Act II

Act II

[Footnote II.1: _Polonius_,] Doctor Johnson describes Polonius as
"a man bred in courts, exercised in business, stored with
observation, confident in his knowledge, proud of his eloquence,
and declining into dotage. A man positive and confident, because
he knows his mind was once strong, and knows not that it is
become weak." The idea of dotage encroaching upon wisdom will
solve all the phenomena of the character of Polonius.]

[Footnote II.2: _His bulk_,] Frame.]

[Footnote II.3: _Ecstacy of love_;] _i.e._, madness of love. In
this sense the word is now obsolete.]

[Footnote II.4:

  _This must be known; which being kept close, might move
  More grief to hide than hate to utter love._]

_i.e._, this must be made known to the king, for (being kept
secret) the hiding Hamlet's love might occasion more mischief to
us from him and the queen, than the uttering or revealing of it
will occasion hate and resentment from Hamlet.

It was the custom of Shakespeare's age, to conclude acts and
scenes with a couplet, a custom which was continued for nearly a
century afterwards.]

[Footnote II.5: _The understanding of himself_,] _i.e._, the just
estimate of himself.]

[Footnote II.6: _Vouchsafe your rest_] Please to reside.]

[Footnote II.7: _Of us_,] _i.e._, over us.]

[Footnote II.8: _In the full bent_,] To the full stretch and
range--a term derived from archery.]

[Footnote II.9: _The trail of policy_] The _trail_ is the
_course_ of an animal pursued by the scent.]

[Footnote II.10: _Expostulate_] To _expostulate_ is to discuss,
to put the pros and cons, to answer demands upon the question.
_Expose_ is an old term of similar import.]

[Footnote II.11: _Perpend._] _i.e._, reflect, consider
attentively.]

[Footnote II.12: _Most beautified Ophelia_,] Heywood, in his
History of Edward VI., says "Katharine Parre, Queen Dowager to
King Henry VIII., was a woman _beautified_ with many excellent
virtues." The same expression is frequently used by other old
authors.]

[Footnote II.13: _In her excellent white bosom_,] The ladies, in
Shakespeare's time, wore pockets in the front of their stays.]

[Footnote II.14: _These, &c._] In our poet's time, the word
_these_ was usually added at the end of the superscription of
letters.]

[Footnote II.15: _I am ill at these numbers_;] No talent for
these rhymes.]

[Footnote II.16: _O most best_,] An ancient mode of expression.]

[Footnote II.17: _Whilst this machine is to him_,] Belongs to,
obey his impulse; so long as he is "a sensible warm motion," the
similar expression to "While my wits are my own."]

[Footnote II.18: _And more above_,] _i.e._, moreover, besides.]

[Footnote II.19: _His solicitings_,] _i.e._, his love-making, his
tender expressions.]

[Footnote II.20: _If I had played the desk, or table book_;] This
line may either mean _if I had conveyed intelligence between
them_, or, _known of their love, if I had locked up his secret in
my own breast, as closely as it were confined in a desk or table
book._]

[Footnote II.21: _Or given my heart a winking, mute and dumb_;]
_i.e._, connived at it.]

[Footnote II.22: _With idle sight_;] _i.e._, with indifference.]

[Footnote II.23: _Round to work_,] _i.e._, roundly, without
reserve.]

[Footnote II.24: _Which done, she took the fruits of my advice_;]
She took the _fruits_ of advice when she obeyed advice, the
advice was then made _fruitful._--JOHNSON.]

[Footnote II.25: _I'll board him presently._] Accost, address
him.]

[Footnote II.26: _You are a fishmonger._] This was an expression
better understood in Shakespeare's time than at present, and no
doubt was relished by the audience of the Globe Theatre as
applicable to the Papists, who in Queen Elizabeth's time were
esteemed enemies to the Government. Hence the proverbial phrase
of _He's an honest man and eats no fish_; to signify he's a
friend to the Government and a Protestant.]

