[Footnote 1: To be spoken triumphantly, but in the peculiar tone of one thinking, 'You little know what better news I have behind!']
[Footnote 2: I cannot tell which is the right reading; if the Q.'s, it means, 'I hold my duty precious as my soul, whether to my God or my king'; if the F.'s, it is a little confused by the attempt of Polonius to make a fine euphuistic speech:—'I hold my duty as I hold my soul,—both at the command of my God, one at the command of my king.']
[Footnote 3: the spring; the river-head
'The spring, the head, the fountain of your blood'
Macbeth, act ii. sc. 3.]
[Footnote 4: She goes a step farther than the king in accounting for Hamlet's misery—knows there is more cause of it yet, but hopes he does not know so much cause for misery as he might know.]
[Footnote 5: Either 'first' stands for first desire, or it is a noun, and the meaning of the phrase is, 'The instant we mentioned the matter'.]
[Footnote 6: 'borne in hand'—played with, taken advantage of.
'How you were borne in hand, how cross'd,'
Macbeth, act iii. sc. 1.]