Page 337 - Hamlet: The Cambridge Dover Wilson Shakespeare

230 NOTES 4.%

exercise, (J>) a treacherous thrust; cf. 1. 66 above,
note 5. 2. 299 and G. 'practice.'
139-40. anoint...unction With a poss. quibble
upon extreme unction: v. G.
143-4. Collected...moon Herbs were thought to be
more efficacious if gathered by moonlight.
149.* / / us to our shape 'i.e. mould our plans to suit
our ends.
158. preferred (Qz) F 1 'prepar'd'—which most
mod. edd. read. MSH. p. 278.
161. But stay, what noise ? (£) 2) FI omits and reads
instead 'How now, sweet queen'—which most edd.
follow although some adopt both readings. Q1 supports
FI by reading 'How now Gertred.' MSH. pp. 246-7.
165-82. There is a willow etc. C. C. Stopes and
E. I. Fripp conjecture that Sh. may have drawn upon
memories of the drowning of 'Katherine Hamlett
spinster,' in the Avon on Dec. 17,1579/80 (cf. Fripp,
Minutes of the Corp. of Stratford, iii. 50), but the time
of year makes it impossible for 'the setting' to have been
drawn upon also, as Chambers {Will. Shak. i. 425)
seems to suggest. Cf. also Harrison, Sh. at Work,
pp. 272-73.
165. askant Q 2 'ascaunt/Fi 'aslant'—which most
mod. edd. read. MSH. p. 278.
167. Therewith.. .make (£> 2) FI 'There with...
come'—which mod. edd. read, and so miss the fact that
the garland was made of willow, the emblem of dis-
consolate love; cf. Oth. 4. 3. 51 'Sing all a green willow
must be my garland.' MSH. p. 276.
171. crownet Q2 'cronet,' F i 'coronet' Cf.
A. fcf C. 5. 2. 91.
176. lauds (Q2) F1, Cj 1 'tunes'—which nearly all
edd.read. MSH.pp.71-2. In'snatchesof oldlauds'Sh.
seems to refer to the laude or vernacular hymns of praise
sung by wandering bands or guilds of singers in Italy
from 13th to 16th c, though it is not clear that they were
ever the fashion in England (v. A. W. Pollard, Old