Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1908-01-25
! NOTE ON SHAKESPEARE.

word rouse, iht"~ie''''0'
,i. which occurs four times in
.ooare. has not been satisfactor-
=, explained by the annotators or in
o.t Of he dictionaries. The word is
anon in all Scandinavian languages
!, i the form rus, which means a car
6t of intoxication. For ex-
.,oIa in Danish. at fa.ge aig en- rus
- ot faa sig en- rus, to indulge in a
,nree. at sove ruSen nd, to sleep off
..o,s debauch, sleep oneself sober.
Tho word must have been borrowed
...r, tbe Danish, as pointed out by
cheat in whose chronological Diction-
:, 4 is correctly explained. In the
..hor dictionaries, except the Shakes
.oorian. youse is defined as meaning a
,n,ner though Webster adds "a
,.;nking frolic. Schmidt in his
choLosneare Lexicon defines the word
:. ..free and copious drinking; full
,,easure of liquor - and Phin in his
cbokespeare Cyclopaedia and New
Glossary. as "a bumper; a copious
draft of liquor. referring to Hamlet,
. 1877. /. A. g., and Othlelo, IL. 3.
CO. and as "a carouse drinking
soast !" referring to Hamlet, II. l. So.
Tho annotators almost invariably ex-
rjaiu the word as meaning simply
hummer. yet in Shakespeare it evil
IDENTIFY means the same as in the Ian
guage from which it was borrowed, at
least in three of the four passages.
These passages are the following
Hamlet, |. g 1877. and the Kings
rouse the heavens shall bruit again; :"
Hamlet l. 4. g. "The King doth wake
tonight and takes his rouse" Hamlet,
H. l. So, "There he was gaming,
there o ertook in S rouse and Othello,
II. 8. &c. "Fore God, they have given
me a rouse already. -
In all these cases Professor Rolfe
explains T0HSe as meaning a bumper,
though in the last case he adds ''too
deep draft Professor Dowden in
his edition of Hamlet makes it bumper
in all the four cases.
In DR.. Furness's Variorum Edition,
where one naturally looks for the best
criticism on all Shakesperian ques-
tons, there is no intimation that the
editor has perceived the true explana-
ton Under the first case DR.. Furness
quotes Wedgwood S Anticipated etymol-
Ogy. but does not hint what he thinks
the word may mean. Under the sec
ond he quotes Gifford's definition of
rouse as meaning "a large glass in
which health was given" On
'o'ertook ms rouse" he quotes from
Clarendon "That is, by intoxication.
One of the many euphemisms for
drink, which is the nearest to the
truth of all his notes, quoted or orig
inal. Under the passage in Othello
he again quotes Gifford's definition.
Phin, Schmidt, and Skeat, whose ex-
PLANTATION is the best. are not even
mentioned. 1t seems as if Gifford's
definition had fixed the matter for all
time both as regards the annotators
and most of the photographers, or as
If they did not dare to express any
opinion of their own. And yet this
explanation is manifestly wrong so far
as the passages in Shakespeare are
concerned, however much the word
elsewhere may have the meaning of
bumper.
In the first passage. "And in the
King rouse the heavens shall bruit
again. avery little thought will con-
vince the reader that it is not the
Mig $ bumper that is to be bruited.
out his draining of it. or rather his
uflnklng or getting drunk, without
reference to single bumper. for we
must suppose him to drain several at
sttlng. In the second, "The king
uO'n wake tonight and takes his
rouse, it is absurd on the face of it
:" suggest that the king is spending
"e night IN emptying one bumper.
0"e minute would seem to be more