Page 252 - Hamlet: The Cambridge Dover Wilson Shakespeare

I.I. NOTES 145

spearian Ghost and. Shakespeare's Ghosts, M.L.R. vol. i.
and Sh.Eng. ii. 268.
42. a scholar, speak to it Hor. had been brought as
a precaution; spirits could only be exorcised in Latin
formulae, and therefore it was safe for scholars alone to
hold converse with ghosts. Cf. 1. 29 above and Beau-
mont and Fletcher, Night Walker, 2. 1.
Jlet's call the butler up, for he speaks Latin,
And that will daunt the devil.

43. Looks a' For Q 2's frequent use of this colloquial
form v. MSH. pp. 230-1.
45. // would be spoke to. Ghosts could not speak
until spoken to. Dowden cites Boswell's Johnson (ed.
Birkbeck Hill, iii. 307).
7
46. usurp st Hor. implies that it is some impostor or
an evil spirit, which has assumed the form of the dead
King. No wonder 'it is offended.' v. note 1. 23 above
and Introd. pp. 1—Hi.
63. sledded Polacks (Malone) Q2, Q l 'sleaded
pollax,' F l 'sledded Pollax.' Some have imagined a
reference to a 'leaded (or 'sledged') poleaxe'; but
Malone is clearly right, cf. 'the Polack' (2. 2. 75; 4.
4. 23). A battle upon the ice is not at all impossible on
or near the Baltic. The sp. 'pollax' is phonetic. For
•sledded' v. G.
65. dead hour Cf. 1.2.198 'dead waste and middle
of the night.'
8 5. this side... world = the whole western world (as
we should say).
87. heraldy (Q2) The older form; cf. G. Tourna-
ments and state combats were regulated by the Earl
Marshal, head of the College of Heralds, and his staff.
Cf. Ric. II, 1. 3.
89. conqueror, Q2 'conqueror.*
90. moiety competent=equal share.
93. co-mart (Q2) F l 'Cou'nant'—which most