That one may fmile, and smile, and be a villain; I have fworn it. Hor. [within.] My lord, my lord,- Mar. [within.] Illo, ho, ho, my lord! Ham. Hillo, ho, ho, boy! come, bird, come ', Enter HORATIO, and MARCELLUS. Mar. How is't, my noble lord? Hor. What news, my lord? Ham. O, wonderful! Hor. Good my lord, tell it. Ham. No; you will reveal it. Hor. Not I, my lord, by heaven. Mar. Nor I, my lord. Ham. How fay you then; would heart of man once think it ? But you'll be fecret, Hor. Mar. Ay, by heaven, my lord. Ham. "I will fet down what comes from her, to fatisfy my remembrance the more ftrongly." STEEVENS. See alfo The Second Part of K. Henry IV.: "And therefore will he wipe his tables clean, York is here fpeaking of the king. Table-books in the time of our authour appear to have been used by all ranks of people. In the church they were filled with fhort notes of the fermon, and at the theatre with the fparkling fentences of the play. MALONE. 9 Now to my word;] Hamlet alludes to the watch-word given every day in military fervice, which at this time he fays is, Adieu, Adieu, remember me. So, in The Devil's Charter, a Tragedy, 1607: "Now to my watch-word." STEEVENS. I come, bird, come.] This is the call which falconers ufe to their hawk in the air, when they would have him come down to them. HANMER. This expreffion is ufed in Marfton's Dutch Courtezan, and by many others among the old dramatic writers. It Ham. There's ne'er a villain, dwelling in all Denmark, But he's an arrant knave. Hor. There needs no ghoft my lord, come from the grave, To tell us this. Ham. Why, right; you are in the right; I hold it fit, that we shake hands, and part: Such as it is, and, for my own poor part, Look you, I will go pray. Har. Thefe are but wild and whirling words, my lord, Yes 'faith, heartily. Hor. There's no offence, my lord. Ham. Yes, by faint Patrick 2, but there is, Horatio, For your defire to know what is between us, Give me one poor request. Hor. What is't, my lord? we will. Ham. Never make known what you have seen tonight. Hor. Mar. My lord, we will not. Ham. Nay, but fwear it. Hor. In faith, my lord, not I. Mar. Nor I, my lord, in faith. It appears from all thefe paffages, that it was the falconer's call, as Hanmer has obferved. STEEVENS. 2 by St. Patrick,-] How the poet comes to make Hamlet fwear by St. Patrick, I know not. However, at this time all the whole northern world had their learning from Ireland; to which place it had retired, and there flourished under the auspices of this Saint. But it was, I fuppofe, only faid at random; for he makes Hamlet a ftudent of Wittenberg. WARBURTON. Dean Swift's "Verfes on the fudden drying up of St. Patrick's Well, 1726," contain many learned allufions to the early cultiva tion of literature in Ireland. NICHOLS. Ham, Ham. Upon my fword. Mar. We have fworn, my lord, already. Ham. Ha, ha, boy! fay'ft thou fo? art thou there, true-penny 3? Come on,-you hear this fellow in the cellarage,- Hor. Propofe the oath, my lord. Ham. Never to speak of this that you have seen, Swear by my fword +. Ghoft. 3-true-penny ?] This word as well as fome of Hamlet's former exclamations, we find in the Malecontent, 1604: "Illo, ho, ho, ho; art there old True-penny " STEEVENS. 4 Swear by my fword.] Here the poet has preferved the manners of the ancient Danes, with whom it was religion to fwear upon their fwords. See Bartbolinus, De caufis contempt. mort. apud. Dan. WARE. I was once inclinable to this opinion, which is likewife well defended by Mr. Upton; but Mr. Garrick produced me a paffage, I think, in Brantôme, from which it appeared, that it was common to fwear upon the fword, that is, upon the cross which the old fwords always had upon the hilt. JOHNSON. Shakspeare, it is more than probable, knew nothing of the ancient Danes, or their manners. Every extract from Dr. Farmer's pamphlet muft prove as inftructive to the reader as the following: "In the Paffus Primus of Pierce Plowman, "David in his daies dubbed knightes, "And did them fwere on ber fword to serve truth ever." "And in Hieronimo, the common butt of our