Page 262 - Hamlet: The Cambridge Dover Wilson Shakespeare

1.3- NOTE S 155

before 'health/ or to read 'safety' as a trisyllable
(though it has only two syllables in 1. 43 below).
MSH. p. 316. 'Sanity' = welfare, soundness, v. G.
23. voice and yielding = approval and acquiescence.
36-42. The chariest maid.. .imminent.The'mvexted
commas, which denote 'sentences,' i.e. proverbial or
sententious remarks, come from Q2, which however
prints them only atthe beginning of 11. 36, 38, 39. They
prob. indicated in a playhouse MS. ponderous or solemn
delivery by the actor. Cf. P. Simpson, Shak. Punct.
pp. 101—103, and (for B. Jonson's concern with such
inverted commas) Ben Jonson,\v. 335-36 (Oxford).
Cf. notes below 11. 59-80; 4. 5. 17-20, and MSH
r
pp. 204-5. F° 'chariest' v. G.
44. rebels v. G.
50. primrose path Cf. Macb. 2. 3. 21; All's Well,
4. 5. $2-4 (Matt. vii. 13-14).
54. Occasion smiles.. .leave = It is an excellent oppor-
tunity for a second leave-taking.
S.D. Capell reads 'Kneeling to Polonius.'
57. S.D. Theobald reads 'Laying his hand on
Laertes's head.'
58. these few precepts The similarity of these to
precepts left by fathers like Burleigh or Sir Henry
Sidney to their sons, and on the other hand to the advice
given by Euphues to Philautus in Euphues, has been
noted by many (v. Furness, and Bond, i. 165). Sh.
evidently intended the speech as an epitome of paternal
worldly wisdom; every precept is hedged with caution
and pointed with self-interest.
59-80. Give thy thoughts.. .any man Ql prints its
version of the speech in inverted commas, which appear
in another speech by Pol. at the end of the scene. No
commas are found here in £>2 or Fi ; but if the Q l
pirate was an actor who had seen the players' parts, they
may have stood therein. Cf. note 11. 36-42 above and
MSH. pp. 204-5.

Q.H.-15