previous next

sables — “Let the devil wear black, for I'll have a suit of,” HAMLET, iii. 2. 125. This passage has not a little troubled the commentators. Malone paraphrases it thus: “If my father be so long dead as you say, let the Devil wear black; as for me, so far from wearing a mourning dress, I'll wear the most costly and magnificent suit that can be procured, a suit trimmed with sables” (Capell had already remarked that“Hamlet's saying he would have a suit of sables, amounts to a declaration— that he would leave off his blacks since his father was so long dead” ). According to Farmer,“Here again is an equivoque. In Massinger's [Middleton's, and W. Rowley's] Old Law [act ii. sc. 1] we have
‘a cunning grief,
That's only fac'd with sables for a show,
But gawdy-hearted.’;”

hide Dictionary Entry Lookup
Use this tool to search for dictionary entries in all lexica.
Search for in
hide Display Preferences
Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar: