Page 352 - Hamlet: The Cambridge Dover Wilson Shakespeare

5-a. N O T E S 245

114. sellingly (Q2 some copies) Other copies
'fellingly'—which is a press-corrector's emendation, cf.
MSH. pp. 12 3-31. Most edd. read with Q4 'feelingly'
(= with discernment, cf. Twelfth Night, 2. 3. 172).
But I agree with Steevens, Jennens and Collier that
'sellingly' is right; cf. L.L.L. 4. 3. 240 To things of
'
sale a seller's praise belongs,' and Son. 21. 14 I will not
'
praise that purpose not to sell.' Osric has been speaking
like a shopman advertising his wares (e.g. 'excellent
differences.. .and great showing'); and the jest is that
he no sooner announces his intention of doing so than
he deserts the language of the shop for that of the ship.
Cf. note 11. 117-24.
card or calendar of gentry = the very map or register
of elegance (with a quibble on the shipman's 'card'),
v. G. 'card,' 'calendar.'
115. parts (Nicholson) Q 2'part,'MS H. pp. 300-r.
No one has followed Nicholson; yet he is surely right.
Osric is deep in maritime metaphor: Laer. is the
'continent' of gentry and contains in himself all those
'parts' that a gentleman would wish to see (upon his
travels), v. G.
117-24. Sir, his definement.. .nothing more Osric
has mixed the metaphors of the shop and the ship; and
Ham. follows suit. To paraphrase: the specification
(definement) of his perfections has lost nothing at your
hands, though I know they are so numerous that to make
a detailed inventory of them (as a shopkeeper might)
would puzzle (dizzy) the mental arithmetic of the
ordinary commercial man, who would, moreover, be
left staggering ('and yet but yaw neither') by his quick
sale (with a quibble on 'sail'); but in truth I take him
to be a soul of great scope ('article,' with a commercial
quibble: 'the particulars of an inventory are called
articles,' Johnson), and his essence ('infusion') of such
costliness ('dearth') and rarity, that indeed I can com-
pare him with nothing save his own looking-glass; for