And from her fair and unpolluted flesh

May violets fpring! -I tell thee, churlish prieft, Make up my fum.-WWhat wilt thou do for her?

Laer. Lay her i' the earth ;

Ham. I lov'd Ophelia; forty thousand brothers

Could not with all their quantity of love

King. O, he is mad, Laertes.

Qucen. For love of God, forbear him.

A miniftring angel shall my fifter be,

When thou lieft howling,

Ham. What, the fair Ophelia !

Queen. Sweets to the fweet: Farewel!

[Scattering flowers.

I hop'd, thou shouldst have been my Hamlet's wife;
I thought thy bride-bed to have deck'd, sweet maid,
And not have strew'd thy grave.

Laer. O, treble woe

Fall ten times treble on that cursed head,
Whose wicked deed thy moft ingenious fenfe
Depriv'd thee of!-Hold off the earth a while,
'Till I have caught her once more in mine arms :
[Laertes leaps into the grave.

Now pile your duft upon the quick and dead;
'Till of this flat a mountain you have made,
To o'er-top old Pelion, or the skyith head
Of blue Olympus.

Ham. [advancing] What is he, whose grief
Bears fuch an emphafis? whose phrafe of forrow
Conjures the wandring stars, and makes them stand
Like wonder-wounded hearers? this is 1,

Hamlet the Dane.

[Hamlet leaps into the grave.

Ham. Shew me what thou'lt do:

Woo't weep? woo't fight? woo't faft? woo't

tear thyfelf?

Woo't drink up Efil? eat a crocodile ?
I'll do't. Dost thou come here to whine ?
To out-face me with leaping in her grave?
Be buried quick with her, and fo will I:
And, if thou prate of mountains, let them throw
Millions of acres on us; 'till our ground,
Singeing his pate againft the burning zone,
Make Offa like a wart! Nay, an thou'lt mouth,
I'll rant as well as thou.

Queen. This is mere madness :
And thus a while the fit will work on him:
Anon, as patient as the female dove,
When that her golden couplets are difclos'd 2,
His filence will fit drooping.

Ham. Hear you, fir;
What is the reason that you use me thus?
I lov'd you ever: But it is no matter;
Let Hercules himself do what he may,
The cat will mew, and dog will have his day.

him.

[Exit.
King. I pray thee, good Horatio, wait upon
[Exit Hor.
Strengthen your patience in our last night's speech;
[To Laertes.

We'll put the matter to the prefent push.-
Good Gertrude, fet fome watch over your fon-
This grave shall have a living monument :
An hour of quiet shortly shall we fee;

'Till then in patience our proceeding be. [Exeunt,

Mr. Theobald comments on this passage thus: "This word has through all the editions been diftinguished by Italick characters, as if it were the proper name of fome river; and so, I dare fay, all the editors have from time to time understood it to be. But then this must be fome river in Denmark; and there is none there fo called; nor is there any near it in name, that I know of, but Yiffel, from which the province of Overyssel derives its title in the German Flanders. Besides, Hamlet is not propofing any impoffibilities to Laertes, as the drinking up a river would be: but he rather feems to mean, wilt thou refolve to do things the most shocking and distasteful to human nature? and, behold, I am as refolute. The poet wrote: Wilt drink up Eifel? eat a crocodile? i. e. wilt thoa swallow down large draughts of vinegar? The propofition, indeed, is not very grand: but the doing it might be as distasteful and unfavory, as eating the flesh of a crocodile." On this comment Mr. Steevens remarks as follows: "Hamlet certainly meant (for he says he will rant) to dare Laertes to attempt any thing, however difficult or unnatural; and might fafely promise to follow the example his antagonist was to fet, in draining the channel of a river, or trying his teeth on an animal whose scales are supposed to be impenetrable. Had Shakspeare meant to make Hamlet fay-Wilt thou drink vinegar? he probably would not have used the term drink up; which means totally to exhaust; neither is that challenge very magnificent, which only provokes an adverfary to hazard a fit of the heart-burn or the cholic. The commentator's Yffel would ferve Hamlet's turn or mine. In an old Latin account of Denmark and the neighbouring provinces I find the names of feveral rivers little differing from Efil, or Elfill, in fpelling or pronunciation. Such are the Effa, the Oerd, and fome others." 2 Mr.Steevens says, to difclose was anciently used for to hatch. To exclude is the tech nical term at present. During three days after the pigeon has hatched her couplets (for the lays no more than two eggs), the never quits her neft, except for a few moments in quest of a little food for her felf; as all her young require in that early state, is to be kept warm, an office which the never entrusts to

