Seek for thy noble father in the dust:

Thou know'st, 'tis common; all, that live, must

die,8

Passing through nature to eternity.

HAM. Ay, madam, it is common.
QUEEN.

Why seems it so particular with thee?

If it be,

HAM. Seems, madam! nay, it is; I know not

seems.

'Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother,
Nor customary suits of solemn black,
Nor windy suspiration of forc'd breath,
No, nor the fruitful river in the eye,
Nor the dejected haviour of the visage,
Together with all forms, modes, shows of grief,"
That can denote me truly: These, indeed, seem,
For they are actions that a man might play:
But I have that within, which passeth show;
These, but the trappings and the suits of woe.'
KING. 'Tis sweet and commendable in your na-
ture, Hamlet,

• Thou know'st, 'tis common; all, that live, must die,] Perhaps the semicolon placed in this line, is improper. The sense, elliptically expressed, is,―Thou knowest it is common that all that live, must die.-The first that is omitted for the sake of metre, a practice often followed by Shakspeare. STEEVENS.

9

shows of grief,] Thus the folio. The first quarto reads-chapes-I suppose, for shapes. STEEVENS.

1 But I have that within, which passeth show;

These, but the trappings and the suits of woe.] So, in King Richard II:

my grief lies all within ;

"And these external manners of lament

"Are merely shadows to the unseen grief

"That swells with silence in the tortur'd soul."

MALONE.

To give these mourning duties to your father:
But, you must know, your father lost a father;
That father lost, lost his; and the survivor bound
In filial obligation, for some term

To do obsequious sorrow: But to perséver
In obstinate condolement,* is a course

Of impious stubbornness; 'tis unmanly grief:
It shows a will most incorrect5 to heaven;

2

-your father lost a father;

That father lost, lost his;] Mr. Pope judiciously corrected the faulty copies thus:

your father lost a father;

That father, his ;—

_This sup

On which the editor Mr. Theobald thus descants:

posed refinement is from Mr. Pope, but all the editions else, that I have met with, old and modern, read :

That father lost, lost his ;

The reduplication of which word here gives an energy and an elegance, WHICH IS MUCH EASIER TO BE CONCEIVED THAN EXPLAINED IN TERMS. I believe so: for when explained in terms it comes to this:-That father after he had lost himself, lost his father. But the reading is ex fide codicis, and that is enough. WARBURTON.

I do not admire the repetition of the word, but it has so much of our author's manner, that I find no temptation to recede from the old copies. JOHNSON.

The meaning of the passage is no more than this,-Your father lost a father, i. e. your grandfather, which lost grandfather, also lost his father.

The metre, however, in my opinion, shows that Mr. Pope's correction should be adopted. The sense, though elliptically expressed, will still be the same. STEEVENS.

3

-obsequious sorrow:] Obsequious is here from obsequies, or funeral ceremonies. JOHNSON.

So, in Titus Andronicus:

"To shed obsequious tears upon his trunk.”

See Vol. XIV. p. 282, n. 4. STEEVENS.

* In obstinate condolement,] Condolement, for sorrow.

WARBURTON.

a will most incorrect-] Incorrect, for untutored.

WARBURTON.

6

A heart unfortified, or mind impatient;
An understanding simple and unschool'd.
For what, we know, must be, and is as common
As any the most vulgar thing to sense,
Why should we, in our peevish opposition,
Take it to heart? Fye! 'tis a fault to heaven,
A fault against the dead, a fault to nature,
To reason most absurd; whose common theme
Is death of fathers, and who still hath cried,
From the first corse, till he that died to-day,
This must be so. We pray you, throw to earth
This unprevailing woe; and think of us
As of a father: for let the world take note,
You are the most immediate to our throne;
And, with no less nobility of love,"

Than that which dearest father bears his son,
Do I impart toward you. For your intent

Incorrect does not mean untutored, as Warburton explains it but ill-regulated, not sufficiently subdued. M. MASON.

Not sufficiently regulated by a sense of duty and submission to the dispensations of Providence. MALONE.

• To reason most absurd;] Reason is here used in its common sense, for the faculty by which we form conclusions from arguments. JOHNSON.