[Footnote II.27: _For if the sun breed maggots in a dead dog,
being a god, kissing carrion,----Have you a daughter?_] _i.e._,
Hamlet having just remarked that honesty is very rare in the
world, adds, that since there is so little virtue, since
corruption abounds everywhere, and maggots are _bred_ by the sun,
which is a god, even in a dead dog, Polonius ought to take care
to prevent his daughter from walking in the sun, lest she should
prove _"a breeder of sinners;"_ for though _conception_
(understanding) in general be a blessing, yet as Ophelia might
chance to _conceive_ (to be pregnant), it might be a calamity.
Hamlet's abrupt question, _"Have you a daughter?"_ is evidently
intended to impress Polonius with the belief of the Prince's
madness.--MALONE.]

[Footnote II.28: _The satirical rogue_] Hamlet alludes to
Juvenal, who in his 10th Satire, describes the evils of long
life.]

[Footnote II.29: _How pregnant his replies_] Big with meaning.]

[Footnote II.30: _Beaten way of friendship_,] Plain track, open
and unceremonious course.]

[Footnote II.31: _Rights of our fellowship and constancy of our
youth_,] Habits of familiar intercourse and correspondent years.]

[Footnote II.32: _A better proposer_] An advocate of more address
in shaping his aims, who could make a stronger appeal.]

[Footnote II.33: _Even_] Without inclination any way.]

[Footnote II.34: _Nay, then, I have an eye of you._] _i.e._, I
have a glimpse of your meaning. Hamlet's penetration having shown
him that his two friends are set over him as spies.]

[Footnote II.35: _So shall my anticipation prevent your
discovery, and your secrecy to the king and queen moult no
feather._] Be beforehand with your discovery, and the plume and
gloss of your secret pledge be in no feather shed or tarnished.]

[Footnote II.36: _Express_] According to pattern, justly and
perfectly modelled.]

[Footnote II.37: _Paragon_] Model of perfection.]

[Footnote II.38: _Lenten entertainment_] _i.e._, sparing, like
the entertainments given in Lent.]

[Footnote II.39: _We coted them on the way_;] To cote, is to pass
by, to pass the side of another. It appears to be a word of
French origin, and was a common sporting term in Shakespeare's
time.]

[Footnote II.40: _The humorous man shall end his part in peace_;]
The fretful or capricious man shall vent the whole of his spleen
undisturbed.]

[Footnote II.41: _The lady shall say her mind freely, or the
blank verse shall halt for't._] _i.e._, the lady shall mar the
measure of the verse, rather than not express herself freely and
fully.]

[Footnote II.42: _Travel?_] Become strollers.]

[Footnote II.43: _It is not very strange; for my uncle is king of
Denmark_;] This is a reflection on the mutability of fortune, and
the variableness of man's mind.]

[Footnote II.44: _Make mouths at him_] _i.e._, deride him by
antic gestures and mockery.]

[Footnote II.45: _In little._] In miniature.]

[Footnote II.46: _I know a hawk from a hern-shaw._] A hernshaw is
a heron or hern. _To know a hawk from a hernshaw_ is an ancient
proverb, sometimes corrupted into _handsaw_. Spencer quotes the
proverb, as meaning, _wise enough to know the hawk from its
game._]

[Footnote II.47: _Buz, buz!_] Sir William Blackstone states that
_buz_ used to be an interjection at Oxford when any one began a
story that was generally known before.]

[Footnote II.48: _Then came each actor on his ass._] This seems
to be a line of a ballad.]

[Footnote II.49: _Seneca cannot be too heavy, nor Plautus too
light._] An English translation of the tragedies of Seneca was
published in 1581, and one comedy of Plautus, viz., the
Menœchme, in 1595.]

[Footnote II.50: _For the law of writ and the liberty, these are
the only men._] The probable meaning of this passage is,--_For
the observance of the rules of the Drama, while they take such
liberties, as are allowable, they are the only men_--_writ_ is an
old word for _writing_.]

