If Hamlet give the first or second hit, Richer than that which four successive kings minate quantity, that being ascertained by an adjunct, as gallonstoup, pint-stoup, mutchkin-stoup, &c. The vessel in which they fetch or keep water is also called the water-stoup. A stoup of wine is therefore equivalent to a pitcher of wine. Ritson. 4 And in the cup an union shall he throw,] In some editions: And in the cup an onyx shall he throw. This is a various reading in several of the old copies; but union seems to me to be the true word. If I am not mistaken, neither the onyx, nor sardonyx, are jewels which ever found place in an imperial crown. An union is the finest sort of pearl, and has its place in all crowns, and coronets. Besides, let us consider what the King says on Hamlet's giving Laertes the first hit: "Stay, give me drink. Hamlet, this pearl is thine; Therefore, if an union be a pearl, and an onyx a gem, or stone, quite differing in its nature from pearls; the King saying, that Hamlet has earned the pearl, I think, amounts to a demonstration that it was an union pearl, which he meant to throw into the cup. Theobald. And in the cup an union shall he throw,] Thus the folio rightly. In the first quarto, by the carelessness of the printer, for union we have unice, which in the subsequent quarto copies was made onyx. An union is a very precious pearl. See Bullokar's English Expositor, 1616, and Florio's Italian Dictionary, 1598, in v. Ay, were it Cleopatra's union." Malone. The union is thus mentioned in P. Holland's translation of Pliny's Natural History: "And hereupon it is that our dainties and delicates here at Rome, &c. call them unions, as a man would say singular and by themselves alone." To swallow a pearl in a draught seems to have been equally common to royal and mercantile prodigality. So, in the Second Part of If You know not Me, You know Nobody, 1606, Sir Thomas Gresham says: "Here 16,000 pound at one clap goes. "Instead of sugar, Gresham drinks this pearle It may be observed, however, that pearls were supposed to possess an exhilarating quality. Thus, Rondelet, Lib. I, de Testac, c. xv: "Uniones quæ à conchis &c. valde cordiales sunt." Steevens And let the kettle to the trumpet speak, The cannons to the heavens, the heaven to earth, Ham. Come on, sir. Well, again. King. Stay, give me drink: Hamlet, this pearl is thine ;5 Here's to thy health. Give him the cup. [Trumpets sound; and Cannon shot off within. Ham. I'll play this bout first, set it by awhile. Come. Another hit; What say you? Laer. A touch, a touch, I do confess. Queen. He 's fat, and scant of breath.”— [They play. 5 this pearl is thine;] Under pretence of throwing a pearl into the cup, the King may be supposed to drop some poisonous drug into the wine. Hamlet seems to suspect this, when he afterwards discovers the effects of the poison, and tauntingly asks him," Is the union here?" Steevens. 6 Queen. He's fat, and scant of breath.] It seems that John Lowin, who was the original Falstaff, was no less celebrated for his performance of Henry VIII, and Hamlet. See the Historia Histrionica, &c. If he was adapted, by the corpulence of his figure, to appear with propriety in the two former of these characters, Shakspeare might have put this observation into the mouth of her majesty, to apologize for the want of such elegance of person as an audience might expect to meet with in the representative of the youthful prince of Denmark, whom Ophelia speaks of as "the glass of fashion and the mould of form." This, however, is mere conjecture, as Joseph Taylor likewise acted Hamlet during the life of Shakspeare. In Ratsie's Ghost, (Gamaliel) no date, about 1605, bl. l. 4o. the second part of his madde prankes &c.-He robs a company of players. "Sirra, saies he to the chiefest of them, thou hast a good presence on a stage-get thee to London, for if one man were dead, [Lowin, perhaps,] there would be none fitter than thyself to play his parts-I durst venture all the money in my purse on thy head to play Hamlet with him for a wager." He knights him afterwards, and bids him—“ Rise up, Sir Simon ་་ is a Here, Hamlet, take my napkin, rub thy brows; my son. The queen carouses to thy fortune, Hamlet." Ham. Good madam, King. Gertrude, do not drink. [Aside. Queen. I will, my lord;-I pray you, pardon me. [Aside. Ham. Come, for the third, Laertes: You do but dally; I pray you, pass with your best violence: I am afeard, you make a wanton of me.' two shares & a halfe." I owe this quotation to one of Dr. Farmer's memoranda. Steevens. The author of Historia Histrionica, and Downes the prompter, concur in saying, that Taylor was the performer of Hamlet. Roberts the player alone has asserted, (apparently without any authority) that this part was performed by Lowin. Malone. 