Act IV

Act IV

[Footnote IV.1: _Translate:_] Interpret.]

[Footnote IV.2: _In this brainish apprehension_,] Distempered,
brainsick mood.]

[Footnote IV.3: _Where the offender's scourge is weigh'd, But
never the offence._] When an offender is popular, the people
never consider what his crime was, but they scrutinise his
punishment.]

[Footnote IV.4: _Politick worms_] _i.e._, artful, cunning worms.]

[Footnote IV.5: _The wind at help_,] _i.e._, ready.]

[Footnote IV.6: _May'st not coldly set_] Set is to value or
estimate. "Thou may'st not _set little by it_, or _estimate it
lightly_."]

[Footnote IV.7: _Our sovereign process:_] _i.e._, our royal
design.]

[Footnote IV.8: _By letters conjuring to that effect_,] The verb
to conjure, in the sense of to supplicate, was formerly accented
on the first syllable.]

[Footnote IV.9: _Howe'er my haps_,] Chances of fortune.]

[Footnote IV.10: _His sandal shoon._] Shoon is the old plural of
shoe. The verse is descriptive of a pilgrim. While this kind of
devotion was in favour, love intrigues were carried on under that
mask.]

[Footnote IV.11: _Larded with sweet flowers_;] _i.e._, Garnished
with sweet flowers.]

[Footnote IV.12: _Heaven 'ield you._] Requite; yield you
recompence.]

[Footnote IV.13: _The owl was a baker's daughter._] This is in
reference to a story that was once prevalent among the common
people of Gloucestershire.]

[Footnote IV.14: _Conceit upon her father._] Fancies respecting
her father.]

[Footnote IV.15: _Don'd and dupp'd_] _To don_, is to _do on_, or
_put on_, as _doff_ is to _do off_, or _put off_. To _dupp_ is to
_do up_, or _lift up_ the latch.]

[Footnote IV.16: _In a riotous head_,] The tide, strongly
flowing, is said to pour in with a great _head_.]

[Footnote IV.17: _The chaste unsmirched brow of my true mother._]
_Unsmirched_ is unstained, not defiled.]

[Footnote IV.18: _Doth hedge a king_,] The word _hedge_ is used
by the gravest writers upon the highest subjects.]

[Footnote IV.19: _Both the worlds I give to negligence_,] I am
careless of my present and future prospects, my views in this
life, as well as that which is to come.]

[Footnote IV.20: _My will, not all the world's:_] _i.e._, by my
will as far as my will is concerned, not all the world shall stop
me; and, as for my means, I'll husband them so well, they shall
go far, though really little.]

[Footnote IV.21: _Sensible in grief_] Poignantly affected with.]

[Footnote IV.22: _You must sing Down-a-down_,] This was the
burthen of an old song, well known in Shakespeare's time.]

[Footnote IV.23: _How well the wheel becomes it!_] This probably
means that the song or charm is well adapted to those who are
occupied at spinning at the wheel.]

[Footnote IV.24: _There's rosemary, that's for remembrance_;]
Rosemary was anciently supposed to strengthen the memory, and was
carried at funerals and wore at weddings. It was also considered
the emblem of fidelity in lovers; and at weddings it was usual to
dip the rosemary in the cup, and drink to the health of the new
married couple.]

[Footnote IV.25: _There is pansies_,] _i.e._, a little flower
called _heart's-ease_. Pansies in French signifies _thoughts_.]

[Footnote IV.26: _There's fennel for you, and columbines:_]
Fennel was considered an emblem of flattery, and columbine was
anciently supposed to be a _thankless flower_; signifying
probably that the courtiers flattered to get favours, and were
thankless after receiving them. Columbine was emblematical of
forsaken lovers.]

[Footnote IV.27: _There's rue for you; and here's some for
me:--we may call it herb of grace o' Sundays:_] Probably a
quibble is meant here, as _rue_ anciently signified the same as
_ruth_, _i.e._, sorrow. In the common dictionaries of
Shakespeare's time, it was called _herb of grace_. Ophelia wishes
to remind the Queen of the sorrow and contrition she ought to
feel for her unlawful marriage; and that she may wear her rue
with peculiar propriety on Sundays, when she solicits pardon for
the crime which she has so much occasion to _rue_ and repent
of.--MALONE.]

[Footnote IV.28: _You may wear your rue with a difference._]
_i.e._, to distinguish it from that worn by Ophelia, herself:
because her tears flowed from the loss of a father--those of the
Queen ought to flow for her guilt.]

[Footnote IV.29: _There's a daisy:_] A daisy signified a warning
to young women, not to trust the fair promises of their lovers.]

[Footnote IV.30: _I would give you some violets_,] Violets
signified faithfulness.]

[Footnote IV.31: _For bonny sweet Robin is all my joy,--_] Part
of an old song.]

[Footnote IV.32: _Thought and affliction_,] Thought here, as in
many other places, means melancholy.]

[Footnote IV.33: _I must commune with your grief_,] _i.e._,
confer, discuss, or argue with.]

[Footnote IV.34: _No trophy, sword, nor hatchment o'er his
bones_,] Not only the sword, but the helmet, gauntlet, spurs, and
tabard, (_i.e._, a coat whereon the armorial ensigns were
anciently depicted, from whence the term _coat_ of armour), are
hung over the grave of every knight.]

[Footnote IV.35: _Cry to be heard_,] All these multiplied
incitements are things which cry, &c.]

[Footnote IV.36: _Let the great axe fall._] _i.e._, the axe that
is to be laid to the root.]

[Footnote IV.37: _Naked on your kingdom_,] _i.e._, unprovided and
defenceless.]

[Footnote IV.38: _'Tis Hamlet's character_,] Peculiar mode of
shaping his letters.]

[Footnote IV.39: _Made confession of_] Acknowledged.]

[Footnote IV.40: _In your defence_,] _i.e._, "in your art and
science of defence."]

[Footnote IV.41: _He, being remiss_,] _i.e._, unsuspicious, not
cautious.]

[Footnote IV.42: _Peruse the foils_;] Closely inspect them.]

[Footnote IV.43: _A sword unbated_,] Not blunted, as foils are by
a button fixed to the end.]

[Footnote IV.44: _In a pass of practice_,] This probably means
some favourite pass, some trick of fencing, with which Hamlet was
inexperienced, and by which Laertes may be sure of success.]

[Footnote IV.45: _No cataplasm_,] _i.e._, poultice--a healing
application.]

[Footnote IV.46: _Collected from all simples_,] _i.e._, from all
ingredients in medicine.]

[Footnote IV.47: _On your cunnings_,] _i.e._, on your dexterity.]

[Footnote IV.48: _In your motion_] Exercise, rapid evolutions.]

[Footnote IV.49: _For the nonce_;] _i.e._, present purpose or
design.]

[Footnote IV.50: _Venom'd stuck_,] Thrust. Stuck was a term of
the fencing school.]

[Footnote IV.51: _Long purples_,] One of the names for a species
of orchis, a common English flower.]

[Footnote IV.52: _Our trick:_] Our course, or habit; a property
that clings to, or makes a part of, us.]

[Footnote IV.53:

  _When these are gone_,
  _The woman will be out._]

When these tears are shed, this womanish passion will be over.]

[Footnote IV.54: _But that this folly drowns it._] _i.e._, my
rage had flamed, if this flood of tears had not extinguished it.]