Ham. How strangely?[7]
Clo. Faith e'ene with loosing his wits.
Ham. Vpon what ground?
Clo. Why heere in Denmarke[8]: I haue bin sixeteene [Sidenote: Sexten] [Sidenote: 142-3] heere, man and Boy thirty yeares.[9]
Ham. How long will a man lie 'ith' earth ere he rot?
Clo. Ifaith, if he be not rotten before he die (as [Sidenote: Fayth if a be not | a die] we haue many pocky Coarses now adaies, that will [Sidenote: corses, that will] scarce hold the laying in) he will last you some [Sidenote: a will] eight yeare, or nine yeare. A Tanner will last you nine yeare.
[Footnote 1: 'How the knave insists on precision!']
[Footnote 2: chart: Skeat's Etym. Dict.]
[Footnote 3: Can this indicate any point in the history of English society?]
[Footnote 4: so fastidious; so given to picking and choosing; so choice.]