7 The queen carouses to thy fortune, Hamlet,] i. e. (in humbler language) drinks good luck to you. A similar phrase occurs in David and Bethsabe, 1599: "With full carouses to his fortune past." Steevens. 8 Come, let me wipe thy face.] These very words (the present repetition of which might have been spared) are addressed by Doll Tearsheet to Falstaff, when he was heated by his pursuit of Pistol. See Vol. IX, p. 74. Steevens. 9 •you make a wanton of me.] A wanton was a man feeble and effeminate. In Cymbeline, Imogen says, I am not so citizen a wanton, as "To seem to die, ere sick." Johnson. Rather, you trifle with me as if you were playing with a child. So, in Romeo and Juliet: 66 I would have thee gone, "And yet no further than a wanton's bird, "That lets it hop a little from her hand, "And with a silk thread pulls it back again." Ritson. A passage in King John shows that wanton here means a man feeble and effeminate, as Dr. Johnson has explained it : 66 Shall a beardless boy, "A cocker'd silken wanton, brave our fields, "And flesh his spirit in a warlike soil," &c. Malone. The following passage in the first scene of Lee's Alexander the Great, may furnish a sufficient comment on the words of Hamlet: Laer. Say you so? come on. [They play. [LAER. wounds HAM.; then, in scuffling, they change Rapiers, and HAM. wounds LAER. King. Ham. Nay, come again. Part them, they are incens'd. [The Queen falls. Look to the queen there, ho! Hor. They bleed on both sides:-How is it, my lord? Osr. How is 't, Laertes? Laer. Why, as a woodcock to my own springe, Osric; I am justly kill'd with mine own treachery. Ham. How does the queen? King. She swoons to see them bleed. Queen. No, no, the drink, the drink,-O my dear Hamlet! The drink, the drink;-I am poison'd! Ham. O villainy!-Ho! let the door be lock'd: Treachery! seek it out. [Dies. [LAER. falls. Laer. It is here, Hamlet: Hamlet, thou art slain; No medicine in the world can do thee good, In thee there is not half an hour's life; The treacherous instrument is in thy hand, Unbated, and envenom'd: the foul practice Hath turn'd itself on me; lo, here I lie, Never to rise again: Thy mother's poison'd; I can no more;-the king, the king 's to blame Ham. The point Envenom'd too!-Then, venom, to thy work. 'Osr.& Lords. Treason! treason! [Stabs the King. King. O, yet defend me, friends, I am but hurt. Dane, Drink off this potion:-Is the union here?1 Follow my mother. 1 [King dies. "He dallied with my point, and when I thrust, "He frown'd and smil'd, and foil'd me like a fencer." Steevens. Is the union here?] In this place likewise the quarto reads, an onyx. Steevens. Is the union here?] Thus the folio. In a former passage in the quarto, 1604, for union we had unice; here it has onyx. Laer. He is justly serv'd; [Dies. Ham. Heaven make thee free of it! I follow thee. Thou liv'st; report me and my cause aright I am more an antique Roman than a Dane, Ham. As thou 'rt a man, Give me the cup; let go; by heaven, I'll have it.- Things standing thus unknown, shall live behind me? Absent thee from felicity awhile, And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain, To tell my story.— [March afar off, and Shot within. What warlike noise is this? Osr. Young Fortinbras, with conquest come from Poland, To the ambassadors of England gives It should seem from this line, and Laertes's next speech, that Hamlet here forces the expiring King to drink some of the poisoned cup, and that he dies while it is at his lips. Malone. 2 That are but mutes and audience to this act,] That are either auditors of this catastrophe, or at most only mute performers, that fill the stage without any part in the action. Johnson. 3 (as this fell sergeant, death, Is strict in his arrest,)] So, in our poet's 74th Sonnet: 66 "Without all bail, shall carry me away," Malone. A serjeant is a bailiff, or sheriff's officer. Ritson. * O God!-Horatio, &c.] Thus the quarto, 1604. Folio: O good Horatio. Malone. 5 shall live behind me?] Thus the folio. The quartos read-shall I leave behind me, Steevens. |