the male.

You

.

1

You do remember all the circumstance ?

Devis'd a new commission; wrote it fair:
Hor. Remember it, my lord!
I once did hold it, as our statists do,
Ham. Sir, in my heart there was a kind of A baseness to write fair, and labour'd much

There's a divinity that shapes our ends,
Rough-hew them how we will 2.

Hor. That is most certain.
Ham. Up from my cabin,

- My fea-gown scarfd about me, in the dark
Grop'd I to find out them had my defire;
Finger'd their packet; and, in fine, withdrew
To mine own room again: making fo bold,
My fears forgetting manners, to unfeal

■ Their grand commiftion; where I found, Horatio,
■A royal knavery; an exact command,-
■ Larded with many feveral forts of reafons,

Importing Denmark's health, and England's too,
With, ho! fuch bugs 3 and goblins in my life,
That, on the fupervize, no leifure bated 4,
No, not to ftay the grinding of the axe,

■My head fhould be ttruck off.

Hor. Is't poffible ?

Ham. Here's the commiffion; read it at more leifure

But wilt thou hear now how I did proceed?

Hor. Ay, 'befeech you.

Ham. 5 Being thus benetted round with villanies,

Ere I could make a prologue to my brains,
They had begun the play ;-I fat me down;

How to forget that learning; but, fir, now
It did me yeoman's service 7: Wilt thou know
The effect of what I wrote ?

Hor. Ay, good my lord.

Ham. An earneft conjuration from the king,
As England was his faithful tributary;
As love between then) like the palm might flourish,
As peace should ftill her wheaten garland wear,
And itand a comma & 'tween their amities;
And many fuch-like as's of great charge,-
That on the view and knowing of these contents,
Without debatement further, more, or less,
He should the bearers put to fudden death,
Not shriving time allow'd.

Hor. How was this feal'd ?

Ham. Why, even in that was heaven ordinant;
I had my father's fignet in my purse,
Which was the model of that Danish feal:
Folded the writ up in form of the other;
Subscrib'd it; gave 't the impression; plac'd it fafely;
The changeling 9 never known: Now, the next
day

Was our fea-fight; and what to this was fequent
Thou know it already.

Hor. So Guildenstern and Rosencrantz go to 't.
Ham. Why, man, they did make love to this
employment;

They are not near my confcience; their defeat
Doth by their own infinuation 10 grow
'Tis dangerous, when the baser nature comes
Between the pass and fell incenfed points
Of mighty oppofites.

