July 26. 1851.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



67 



There is therefore, it appears, ample testimony 

 to show that eysell was used for vinegar ; but to 

 prove that it meant v'ormwood-wine, Mr. Si^'Ger's 

 instances seem insufficient. 



13. Before we proceed further, let us, supposing 

 that no bitter or sour potion, but a river, is 

 meant, advert to tlie consideration what river 

 may be intended ? Tlieobald observed tliat thei-e 

 was no river of that name in Denmark, nor any 

 resembling it in name but " Y^sel, from which the 

 province of Overyssel derives its name in the 

 German Flanders." Steevcns, however, is well 

 content to take this Yssel as that which Handet 

 had in his thoughts. " But," he adds, " in an old 

 Latin account of Denmark, and the neighbouring 

 provinces, I find the names of several rivers little 

 differing from Esil or Eisill in spelling or pro- 

 nunciation. Such are the Essa, the Oesil, and 

 some others .... The poet," he further remarks, 

 " might have written the AVeisel ; a considerable 

 river, which falls into the Baltic Ocean, and could 

 not be unknown to any prince in Denmark." 

 Me. Singek of 1826 suggests that the Issel is 

 perhaps meant, but that the firth oi lyze is nearest 

 to the scene of action. Mr. Kmght has little 

 doubt that the Yssell, Issell, or Izel, the most 

 northern branch of the Rhine, and that which is 

 nearest to Denmark, is signified. 



Mr. Hickson, indeed, who favours jMr. Singer's 

 wormword-wine, says (Vol. iii., p. 119.), that the 

 word cannot mean a rivei-, because the definite 

 article is omitted before it. But this is an asser- 

 tion of very little weight. H. K. S. C. (Vol. iii., 

 p. 68.) very justly observes, that we may as cor- 

 rectly say, — " Woul't drink up Thames ?" with- 

 out the article, as "Woul't drink up Eisell?" 

 without the article. Let Mr. Hickson call to 

 mind Milton's lines on English rivers : 



'• And sullen Mole, that runneth underneath 

 And Severn swift, guilty of maiden's death," 



ending with — 



" And Medway smooth, and royal-tower'd Thame," 



and ask himself whether the names of rivers are 

 not with perfect propriety used without the article. 

 Pope has — 



" And sails far off, among the swans of Thames." 



And is not Sir Thomas Ilanmer quite correct in 

 expression, when he alters the hemistich into 

 " Wilt drink n]) Nile f" But to multiply exam- 

 ples on such a point would be idle. 



14. It is now to be considered whether, sup- 

 posing that the word might moan a potion (whe- 

 ther of vinegar or loormwood) or a river, the 

 potion or the river is the more applicable to the 

 passage in which it occurs. It cannot be denied 

 that the whole passage is full of rant and extrava- 

 gance. Laertes begins to rant, and Ilamlet an- 

 swers him in a similar strain : 



" Now pile your dust (says Laertes) upon quick and 

 dead, 

 Till of this flat a mountain you have made, 

 T' o'ertop old Pelion, or the skyish head 

 Of blue Olympus." 



This is sin-ely extravagant enough. Hamlet re- 

 torts, in correspondent tone, — 



" What is he whose grief 

 Beam such an emphasis'^ whose phrase of sorrow 

 Cotijurex the wancTring stars, and makes them stand 

 Like wonder-wounded hearens ?" 



Then comes the struggle, in which they are parted 

 by the attendants ; after which Hamlet cries out 

 with like "emphasis :" 



" Why I will fight witli him upon this theme 

 Until my eye-lids can no longer wag. 



I lov'd Ophelia ; forty thousand brothers 



Could not, with all their quantity of love, 



Make up my sum — what wilt thou do for her ? " 



On which the king exclaims, with much reason, 

 " O, he is mad, Laertes." 

 Hamlet continues, as if to make his madness in- 

 disputable : 



" Zounds ! show me what thoul't do : 

 Woid't weep? woul't fight? woul't fast? woul't tear 



thyself? 

 Woul't drink up Esil ? eat a crocodile ? 

 I'll do't. Dost thou come here to whine? 

 To outface me with leaping in her grave? 

 Be buried quick witl) her, and so will I : 

 And, if thou prate of mountains, let them throw 

 Millions of acres on us ; till our ground, 

 Singeing his pate against the burning zone. 

 Make Ossa like a wart ! Nay, an thoul't mouth, 

 I'll rant as well as thou." 



The queen justly observes : 



" This is mere madness." 

 Hamlet goes off, but maintains his extravagance 

 of language to the last : 



" Let Hercules himself do what he may. 

 The cat will mew, and dog will have his day." 



If, then, a literary jury be required to decide 

 this question, the point on which they have to 

 give a verdict is, whether to drink vinegar (or 

 wormwood-wine) or to drink up a river is more 

 in consonance with the tenor of Hamlet's speech. 

 Theobald indeed says, that " Hamlet is not pro- 

 posing any impossibilities to Laertes, such as 

 drinking up a river would be, but rather seems 

 to mean. Wilt thou resolve to do things the most 

 shocking and distasteftd to human nature?" But 

 on what ground does this assertion rest ? Laertes 

 himself commences with what we may surely call 

 an impossibility : 



" Till of this flat," &c. 

 And Hamlet speaks of more impossibilities, when 

 he talks of throwing up " millions of acres," to 