[Footnote II.51: _As by lot, God wot_,] There was an old ballad
entitled the song of Jephthah, from which these lines are
probably quotations. The story of Jephthah was also one of the
favourite subjects of ancient tapestry.]

[Footnote II.52: _The first row of the pious Chanson_] This
expression does not appear to be very well understood. Steevens
tells us that the _pious chansons_ were a kind of _Christmas
carols_, containing some scriptural history thrown into loose
rhymes, and sung about the streets. The _first row_ appears to
mean the _first division_ of one of these.]

[Footnote II.53: _My abridgment comes._] Hamlet alludes to the
players, whose approach will shorten his talk.]

[Footnote II.54: _Thy face is valanced_] _i.e._, fringed with a
beard. The valance is the fringes or drapery hanging round the
tester of a bed.]

[Footnote II.55: _Com'st thou to beard me_] To _beard_ anciently
meant to set _at defiance_. Hamlet having just told the player
that his face is valanced, is playing upon the word _beard_.]

[Footnote II.56: _By the altitude of a chopine._] A chioppine is
a high shoe, or rather clog, worn by the Italians. Venice was
more famous for them than any other place. They are described as
having been made of wood covered with coloured leather, and
sometimes _even half a yard high_, their altitude being
proportioned to the rank of the lady, so that they could not walk
without being supported.]

[Footnote II.57: _Like French falconers_,] The French seem to
have been the first and noblest falconers in the western part of
Europe. The French king sent over his falconers to show that
sport to King James the First.--_See Weldon's Court of King
James._]

[Footnote II.58: _Quality_;] Qualifications, faculty.]

[Footnote II.59: _Caviare to the general_;] Caviare is the spawn
of fish pickled, salted, and dried. It is imported from Russia,
and was considered in the time of Shakespeare a new and
fashionable luxury, not obtained or relished by the vulgar, and
therefore used by him to signify anything above their
comprehension--general is here used for the people.]

[Footnote II.60: _As much modesty as cunning._] As much propriety
and decorum as skill.]

[Footnote II.61: _Falls with the whiff and wind of his fell
sword_] Our author employs the same image in almost the same
phrase:

       "The Grecians _fall
  Even in the fan and wind of your fair sword._"

    _Tr. & Cress. V. 3. Tr._]

[Footnote II.62: _The rack_] The clouds or congregated vapour.]

[Footnote II.63: _The mobled queen?_] Mobled is veiled, muffled,
disguised.]

[Footnote II.64: _All his visage wann'd_;] _i.e._, turned pale or
wan.]

[Footnote II.65: _His whole functions suiting with forms to his
conceit?_] _i.e._, his powers and faculties--the whole energies
of his soul and body giving material forms to his passion, such
as tone of voice, expression of face, requisite action, in
accordance with the ideas that floated in his conceit or
imagination.]

[Footnote II.66: _The cue_] The point--the direction.]

[Footnote II.67: _Like John a-dreams_,] Or dreaming John, a name
apparently coined to suit a dreaming, stupid person; he seems to
have been a well-known character.]

[Footnote II.68: _Unpregnant of my cause_,] _i.e._, not quickened
with a new desire of vengeance; not teeming with revenge.]

[Footnote II.69: _Defeat was made._] Overthrow.]

[Footnote II.70: _Lack gall to make oppression bitter_;] _i.e._,
lack gall to make me feel the bitterness of oppression.]

[Footnote II.71: _Kindless_] Unnatural.]

[Footnote II.72: _About, my brains!_] Wits to work.]

[Footnote II.73: _I'll tent him to the quick:_] _i.e._, probe
him--search his wounds.]

[Footnote II.74: _Blench_,] Shrink, start aside.]

[Footnote II.75: _More relative than this:_] Directly
applicable.]