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ORDER. Act V., Sc. 1.

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'And, but that great command o'ersways the order."

Order is here used in the sense of the canonical rule, the ecclesiastical authority.

PADDOCK. Act III., Sc. 4. See 'Macbeth.'

PAIOCKE. Act III., Sc. 2.

"A very, very-Paiocke."

Paiocke is the word in all the old copies, but peacock is generally substituted. Mr. Caldecott thinks (Explanations and Emendations of some Passages in the Text of Shakspere,' 1814) that paiocke means the Italian baiocco, a piece of money of trifling value, about three farthings.

PERUSE. Act IV., Sc. 7.

"Will not peruse the foils."

Peruse, in the sense of examine.

PETAR. Act III., Sc. 4.

"Hoist with his own petar."

Petar is the modern petard, an engine charged with combustibles, and applied to blow up walls, gates, &c. Butler, in 'Hudibras,' writes of

"The conjugal petard, that tears

Down all portcullises of ears."

PICKED. Act V., Sc. 1.

"The age is grown so picked."

Picked is spruce, affected, picked being the same as trimmed. Picked, however, may be from peaked; peaked boots were once worn extravagantly long, and hence the association with the "toe of the peasant."

PICKERS AND STEALERS. Act III., Sc. 2. This phrase evidently means the hands and fingers: "to keep my hands from picking and stealing," occurs in the Church Catechism.

POLACKS. Act I., Sc. 1.

"He smote the sledded Polacks on the ice."

Polacks are Poles; a sled is a sledge; the Poles who used sledges on the ice.

PORPENTINE. Act I., Sc. 5.

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'Like quills upon the fretful porpentine."

Porpentine was the old spelling, which ought to be preserved, of porcupine. It is spelt in the same way in the Comedy of Errors.'

PROPOSED. Act IV., Sc. 4.

"How proposed, sir?"

Proposed and purposed were often used for each other. It is proposed in the folio, but Steevens changed it unnecessarily to purposed.

QUESTIONABLE. Act I., Sc. 4.

"Thou com'st in such a questionable shape."

A questionable shape is a shape that may be questioned: the usual interpretation is doubtful, but the shape is not doubtful. QUICK. Act V., Sc. 1.

"Be buried quick with her.

Quick is alive, as in "the quick and the dead" of the Belief. QUIDDITS AND QUILLETS. Act V., Sc. 1.

his quillets?"

"Where be his quiddits now, Quiddits are quiddities, subtleties; and quillets are frivolous distinctions, from quidlibet, what you please.

QUOTED. Act II., Sc. 1.

"I had not quoted him."

Quoted is frequently used, as here, in the sense of noted, observed.

RAZED. Act III., Sc. 2.

"Provincial roses on my razed shoes."

Razed is here cut, slashed. The cuts were tied with ribbons in the form of a rose. Provincial roses are Provence roses. The feathers and fine shoes were common decorations of the players in Shakspere's time.

READ. Act I., Sc. 3.

"And recks not his own read."

Read, usually spelt rede by our old writers, is counsel, advice, doctrine. Reck, from the Anglo-Saxon recc, is care, regard for.

REMISS. Act IV., Sc. 7.

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He, being remiss."

Remiss, in the sense of inattentive.

RIVALS. Act I., Sc. 1.

"The rivals of my watch."

Rival properly means one who takes water from the same river-rivus-as another, hence he is a partner, companion; but as, in an early stage of society, this common occupation became a source of strife, the partners became contenders, and thus arose the present meaning of the word. In 'Antony and Cleopatra,' Shakspere uses the word rivality in the sense of partnership; "Cæsar, having made use of

him in the war 'gainst Pompey, presently denied him rivality"—would not let him partake the glory of the

action.

ROMAGE. Act I., Sc. 1.

"Of this post-haste and romage in the land."

The roomage of a ship is the space where the cargo is stowed, and the stower is the romager; from the hurry and bustle attending the lading and unlading of a vessel, we have accepted rummage or romage in the sense of things being tumbled about in confusion.

ROSEMARY. Act IV., Sc. 5.

"There's rosemary, that's for remembrance."

Rosemary was held to have the property of strengthening the

memory.

RUE. Act IV., Sc. 5.

"There's rue for you."

