the folio, the chance must be reckoned among gli inganni felici.

"

"how abhorred my imagination is": - So the folio. The 4to. reading, which has generally been preferred, is, "how abhorred in my imagination it is." What is abhorred? At what does Hamlet's gorge rise? At the scull? He is not speaking of that. What he abhors, what his gorge rises at, is his imagination that here hung the lips that he has kissed. This construction is sustained by the reading of the first 4to., "here hung those lippes that I have kissed a hundred times, and to see now they abhorre me."

your own grinning?" - So the 4tos.; the folio, "your own jeering," which is manifestly a sophistication. The scull grinned, but it could not jeer.

"And smelt so? puh!" The 4tos., 'pah.'

p. 142. "Imperial Cæsar": - The 4tos., "Imperious Cæsar." The words were used interchangeably.

1

"

"

'twas of some estate": - So the 4tos.; the folio, "'twas some estate," which the rhythm only shows to be corrupt. A person of high rank was called an

estate.

"As we have warrantise": - So the folio; the 4to.. "warrantie."

"

her virgin rites": - So the folio and the 4to. of 1637; the other 4tos., "her virgin crants," which, because crantz is a German word meaning garlands, most editors retain, although there is no other instance of its use known in our language. Crants,' too, makes "strewments," by which we are to understand flowers and wreaths, a repetition; but "rites" is a general term, including such particulars as maiden strewments and the bringing home of bell and burial. It was Dr. Johnson's opinion that crants' "was the original word, which the author, discovering to be provincial, and perhaps not understood, changed to a term more intelligible;" and he adds, most incorrectly in my judgment, "less proper."

p. 143. To sing such requiem": - The folio has, "sage requiem," which, with Mr. Dyce, I deem to be a misprint of "such requiem." The 4tos. have, "a requiem."

O, treble woe" : - The folio has the gross mis

print, "O, terrible woer.”

p. 144. "Which let thy wisdom fear. Hold off thy hand": The folio, "Which let thy wisenesse feare. Away thy hand." And in the line above it has, "Sir though I am not spleenative." The latter is a misprint; the former appear to be sophistications. Just below, the folio omits Gentlemen,' and assigns the subsequent speech to a Gentleman: - this by a mistaking of the exclamation for a prefix.

"Woo't weep? woo't fight?" &c.: - So both the folio and the 4to. of 1604, and subsequent old copies; the 4to. 1603, "Wilt weep," &c.

"Woo't drink up Esill?" Thus the 4to. of 1604; and that it is not a misprint is made sure by the reading of the folio "Esile," and yet surer by that of the 4to. of 1603, "vessels." But what it means, I confess myself quite unable to conjecture. Theobald suggested that Yssel' might be the word intended, which is the name of a small river, the most northern branch of the Rhine. But the same editor decided in favor of the interpretation, vinegar, for which 'eisell' was a common name of old. To accept the former suggestion we must regard the word in question as a remnant of a play or tale unknown to us, which preceded Shakespeare's tragedy; and against the latter the use of 'up' seems to me to be fatal, in spite of Gifford's Note on Every Man in his Humor. (Jonson's Works, Vol. I. p. 122.) For although 'up' was and is used with such verbs as drink, eat, tear, shut, finish, &c., it is always, I believe, either with the sense of totality or completeness, or that of eagerness or insatiability. Of the former these are instances: "prisons up the nimble spirits in the arteries," Love's Labour's Lost, Act IV. Sc. 3; "devours up all the fry it finds," All's Well That Ends Well, Act IV. Sc. 5; "As true as Troilus shall crown up the verse," Troilus and Cressida, Act III. Sc. 2. Of the latter, these:

"Or whether doth my mind, being crown'd with you, Drink up the monarch's plague, this flattery?"

Sonnet 114.

"'tis flattery in my seeing, And my great mind most kingly drinks it up." Ibid.

"And how his silence drinks up his applause."

Troilus and Cressida, Act II. Sc. 3.

p. 144.

