The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, George MacDonald [ebook reader computer .txt] 📗

[Sidenote: this sirra?]

Clo . Mine Sir: [Sidenote: Clow . Mine sir, or a pit]

O a Pit of Clay for to be made, for such a Guest is meete. [7]

Ham . I thinke it be thine indeed: for thou liest in't.

Clo . You lye out on't Sir, and therefore it is not [Sidenote: tis] yours: for my part, I doe not lye in't; and yet it [Sidenote: in't, yet] is mine.

Ham . Thou dost lye in't, to be in't and say 'tis [Sidenote: it is] thine: 'tis for the dead, not for the quicke, therefore thou lyest.

Clo . Tis a quicke lye Sir, 'twill away againe from me to you.[8]

Ham . What man dost thou digge it for?

Clo . For no man Sir.

Ham . What woman then?

Clo . For none neither.

Ham . Who is to be buried in't?

Clo . One that was a woman Sir; but rest her Soule, shee's dead.

[Footnote 1: From 'Is' to 'Recoueries' not in Q. ]

[Footnote 2: the end.]

[Footnote 3: the property regained by his Recoveries.]

[Footnote 4: third and fourth meanings of the word fine .]

[Footnote 5: the skull.]

[Footnote 6: 'must the heir have no more either?'

1st Q .

and must
The honor ( owner? ) lie there?]

[Footnote 7: This line not in Q. ]

[Footnote 8: He gives the lie.]

[Page 234]

Ham . How absolute[1] the knaue is? wee must [Sidenote: 256] speake by the Carde,[2] or equiuocation will vndoe vs: by the Lord Horatio , these three yeares[3] I haue
[Sidenote: this three] taken note of it, the Age is growne so picked,[4] [Sidenote: tooke] that the toe of the Pesant comes so neere the heeles of our Courtier, hee galls his Kibe.[5] How
[Sidenote: the heele of the] long hast thou been a Graue-maker? [Sidenote: been Graue-maker?]

Clo . Of all the dayes i'th'yeare, I came too't
[Sidenote: Of the dayes] that day[6] that our last King Hamlet o'recame [Sidenote: ouercame]
Fortinbras .

Ham . How long is that since?

Clo . Cannot you tell that? euery foole can tell [Sidenote: 143] that: It was the very day,[6] that young Hamlet was
[Sidenote: was that very] borne,[8] hee that was mad, and sent into England,
[Sidenote: that is mad]

Ham . I marry, why was he sent into England?

Clo . Why, because he was mad; hee shall recouer
[Sidenote: a was mad: a shall] his wits there; or if he do not, it's no great
[Sidenote: if a do | tis] matter there.

Ham . Why?

Clo . 'Twill not be scene in him, there the men
[Sidenote: him there, there] are as mad as he.

Ham . How came he mad?

Clo . Very strangely they say.

Ham . How strangely?[7]

Clo . Faith e'ene with loosing his wits.

Ham . Vpon what ground?

Clo . Why heere in Denmarke[8]: I haue bin sixeteene [Sidenote: Sexten] [Sidenote: 142-3] heere, man and Boy thirty yeares.[9]

Ham . How long will a man lie 'ith' earth ere he rot?

Clo . Ifaith, if he be not rotten before he die (as
[Sidenote: Fayth if a be not | a die] we haue many pocky Coarses now adaies, that will
[Sidenote: corses, that will] scarce hold the laying in) he will last you some [Sidenote: a will] eight yeare, or nine yeare. A Tanner will last you nine yeare.

[Footnote 1: 'How the knave insists on precision!']

[Footnote 2: chart: Skeat's Etym. Dict. ]

[Footnote 3: Can this indicate any point in the history of English society?]

[Footnote 4: so fastidious; so given to picking and choosing; so choice.]

[Footnote 5: The word is to be found in any dictionary, but is not generally understood. Lord Byron, a very inaccurate writer, takes it to mean heel :

Devices quaint, and frolics ever new,
Tread on each others' kibes:

Childe Harold, Canto 1. St. 67.

It means a chilblain .]

[Footnote 6: Then Fortinbras could have been but a few months younger than Hamlet, and may have been older. Hamlet then, in the Quarto passage, could not by tender mean young .]

[Footnote 7: 'In what way strangely?'- in what strange way ? Or the
How may be how much , in retort to the very ; but the intent would be the same-a request for further information.]

[Footnote 8: Hamlet has asked on what ground or provocation, that is, from what cause, Hamlet lost his wits; the sexton chooses to take the word ground materially.]

[Footnote 9: The Poet makes him say how long he had been sexton-but how naturally and informally-by a stupid joke!-in order a second time, and more certainly, to tell us Hamlet's age: he must have held it a point necessary to the understanding of Hamlet.

Note Hamlet's question immediately following. It looks as if he had first said to himself: 'Yes-I have been thirty years above ground!' and
then said to the sexton, 'How long will a man lie i' th' earth ere he rot?' We might enquire even too curiously as to the connecting links.]

[Page 236]

Ham . Why he, more then another?

Clo . Why sir, his hide is so tan'd with his Trade, that he will keepe out water a great while. And [Sidenote: a will] your water, is a sore Decayer of your horson dead body. Heres a Scull now: this Scul, has laine in
[Sidenote: now hath iyen you i'th earth 23. yeeres.] the earth three and twenty years.

Ham . Whose was it?

Clo . A whoreson mad Fellowes it was; Whose doe you thinke it was?

Ham . Nay, I know not.

Clo . A pestlence on him for a mad Rogue, a pou'rd a Flaggon of Renish on my head once. This same Scull Sir, this same Scull sir, was Yoricks
[Sidenote: once; this same skull sir, was sir Yoricks ] Scull, the Kings Iester.

Ham . This?

Clo . E'ene that.

Ham . Let me see. Alas poore Yorick , I knew
[Sidenote: Ham . Alas poore] him Horatio , a fellow of infinite Iest; of most excellent fancy, he hath borne me on his backe a [Sidenote: bore] thousand times: And how abhorred[1] my Imagination
[Sidenote: and now how | in my] is, my gorge rises at it. Heere hung those [Sidenote: it is:] lipps, that I haue kist I know not how oft. Where be your Iibes now? Your Gambals? Your Songs? Your flashes of Merriment that were wont to set the Table on a Rore? No one[2] now to mock your [Sidenote: not one] own Ieering? Quite chopfalne[3]? Now get you to