V. 133. WOULD, wish; I. ii. 234. WOUNDLESs, invulnerable; IV. i. 44: WRECK, ruin; II. i. 114. WRETCH, here used as a term of endearment; II. ii. 168. WRIT; "law of w. and liberty," probably a refer ence to the plays written with or without decorum; i.e. the supposed canons of dramatic art = "classical" and "romantic" plays; (according to some, = "adhering to the text or extemporizing when need requires"); II. ii. 420. YAUGHAN; "get thee to Y." (so F. 1; Q. 2, "get thee in and"); probably the name of a well-known keeper of an ale-house near the Globe, perhaps the Jew, one Johan," alluded to in Every Man out of his Humour, V. iv.; V. i. 62. YAW, stagger, move unsteadily; (a nautical term); V. ii. 119. YEOMAN'S SERVICE, good service, such as the yeoman performed for his lord; (Qq.2, 3, 4, “yemans"); V. ii. 36. YESTY, foamy; V. ii. 196. YORICK, the name of a jester, lamented by Hamlet; perhaps a corruption of the Scandanavian name Erick, or its English equivalent; (the passage possibly contains a tribute to the comic actor Tarlton); V. i. 191. YOURSELF; "in y.,' for yourself, personally; II. i. 72. Notes. I. i. 64. 'He smote the sledded Polacks on the ice'; Q. I, Q. 2, F. 1, 'pollox,' variously interpreted as Polacks, poleaxe,' &c.; there is very little to be said against the former interpretation, unless it be that 'the ambitious Norway' in the previous sentence would lead one to expect 'the sledded Polack,' a commendable reading originally proposed by Pope. I. i. 109-126. These lines occur in the Qq., but are omitted in Ff. I. i. 168. 'eastern,' so Ff.; Qq., 'eastward'; the reading of the Folios was perhaps in Milton's mind, when he wrote: "Now morn her rosy steps in th' eastern clime Advancing, sowed the earth with orient pearls." Par. Lost, v. I. I. ii. 9. ‘of'; the reading of Ff.; Qq., 'to.' I. iii. 12. 'this temple'; so Qq.; Ff., 'his temple.' I. iii. 18. Omitted in Qq. I. iii. 26. 'particular act and place, so Qq.; Ff., 'peculiar set and force.' I. iii. 59. Polonius' precepts have been traced back to Euphues' advice to Philautus; the similarity is certainly striking (vide Rushton's Shakespeare's Euphuism); others see in the passage a reference to Lord Burleigh's 'ten precepts,' enjoined upon Robert Cecil when about to set out on his travels (French's Shakespeareana Genealogica, v. Furness, Vol. II., p. 239). I. iii. 65. courage'; Qq. (also Q. 1), 'courage'; F. 1, 'comrade.' I. iii. 74. Are most select and generous in that'; F. 1, 'Are of a most select and generous chief in that' Q. 1, 'are of a most select and general chiefe in that'; Q. 2, 'Or of a most select and generous chiefe in that'; the line is obviously incorrect; the simplest emendation of the many proposed is the reading of the text; the words ‘of a,' and 'chief' were probably due to marginal corrections of 'in' and 'best' in the previous line. (Collier 'choice' for 'chief'; Staunton, 'sheaf,' i.e. set, clique, suggested by the Euphuistic phrase "gentleman of the best sheaf"). I. iii. 109. 'Running,' Collier's conj.; Qq. 'Wrong'; F. I 'Roaming'; Pope, 'Wronging'; Warburton, 'Wronging'; Theobald, Ranging,' etc. I. iii. 130. bonds'; the reading of Qq. and F. 1. Theobald's emendation, 'bawds?' I. iv. 17-38, omitted in F. 1 (also Q. 1). 'the dram of eale Doth all the noble substance often doubt this famous crux has taxed the ingenuity of generations of scholars, and some fifty various readings and interpretations have been proposed. The general meaning of the words is clear, emphasizing as they do the previous statement that as a man's virtues, be they as pure as grace, shall in the general censure take corruption from one particular fault, even so 'the dram of eale' reduces all the noble substance to its own low level. The difficulty of the passage lies in (i.) ‘eale' and (ii.) 'doth... .often dout'; a simple explanation of (1) is that 'eale' 'e'il,' i.e. 'evil' (similarly in Q. 2, II. ii. 627, 'deale' 'de'ile' devil'). The chief objection to this plausible conjecture is that one would expect some rather more definite than 'dram of evil'; it is said, however, that 'eale' is still used in the sense of 'reproach' in the western counties. Theobald proposed 'base,' probably having in mind the lines in Cymbeline (III. v. 88) :— "From whose so many weights of baseness cannot A dram of worth be drawn." As regards (ii.)_no very plausible emendation has been proposed. To the many questions which these words have called forth, the present writer is rash enough to add one more:-Could, perhaps, 'doth of a doubt' = deprives of the benefit of a doubt? Is there any instance of 'do' in XVIth century English = 'deprive'; the usage is common in modern English slang. I. iv. 75-78, omitted in F. 1. I. v. 22. List, list, O list!' so Qq.; F. 1 ‘list, Hamlet, oh list.' II. i. The stage direction in Qq.:-Enter old Polonius, with his man or two; Ff., Polonius and Reynaldo; in Q. 1 Reynaldo is called Montano, hence perhaps the reading of later Qq. II. i. 4. to make inquir'; Qq. read 'inquire'; Ff. read, you make inquiry.' II. ii. 17. Omitted in Ff. II. ii. 73. 'three'; so Q. 1 and Ff.; Qq. read "threescore.' II. ii. 216-217, 244-278. The reading of Ff.; omitted in Qq. II. ii. 338-339. the clown... sere,' omitted in Qq.; vide Glossary, "TICKLE O' THE SERE.' II. ii. 353-379. Omitted in Qq. |