SC. I.]
PRINCE OF DENMARK
9
Had he been vanquisher; as, by the same covenant[a 1][b 1]
And carriage[b 2] of the article design'd,[a 2]
His fell to Hamlet. Now, sir, young Fortinbras, 95
Of unimproved[a 3][b 3] mettle hot and full,
Hath in the skirts of Norway here and there
Shark'd up[b 4] a list[a 4] of lawless[a 5][b 5] resolutes,[b 6]
For food and diet,[b 7] to some enterprise
That hath a stomach in 't; which is no other— 100
As[a 6] it doth well appear unto our state—
But to recover of us, by strong hand
And terms compulsative,[a 7] those foresaid lands
So by his father lost. And this, I take it,
Is the main motive of our preparations, 105
The source of this our watch and the chief head
Of this post-haste and romage[b 8] in the land.
- ↑ 93. covenant] Cou'nant F, comart Qq 2–5, co-mart Q 6 and many editors, Q of 1676 reads compact.
- ↑ 94. article design'd] Ff 2, 3, 4; article desseigne Qq 2, 3; articles deseigne Q 4; Articles designe Q 5; Article designe F 1.
- ↑ 96. unimproved] inapproved Q 1; Singer, ed. 2; Keightley.
- ↑ 98. list] sight Q 1.
- ↑ 98. lawless] Q, landlesse F and many editors.
- ↑ 101. As] Q, And F.
- ↑ 103. compulsative] F, compulsatory Q and many editors.
- ↑ 93. covenant] The "co-mart" of the Qq, if not a misprint, is of Shakespeare's coinage, meaning joint bargain.
- ↑ 94. carriage] process, or import.
- ↑ 96. unimproved] Clar. Press explains as "untutored, not chastened by experience." "Improve" is found in Chapman and Whitgift, meaning reprove (see Nares' Glossary), and "unimproved" may possibly mean unrebuked or unimpeached.
- ↑ 98. Sharked up] Perhaps gathered as a sharker or swindler; or snatched indiscriminately as a shark swallows food.
- ↑ 98. lawless] The F "landless" gives also an appropriate sense; but here Q 1 agrees with Q 2 in giving "lawless."
- ↑ 98. resolutes] braves.
- ↑ 99. food and diet,] Paid only by what they eat. Qq 1, 2 have no comma after "diet"; may the meaning be that the resolutes are to be the food and diet of a devouring enterprise, which has a stomach in it ("food for powder"), with a play on "stomach" in its second sense of stubborn resolution?
- ↑ 107. romage] rummage, originally a nautical term for the stowage of a cargo (Skeat).
