O, horrible! O, horrible! most horrible!" 8 Taint not thy mind, nor let thy foul contrive For the confirmation of the fenfe given here, there is the strongest internal evidence in the paffage. The hiftorian is fpeaking of the VII facraments, and he exprefsly names five of them, viz. baptifm, marriage, auricular confeffion, the eucharift, and extreme unction. The antiquary is defired to confult the edition of Fabian, printed by Pynfon, 1516, because there are others, and I remember to have feen one in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, with a continuation to the end of Queen Mary, London, 1559, in which the language is much modernized. BRAND. 10, horrible! O, horrible! most horrible!] It was ingeniously hinted to me by a very learned lady, that this line feems to belong to Hamlet, in whofe mouth it is a proper and natural exclamation; and who, according to the practice of the ftage, may be supposed to interrupt fo long a fpeech. JOHNSON. 8 A couch for luxury-] i. e. for lewdness. So, in K. Lear: "To't luxury, pell-mell, for I lack foldiers." STEEVENS. See Vol. XI. P. 410 and 453. MALONE. 9 - pale his uneffectual fire :] i. e. fhining without heat. WARBURTON. To pale is a verb ufed by Lady Elizabeth Carew, in her Tragedy of Mariam, 1613: .. 66 Death can pale as well "A cheek of roses, as a cheek lefs bright." Again, in Urry's Chaucer, p. 368: "The fterre paleth he white cheres by the flambes of the fonne," &c. Uneffectual fire, I believe, rather means, fire that is no longe feen when the light of morning approaches. So, in Pericles, Prin of Tyre, 1609: ་་ like a glow-worm, The which hath fire in darkness, none in light." STEEVEN Adieu, adieu, adieu! remember me." [Exit. HAM. O all you hoft of heaven! O earth! What elfe? And shall I couple hell?-O fie!'-Hold, hold, my heart; And you, my finews, grow not instant old, I'll wipe away all trivial fond records, All faws of books, all forms, all preffures paft, O villain, villain, fmiling, damned villain! * Adieu, adieu, adieu! &c.] The folio reads: Adieu, adieu, Hamlet: remember me. STEEVENS. 3 -O fe!] Thefe words (which hurt the measure, and from that circumftance, and their almost ludicrous turn, may be fufp qua thot by pral That one may fmile, and fmile, and be a villain; At least, I am fure, it may be fo in Denmark: So, uncle, there you are. [Writing. Now to my word;" It is, Adieu, adieu! remember me. I have fworn't. HOR. [Within.] My lord, my lord, "He will ever fit where he may be seene beft, and in the midst of the fermon pulles out his tables in hafte, as if he feared to loose that note," &c. FARMER. No ridicule on the practice of the time could with propriety be introduced on this occafion. Hamlet avails himself of the fame caution obferved by the doctor in the fifth act of Macbeth: " I will fet down whatever comes from her, to fatisfy my remembrance the more ftrongly." "Dr. Farmer's remark, however, as to the frequent use of table-books, may be fupported by many inftances. So, in the Induction to The Malcontent, 1604: "I tell you I am one that hath feen this play often, and can give them intelligence for their action: I have most of the jests of it here in my table-book." Again, in Love's Sacrifice, 1633: "You are one loves courtship: "You had fome change of words; 'twere no loft labour "To ftuff your table-books." Again, in Antonio's Revenge, 1602: "Balurdo draws out his writing-tables and writes. "Retort and obtufe; good words, very good words." Again, in Every Woman in her Humour, 1609: "Let your tables befriend your memory; write," &c. See alfo The Second Part of King Henry IV: "And therefore will he wipe his tables clean, STEEVENS. York is here speaking of the King. Table-books in the time of our author appear to have been used by all ranks of people. In the church they were filled with fhort notes of the fermon, and at the theatre with the sparkling fentences of the play. MALONE. 7 Now to my word;] Hamlet alludes to the watch-word given every day in military fervice, which at this time he fays is, Adieu, adieu! remember me. So, in The Devil's Charter, a tragedy, 1607: STEEVENS. "Now to my watch-word — HAM. How fay you then; would heart of man once think it?— But you'll be fecret, HOR. MAR. Ay, by heaven, my lord. HAM. There's ne'er a villain, dwelling in all Denmark, But he's an arrant knave. -come, bird, come.] This is the call which falconers ufe to their hawk in the air, when they would have him come down to them. HANMER. This expreffion is ufed in Marfton's Dutch Courtezan, and by many others among the old dramatick writers. It appears from all these paffages, that it was the falconers' call, as Sir T. Hanmer has obferved. Again, in Tyro's Roaring Megge, planted against the Walls of Me lancholy, &c. 4to. 1598: "Yet, ere I fournie, Ile go fee the kyte: "Come, come bird, come: pox on you, can you mute?" STEEVENS. HOR. There needs no ghost, my lord, come from the grave, To tell us this. Нам. Why, right; you are in the right; And fo, without more circumstance at all, I hold it fit, that we shake hands, and part: You, as your bufinefs, and defire, fhall point you;- Such as it is, and, for my own poor part, HOR. These are but wild and whirling words, my lord. HAM. I am forry they offend you, heartily; yes, 'Faith, heartily. HOR. There's no offence, my lord. HAM. Yes, by faint Patrick,' but there is, Ho ratio, And much offence too. Touching this vifion here,- Give me one poor request. HOR. We will. What is't, my lord? HAM. Never make known what you have feen to-night. 9 by faint Patrick,] How the poet comes to make Hamlet fwear by St. Patrick, I know not. However, at this time all the whole northern world had their learning from Ireland; to which place it had retired, and there flourished under the aufpices of this Saint. But it was, I fuppofe, only faid at random; for he makes Hamlet a ftudent of Wittenberg. WARBURTON. Dean Swift's " Verses on the fudden drying-up of St. Patrick's Well, 1726," contain many learned allufions to the early cultiva tion of literature in Ireland. NICHOLS. |