1 Mutines, the French word for feditious or difobedient fellows in an army or fleet. Bilboes, the Ship's prifon. Mr. Steevens adds, that "the bilboes is a bar of iron with fetters annexed to it, by which inutinous or diforderly failors were anciently linked together. The word is derived from Bilboa, a place in Spain where inftruments of steel were fabricated in the utmost perfection. To urderstand Shakspeare's allusion completely, it should be known, that as these fetters connect the legs of the offenders very close together, their attempts to rest must be as fruitless as those of Hamlet, in whose mind there was a kind of fighting that would not let him fleep. Every motion of one must dilturb This partner in confinement. 2 Dr. Johnfon comments on this paffage thus: "Hamlet delivering an account of his efcape, begins with faying, That he rafhly-and then is carried into a reflection upon the weakness of human wisdom. I rafhly-praised be rashness for it-Let us not think these events cafual; but let us know, that is, take notice and remember, that we sometimes fucceed by indifcretion, when we fail by deep plots, and infer the perpetual fuperintendance and agency of the Divi nity. The obfervation is juft, and will be allowed by every human being who shall reflect on the course of his own life." 3 A bug was no lefs a terrific being than a goblin. We call it at present a bugbear. 4 Bated, for allowed. To abate fignifies to deduct; this deduction, when applied to the perfon in whose favour it is made, is called an allowance. Hence our author takes the liberty of ufing bated for allowed. 5 Dr. Johnfon explains the following lines thus: "Hamlet is telling how luckily every thing fell out; he groped out their commiffion in the dark without waking them; he found himself doomed to immediate destruction. Something was to be done for his prefervation. An expedient occurred, not produced by the comparison of one method with another, or by a regular deduction of confequences, but before he could make a prologue to his brains, they had begun the play. Before he could fummon his faculties, and propose to himself what should be done, a complete scheme of action presented itself to him. His mind operated before he had excited it."

A

ftatist is a statesman. 7 i. e. did me eminent service. 8 Dr. Johnfon explains this expreffion thus: " The comma is the note of connection and continuity of fentences; the period is the note of abruption and disjunction. Shakspeare had it perhaps in his mind to write, That unless England complied with the mandate, war should put a period to their amity; he altered his mode of diction, and thought that, in an opposite sense, he might put, that Peace should ftand a comma between their amities" This (he adds) is not an easy stile; but is it not the stile of Shakspeare ?" 9 A changeling is a child which the fairies are fuppofed to leave in the room of that which they fsteal. to Inhauation, for corruptly obtruding themfelves into his fervice.

Hor. It must be shortly known to him from
What is the iffue of the business there.

Ham. It will be short: the interim is mine;
And a man's life's no more than to fay, one.
But I am very forry, good Horatio,
That to Laertes I forgot myself;

For, by the image of my cause, I fee

The portraiture of his: I'll count his favours 2 :
But, fure, the bravery of his grief did put me
Into a towering paffion.

Hor. Peace; who comes here?
Enter Ofrick.

Ofr. Your lordship is right welcome back to
Denmark.

Ham. I humbly thank you, fir. Doft know
this water-fly 3 ?

Hor. No, my good lord.

Ham. Thy ftate is the more gracious: for 'tis a vice to know him: He hath much land, and fertile: let a beaft be lord of beafts, and his crib fhall stand at the king's mess: 'Tis a chough 4; but, as I fay, fpacious in the poffeffion of dirt.

Ofr. Sweet lord, if your lordship were at leifure, I should impart a thing to you from his majefty.

Ham. I will receive it, fir, with all diligence of fpirit: Put your bonnet to his right use; 'tis for the head.

Ofr. I thank your lordship, 'tis very hot. Ham. No, believe me, 'tis very cold; the wind is northerly.

Ofr. It is indifferent cold, my lord, indeed. *Ham. But yet, methinks, it is very fultry and hot; or my complexion

Ofr. Exceedingly, my lord; it is very fultry,as 'twere, I cannot tell how. My lord, his majesty bade me fignify to you, that he has laid al

great wager on your head: Sir, this is the matter, Ham. I beseech you, remember

[Hamkt moves bim to put on bis bat.

Ofr. Nay, good my lord; for my cafe, in good faith. Sir, here is newly come to court, Laertes: believe me, an abfolute gentleman, full of mott excellent differences 5, of very foft fociety, and great shewing: Indeed, to speak feelingly of him, he is the card or calendar of gentry 6; for you shall find in him the continent of what part a gentleman would fee 7.

Ham. & Sir, his definement fuffers no perdition in you-though, I know, to divide him inventorially, would dizzy the arithmetic of memory; and yet but raw neither, in respect of his quick fail 9. But, in the verity of extolment, I take him to be a foul of great article; and his infufion of fach dearth and rareness, as, to make true diction of him, his semblable is his mirrour; and, who eife would trace him, his umbrage, nothing more.

