Page 351 - Hamlet: The Cambridge Dover Wilson Shakespeare

244 NOTE S 5-2-

94-5. diligence of spirit Implying that it may try
his spirits.
96-7. Put your Bonnet etc. It was customary for the
Elizabethans to wear their hats indoors, v. Sh. Eng. ii.
109 and cf. 2. 1. 76-. Sh. often makes play with this
business of remaining uncovered in the presence of a
superior; cf. L.L.L. 5. 1. 95, M.N.D. 4. 1. 20 (note),
A.Y.L. 3.3.68 (note). Webster's Induction to Marston's
Malcontent (1604), which is full of echoes from Ram.,
contains the following dialogue between the members
of Sh.'s company:

Condell. I beseech you, sir, be covered.
Sly. No, in good faith, for mine ease: look you, my hat's
the handle to this fan: God's so, what a beast was I, I did
not leave my feather at home! Well, but I'll take an order
with you. Puts his feather in his pocket.
Burbadge. Why do you conceal your feather, sir?
Sly. Why? Do you think I'll have jests broken upon me
in the play, to be laughed at? this play hath beaten all your
gallants out of the feathers: Blackfriars hath almost spoiled
Blackfriars for feathers.
Sinklo. God's so, I thought 'twas for somewhat our
gendewomen at home counselled me to wear my feather to
the play....
Steevens, noting that the opening words are 'from the
part of Osric in Ham.,' suggests that 'Sly might have
been the original performer of that character.' If so, the
passage perhaps gives us a clue to the nature of Osric's
hat, while it has obvious reference to the 'forest of
feathers' (3. 2. 275), since not only Sly but Sinklo, and
prob. the other members of the company, are repre-
sented as wearing ridiculous feathers.
n 1-46. Sir, here is newly.. .he's unfellowed.
F i abridges this to one sentence: 'Sir, you are not
ignorant of what excellence Laertes is at his weapon'—
an obvious playhouse cut. MSH. p. 31.
113. of very soft society After Laer.'s conduct in the
previous scene this is esp. ludicrous.