author, and the wits of the time, fays Lorenzo to Pedringano : "Swear on this cross, that what thou fay'ft is true, "But if I prove thee perjur'd and unjust, "This very fword, whereon thou took'st thine oath, To the authorities produced by Dr. Farmer, the following may be added from Holinfbed, p. 664: "Warwick kiffed the cross of K. Ed"ward's fword, as it were a vow to his promise." Again, p. 1038, it is faid, "that Warwick drew out his fword, " which other of the honourable and worshipful that were then pre"fent likewife did, whom he commanded, that each one should kifs "other's sword, according to an ancient custom amongst men of war "in time of great danger; and herewith they made a folemn vow," 2 Again, Ghoft. [beneath] Swear. Ham. Hic ubique? then we'll shift our ground :— Come hither, gentlemen, And lay your hands again upon my fword: Never to speak of this that you have heard. Ghoft. [beneath] Swear by his fword. Ham. Well faid, old mole! can't work i'the earth fo faft? A worthy pioneer!-Once more remove, good friends. Hor. O day and night, but this is wondrous ftrange! Ham. And therefore as a stranger give it welcome. There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philofophy. Here, as before, never, fo help you mercy! That you, at fuch times feeing me, never fhall, Or by pronouncing of fome doubtful phrase, As, Well, well, we know ;-or, We could, an if we would;-or, If we lift to speak; -or, There be, an if they might Or fuch ambiguous giving out to note Again, in Decker's comedy of Old Fortunatus, 1600: "He has fworn to me on the crofs of his pure Toledo." In the foliloquy of Roland addreffed to his fword, the cross on it is not forgotten: "- capulo eburneo candidiffime, cruce aureâ fplendidiflime," &c. Turpini Hift. de Geftis Caroli Mag. cap. 22. STEEV. Spenfer obferves that the Irish in his time ufed commonly to swear by their fword. See his View of the State of Ireland, written in 1596. This custom, indeed, is of the highest antiquity; having prevailed, as we learn from Lucian, among the Scythians. MALONE. 5 And therefore as a stranger give it welcome.] i. e. receive it to yourself; take it under your own roof; as much as to fay, Keep it Jecret. Alluding to the laws of hofpitality. WARBURTON. *-an if they might;] Thus the quarto. there might. MALONE. The folio reads-an if That That you know aught of me: This do fwear7, Ham. Reft, reft, perturbed spirit !-So, gentlemen, With all my love I do commend me to you: And what fo poor a man as Hamlet is May do, to exprefs his love and friending to you, The time is out of joint ;-O curfed fpight! Or fuch ambiguous giving out to note [Exeunt. That you know aught of me :-] The conftruction is irregular and elliptical. Swear as before, fays Hamlet, that you never shall by folded arms or fhaking of your head intimate that a fecret is ledged in your breafts; and by no ambiguous phrases to note that you know aught of me. Shakspeare has in many other places begun to construct a sentence in one form, and ended it in another. So, in All's Well that ends Well: "I would the cutting of my garments would ferve the turn, or the baring of my beard; and to fay it was in ftratagem." Again, in the fame play: "No more of this, Helena;-left it be rather thought you affect a forrow than to bave:" where he ought to have written than that you have: or, left you rather be thought to affect a forrow, than to have. Again, ibidem : "I bade ber-if her fortunes ever ftood Again, in The Tempeft: I have with fuch provifion in mine art See alfo Vol. IV. p. 156, n. 8, and p. 240, n. 8. Having used the word never in the preceding part of the fentence, [that you never fhall-] the poet confidered the negative implied in what follows; and hence he wrote-"or-to note," instead of nor. MALONE. 7-this do fwear, &c.] The folio reads, this not to do, fwear, &c. STEEVENS. Swear is ufed here as in many other places, as a diffyllable. MALONE. therefore atheism did never 8 - perturbed spirit!] The verb perturb is used by Holinfhed, and by Bacon in his Essay on Superftition; perturb ftates." MALONE. ACT II. |