Act V

Act V

[Footnote V.1: _Enter two Clowns_,] These characters are not in
the original story, but are introduced by Shakespeare.]

[Footnote V.2: _Make her grave straight:_] _i.e._, straightways,
forthwith.]

[Footnote V.3: _The crowner_] A corruption of coroner.]

[Footnote V.4: _It must be se offendendo_;] A confusion of things
as well as of terms: used for _se defendendo_, a finding of the
jury in justifiable homicide.]

[Footnote V.5: _To act, to do, and to perform:_] Warburton says,
this is ridicule on scholastic divisions without distinction, and
of distinctions without difference.]

[Footnote V.6: _Argal_,] A corruption of the Latin word, _ergo,
therefore_.]

[Footnote V.7: _Delver._] _i.e._, a digger, one that opens the
ground with a spade.]

[Footnote V.8: _If the man go to this water,--it is, will he,
nill he, he goes_,] Still floundering and confounding himself. He
means to represent it as a _wilful_ act, and of course without
any mixture of _nill_ or nolens in] it. Had he gone, as stated,
whether he _would or not_, it would not have been of his own
accord, or his act.]

[Footnote V.9: _Crowner's-quest law._] Crowner's-quest is a
vulgar corruption of coroner's inquest.]

[Footnote V.10: _Why, there thou say'st_] Say'st something,
speak'st to the purpose.]

[Footnote V.11: _More than their even christian._] An old English
expression for fellow-christian.]

[Footnote V.12: _Was he a gentleman?_] Mr. Douce says this is
intended as a ridicule upon heraldry.]

[Footnote V.13: _Confess thyself----_] Admit, or by
acknowledgment pass sentence upon thyself, as a simpleton?
"Confess, and be hanged," was a proverbial sentence.]

[Footnote V.14: _Tell me that, and unyoke._] Unravel this, and
your day's work is done, your team may then unharness.]

[Footnote V.15: _Cudgel thy brains no more about it_;] _i.e._,
beat about thy brains no more.]

[Footnote V.16: _A stoup of liquor._] A stoup is a jug.]

[Footnote V.17: _In youth, when I did love, did love._] The three
stanzas sung here by the Grave-Digger, are extracted, with a
slight variation, from a little poem called _The Aged Lover
renounceth Love_, written by Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, who
was beheaded in 1547. The song is to be found in Dr. Percy's
_Reliques of Ancient English Poetry_.]

[Footnote V.18: _The hand of little employment hath the daintier
sense._] _i.e._, its "palm less dulled or staled."]

[Footnote V.19: _But to play at loggats with them?_] A _loggat_
is a small _log_, or piece of wood; a diminutive from _log_.
Hence _loggats_, as the name of an old game among the common
people, and one of those forbidden by a statute of the 33rd of
Henry VIII. A stake was fixed into the ground, and those who
played threw _loggats_ at it.]

[Footnote V.20: _For and a shrouding sheet:_] For and is an
ancient expression, answering to _and eke, and likewise_.]

[Footnote V.21: _Where be his quiddits now, his quillets_,]
Quiddits are subtilties; quillets are nice and frivolous
distinctions.]

[Footnote V.22: _Knock him about the sconce_] _i.e._, head.]

[Footnote V.23: _How absolute the knave is!_] Peremptory,
strictly and tyrannously precise.]

[Footnote V.24: _We must speak by the card_,] The _card_ is the
mariner's compass. Properly the paper on which the points of the
wind are marked. Hence, _to speak by the card_, meant to speak
with great exactness; true to a point.]

[Footnote V.25: _The very day that young Hamlet was born_,] It
would appear by this that Hamlet was thirty years old, and knew
Yorick well, who had been dead twenty-two years.]

[Footnote V.26: _Favour_] Feature, countenance, or complexion.]

[Footnote V.27: _'Twere to consider too curiously_,] Be pressing
the argument with too much critical nicety, to dwell upon mere
possibilities.]

[Footnote V.28: _Imperial Cæsar_,] In some edition it is
_imperious_ Cæsar. Imperious was a more ancient term, signifying
the same as imperial.]

[Footnote V.29: _The winter's flaw!_] _i.e._, winter's blast.]

[Footnote V.30: _Maimèd rites?_] Curtailed, imperfect.]

[Footnote V.31: _Fordo its own life:_] Destroy.]

[Footnote V.32: _'Twas of some estate._] _i.e._, of rank or
station.]

[Footnote V.33: _Command o'ersways the order_,] The course which
ecclesiastical rules prescribe.]

[Footnote V.34: _Shards_,] _i.e._, broken pots or tiles.]

[Footnote V.35: _Virgin crants_,] _i.e._, virgin garlands. Nares,
in his Glossary, says that _crants_ is a German word, and
probably Icelandic.]

[Footnote V.36: _Bringing home of bell and burial_,] Conveying to
her last home with these accustomed forms of the church, and this
sepulture in consecrated ground.]

[Footnote V.37: _A requiem_,] A mass performed in Popish churches
for the rest of the soul of a person deceased.]

[Footnote V.38: _Churlish priest_,] Churlish is, figuratively,
ill-humoured, ill-bred, uncourtly, "rustic and rude."]

[Footnote V.39: _Ingenious sense_] Life and sense.]

[Footnote V.40: _To o'ertop old Pelion_,] Pelion is one of a
lofty range of mountains in Thessaly. The giants, in their war
with the gods, are said to have attempted to heap Ossa and
Olympus on Pelion, in order to scale Heaven.]

[Footnote V.41: _Outface me_] _i.e._, brave me.]

