115. throughly, thoroughly. Compare Matthew iii. 12. 116. My will, only my own will shall stay me. Ib. world. So the folios. The quartos read 'worlds,' perhaps rightly. The extravagant hyperbole all the worlds' which Laertes would thus use in reference to his former words both the worlds,' is not unsuitable to his excited state of mind. Hanmer read 'world's,' which might be the meaning of the reading of the quartos, in which no apostrophe is used to distinguish the genitive singular from the nominative plural.

120. writ in your revenge. Compare i. 2. 222.

121. swoopstake. The quartos and folios read 'soopstake.' We are guided to the true reading by the quarto of 1603 which has 'Swoop-stakelike.' Pope altered the word to sweepstake,' which means the same thing. The metaphor is from a game at cards, where the winner sweeps, or 'draws,' the whole stake. The meaning is somewhat confused by this admixture of metaphor. 'Are you determined to involve both friend and foe in your revenge?' 124. thus wide. With appropriate gesture. See Troilus and Cressida, iii. 3. 167.

125. pelican. The first folio has a curious misprint here-' Politician.' The allusion is to the well-known fable of the pelican piercing her own breast to feed her young. In Richard II, ii. 1. 126, and King Lear, iii. 4. 77, the young pelicans are represented as piercing their mother's breast to drink her blood, an illustration of filial impiety, not parental love. But Rushton, Shakespeare's Euphuism, p. 9, quotes from Lyly's Euphues and his England: the Pelicane who stricketh blood out of hir owne bodye to do others good' (p. 341, ed Arber).

126. Repast, feed. This verb is not used elsewhere by our author.

129. sensibly. The folios read 'sensible.' Either word yields a satisfactory meaning. Indeed 'sensible' may be used adverbially. We should say 'feelingly.' Compare Merchant of Venice, ii. 8. 48: With affection wondrous sensible.'

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130. level to your judgement pierce. The folios read 'pierce,' the quartos 'peare,' whence Johnson ''pear' i. e. appear. 'Pierce' suits the metaphor

better. Compare iv. I. 42.

131. The quartos give the words 'Let her folios give as a stage direction 'A noise within.

come in' to Laertes. The

Let her come in,' and this

is represented in the text. Laertes did not know what, or who, was the cause of the noise without.

132. Re-enter Ophelia. The quarto of 1603 gives the stage direction, 'Enter Ofelia as before,' i. e. dressed as it had described, line 21.

133. virtue, strength, power. So Love's Labour's Lost, v. 2. 348: 'The virtue of your eye.'

135. with weight. So the quartos. The folios have 'by weight.' 140-142. Nature. . . loves. Omitted in the quartos. The sense is ob

·

scurely expressed. 'Fine' seems to mean 'delicately tender,' and 'instance' 'proof' or 'example.' The thing it loves' is here Polonius, the 'precious instance' Ophelia's natural soundness of mind. Her sanity has followed her father to the grave.

144. The refrain 'Hey non nonny,' &c., is not in the quartos. In the next line the folios have 'raines' for 'rain'd.'

151. It is doubtful whether 'wheel' here means the refrain or burden of the song, or a spinning-wheel to which the song might be sung. No satisfactory example has been found of the word in the former sense.

Ib. Nothing is known of the story of the false steward to which Ophelia refers.

154. rosemary was supposed to strengthen the memory, hence it came to symbolize remembrance and fidelity. Compare Winter's Tale, iv. 3. 74-76: 'For you there's rosemary and rue; these keep

Seeming and savour all the winter long:

Grace and remembrance be to you both!'

It was therefore worn at funerals and at weddings. See Romeo and Juliet, iv. 5. 79. See Drayton, Eclogue ix. 19, 20:

'Him Rosemary his sweethart, whose intent

Is that he her should in remembrance haue.'

On the other hand Cotgrave says, s. v., that Donner du rosmarin' was equivalent to dismiss a lover.'

155. pansies, from the French pensées. Ophelia gives rosemary and pansies to her brother.

