mong others, the
swallowing of some nauseous potion was one of the most frequent. Hence,
in the above passage, some bitter potion is evidently meant, which it
was a penance to drink. Some are of opinion that _wormwood_ is alluded
to; and Mr. Singer thinks it probable that "the propoma called
absinthites, a nauseously bitter medicament then much in use, may have
been in the poet's mind, to drink up a quantity of which would be an
extreme pass of amorous demonstration." It has been suggested by a
correspondent of "Notes and Queries,"[636] that the reference in this
passage from "Hamlet" is to a Lake Esyl, which figures in Scandinavian
legends. Messrs. Wright and Clark, however, in their "Notes to Hamlet"
(1876, p. 218), say that they have consulted Mr. Magnusson on this
point, and he writes as follows: "No such lake as Esyl is known to Norse
mythology and folk-lore." Steevens supposes it to be the river
Yssell.[637]

[636] See 4th series, vol. x. pp. 108, 150, 229, 282, 356.

[637] See Dyce's "Shakespeare," vol. vii. p. 239.

_Water-casting._ The fanciful notion of recognizing diseases by the mere
inspection of the urine was denounced years ago, by an old statute of
the College of Physicians, as belonging to tricksters and impostors, and
any member of the college was forbidden to give advice by this so-called
"water-casting" without he also saw the patient. The statute of the
college runs as follows: "Statuimus, et ordinamus, ut nemo, sive socius,
sive candidatus, sive permissus consilii quidquam impertiat
veteratoriis, et impostoribus, super urinarum nuda inspectione, nisi
simul ad aegrum vocetur, ut ibidem, pro re natu, idonea medicamenta ab
honesto aliquo pharmacopoea componenda praescribat." An allusion to this
vulgar error occurs in the "Two Gentlemen of Verona" (ii. 1), where,
after Speed has given to Valentine his amusing description of a lover,
in which, among other signs, are "to walk alone, like one that had the
pestilence," and "to fast, like one that takes diet," the following
quibble takes place upon the within and the without of the symptoms:

"_Valentine._ Are all these things perceived in me?

_Speed._ They are all perceived without ye.

_Valentine._ Without me? they cannot.

_Speed._ Without you? nay, that's certain; for, without you
were so simple, none else would: but you are so without these
follies, that these follies are within you, and shine through
you li