Page 304 - Hamlet: The Cambridge Dover Wilson Shakespeare

3.2. N O T E S 197

quote his jests down in their tables before they come to the
play, as thus: 'Cannot you stay till I eat my porridge?' and
'You owe me a quarter's wages,' and 'My coat wants a
cullison,' and 'Your beer is sour,' and 'Blabbering with his
lips'; and thus keeping in his cinquepace of jests, when God
knows the warm clown cannot make a jest unless by chance,
as the blind man catcheth a hare: masters, tell him of it.
Whatever be its source, this addition must be a personal
attack upon a particular clown, who is accused of using
very stale material, since two of the 'cinquepace of jests'
occur in Tarlton's Jests (pub. c. 1600), v. ed. Shak.
Soc. 1844, pp. 5,12. Collier suggested that the Clown
was William Kempe, who left Sh.'s company in 1599.
45. piece of work i.e. masterpiece. Ham. speaks
jocularly. Cf. 2. 2. 307.
52.* just = equable, well-balanced (as is clear from
11. 64-70). Cf. M. ofV. 4. 1. 323 'a just pound.'
58—60. candied tongue.. .fawning The image is
that of a spaniel at table, its tongue 'candied' with, sweet-
meats, yet 'fawning' for more (Spurgeon, SL's Iterative
Imagery in Aspects, pp. 266 ff.). For 'thrift' v. G.
59. pregnant 'because untold thrift is born from a
cunning use of the knee' (Furness). v. G.
62-3. distinguish her election, $h'Aath(Qz) F.'dis-
tinguish, her election Hath'—which all mod. edd.
follow. MSH. pp. 274-75.
66-70. blest.. .passion*s slave Ham. admires Hor.
for being what lie himself is not; the passage is an
important piece of self-criticism, and also a hint from
Sh. to the audience for the appraisement of Ham.'s
conduct in what follows. With 'passion's slave' cf.
'lapsed in time and passion' 3.4.107. Ham. compares
himself to a 'pipe' again at 3.2.354 ff. Cf. also Introd.
pp. 1-liii.
67. co-medkd, Qz 'comedled,' F l 'co-mingled'—
which all edd. follow. MSH. pp. 271, 278.
75. I have told thee v. note 1. 5. 139-40.