Page 271 - Hamlet: The Cambridge Dover Wilson Shakespeare

164 N O T E S 1.5.

136. by Saint Patrick Various explanations offered.
It is, I have no doubt, a reference to the legendary
Purgatory of St Patrick; v. N.E.D. 'purgatory,' \b\
T. Wright, St Patrick's Purgatory, and a rev. of Lavater
in T.L.S. (Jan. 9, 1930), to which last I owe this
explanation, though Tschischwitz noted it in 1869
(Furness). Furness also quotes Dekker's Honest Whore,
1. i., 'St. Patrick, you know, keeps Purgatory.' In
the late middle ages St Patrick was regarded as the
chief witness to the existence of Purgatory, since ac-
cording to legend he found an entrance thereto in a
cave near Lough Derg and was thus able to convince
the doubting Irish. Ham. is hinting to the Protestant
'philosopher' Hor., who does not believe in Purgatory,
that the Ghost is 'honest' and comes from Purgatory
not Hell.
13 9-40. For your desire... may At the end of 1.138,
I suppose, Ham. is just about to take Hor. into his
confidence; but as Mar., curious to hear the facts, comes
up, he speaks these words instead. An actor playing
Ham. should, I think, make it clear to the audience that
Hor. is to be told as soon as Mar. is out of the way.
147.* Upon my sword i.e. Upon the cross of the hilt.
Cf. Wint. 2. 3. 167-68.
We have.. .already The asseveration 'in faith' was
equivalent to an oath.
149. Swear Here Qz and Fi read S.D. 'Ghost
cries vnder the Stage.' Ham. now proceeds to address
his father's spirit as if it were a devil, his attitude being
that of a conjurer with his 'familiar.' The epithets 'old
mole,' 'pioner,' and perhaps 'truepenny,' refer to the
common superstition that devils might work like miners
beneath the ground and that their rumblings could be
heard. Cf. Lavater, p. 73 'Pioners or diggers for mettal,
do affirme, that in many mines, there appeare straunge
shapes and spirites, who are apparelled like vnto other
laborers in the pit' Cf. also (same book) pp. 191, xxv—