156. document, used apparently in its literal sense of precept, instruction. Cotgrave gives 'Document; m. A document, precept; instruction, admonition; experiment, example.' Compare Spenser, Fairy Queen, i. 10. 19, quoted in the Edinburgh Review for July 1869:

'And heavenly documents thereout did preach.'

158. Ophelia gives fennel and columbines to the King. Fennel is said to be emblematic of flattery. In Florio's Worlde of Wordes, 1598, 'Dare finocchio' (to give fennel) is translated 'to flatter, to dissemble.' Compare Greene's Quip for an Upstart Courtier, p. 7 (Collier's reprint): Uppon a banke, bordring by, grewe womens weedes, Fenell I meane for flatterers, fit generally for that sexe.'

Ib. columbine is mentioned by Chapman in All Fools, act. ii. sc. I: 'What's that? a columbine?

No: that thankless flower fits not my garden.'

If it were an emblem of thanklessness it would be suitable enough to be given to the King.

159. She gives rue to the Queen. The meaning is clearly shown in Richard II, iii. 4. 104, &c.:

'I'll set a bank of rue, sour herb of grace;

Rue, even for ruth, here shortly shall be seen,
In the remembrance of a weeping queen.'

Cotgrave gives Rue: Rue, Hearbe grace.' In Lyte's Herball, p. 294, ed. .1595, there is a description of 'Rue or Herbe Grace.' To rue is to repent, therefore rue was called 'herb of grace,' or 'herb-grace.' As Ophelia says, it may fitly bear its religious name on Sundays. There is a curious passage in Greene's Quip for an Upstart Courtier, p. 9 (Collier's reprint): 'But as these upstart changelings went strouting like Philopolimarchides, the bragart in Plautus, they lookte so proudly at the same that they stumbled on a bed of Rue that grewe at the bottome of the banke where the Time was planted, which fall upon the dew of so bitter an herbe taught them that such proude peacockes as over hastily out run their fortunes, at last to speedily fall to repentaunce; and yet some of them smild and said Rue was called herbe grace, which though they scorned in their youth, they might weare in their age, and it was never too late to say Miserere.'

160, 161. with a difference. This was a term in heraldry meaning the slight change made in a coat of arms to distinguish one member of a family from another. Ophelia no doubt means that the Queen and she had different causes of ruth.

161. It does not appear to whom she gives the daisy; probably either to the King or Queen. Henley has quoted Greene's Quip for an Upstart Courtier [p. 11, Collier's reprint]: Next them grewe the dessembling daisie.'

Ib. violets. Malone quotes from a collection of Sonnets,' published in 1584: Violet is for faithfulnesse.' Perhaps she says this to Horatio. 164. Bonny sweet Robin was a well-known ballad, of which Ophelia sings a line. It is mentioned by Beaumont and Fletcher, in The Two Noble Kinsmen, iI. 1:

'I can sing the Broom,

And Bonny Robin.'

The tune is given in Chappell's Popular Music of the Olden Time, p. 234. 165. Thought, care, anxiety, as in iii. 1. 85.

176. God ha' mercy.

The folios have 'Gramercy.'

177. And of all Christian souls, I pray God. Many epitaphs closed with such a pious prayer as this. 'Of' is not strictly grammatical according to modern usage, but in Shakespeare's it was frequently used for 'on.' See Merchant of Venice, ii. 2. 100-104, and 1 Henry IV, ii. 4. 127.

6

181. That is, of your wisest friends, whom you will.'

184. touch'd, implicated in the guilt of Polonius' murder.

190. His means of death, that is, the means of his death. Compare i. 4. 73, iii. 2. 304.

Ib. obscure with the accent on the first syllable, as in Merchant of Venice, ii. 7. 51: To rib her cerecloth in the obscure grave.'

194. That, used without any preceding 'so.' Compare Julius Cæsar, i. I. 50; Macbeth, i. 2. 58, and i. 7. 8.

Scene VI.

II, 12. let to know, caused to know, informed. Compare the phrase ' do to wit.'

14. means to the king, means of access to the king.

16. appointment, equipment. Compare Richard II, iii. 3. 53: That from this castle's tatter'd battlements

Our fair appointments may be well perused.'

