156 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 96. 



was considered tbe most revolting of eatables. 

 Eat a crocodile, does not mean a whole raw one, 

 but such as the alligator mentioned in the shop 

 of Romeo's apothecary, probably preserved in 

 spirits. 



Here we have possibilities put against the rant 

 of Laertes; the doing against the suijing ; the 

 quietude of the pbilosophic prince, against the 

 ranting of the robustious Laertes; things that 

 could he done, — for Hamlet ends with " I'll do it." 

 That is, he will weep, fight, fiist, tear himself, 

 drink bitterness, and eat monstrosities : and this 

 is his clialienge of Laertes to the true testimony of 

 his love, in contrast to his wordy lamentation. 

 But his quick imagination has caught an impetus 

 from its owu motion, and he goes on, " Nay, I will 

 even outprate you ;" and then follows his superior 

 rant, not uttered with sincere vehemence, but with 

 quiet and philosophic scorn ; and lie ends with the 

 reproof of Laertes' moutliing; a thing p:irticularly 

 distasteful to him. And now, in accordance with 

 this dignified contempt is his final remonstrance 

 and his exit speech of — 



" I lov'd you ever ; but it is no matter ; 

 Let Hercules himself," &c. 



We thus see that there is no real rant in Hamlet; 

 he is not outbragging Laertes ; but institutes the 

 possible, in contradiction to swagger and mouth- 

 ing. The interpretation of eisell thus becomes a 

 matter of character, and to a great degree would 

 determine an actor's mode of rendering the whole 

 scene. This result I do not see that any of your 

 correspondents have taken notice of; and yet it 

 really is the main thing worth discussing. 



This interpretation too has the advantage of 

 coinciding with Shakspeare's perpetual love of 

 contrast ; the hot, hasty, wordy Laertes being in 

 strong contrast to the philosophic, meditating, and 

 melancholy young prince ; always true to his 

 character, and ever the first in every scene by his 

 own calm dignity. He never rants at all, but rides 

 over his antagonist by his cool reasoning and his 

 own magnificent imagination. The adoption of 

 Theobald and Hickson's interpretation of the word 

 eisell becomes therefore of great importance as in- 

 dicating the character of Hamlet. F. G. T. 



Many of your readers no doubt feel much in- 

 debted to your correspondent for his able sum- 

 mary of the eisell controversy ; an example which 

 it is to be hoped will be followed in other cases. 

 It has induced me to collect a few passages for the 

 purpose of showing that Shakspeare was accus- 

 tomed to make use of what may be termed local- 

 isms, which were frequently as occult as in the 

 instance of the eisell ; and that he was especially 

 fond of establishing himself with the children of 

 his brain in the particular country by means of 

 allusion to the neighbouring seas and rivers. What 

 appropriate signs are the Centaur and the Phoenix 



for the city of Ephesus, the scene of the Comedy 

 of Errors! The Italian, lachimo, speaks of — 



" lips as common as the stairs 



That mount the capitoL" 

 And Petruchio alludes to the bursting of " a chest- 

 nut in a farmer's fire," an incident probably of 

 common occurrence in the sunny south. In 

 Hamlet, with which we are chiefly concerned, the 

 king "gulps his draughts of Rherdsh down ;" and 

 the grave-digger talks of a flagon of Rhenish 

 having been poured by the jester upon his head, 

 the wine with which Denmark would naturally be 

 supplied. His m.ajesty inquires : 

 " Where are the Sicitzers ? let them guard the door." 

 And the student Horatio is judiciously placed at 

 the university of Wittenburg. Constant mention 

 is made in The Merchant of Venice of the Rialto ; 

 and Portia, not unmindful of the remarkable posi- 

 tion of the city, thus directs Balthazar: 



" Bring them, I pray thee, with imagin'd speed 

 Unto the franect, to tlie common ferry 

 Which trades to Venice." 

 What a fine Hebraism (Hazlitt remarks) is that 

 of Shylock, where he declares, that he would not 

 have given his ring " for a wTiole wilderness of 

 monkeys!" And so, if the subjoined passage in 

 Othello relates to the ceremony of the Doge's 

 union with the sea, may we not exclaim " What 

 an admirable Venetianism ! " 



" I would not my unhoused free condition 

 Put into circumscription and confine 

 For the sea's worth." 



The Moor has not travelled far to find the fol- 

 lowing simile : 



" Like to the Pontick sea. 

 Whose icy current and compulsive course 

 Ne'er feels retiring ebb, but keeps due on 

 To tlie Propontick and the Hellespont." 

 Petruchio asserts in respect to Catherine : 



" Were she as rough 



As are the swelling Adriatic waves, 

 I come to wive it wealthily in Padua." 



In the Romnn plays the Tiber is repeatedly 

 noticed. The Thames occurs in Merry Wives of 

 Windsor, and others. And in the Egyptian scenes 

 of Antony and Cleopatra, the l^iile is several 

 times introduced. 



" Master Brook [says F.dstaflf], I will be thrown into 

 Etna, as 1 have been hito Thames, ere I will leave her 

 thus." 



Antony exclaims : 



" Let Rome in Tiber melt \ " 

 while Cleopatra gives utterance to the same senti- 

 ment : 



. " Melt Egypt into Nile ! And kindly creatures 

 Turn all to serpents ! " 



In the last two passages it may be observed, 

 that the hyperbolical treatment of the two rivers 



