Scene 2. Page 179.
Ham. It is a damned ghost that we have seen.
i. e. the ghost of a person sentenced for his wickedness to damnation, and which has in this instance deceived us. Thus Spenser,
"What voice of damned ghost from Limbo lake
Or guileful spright wandering in empty ayre,
Sends to my doubtful eares these speeches rare?"
Fairy Queen, book i. canto 2, st. 32.
"He show'd him painted in a table plain
The damned ghosts——"
"Nor damned ghosts cald up with mightie spels."
Epithalamion, st. 19.
Scene 2. Page 182.
Ham. Lady, shall I lie in your lap?
[Lying down at Ophelia's feet.]
Mr. Steevens has noticed the practice of lying at the feet of a mistress during dramatic representations; yet we are not to conclude that it prevailed at the public theatres. The instances which have occurred seem to be confined to entertainments at the houses of the nobility and gentry. These were plays, masques, masquerades, balls, concerts, &c. Many old pictures and engravings furnish examples of the above custom, the young men being often seen sitting or lying on the ground in conversation with their mistresses, and sometimes in Hamlet's situation. One of these shall be described more particularly. It is an extremely neat little print, belonging to a set designed to contrast the sufferings of Christ with the vanities of the world. The scene is a ball-room. In the background are the musicians and torch-bearers. In front a lady and gentleman are performing a dance before some standing spectators. In various parts of the room pairs of young gallants and their mistresses are seated on the floor, apparently more attentive to their own concerns than to the dancing; and one youth is sitting on the spread petticoat of his companion. The costume is French, and of the time of Louis the Thirteenth.
Scene 2. Page 198.
Ham. With two provencial roses on my razed shoes.