1. 65. Rub. In bowling, anything that turns aside the bowl.

1. 67. Mortal coil. 'Turmoil of mortality.' "Coil" in the shipman's sense applied to rope, though a word not yet used in books, must have been known to Shakespeare, and was probably included by suggestion here. "Shuffle" would seem to settle that. "Coil of mortality" should then mean the conditionings and tribulations imposed upon the spirit by the flesh, the body, infolding it helplessly as with serpent coils.

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1. 68. Respect. Consideration.'

1. 69. Of so long life. To be so long lived.'

1. 70. Time. 'The times.'

11. 107, 108. Your virtue should not allow your beauty to be discoursed with.'

1. 109. Commerce.

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Dealings.'

1. 119. Relish. Impart the flavor of.'

1. 122. Indifferent. 'Fairly,'' moderately.'

1. 126. At my beck. 'Ready and waiting to be commissioned.'

1. 134. House. That Polonius should have a house at Elsinore is not unreasonable, since (see note on The Castle, p. 183) there was a court palace outside the town. But it seems likely that "house" is meant in a more general sense. On the supposition that Polonius lived in a house of his own, and that Scene i. of Act II. is laid in it, we are forced to believe that Hamlet comes over from Kronborg, through the town, to Ophelia's closet in the condition (11. 78–80) described, and that Polonius, taking Ophelia by the arm, proposes (1. 101) to go at once thus through the streets to the King's rooms in the castle. Shakespeare can hardly have so conceived. Then, if this scene does not belong to Polonius's house, probably Scene iii. of Act I. does not.

1. 142. Monsters. Cf. Othello, IV., i., 63.

'Misname.'

11. 148, 149. Pretend that your playfulness, in giving wrong names, is only ignorance.'

1. 156. Expectancy and rose. 'Hope and ornament.' "Fair" is passive here, made fair or fortunate,' by possessing him.

1. 157. Glass of fashion. 'Glass into which fashionable young men looked to see what they should be.'

Mould. 'Model.'

1. 163. Feature. 'Shape.' conception (1. 156) of "rose."

"Blown" seems to revive the

1. 164. Ecstasy. Cf. II., i., 102.

1. 168. Not. Cf. I., ii., 158.

1. 170. Doubt. Cf. I., ii., 256.

1. 178. Puts. Northern dialect plural, which ended for all persons in -s. Shakespeare sometimes uses it for reasons of metre and of rhyme (cf. M. of V., I., iii., 162 ; Cymb., II., iii., 25), sometimes, as seemingly here, from personal choice. "Brains" occurs five times as a nominative, in Shakespeare, besides the present example, and in each instance with a plural verb.

1. 179. Fashion of himself. 'Real habits and manner.'

1. 181. Grief. Trouble.'

1. 187. Round. 'Direct.' Cf. II., ii., 139.

1. 188. So please. Conditional; as in the parenthetic "please God," if it shall please God.'

SCENE II

1. 4. Nor do not. Cf. I., ii., 158, and i.,

168.

1. 10. Periwig-pated. Actors at this time generally wore wigs; patrons of the theatre did not.

1. 11. Groundlings. 'The occupants of the pit,' which in the theatres of the day was not furnished with seats or even a floor.

1. 13. Dumb-shows. Cf. 1. 129 ff. below.

1. 14. Termagant. A mythical deity of the Saracens, introduced in the mysteries and moralities, and played with much violence and noise.

1. 15. Herod. Another character from the mystery-plays, and popularly remembered because of the rage and fury of the part.

'Aside from.'

1. 21. From.
1. 25. Pressure.

1. 26. Tardy off.

1. 28. Censure.

'Stamp,' 'imprint.'

'Ineffectually rendered.'

Cf. I., iii., 69.

Of the which one. 'Of whom alone'; or perhaps, 'of

which one class.'

1. 38. Indifferently. Cf. III., i., 123 above.

1. 40. In the older drama, the clowns were allowed to extemporize their several parts, under the stage direction Stultus

loquitur; and if they succeeded in making the audience laugh, it was not always easy to make them give way.

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1. 56. Cop'd withal. Engage with,' 'have dealings with.'

1. 70. Blood and judgment. 'Passionate impulses and selfcontrol.'

1. 80. Very comment of thy soul. 'Most energized discerning.'

1. 81. Occulted. 'Concealed,' 'covered.'

1. 85. Stithy.

'Workshop,' or perhaps 'anvil.'

1. 92. Idle.

1. 94. Fares.

Empty of interest.'

Understood perversely and punningly by Hamlet as how is your fare?' The chameleon was once supposed to feed on air.

1. 98. Not mine. 'Not for me,' 'no answer to mine.'

1. 104. Caesar. A Latin tragedy on the death of Julius Caesar was performed at Oxford in 1582.

1. 109. Patience. Said deferentially for 'readiness,' 'good pleasure.'

1. 117. Jig-maker. Cf. II., ii., 510.

1. 123. Suit of sables. Not a suit of mourning,' but of 'sable fur,' of great dignity (cf. IV., vii., 79) and costliness. Cf. I., ii., 242.