Ofr. Your lordship speaks molt infallibly of him.
Ham. The concernancy, fir? why do we wrap

the gentleman in our more rawer breath ?
Ofr. Sir.

Hor. Is 't not poffible to understand in another tongue? You will do 't, fir, really.

Ham. What imports the nomination of this gentleman ?

Ofr. Of Laertes ?

Hor. His purfe is empty already; all 's goldea

words are spent.

Ham. Of him, fir.

Ofr. I know, you are not ignorant-
Ham. I would, you did, fir; yet, in faith, if you
did, it would not much approve 10 me:-Well, fir.
Ofr. You are not ignorant of what excellence
Laertes is.

Ham. I dare not confefs that, left I should compare with him in excellence; but, to know a man well, were to know himself.

Ofr. I mean, fir, for his weapon; but in the imputation laid on him by them, in his meed he's unfellow'd.

Ham. What 's his weapon ?
Ofr. Rapier and dagger.

Ham. That 's two of his weapons: but, well.
Ofr. The king, fir, hath wager'd with him fix
Barbary horfes: against the which he has impon'd12,

I i. e. to requite him; to pay him his due. 2 Or, I will make account of them, i. e, reckon upon them, value them. 3 A water-fly skips up and down upon the furface of the water, without any apparent purpose or reafon, and is thence the proper emblem of a busy trifler. 4 A kind of jackdaw. 5 i. e. full of diftinguishing excellencies. i. c. the general preceptor of elegance; the card by which a gentleman is to direct his course; the calendar by which he is to choose his time, that what he does may be both excellent and feafonable. 7 i. e. You shall find him containing and comprifing every quality which a gentleman would defire to contemplate for imitation. 8 Dr. Warburton fays, this is defigned as a fpecimen and ridicule of the court-jargon amongst the precieux of that time. The fenfe in English is, "Sir, he fuffers nothing in your account of him, though to enumerate his good qualities particularly wou'd be endless; yet when we had done our best, it would still come short of him. However, in ftrictness of truth, he is a great genius, and of a character lo rarely to be met with, that to find any thing like him we must look into his mirrour, and his initators will appear no more than his shadows." 9 Raw fignifies unripe, immature, thence unformed, imperfect, unskilful. The best account of him would be imperfett, in respect of his quick fail. The phrafe quick fail was, I suppose, a proverbial term for aftitity of mind. 10 To apprave, is to recommend to approbation. 11. e. in his excellence. 12 Dr. Johnfon conjectures that imponed is pledged, impawned, fo fpelt to ridicule the affectation of uttering English words with French pronunciation.

3

as I take it, fix French rapiers and poniards, with their atligns, as girdle, hangers, and fo: Three of the carriages, in faith, are very dear to fancy, very refponfive to the hilts, most delicate carriages, and of very liberal conceit.

Ham. What call you the carriages ?

Hou. I knew, you must be edified by the margent, ere you had done.

Of. The carriages, fir, are the hangers.

Enter a Lord.

Lord. My lord, his majity commended him to you by young Ofrick, who brings back to him, that you attend him in the hall: he fends to know, if your pleasure hold to play with Laertes, or that you will take longer ti re.

Ham. I am conftant to my purposes, they follow the king's pleasure: if his fitness speaks, mine is ready; now, or whenfoever, provided I be fo able as now.

Lord. The king, and queen, and all, are coming down. Ham. In happy time.

Ham. The phrafe would be more germane 2 to the matter, if we could carry a capnon by our fides: I would, it might be hangers 'till then. But, on: Six Barbary horfes against fix French fwords, their affigns, and three liberal-conceited carriages; that's the French bett against the tle entertainment to Laertes, before you fall to

Danish: Why is this impon'd, as you call it ?

Of. The king, fir, hath lay'd, that in a dozen pafles between yourself and him, he shall not exceed you three hits: he hath lay'd on twelve for nine; and it would come to immediate trial, if your lordship would vouchsafe the answer.

