Page 254 - Hamlet: The Cambridge Dover Wilson Shakespeare

I.I. N O T E S 147

1601, and lunar ones on Feb. 11 and Aug. 6,1598 (and
again in Nov. 1603). The year 1598 was thus rich in
eclipses, those of Feb. 11 and Aug. 6 being total, and
therefore particularly terrifying to the superstitious
populace of those days. On the other hand, astrologers
foretold that the evil effects of the 'disaster in the sun' of
July 1600 would be felt between Jan. 20, 1601 and
July 12, 1603, and the Essex rising of Feb. 1601 was
hailed as a direct fulfilment of this. Cf. Introd. by
D. C. Collins to Norden's Vicissitudo Rerum, 1600
(Shak. Assoc. Facs. 1931), and a thesis by the same
writer which I have had the privilege of consulting. At
any time between 1598 and 1602 Hor.'s wprds here,
and Ham.'s at 3. 4. 48-51 (q.v.), would have made a
special appeal to a London audience. The 'moist star'
is, of course, the moon.
125. almost to dooomsday i.e.'almost to the point of
complete darkness, alluding to the biblical prophecy that
at the second coming of Christ "the moon shall not give
her light" (Matt. xxiv. 29),' Herford. Cf. also Luke
xxi. 25-7.
127, cross it, i.e. cross its path, stop it. To cross or be
crossed by a spirit or demon, which often took the
form of a man or animal, was considered exceedingly
dangerous; and Ferdinando Stanley, Earl of Derby,
one-time patron of Sh.'s company, died in 1594, as
many thought, because he had been thus crossed (cf.
Furness).
S.D. he spreads Ms arms (Q. 1676) Q2 'It spreads
his armes' Carelessly written, 'he' might be taken for
'yt,' and the S.D. seems clearly connected with 'I'll cross
it though it blast me,' signifying that Hor. steps in the
path of the Ghost and spreads his arms across the narrow
platform (the upper-stage) so as to stop its passage.
Stay, illusion! Hor. still retains shreds of scepticism.
138. S.D. a cock crows The crowing distracts the
audience for a moment, and the Ghost slips into the