Page 275 - Hamlet: The Cambridge Dover Wilson Shakespeare

[68 NOTES a.2.

2. 2.
S.D. a lobby v. 1. 161 and note I. 159 S.D.
11. of so young days Cf. Jets viii. 11 'of long time
he had bewitched them.'
52. _/r«// 'the dessert after the meat' (Johnson).
59. Valtemand (Q 2) Cf. Names of the Characters,
p. 141.
61. Upon our first i.e. 'at our first representation'
(Verity).
71. majesty: The colon marks the pause of self-
satisfaction at the success of the mission: perhaps the
court murmurs applause.
73. threescore (Q2) F i , Q i 'three' The 'score'
disturbs the metre, but is required by the sense. 'Three
thousand crowns' would be a very poor allowance for
a prince embarking upon a campaign that was esti-
mated to cost 'twenty thousand ducats' (4. 4. 25).
'
Cf. a poor thousand crowns' A.Y.L. 1. 1. 3. MSH.
p. 274. Perhaps Sh. forgot to delete ' him.'
79. regards.. .allowance i.e. 'terms securing the
safety of the country and regulating the passage of the
troops through it' (Clar.).
103. For this effect.. .cause 'for this madness has
some cause, i.e. is not due to mere accident' (Verity).
110. beautified = endowed with beauty. Cf. Two
Gent. 4. 1. 55; Rom. 1. 3. 88; Luc. 404 and Nashe,
ded. of Christ's Tears 'To the most beautified lady, the
lady Elizabeth Carey.' The jest is that Pol. who himself
uses such far-fetched vocabulary should boggle at an
innocent word. Some connect it with 3. 1. 145-47
'I have heard of your paintings' etc., and suppose the
whole letter ironical. I see no grounds for this; it is just
the love-letter of a young man, beginning a la mode,
containing a rather forced jingle for which he apologises,
and ending on a note of genuine passion. The student
comes out in the word 'machine,' v. note 1. 124.