Rue was used to signify ruth, sorrow. It was also called herbgrace, for "he whom God loveth he chasteneth."

SALLETS. Act II., Sc. 2.

"There were no sallets in the lines."

Sallets was a term for ribaldry.

SCRIMERS. Act IV., Sc. 6.

"The scrimers of their nation."

Scrimers, from the French escrimeur, are adepts in fencing. SEALS. Act III., Sc. 2.

"To give them seals, never, my soul, consent." This is to confirm his words by seals, to make them deeds. SHARDS. Act V., Sc. 1.

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Shards, flints, and pebbles."

Shards were broken pottery.

A shard is a thing shared, broken or divided, and hence applied to fragments, rubbish.

SHENT. Act III., Sc. 2.

"How in my words soever she be shent."

Shent, from the Anglo-Saxon scendan, to shame, reproach, revile, spurn, is used by Chaucer in the sense of punished, which is apparently the sense here.

SHRIVING. Act V., Sc. 2.

"Not shriving-time allowed."

To shrive, from the Anglo-Saxon scrifan, is to receive confession; shriving-time is the time for confession,

STATION. Act III., Sc. 4.

"A station like the herald Mercury." Station is the manner of standing, attitude.

STRAIGHT. Act V., Sc. 1.

"Make her grave straight."

Straight means straightway, immediately.

TAKES. Act I., Sc. 1.

"No fairy takes."

See 'Merry Wives of Windsor.'

TARRE. Act II., Sc. 2.

"To tarre them to controversy."

To tarre, from the Anglo Saxon tirian, is to excite, to irritate.
In 'King John' (Act IV., Sc. 2) we have-

"Like to a dog that is compell'd to fight,
Snatch at his master that doth tarre him on.'

THINKING. Act III., Sc. 2.

"Or else shall he suffer not thinking on."

This is to undergo the pain of not being thought on, suffer being forgotten.

TRICK'D. Act II., Sc. 2.

Horridly trick'd

With blood of fathers."

Trick'd is painted; it is also an heraldic phrase.

TROPICALLY.

Act III., Sc. 2.

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Marry, how? Tropically.

Tropically is metaphorically, figuratively, in tropes.

UNBATED. Act IV., Sc. 7.

"A sword unbated."

Unbated is a sword not prepared for fencing, with the point not blunted.

UNHOUSEL'D. Act I., Sc. 5.

"Unhousel'd, disappointed, unanel'd."

This line is descriptive of the last offices performed to the dying by the Roman Catholic clergy. To housel is to administer the eucharist, and is so used by Chaucer. Disappointed, is unprepared, not properly appointed. Unanel'd, is without the administration of extreme unction.

UNION. Act V., Sc. 2.

"And in the cup a union shall he throw." A union is a very rich pearl; Phillips says "The best kind of pearls that grow in couples."

UNYOKE. Act V., Sc. 1.

"Ay, tell me that, and unyoke."

Unyoke is to finish your work, unyoke your team.

VICE. Act III., Sc. 4.

"A vice of kings."

Vice is here used for the Vice of the old Moralities: a sort of buffoon.

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"It wafts you to a more removed ground."

Waft, or to make a waft, is a nautical term for a signal made by a ship for boatmen or others to come to her: it is something usually hung from the shrouds, and of course waves, in which sense it is used here, as well as in 'Julius Cæsar'— "But with an angry wafter of your hand."

YAW. Act V., Sc. 2.

"And yet but yaw neither."

To yaw is a nautical term for a ship losing her course, becoming unsteady through improper steering.

PLOT AND CHARACTERS.

THE history of Hamlet, or Hamleth, is found in the Danish historian, Saxo Grammaticus, who died about 1204. The works of Saxo Grammaticus are in Latin. The story is to be found in Belleforest's collection of novels, begun in 1564; and an English translation of this particular story was published as a quarto tract, entitled 'The Hystorie of Hamblet, Prince of Denmarke.' Mr. Collier has reprinted this tract from the only copy known, which is preserved amongst Capell's collection at Cambridge. Horvendile, in the novel, is the name of Hamlet's father, Fengon that of his uncle, and Geruth that of his mother. Fengon traitorously slays Horvendile, and marries his brother's wife. In the second chapter we are informed, "how Hamlet counterfeited the

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