* * * * * "_Ye_ heavenly powers, restore him!" * * * * * SC. 2. "And the very age and body of the time his form and pressure." As 'age of time' seems not to be a very correct expression, we might feel inclined to read _world_ for 'time,' but no change is required; _time_ is the age, the world, and so 'age of the time' may signify period of the world, the then state of society. M. Mason read _every_ for 'the very.' * * * * * "And crook the pregnant hinges of the knee." I see not what 'pregnant' can mean here. It might be better to read _pliant_, or some such word. * * * * * "Even with the very comment of thy soul." So the 4tos properly read; the folio has _my_ for 'thy.' * * * * * "So long? Nay, then, let the Devil wear black; for I'll _not_ have a suit of sables." When the critics shall have proved--which they have not done yet--that a dress trimmed with sable was called 'a suit of sables,' I will grant that Hamlet did not mean mourning, and that the negative is not needful. The passage, as I now give it, answers to the vulgar phrase, "The Devil may wear black for me." * * * * * "Marry, this is miching malicho." For 'miching malicho,' which is nonsense, I read _mucho malhecho_ Sp., _i.e._ very ill-done. * * * * * "For women fear too much; even as they love." A line riming with this is lost. * * * * * "So you must take your husbands." So the 4to 1603 reads, with an evident allusion to the Marriage Service. The others and the folio have _mistake_. * * * * * "On my rais'd shoes." So Steevens read. The folio has _rac'd_, the 4tos _raz'd_. * * * * * "A very, very paiock." For 'paiock' Pope read _peacock_ (the usual reading), Theobald _paddock_, Blakeway _puttock_. I agree with Theobald, as the King is afterwards called a paddock, and there is probably an allusion to the poisoning. _Puttock_ is favoured by "I chose an eagle and did avoid a puttock" (Cymb. i. 2). * * * * * "If my duty be too bold, my love is too unmannerly." Tyrwhitt proposed 'be _not_ too bold.' I read, 'If my duty be too bold, my love [is] too unmannerly....' * * * * * "Govern these ventages with your fingers and your thumb." * * * * * "And do such bitter business as the day Would quake to look on." The 4tos, followed by editors in general, join 'bitter' with 'day.' See Introd. p. 61. * * * * * SC. 3. "Though inclination be as sharp as _it_ will." * * * * * SC. 4. "I'll silence me e'en here."