[Footnote V.42: _Our ground_,] The earth about us.]

[Footnote V.43: _Ossa_] A celebrated mountain in Thessaly,
connected with Pelion, and in the neighbourhood of Mount
Olympus.]

[Footnote V.44: _Her golden couplets are disclos'd_,] To
disclose, was anciently used for to _hatch_. A pigeon never lays
more than two eggs.]

[Footnote V.45: _The cat will mew, and dog, &c._] "Things have
their appointed course; nor have we power to divert it," may be
the sense here conveyed.]

[Footnote V.46: _Strengthen your patience in our last night's
speech_;] Let the consideration of the topics then urged, confirm
your resolution taken of quietly waiting events a little longer.]

[Footnote V.47: _This grave shall have a living monument:_] There
is an ambiguity in this phrase. It either means an _endurable_
monument such as will outlive time, or it darkly hints at the
impending fate of Hamlet.]

[Footnote V.48: _Image of my cause_,] Representation or
character.]

[Footnote V.49: _Dost know this water-fly?_] Dr. Johnson remarks
that a _water-fly_ skips up and down upon the surface of the
water, without any apparent purpose or reason, and is thence the
proper emblem of a busy trifler.]

[Footnote V.50: _All diligence of spirit._] "With the whole bent
of my mind." A happy phraseology; in ridicule, at the same time
that it was in conformity with the style of the airy, affected
insect that was playing round him.]

[Footnote V.51: _Very sultry and hot_,] Hamlet is here playing
over the same farce with Osric which he had formerly done with
Polonius. The idea of this scene is evidently suggested by
Juvenal.]

[Footnote V.52: _For mine ease, in good faith._] From
contemporary authors this appears to have been the ordinary
language of courtesy in our author's own time.]

[Footnote V.53: _An absolute--a great showing:_] A finished
gentleman, full of various accomplishments, of gentle manners,
and very imposing appearance.]

[Footnote V.54: _To speak feelingly of him_,] With insight and
intelligence.

[Footnote V.55: _Card or calendar of gentry_,] The card by which
a gentleman is to direct his course; the calendar by which he is
to choose his time, that what he does may be both excellent and
seasonable.]

[Footnote V.56: _The continent of what part a gentleman would
see._] The word continent in this sense is frequently used by
Shakespeare; _i.e._, you shall find him _containing_ and
_comprising_ every quality which a _gentleman_ would desire to
_contemplate_ for imitation.]

[Footnote V.57: _What imports the nomination, &c._] What is the
object of the introduction of this gentleman's name?]

[Footnote V.58: _I dare not--lest I should compare--were to know
himself._] No one can have a perfect conception of the measure of
another's excellence, unless he shall himself come up to that
standard. Dr. Johnson says, I dare not pretend to know him, lest
I should pretend to an equality: no man can completely know
another, but by knowing himself, which is the utmost extent of
human wisdom.]

[Footnote V.59: _He has imponed_,] _i.e._, to lay down as a stake
or wager. Impono.]

[Footnote V.60: _Hangers_,] That part of the girdle or belt by
which the swords were suspended was, in our poet's time, called
the _hangers_.]

[Footnote V.61: _Very dear to fancy--very liberal conceit._] Of
exquisite invention, well adapted to their hilts, and in their
conception rich and high fashioned.]

[Footnote V.62: _More german_] More a-kin.]

[Footnote V.63: _Vouchsafe the answer._] Condescend to answer, or
meet his wishes.]

[Footnote V.64: _How if I answer, no?_] Reply.]

[Footnote V.65: _I shall win at the odds._] I shall succeed with
the advantage that I am allowed.]

[Footnote V.66: _Gain-giving_,] Misgiving.]

[Footnote V.67: _If your mind, &c._] If you have any presentiment
of evil, yield to its suggestion.]

[Footnote V.68: _Like a star i'the darkest night, stick fiery
off_] Be made by the strongest relief to stand brightly
prominent.]

[Footnote V.69: _Better'd_,] He stands higher in estimation.]

[Footnote V.70: _Stoups of wine_] Flagons of wine.]

[Footnote V.71: _Quit in answer_] Make the wager _quit_, or so
far drawn.]

[Footnote V.72: _An union shall he throw_,] _i.e._, a fine pearl.
To swallow a pearl in a draught seems to have been equally common
to royal and mercantile prodigality. It may be observed that
pearls were supposed to possess an exhilarating quality. It was
generally thrown into the drink as a compliment to some
distinguished guest, and the King in this scene, under the
pretence of throwing a pearl into the cup, drops some poisonous
drug into the wine.]

[Footnote V.73: _Kettle_] _i.e._, kettle drum.]

[Footnote V.74: _The Queen carouses to thy fortune, Hamlet._]
_i.e._, drinks to your success.]

[Footnote V.75: _You make a wanton of me._] _i.e._, you trifle
with me as if you were playing with a child.]

[Footnote V.76: _As a woodcock to my own springe._] I have run
into a springe like a woodcock, and into such a noose or trap as
a fool only would have fallen into; one of my own setting.]

[Footnote V.77: _Unbated, and envenom'd:_] _i.e._, having a sharp
point envenomed with poison.]

[Footnote V.78: _The foul practice_] _i.e._, the wicked trick
which I have practised.]

[Footnote V.79: _Fell sergeant, death_,] _i.e._, cruel
sergeant--sergeant being an officer of the law.]

[Footnote V.80: _Live behind me!_] Survive me.]

[Footnote V.81: _Quite o'ercrows my spirit_;] Overpowers, exults
over; no doubt an image taken from the lofty carriage of a
victorious cock.]