Ham. How if I answer, no?

Ofr. I mean, my lord, the oppofition of your perfon in trial.

Ham. Sir, I will walk here in the hall: If it please his majefty, it is the breathing time of day with me; let the foils be brought the gentleman willing, and the king hold his purpose, I will win for him, if 1 can; if not, I will gain nothing but my thame, and the odd hits.

Ofr. Shall I deliver you fo?

Ham. To this effect, fir; after what flourish your nature will.

Ofr. I commend my duty to your lordship. [Exit, Ham. Yours, yours. He does well, to commend it himself; there are no tongues else for 's

turn.

Hor. This lapwing runs away with the fhell on his head 3.

Ham. He did compliment with his dug, before he fuck'd it. Thus has he (and many more of the fame breed, that, I know, the droffy age dotes on) only got the tune of the time, and outward habit of encounter; a kind of yesty collection, which carries them through and through the most fond and winnowed opinions; and do but blow them to their trial, the bubbles are out 5.

Lord. The queen defires you to use fome gen

play.

[Exit Lord.

Ham, She well instructs me. Hor. You will lofe this wager, my lord. Ham. I do not think fo; fince he went into France, I have been in continual practice; I shall win at the odds 7. But thou would'ft not think, how ill all's here about my heart: but it is no matter.

Hor. Nay, good my lord,

Ham. It is but foolery; but it is such a kind of gain-giving, as would, perhaps, trouble a woman.

Hor. If your mind diflike any thing, obey it: I will forestall their repair hither, and fay you are

not fit.

Hom. Not a whit, we defy augury; there is a special providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be now, 'tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come: the readiness is all: Since no man knows aught of what he leaves, what is't to leave betimes 9 ?

Let be.

Enter King, Queen, Laertes, Lords, Ofrick, and attendants with foils, &c.

King. Come, Hamlet, come, and take this

hand from me.

[The King puts the band of Laertes into that of Hamlet.

Ham. Give me your pardon, fir: I have done
you wrong;

But pardon it, as you are a gentleman.
This prefence knows, and you must needs have heard,

6 i. e. mild and tem

I Dr. Warburton very properly obferves, that in the old books the glofs or comment was usually 2 More a-kin. 3 The meaning, Mr. Steevens believes, printed on the nargent of the leaf. 4 The meaning is, "These men have got the cant of the day, a is-This is a forward Yellow. fuperficial readiness of flight and curfory converfation, a kind of frothy collection of fashionable prattle, which yet carries them through the most select and approved judgments. This airy facility 5 i. e. Thefe men of show, without folidity, are like of talk fometimes impofes upon wife men." bubbles raifed from foap and water, which dance, and glitter, and please the eye, but if you extend them, by blowing hard, feparate into a milt; fo if you oblige these specious talkers to extend their compafs of conversation, they at once discover the tenuity of their intelleets. 7 Hamlet means to say, I shall fucceed with the advantage which I ana 8 Gain-giving is the fame as mifperate converfation. allowed, I shall make more than nine hits for Laertes' twelve. "Since no man knows aught of the giving. 9 Dr. Johnfon comments on this paffage thus: ftate of life which he leaves, fince he cannot judge what other years may produce, why should he be afraid of leaving life betimes? Why should he dread an early death, of which he cannottell whether it is an exclufion of happiness, or an interception of calamity? I defpife the fuperftition of augury and omens, which has no ground in reason or piety; my comfort is, that I cannot fall but by the direction of Providence."

How

■ A floup is a flaggon, or bowl. 2 An union is the finest fort of pearl, and has its place in all crowns and coronets. 3 Under pretence of throwing a pearl into the cup, the king may be fuppofed to drop fome poifonous drug into the wine. Hamlet seems to fufpect this, when he afterwards discovers the effects of the poifon, and tauntingly asks him,- Is the union here? was a man feeble and effeminate.