HAMLET. Note (1.) Act I. Scene 1, Line 117,— "In the most high and palmy state of Rome, A little ere the mightiest Julius fell, The graves stood tenantless, and the sheeted dead The heavens dropp'd trains of fire, and dews of blood; Compare for "The heavens dropp'd," &c., J. C. ii. 2, 31, "The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes." 1 Hy. IV. iii. 1, 24,— "The heavens were all on fire, the earth did tremble." J. C. i. 3, 10, "But never till to-night, never till now, Did I go through a tempest dropping fire." For "Disasters dimm'd the sun," compare (Rich. II. iii. 3, 66) "To dim his [the sun's] glory," (Sonnet 18) "his [the sun's] gold complexion dimm'd," and (Temp. v. 1, 41),— "I have bedimm'd The noontide sun." Their This passage is not in the folio, but is found in all the quartos, except the imperfect quarto of 1603. text has, "As stars with trains of fire, and dews of blood, Disasters in the sun." The MS. has evidently been mutilated. Blazing stars are represented not with trains, but hairs, locks, tresses of fire, so 1 Hy. VI. i. 1, 3,— "Comets, importing change of times and states, So The Faery Queen, b. iii. c. i. s. 16,— Paradise Lost, b. ii. 710, "and like a comet burn'd, That fires the length of Ophiucus huge In th' arctick sky, and from his horrid hair For" trains of fire "-compare Lear iii. 2, 46, "Such sheets of fire, such bursts of horrid thunder." "Disasters dimm'd the sun "-disasters prognosti cated disasters, portents of dire events-so Paradise Lost, b. i. 597 (cited by the Clar. P. eds.), "In dim eclipse, disastrous twilight sheds On half the nations, and with fear of change Compare also Rich II. ii. 4, 9, "And meteors fright the fixed stars of heaven ; Here, as in the present passage, the heavenly bodies are made themselves to suffer under the evils they prognosticate. "The heavens dropp'd" is in agreement with line 124, "And even the like precurse of fierce events, Have heaven and earth together demonstrated "Trains of fire and dews of blood" require a verb which seems only to be found in dropp'd,-and the only power or place, &c., which can drop these dews and trains appears to be the heavens. "The heavens " is also suggested by the context and by many parallel passages. "dimm'd" is the correction of Capell. All the compared eds. retain the old text, and consider it corrupt. Note (2.) Act I. Scene 2, Line 198,— "Two nights together had these gentlemen, the dead passage, "the dead waste of the night "the dead &c. So Act i. 1, 65, "Thus twice before, and jump at this dead hour." So Oth. i. 1, 124,— 66 "At this odd-even and dull watch o' the night." The folio has "dead wast"-and so the second, third, and fourth quartos. The second folio corrects the old spelling to "waste," thus acknowledging the correctness of the word: waste is retained by the later folios. The fifth and sixth quartos, and the quarto of 1603 have "vast"-a misprint of frequent occurrence. See Note (10), Tempest. All the compared eds. print "vast." Note (3.) Act I. Scene 3, Line 74, 66 Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy, But not express'd in fancy; rich, not gaudy; The folio has, "Are of a most select and generous cheff in that." The quarto, 1603, has the same, except “generall chiefe in that”—the other quartos have “ Or [Ar and Are] of а "—with "generous chiefe, in that.” It appears that "show or shewe" has been mistaken for "chiefe, cheff" -and "As" for "Or, Ar, Are"-" of a" being interpolated to make some sense. In Act i. 2, 82, the folio has, "Together with all Formes, Moods, shewes of Griefe." The quarto of 1604 has "chapes"-the subsequent quartos "shapes"—it seems probable that "chapes was a corruption, like " chiefe," for shewes. For the construction compare Sonnet 105, 66 Let not my love be call'd idolatry, Compare also Hy. VIII. i. 1, 22,— "To-day the French, All clinquant, all in gold, like heathen gods, 1 Hy. IV. iii. 2, 58,— "Thus did I keep my person fresh and new; Ne'er seen but wonder'd at: and so my state, and line 127, this scene, 66 'Do not believe his vows; for they are brokers, Not of that dye which their investments show.” The meaning of the passage is that the French are more select in their dress than other nations,—not that they are select and generous chiefly in their dress a sarcasm where certainly none is intended. chief" seems evidently a misprint. Dyce, Delius, and Singer print, after Rowe,— 666 "Are most select and generous, chief in that." Staunton has " Are of a-sheaf in that." The Camb. eds. mark the text as corrupt, and with the Clar. P. eds. print― "Are of a most select and generous chief in that.” Note (4.) 66 Ib. Line 81, "This above all,-to thine own self be true; And it must follow, as the night the day, my blessing" was doubtless "God bless you!" and this blessing the grace of God—it is, which is to nourish, make fruitful, this advice in Laertes-compare Sonnet 75, see Note (26), Cor., 66 So are you to my thoughts as food to life, Or as sweet season'd showers are to the ground." Note (5.) Act I. Scene 4, Line 9, "The king doth wake to-night, and takes his rouse, Makes us traduc'd and tax'd of other nations." up-spring" upstart. Compare M. A. i. 3, 69,— "That young start-up hath all the glory of my overthrow." "revels"—the old eds. have "reeles "-probably an old form of spelling the word, in the manner it was perhaps pronounced (see Note (6), A. and C.). The |