20. thieves of mercy, merciful thieves. See note on i. 2. 4.

23. as thou wouldest fly death. We must either take 'as' as though, or supply withal' after 'death.'

24. will, i. e. which will. See iv. 7. 130. The relative is so frequently omitted, as here, that it is needless to give instances. Abbott, § 244.

25. the bore of the matter. A metaphor from a gun-barrel, which in proportion to the size of its bore requires a heavier charge.

29. make. So the fourth and following quartos. The word is omitted in the earlier quartos. The folios read 'give.'

Scene VII.

3. Sith. See iv. 4. 45.

4. which, used frequently of persons, as in the Lord's Prayer.

7. crimeful. The quartos have 'criminall,' but probably the folios are right in giving the rarer word, which is not used elsewhere by Shakespeare. 8. safety. The quartos read 'safety, greatness,' which makes the line an Alexandrine. But this is no grave objection, as the next line is an Alexan

drine also.

10. unsinew'd, wanting nerve, weak. Not used again by Shakespeare. 'Sinewed' occurs in King John, v. 7. 88:

'Ourselves well sinewed to our defence.'

II. But. So the quartos. The folios read 'And.'

13. be it either which, whichever of the two it be. Abbott, § 273, suggests that there is perhaps a confusion between 'be it either' and 'be it whichever of the two.'

14. conjunctive. See Othello, i. 3. 374: Let us be conjunctive in our revenge.'

17. count, account, trial.

18. gender, race, here used of men. It is applied to herbs, Othello, i. 3. 326. The general gender 'is the common race, 'general' having much the same sense as in ii. 2. 423. `

20. Instead of 'Would,' the reading of the folios, the quartos have 'Worke,' thus making 'Convert' indicative instead of infinitive. But 'would convert' seems required by the context.

Ib. Reed thinks that the spring to which Shakespeare refers is the dropping-well at Knaresborough, which encrusts with a calcareous deposit the objects placed beneath it. The simile,' says Johnson, 'is neither very seasonable in the deep interest of the conversation nor very accurately applied. If the spring had changed metals to gold the thought had been more proper.' Lyly (Euphues, p. 63. ed. Arber) has 'Would I had sipped of that ryuer in Caria, which turneth those that drinke of it to stones.'

21. gyves, fetters round the ankles. See Romeo and Juliet, ii. 2. 180: 'Like a poor prisoner in his twisted gyves.'

The king means: Had Hamlet been arrested and put in prison on the charge of killing Polonius, the people would have loved him all the more. Compare Antony and Cleopatra, ii. 2. 213: ‘And made their bends adornings.'

22. loud a wind. Here the quartos have 'loued arm'd,' a curious misprint. Steevens quotes Ascham's Toxophilus, ed. 1589, p. 57: 'Weake bowes and lighte shaftes cannot stand in a rough winde.'

24. and not where. To complete the sense some such word as 'gone' must be supplied.

27. if praises may go back again, if I may praise what she was, not what she is.

30. sleeps. See i. 1. 173.

32. shook, preterite form used as participle. So Richard II, iv. 1. 163: Before I have shook off the regal thoughts

Wherewith I reign'd.'

Ib. Danger is very near when it shakes the beard. See ii. 2. 559. 'With' is found in constructions where we should now use 'by.' Compare Winter's Tale, v. 2. 68: 'He was torn to pieces with a bear.'

41. Of. We should say 'from.' Compare v. 2. 315: Heaven make thee free of it,' i. e. from it. And Bacon, Essay xxvii. p. 109 (ed. W. A. Wright): A man might have thought, that this had proceeded of an abundant goodnesse of nature.' The words 'Of him that brought them' are omitted in the folios.

49. abuse, cheat, delusion. See Measure for Measure, v. 1. 205: 'This is a strange abuse.' We have had the verb in a like sense, ii. 2. 585. 50. character, hand-writing, as in Twelfth Night, v. 1. 354:

This is not my writing,

Though, I confess, much like the character.'

We have had the verb 'character,' i. 3. 59.

53. lost, perplexed.

57. As how should it be so? We should have expected 'how should it