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Prince of Denmark had hidden gold and placed it under a charm, it was necessary, for his soul's quiet, to release it from the spell. (Illustrated by Steevens from Dekker's Knight's Conjuring.)

partisan. A long-handled spear with a blade having one or more lateral cutting projections.

cock. It was a tradition that at cock-crow spirits returned to their confines.

planets strike. The malignant aspects of planets, according to the pseudo-science of astrology, were supposed to be able to injure incautious travellers by night.

kin kind. I.e., more than his actual kinship and less than a natural relation. 'Kind' is here used equivocally for 'natural' and also for 'affectionate.' A proverbial expression occurring elsewhere in Elizabethan literature.

i' the sun. Probably Hamlet means he is too much in the unwelcome sunshine of the King's favor. The reply is purposely enigmatical. There is a quibble on 'sun' and 'son.'

Wittenberg. A famous German university, founded in 1502.

Hyperion. The Titanic sun god, but here used for Apollo.

Niobe. A daughter of Tantalus, who boasted that she had more sons and daughters than Leto. Consequently Apollo and Artemis slew her children with arrows, and she herself was turned by Zeus into a stone upon Mount Sipylus in Lydia, where she shed tears all the summer long.

forget myself. I.e., or I have lost the knowledge even of myself.

bak'd meats. It was an old custom to have a feast as part of the funeral ceremonies.

vast. It here means emptiness, the time when no living thing was seen.