No more young Hamlet, though but scant of breath, Shall cry "Revenge!' for his dear father's death. Further on the elegist describes him as of "stature small," and that, I believe, is all the knowledge we possess of Burbage's personage.

632. Line 314: Stage-direction: "Laertes wounds Hamlet; then, in scuffling, they change rapiers, and Hamlet wounds Laertes."-This stage-direction is Rowe's; the Qq. give none, the Ff. have "In scuffling they change Rapiers." "How this change of foils is brought about," says Marshall, Study of Hamlet, p. 200, "is not quite certain. Salvini delighted and surprised the audience, at the first representation he gave of Hamlet, by the graceful manner in which he managed this exchange. After Laertes had hit him, he put his hand up to his side, as if he felt the prick of the unbated weapon; then just as Laertes was about to take up his foil, which had been knocked out of his hand in the encounter, Signor Salvini placed his foot upon it, and, bowing gracefully, presented his antagonist with his own foil. Graceful as this undeniably is, I do not think it can be justified on a careful consideration of the scene; the action is too deliberate; it is manifest that Hamlet does not stop when he is hit, but that he continues his attack furiously till the point of each foil getting caught in the hilt of the other, both are disarmed; but they do not stop, Hamlet being too eager to hit Laertes; each snatches at the first weapon that comes to his hand, and they continue the struggle, in which Hamlet wounds Laertes. In answer to the objection that Laertes, though struck with the venomed point after Hamlet, when the virulence of the poison might be supposed to have diminished, yet dies the first-it may be observed that Hamlet's wound was probably much the slighter of the two, for the excited state in which he evidently was, and not knowing he had an unbated weapon in his hand, he would probably strike Laertes much harder than Laertes, knowing the deadly power of the poison, had struck him. Hamlet's words after the scuffle

Nay, come, again—

could hardly have been spoken had he detected Laertes' treachery, or had he been conscious that he was wounded. His mind is, I believe, entirely wrapped up in the trial of skill, for the time being, and his excitement arises from his eagerness to win the match."

Furness, vol. ii. p. 338, quotes from the Jahrbuch der deutschen Shakespeare-Gesellschaft, 1869, p. 376, the following explanation by Hermann Freiherr von Friesen, which seems to me to clear up the difficulties very reasonably:-"There is only one way, I conceive, of solving this problem on the stage, and that is by reference to the Rules of the Fencing-school, and the lesson that relates to 'Disarming with the Left Hand.' The French translator possibly knew this lesson, as he paraphrases the stage-direction ('They catch one another's rapiers, and both are wounded') with the following words, 'Laerte blesse Hamlet, et dans la chaleur de l'assaut ils se désarment et changent de fleuret, et Hamlet blesse Laerte.' The lesson upon disarming, if I may depend upon the memory of my schooldays, is somewhat this: As soon as your opponent has made a pass and is about to return to his guard, you strike the most powerful battute possible

(i.e. a blow descending along the blade of your opponent), in order to throw your opponent's blade out of its position, if possible, with its point downwards, at the same instant you advance the left foot close to the outer side of the right foot of your opponent, seize with the left hand the guard of your opponent's rapier, and endeavour to wrest the weapon from his fist by a powerful pressure downwards; if this manœuvre succeeds, you put the point of your dagger to the breast of your opponent, and compel him to confess himself vanquished. When your opponent does not succeed in withstanding the battute, which makes it impossible for him to keep back his assailant with the point of his dagger, there is nothing for him to do but to meet the attack with the same manoeuvre, and get his assailant's weapon in his hand in the same way. With persons of equal skill this is the usual result, whereby they change places, and the combat is continued without delay.

633. Lines 317, 318:

Why, as a woodcock to mine own springe, Osric;
I am justly kill'd with mine own treachery.

F. J. V. in Notes and Queries, Aug. 8, 1874, p. 103, writes: "A woodcock is trained to decoy other birds into a springe; first, the fowler places him just outside the springe; then, while strutting about outside the springe, and calling, and by various arts alluring other birds, the woodcock incautiously places his foot in or on the springe, and so is caught." Elze, however, doubts whether the woodcock-a proverbially foolish bird-could be trained to anything; and supposes that it is simply fastened near the springe to allure other birds by its mere presence. 634. Lines 347, 348:

as this fell sergeant, death, Is strict in his arrest. Compare Sonnet lxxiv. 1:

when that fell arrest Without all bail shall carry me away. Sergeant is used by Shakespeare for a sheriff's officer, in which sense the word was then current. Cotgrave has "Sergent: m. A Sergeant, Officer, Pursuyuant, Apparitor." Malone compares Silvester's Du Bartas (ed. 1633, p. 30): And Death, dread serjant, of the eternall Judge, Comes very late to his sole-seated Lodge.

635. Line 355: O good Horatio.-This is the reading of Ff.; the Qq. print O god Horatio, which is quite as good a reading.

636. Line 364: o'er-crows.-Johnson quotes from Spenser's View of the Present State of Ireland (Globe ed. p. 660): "A base varlett, that being but of late growen out of the dunghill beginneth nowe to overcrowe soe high mountaynes, and make himselfe greate protectour of all outlawes and rebells that will repayre vnto him." We still use the expression, though only colloquially, to "crow over" anyone.

637. Lines 368, 369:

So tell him, with the OCCURRENTS, more and less, Which have SOLICITED-The rest is silence. Occurrents is not used elsewhere by Shakespeare. Steevens quotes Drayton, Baron's War, bk. i. canto xii.:

As our occurrents happen in degree. Solicited means prompted or brought on. Compare Macbeth, i. 3. 130:

This supernatural solicitingincitement, that is. Hamlet apparently breaks off in the midst of a sentence, feeling death upon him, and has but time to give utterance to his last sigh of relief or regret: The rest is silence. The Ff. print, after these words O, o, o, o no doubt the absurd addition of some actor, who thought four groans would add to the effect of Hamlet's death.

638. Line 370: Now CRACKS a noble heart.-Crack is used elsewhere by Shakespeare where we should use break. Compare Coriolanus, v. 3. 9 ("a crack'd heart"), Pericles, iii. 2. 77; Merry Wives, ii. 2. 301.

639. Line 375: This quarry cries on havoc.-Compare Julius Cæsar, iii. 1. 273:

Cry "Havoc!" and let slip the dogs of war. The meaning of the phrase here seems to be: "This heap of dead urges to an indiscriminate slaughter." The Clarendon Press edd. quote from Todd's ed. of Johnson's Dictionary an enactment of the Statutes of Warre, &c, by Henry VIII., 1513: "That noo man be so hardy to erye havoke, upon payne of hym that is so found begynner, to dye therefore; and the remenaunt to be emprysoned, and theyr bodyes punyshed at the Kynges will."

640. Line 376: What feast is TOWARD in thine ETERNAL cell.-Toward, meaning near at hand, is used once before in this play, i. 1. 77. Eternal, also, is used in i. 5. 21, with the same apparent meaning as here, i.e. infernal. (See note 136.) Compare Julius Cæsar, i. 2. 160, and Othello, iv. 2. 130. The Yankee, therefore, with his "tarnal," is not in such bad company after all.

641. Line 386: jump.-Compare i. 1. 65, and note 11.