The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark Part 64

_Laer_. I will doo't, And for that purpose Ile annoint my Sword:[8] [Sidenote: for purpose,]

I bought an Vnction of a Mountebanke So mortall, I but dipt a knife in it,[9]

[Sidenote: mortall, that but dippe a]

Where it drawes blood, no Cataplasme so rare, Collected from all Simples that haue Vertue

[Footnote A: _Here in the Quarto_:--

There liues within the very flame of loue A kind of weeke or snufe that will abate it,[10]

And nothing is at a like goodnes still,[11]

For goodnes growing to a plurisie,[12]

Dies in his owne too much, that we would doe We should doe when we would: for this would change,[13]

And hath abatements and delayes as many, As there are tongues, are hands, are accedents, And then this should is like a spend thrifts sigh, That hurts by easing;[14] but to the quick of th'vlcer,]

[Footnote 1: 'pa.s.sages of proofe,'--_trials_. 'I see when it is put to the test.']

[Footnote 2: 'time modifies it.']

[Footnote 3: Contrast him here with Hamlet.]

[Footnote 4: careless.]

[Footnote 5: _examine_--the word being of general application then.]

[Footnote 6: _unblunted_. Some foils seem to have been made with a b.u.t.ton that could be taken--probably _screwed_ off.]

[Footnote 7: Whether _practice_ here means exercise or cunning, I cannot determine. Possibly the king uses the word as once before 216--to be taken as Laertes may please.]

[Footnote 8: In the _1st Q._ this proposal also is made by the king.]

[Footnote 9:

'So mortal, yes, a knife being but dipt in it,' or, 'So mortal, did I but dip a knife in it.']

[Footnote 10: To understand this figure, one must be familiar with the behaviour of the wick of a common lamp or tallow candle.]

[Footnote 11: 'nothing keeps always at the same degree of goodness.']

[Footnote 12: A _plurisie_ is just a _too-muchness_, from _plus, pluris--a plethora_, not our word _pleurisy_, from [Greek: pleura]. See notes in _Johnson and Steevens_.]

[Footnote 13: The sense here requires an _s_, and the s.p.a.ce in the _Quarto_ between the _e_ and the comma gives the probability that a letter has dropt out.]

[Footnote 14: Modern editors seem agreed to subst.i.tute the adjective _spendthrift_: our sole authority has _spendthrifts_, and by it I hold.

The meaning seems this: 'the _would_ changes, the thing is not done, and then the _should_, the mere acknowledgment of duty, is like the sigh of a spendthrift, who regrets consequences but does not change his way: it eases his conscience for a moment, and so injures him.' There would at the same time be allusion to what was believed concerning sighs: Dr.

Johnson says, 'It is a notion very prevalent, that _sighs_ impair the strength, and wear out the animal powers.']

[Page 222]

Vnder the Moone, can saue the thing from death, That is but scratcht withall: Ile touch my point, With this contagion, that if I gall him slightly,[1]

It may be death.

_Kin_. Let's further thinke of this, Weigh what conuenience[2] both of time and meanes May fit vs to our shape,[3] if this should faile; And that our drift looke through our bad performance, 'Twere better not a.s.said; therefore this Proiect Should haue a backe or second, that might hold, If this should blast in proofe:[4] Soft, let me see[5]

[Sidenote: did blast]

Wee'l make a solemne wager on your commings,[6] [Sidenote: cunnings[6]]

I ha't: when in your motion you are hot and dry, [Sidenote: hate, when]

As[7] make your bowts more violent to the end,[8]

[Sidenote: to that end,]

And that he cals for drinke; Ile haue prepar'd him [Sidenote: prefard him]

[Sidenote: 268] A Challice for the nonce[9]; whereon but sipping, If he by chance escape your venom'd stuck,[10]

Our purpose may[11] hold there: how sweet Queene.

[Sidenote: there: but stay, what noyse?]

_Enter Queene_.

_Queen_. One woe doth tread vpon anothers heele, So fast they'l follow[12]: your Sister's drown'd _Laertes_.

[Sidenote: they follow;]

_Laer_. Drown'd! O where?[13]

_Queen_. There is a Willow[14] growes aslant a Brooke, [Sidenote: ascaunt the Brooke]

That shewes his h.o.r.e leaues in the gla.s.sie streame: [Sidenote: horry leaues]

There with fantasticke Garlands did she come,[15]

[Sidenote: Therewith she make]

Of Crow-flowers,[16] Nettles, Daysies, and long Purples, That liberall Shepheards giue a grosser name; But our cold Maids doe Dead Mens Fingers call them: [Sidenote: our cull-cold]

There on the pendant[17] boughes, her Coronet weeds[18]

Clambring to hang;[19] an enuious sliuer broke,[20]

When downe the weedy Trophies,[19] and her selfe, [Sidenote: her weedy]

[Footnote 1: 'that though I should gall him but slightly,' or, 'that if I gall him ever so slightly.']

[Footnote 2: proper arrangement.]

[Footnote 3: 'fit us exactly, like a garment cut to our shape,' or perhaps 'shape' is used for _intent, purpose. Point thus_: 'shape. If this should faile, And' &c.]

[Footnote 4: This seems to allude to the a.s.say of a firearm, and to mean '_burst on the trial_.' Note 'a.s.said' two lines back.]

[Footnote 5: There should be a pause here, and a longer pause after _commings_: the king is contriving. 'I ha't' should have a line to itself, with again a pause, but a shorter one.]

[Footnote 6: _Veney, venue_, is a term of fencing: a bout, a thrust--from _venir, to come_--whence 'commings.' (259) But _cunnings_, meaning _skills_, may be the word.]

[Footnote 7: 'As' is here equivalent to 'and so.']

[Footnote 8: --to the end of making Hamlet hot and dry.]

[Footnote 9: for the special occasion.]

[Footnote 10: thrust. _Twelfth Night_, act iii. sc. 4. 'he gives me the stuck in with such a mortal motion.' _Stocco_ in Italian is a long rapier; and _stoccata_ a thrust. _Rom. and Jul_., act iii. sc. 1. See _Shakespeare-Lexicon_.]

[Footnote 11: 'may' does not here express _doubt_, but _intention_.]