And 'gins to pale his uneffectual fire: [Exit. HAM. O all you host of heaven! O earth! What else? And shall I couple hell?-O fye!-Hold, hold, my heart; And you, my sinews, grow not instant old, Remember thee? •pale his uneffectual fire:] i. e. shining without heat. WARBURTON. To pale is a verb used by Lady Elizabeth Carew, in her Tragedy of Mariam, 1613: 66 Death can pale as well "A cheek of roses, as a cheek less bright." Again, in Urry's Chaucer, p. 368: "The sterre paleth her white cheres by the flambes of the sonne," &c. Uneffectual fire, I believe, rather means, fire that is no longer seen when the light of morning approaches. So, in Pericles, Prince of Tyre, 1609: 6 66 like a glow-worm, "The which hath fire in darkness, none in light." Adieu, adieu, adieu! &c.] The folio reads STEEVENS. Adieu, adieu, Hamlet: remember me. STEEVENS. O fye!] These words (which hurt the measure, and from that circumstance, and their almost ludicrous turn, may be suspected as an interpolation,) are found only in the two earliest quartos. "Ofye!" however, might have been the marginal reprehension of some scrupulous reader, to whom the MS. had been communicated before it found its way to the press. STEEVENS. 7 Ay, thou · Remember thee? poor ghost, while memory holds a seat In this distracted globe.] So, in our poet's 122d Sonnet: Yea, from the table of my memory O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain! this distracted globe.] i. e. in this head confused with thought. STEEVENS. Yea, from the table of my memory-] This expression is used by Sir Philip Sidney in his Defence of Poesie. MALONE. from the table of my memory I'll wipe away &c.] This phrase will remind the reader of Charia's exclamation in the Eunuch of Terence:-" O faciem pulchram! deleo omnes dehinc ex animo mulieres." STEEVENS. My tables, meet it is, I set it down,] This is a ridicule on the practice of the time. Hall says, in his character of the Hypocrite, "He will ever sit where he may be seene best, and in the midst of the sermon pulles out his tables in haste, 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 occasion. Hamlet avails himself of the same caution observed by the Doctor in the fifth act of Macbeth : "I will set down whatever comes from her, to satisfy my remembrance the more strongly." Dr. Farmer's remark, however, as to the frequent use of table-books, may be supported by many instances. So, in the Induction to The Malcontent, 1604: "I tell you I am one that hath seen this play often, and 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 some change of words; 'twere no lost labour Again, in Antonio's Revenge, 1602: Balurdó draws out his writing-tables and writes "Retort and obtuse, good words, very good words." That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain ; [Writing So, uncle, there you are. Now to my word;' It is, Adieu, adieu! remember me. I have sworn't. HOR. [Within.] My lord, my lord, MAR. [Within.] Lord Hamlet, HOR. [Within.] НАМ. Heaven secure him! So be it! MAR. [Within.] Illo, ho, ho, my lord! 2 HAM. Hillo, ho, ho, boy! come, bird, come.3 Again, in Every Woman in her Humour, 1609: "Let your tables befriend your memory; write," &c. See also The Second Part of Henry IV: "And therefore will he wipe his tables clean, "And keep no tell-tale to his memory.” 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 short notes of the sermon, and at the theatre with the sparkling sentences of the play. 1 MALONE. Now to my word;] Hamlet alludes to the watch-word given every day in military service, which at this time he says is, Adieu, adieu! remember me. So, in The Devil's Charter, a tragedy, 1607: "Now to my STEEVENS. 99 watch-word 2 Hillo,] This exclamation is of French origin. So, in the Venerie de Jacques Fouilloux, 1635, 4to. p. 12: “ Ty a hillaut," &c. See Vol. V. p. 296. STEEVENS. 3 - come, bird, come.] This is the call which falconers use to their hawk in the air, when they would have him come down to them. HANMER. This expression is used in Marston's Dutch Courtezan, and by many others among the old dramatick writers. It appears from all these passages, that it was the falconer's call, as Sir T. Hanmer has observed. You will reveal it. HOR. Not I, my lord, by heaven. MAR. Nor I, my lord. HAM. How say you then; would heart of man once think it? But you'll be secret, HOR. MAR. Ay, by heaven, my lord. HAM. There's ne'er a villain, dwelling in all Denmark, But he's an arrant knave. HOR. There needs no ghost, my lord, come from the grave, To tell us this. HAM. Why, right; you are in the right; And So, without more circumstance at all, I hold it fit, that we shake hands, and part: You, as your business, and desire, shall point you;For every man hath business, and desire, Such as it is, and, for my own poor part, Look you, I will go pray. Again, in Tyro's Roaring Megge, planted against the Walls of Melancholy, &c. 4to. 1598: "Yet, ere I iournie, Ile go see the kyte: "Come, come bird, come: pox on you, can you mute?" STEEVENS. HOR. These are but wild and whirling words, my lord. HAM. I am sorry they offend you, heartily; yes, 'Faith, heartily. HOR. There's no offence, my lord. HAM. Yes, by Saint Patrick, but there is, Ho ratio, And much offence too. Touching this vision here,- Give me one poor request. HOR. We will. What is't, my lord? HAM. Never make known what you have seen to-night. HOR. MAR. My lord, we will not. by Saint Patrick,] How the poet comes to make Hamlet swear 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 auspices of this saint. But it was, I suppose, only said at random; for he makes Hamlet a student at Wittenberg. WARBURTON. Dean Swift's "Verses on the sudden drying-up of St. Patrick's Well, 1726," contain many learned allusions to the early cultivation of literature in Ireland. NICHOLS. |