They clepe us, drunkards, and with swinish phrase From our achievements, though perform'd at height, That, for some vicious mole of nature in them, Oft breaking down the pales and forts of reason; Shall in the general censure take corruption Enter Ghost. Hor. Look, my lord, it comes! 1 The pith and marrow of our attribute.] The most valuable part of the praise that would be otherwise attributed to us. 2 complexion,] i. e. humour; as sanguine, melancholy, phlegmatick, &c. that too much o'er-leavens The form of plausive manners;] That intermingles too much with their manners; infects and corrupts them. Plausive, in our poet's age, signified gracious, pleasing, popular. -fortune's star,] The word star in the text signifies a scar of that appearance. It is a term of farriery: the white star or mark so common on the forehead of a dark coloured horse, is usually produced by making a scar on the place. RITSON. 5 As infinite as man may undergo,)] As large as can be accumulated upon man. often dout,] To dout, signified in Shakspeare's time, and yet signifies in Devonshire and other western counties, to do out, to efface, to extinguish. Ham. Angels and ministers of grace defend us!- Thou com'st in such a questionable shape," With thoughts beyond the reaches of our souls? 7 questionable shape,] Questionable means here propitious to conversation, easy and willing to be conversed with. 8 tell, Why thy canoniz'd bones, hearsed in death, Have burst their cerements!] Hamlet, amazed at an apparition, which, though in all ages credited, has in all ages been considered as the most wonderful and most dreadful operation of supernatural agency, enquires of the spectre, in the most emphatick terms, why he breaks the order of nature, by returning from the dead; this he asks in a very confused circumlocution, confounding in his fright the soul and body. Why, says he, have thy bones, which with due ceremonies have been entombed in death, in the common state of departed mortals, burst the folds in which they were embalmed? Why has the tomb, in which we saw thee quietly laid, opened his mouth, that mouth which, by its weight and stability, seemed closed for ever? The whole sentence is this: Why dost thou appear, whom we know to be dead? JOHNSON. 9 in complete steel,] It is probable, that Shakspeare introduced his Ghost in armour, that it might appear more solemn by such a discrimination from the other characters: though it was really the custom of the Danish kings to be buried in that manner, to shake our disposition,] Disposition for frame. I Hor. It beckons you to go away with it, As if it some impartment did desire To you alone. Mar. It waves you to a more removed ground:" Look, with what courteous action No, by no means. But do not go with it. Hor. Ham. It will not speak; then I will follow it. Hor. Do not, my lord. Ham. Why, what should be the fear? I do not set my life at a pin's fee;3 And, for my soul, what can it do to that, It waves me forth again;-I'll follow it. Hor. What, if it tempt you toward the flood, my lord, Or to the dreadful summit of the cliff, That beetles o'er his base into the sea? Ham. Go on, I'll follow thee. 3 It waves me still : Mar. You shall not go, my lord. a more removed ground:] i. e. remote. 4 That beetles o'er his base-] That hangs o'er his base, like what is called a beetle brow. A verb probably of our author's coinage. 5 deprive your sovereignty of reason,] i. e. your ruling power of reason. When poets wish to invest any quality or virtue with uncommon splendour, they do it by some allusion to regal eminence. 6 puts toys of desperation,] Toys, for whims. |