Hamlet might well have said, 'eat up a crocodile,' or 'drink up Yssel,' but not drink up' that which is abstract or general, as, Wilt thou drink up wine, or drink up poison, or drink up vinegar?

This is mere madness": - This speech is assigned in the folio to the King, but in the 4tos., with far more propriety, to the Queen.

p. 145.

her golden couplets are disclos'd": - i. e., her two eggs are hatched. So in Act III. Sc. 1, of this play, "And, I do doubt, the hatch and the disclose," &c.

"

"An hour of quiet shortly shall we see": So the folio; the 4to. of 1604, "An houre of quiet thirtie," &c.; subsequent 4tos., "An houre of quiet thereby," &c.

4tos., "now shall you," &c. The phrases have equal colloquial propriety.

"

p. 146.

"

were

in the bilboes": - The bilboes - so called from Bilboa in Spain, where the best fetters were made composed of an iron bar with rings or staples, by which mutinous sailors were confined by the hands or feet.

"When our deep plots do pall" : - So the 4to. of 1604; the folio, "When our deare plots do paul," where 'deare' appears to me a sophistication; the later 4tos., "When our deepe plots do fall;" for which some editors read, " do fail."

Up from my cabin": - All from Rashly' in Hamlet's previous speech to these words is parenthetical.

"

to unseal":- The 4tos., "to unfold," the terminal syllable being probably caught from the line above. Here Shakespeare would have avoided a rhyme; and from Hamlet's fourth speech below it is plain that he broke a seal.

as our statists":- i. e., our state-ists, as we

should say, statesmen.

p. 147. "And stand a cement 'tween their amities":- Both the 4to. of 1604 and the folio have, most incomprehensibly, "And stand a Comma," &c. Hanmer silently made the correction, which is supported, in accent and all, by the following passage in Antony and Cleopatra, Act III. Sc. 2:

"Let not the piece of virtue which is set
Between us as the cement of our love," &c.

And see Octavia's subsequent description of herself (Sc. 4)
as standing between, praying for both parts.

was Heaven ordinant" : - The folio, "ordinate;"

perhaps correctly.

their defeat":- The folio has the mere misprint,

"their debate."

p. 148.

"Does it not, think'st thee": - So the folio; the 4tos., "thinke thee." The reading of the folio is in accordance with the idiom of Shakespeare's time.

&c.

I'll court his favours" : - The folio, "Ile count," an obvious misprint, which Rowe corrected.

if your lordship were at leisure": - So the 4tos.; the folio, "if your friendship," &c., which I believe, with Mr. Dyce, to be a mere misprint, or rather a blunder on the part of transcriber or compositor.

and hot for my complexion": - See the Note on "the o'ergrowth of some complexion," Act I. Sc. 4, of this play.

p. 149. "I beseech you, remember": - Hamlet was probably about to add your courtesy.' See Supplementary Notes on remember thy courtesy, Love's Labour's Lost, Act V. Sc. 1.

1

p. 150.

"[Sir, here is newly come to court" : - All from these words to "Well, sir," inclusive, in Hamlet's fifth speech below, is omitted in the folio.

"and it but yaw neither": - Thus the 4to. of 1604, with the exception of 'yet' for 'it;' the later 4tos., "but raw." The words quick sail,' showing that the movement of a ship is alluded to, leave no doubt that the earlier text is the right one. Mr. Dyce first read 'it.' There seems no doubt that 'yt' was mistaken for yet.'

"[Ham. I dare not confess" : - This and the following speech are not found in the folio.

"The King, sir, hath waged": - The 4tos., "wager'd;" but the reading of the folio is in perfect accordance with Shakespeare's usage, and that of his contemporaries. So in Cymbeline, Act I. Sc. 5. "I will wage against your gold gold to it." The folio has, "wag'd;" but that spelling now-a-days could not but cause the g to be pronounced hard.

"

against the which he has impon'd": - This is Osric's affected pronunciation of 'impawn'd.' See Hamlet's second speech below. By the uncontracted spelling usually given, imponed, the point is lost.

"I knew you must be edified by the margent": - i. e., receive an explanation like that furnished by a marginal