TEXT:
HAMLET
Is not parchment made of sheepskins?
HORATIO
Ay, my lord, and of calf-skins too.
HAMLET
They are sheep and calves which seek out assurance
in that. I will speak to this fellow. Whose
grave's this, sirrah?
First Clown
Mine, sir.
Sings
O, a pit of clay for to be made
For such a guest is meet.
HAMLET
I think it be thine, indeed; for thou liest in't.
First Clown
You lie out on't, sir, and therefore it is not
yours: for my part, I do not lie in't, and yet it is mine.
HAMLET
'Thou dost lie in't, to be in't and say it is thine:
'tis for the dead, not for the quick; therefore thou liest.
First Clown
'Tis a quick lie, sir; 'twill away gain, from me to
you.
NOTES:
Parchment
Parchment is a catch-all word to cover various kinds of writing material made from dried-out (parched) animal products. Nowadays the more clinical (if rather unpleasant) ‘membrane’ is used for all such materials. There was a supposed inference that vellum was used for the fabric made from treated calf-skins, but it is quite difficult to distinguish what is sheep and what is calf; this is why the deliberately ambiguous catch-all ‘membrane’ is preferred.
Sirrah
Many episodes ago we discussed the difference between ‘thou’ and ‘you’ - each was used for particular kinds of interaction between particular levels of social class or relationship. Sirrah is another word that belongs in this category, since it automatically highlights the class difference between the speaker and the addressee. (If I say ‘sirrah’ to you, I’m putting myself above you. It isn’t automatically a put-down - as in this scene, Hamlet is by default the social superior of his subject and by extension, his employee.)