Page 356 - Hamlet: The Cambridge Dover Wilson Shakespeare

5.*. N O T E S 249

lit. = miscellaneous extracts of a literary or historical
character, v. G.
192-93. which carries.. .opinions Hitherto mis-
understood, partly through doubts concerning the text
(v. next note). I explain: 'which enables them to impose
upon tried and experienced men of the world.' The
image is that of frothy bubbles on the vat passing over
the malted barley, which has been previously win-
nowed (by the keen winds of experience). For 'win-
nowed' cf. G. 'unsifted.'
193. profound and winnowed (Tschischwitz) Q2
'prophane and trennowed,' F1 'fond and winnowed,*
MSH. pp. 328-31. Warburton and many edd. read
'fanned and winnowed,' which is to emend F i and
gives tautological sense. The right principle is to emend
Q2. If Sh. wrote 'profund' or 'profond,' misreading
as 'profane' would be easy.
194. and do but blow them After 'winnowed' the
word 'them' (= Osric and his like) is emphatic. One
puff of breath, and the froth is blown out of the vat.
195-206. F1 omits, thus saving a small part.
197. He sends to know Apparently Osric had not
been able to 're-deliver' Ham. to the 'effect' he intended
(v.ll. 179-81).
209. at the odds i.e. with the handicap allowed me;
cf. note 11. 166-68.
217-18. There is.. .sparrow. Cf. Matth. x. 29. As
usual when Sh. quotes, the context should be borne in
mind; e.g. 'And fear not them which kill the body, but
are not able to kill the soul/ and 'But the very hairs of
your head are all numbered.'
220. the readiness is all The whole speech, as
Brandes notes {Will. Shak. p. 354), is a distillation of
Montaigne, i. 19 'That to Philosophic is to learne how
to die.' To quote one or two passages from Florio's
trans.:
At the stumbling of a horse, at the fall of a stone, at the least