Page 334 - Hamlet: The Cambridge Dover Wilson Shakespeare

4-5. NOTE S 227

213. No trophy.. .bones 'When a man of good
family was buried in a church it was usual to hang his
casque, sword and coat armour in its tinctures over his
tomb, special funeral armour often being made for the
purpose,' Sh. Eng. ii. 150.
4.6 *
S.D. There seems no good reason why edd. should
locate Scenes 6 and 7 in different 'rooms in the castle'
as following Capell they have commonly done.
15. him.. .Ere Q2 'him: Ere'
26. too light for the bore The size of the bore deter-
mines the weight of the projectile.
31. give you way (Fi) Q2 'will you way.' Most
edd. read 'make you way' (Q4); v. MSH. p. 293, and
G. 'give way.'
4.7.
S.D. Readers ask: does the previous scene allow time
enough to the K. to convince Laer. ? Hardly if Laer.
had first to 'make choice' among his 'wisest friends'
(4. 5. 203). An audience might be relied upon to forget
the point and would be untroubled by such problems.
5. Pursued my life v. note 3. 2. 243.
7. crimeful{¥i) £>2 'criminall' MSH.pp. 163-4,
280.
8. greatness (Q 2) F1 omits and mod. edd. follow to
avoid an alexandrine, though, as Clar. observes, 'the next
line is an alexandrine also.'
14. conjunctive Dowden notes that this word (v. G.
and also 'sphere') 'seems to have suggested the line that
follows.'
20. the spring.. .stone Harrison's Description of
England (ed. Furnivall, p. 349) states that the baths of
King's Newnham, Warwickshire, turn wood into stone
(Dowden).
21. Convert.. .graces i.e. regard his fetters (had We
put him under arrest) as an honour to him. Cf.4.3. 3-7.