And, with no less nobility of love,] Nobility, for magnitude
WARBURTON

Nobility is rather generosity. JOHNSON.

By nobility of love, Mr. Heath understands, eminence and distinction of love. MALONE.

So, afterwards, the Ghost, describing his affection for the Queen:

"To me, whose love was of that dignity," &c.

STEEVENS.

• Do I impart toward you.] I believe impart is, impart myself, communicate whatever I can bestow. JOHNSON.

The crown of Denmark was elective. So, in Syr Clyomon, Knight of the Golden Shield, &c, 1599:

In going back to school in Wittenberg,
It is most retrograde to our desire:

"And me possess for spoused wife, who in election am
"To have the crown of Denmark here, as heir unto the

same."

The King means, that as Hamlet stands the fairest chance to be next elected, he will strive with as much love to ensure the crown to him, as a father would show in the continuance of heirdom to a son. STEEVENS.

I agree with Mr. Steevens, that the crown of Denmark (as in most of the Gothick kingdoms) was elective, and not hereditary; though it must be customary, in elections, to pay some attention to the royal blood, which by degrees produced hereditary succession. Why then do the rest of the commentators so often treat Claudius as an usurper, who had deprived young Hamlet of his right by heirship to his father's crown? Hamlet calls him drunkard, murderer, and villain; one who had carried the election by low and mean practices; had—

had

"Popp'd in between the election and my hopes-."

"From a shelf the precious diadem stole,

"And put it in his pocket:"

but never hints at his being an usurper. His discontent arose from his uncle's being preferred before him, not from any legal right which he pretended to set up to the crown. Some regard was probably had to the recommendation of the preceding prince, in electing the successor. And therefore young Hamlet had "the voice of the king himself for his succession in Denmark ;" and he at his own death prophecies that "the election would light on Fortinbras, who had his dying voice," conceiving that by the death of his uncle, he himself had been king for an instant, and had therefore a right to recommend. When, in the fourth Act, the rabble wished to choose Laertes king, I understand that antiquity was forgot, and custom violated, by electing a new king in the life-time of the old one, and perhaps also by the calling in a stranger to the royal blood. BLACKSTONE.

9to school in Wittenberg,] In Shakspeare's time there was an university at Wittenberg, to which he has made Hamlet propose to return.

The university of Wittenberg was not founded till 1502, consequently did not exist in the time to which this play is referred. MALONE.

Our author may have derived his knowledge of this famous

And, we beseech you, bend you to remain1
Here, in the cheer and comfort of our eye,
Our chiefest courtier, cousin, and our son.

QUEEN. Let not thy mother lose her prayers,
Hamlet;

I pray thee, stay with us, go not to Wittenberg.
HAM. I shall in all my best obey you, madam.
KING. Why, 'tis a loving and a fair reply;
Be as ourself in Denmark.-Madam, come;
This gentle and unforc'd accord of Hamlet
Sits smiling to my heart:2 in grace whereof,
No jocund health, that Denmark drinks to-day,
But the great cannon to the clouds shall tell;
And the king's rouse the heaven shall bruit again,
Re-speaking earthly thunder. Come away.

[Exeunt King, Queen, Lords, &c. POLONIUS,
and LAERTES.

university from The Life of Iacke Wilton, 1594, or The History of Doctor Faustus, of whom the second report (printed in the same year) is said to be "written by an English gentleman, student at Wittenberg, an University of Germany in Saxony."

RITSON.

-bend you to remain] i. e. subdue your inclination to

go from hence, and remain, &c. STEEVENS.

Sits smiling to my heart:] Thus, the dying Lothario:
"That sweet revenge comes smiling to my thoughts.”

Sits smiling to my heart:] Surely it should be:
Sits smiling on my heart. RITSON.

STEEVENS.

To my heart, I believe, signifies-near to, close, next to, my heart. STEEVENS.

* No jocund health,] The King's intemperance is very strongly impressed; every thing that happens to him gives him occasion

to drink. JOHNSON.

✦ the king's rouse-] i. e. the King's draught of jollity. See Othello, Act II. sc. iii. STEEVENS.