Queen. If it be,

Why feems it fo particular with thee?

Ham. Seems, Madam? nay, it is; I know not seems;
'Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother,
Nor cuftomary fuits of folemn Black,
Nor windy fufpiration of forc'd breath,
No, nor the fruitful river in the eye,
Nor the dejected 'haviour of the visage,
Together with all forms, moods, fhews of grief,
That can denote me truly. Thefe indeed feem,
For they are actions that a man might play;
But I have That within, which paffeth fhew:
Thefe, but the trappings, and the fuits of woe.
King. 'Tis fweet and commendable in your nature,
Hamlet,

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

2

To do obfequious forrow. But to perfevere 3 In obftinate condolement, is a course

your father loft a father; That father, his; and the far

vivir bound. Thus Mr. Pope judiciously corrected the faulty copies. On which the editor Mr. Theobald thus difcants; This fuppofed refinement is from Mr. Pope, but all the editions elfe, that I have met with, old and modern, read,

That father loft, loft his;The reduplication of which word bere gives an energy and an elegance WHICH IS MUCH EASIER TO BE CONCEIVED THAN EX

PLAINED IN TERMS. I believe fo: For when explained in terms

4

Of impious ftubbornness, unmanly grief.
It fhews a will most incorrect to heav'n,
A heart unfortify'd, a mind impatient,
An understanding fimple, and unfchool'd;
For, what we know muft be, and is as common
An any the moft vulgar thing to fenfe,
Why should we, in our peevish oppofition,
Take it to heart? Fie! 'tis a fault to heav'n,
A fault against the dead, a fault to nature,
s To Reafon moft abfurd; whofe common theam
Is death of fathers, and who ftill hath cry'd,
From the first coarfe, 'till he that died to day,
"This must be fo." 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 lefs nobility of love,

Than that which dearest father bears his fon,
7 Do I impart tow'rd you. For your intent
In going back to school to Wittenberg,
It is most retrograde to our defire;

And we beseech you, bend you to remain.
Here in the cheer and comfort of our eye,
Our chiefeft courtier, coufin, and our fon.

Queen. Let not thy mother lofe her prayers, Hamlet;
I pr'ythee, ftay with us, go not to Wittenberg.
Ham. I fhall in all my beft obey you, Madam.
King. Why, 'tis a loving, and a fair reply;

✦a will most incorrect-] Incorrect, for untutor❜d.

WARBURTON. 5 To Reafon moft abfurd;-] Reafon, for experience. WARB. Reafon is here ufed in its common fenfe, for the faculty by which we form conclufions from arguments.

tude.

6 And with no les nobility of love,] Nobility, for Magni. WARBURTON. Nobility is rather generfity." 7 Do I impart tow'rd you-] Impart, for profefs. WARD. I believe impart is, impart my felf, communicate whatever I can bestow.

Be

Be as ourself in Denmark. Madam, come;
This gentle and unforc'd accord of Hamlet
Sits fmiling to my heart, in grace whereof
No jocund health, that Denmark drinks to day,
But the great Cannon to the clouds shall tell,
And the King's rowse the heav'n fhall bruit again,
Re-fpeaking earthly thunder. Come, away. [Exeunt.

Ham. Oh, that this too too folid flesh would melt, Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew!

Or that the Everlafting had not fixt

His cannon 'gainft felf-flaughter! O God! O God;
How weary ftale, flat, and unprofitable
Seem to me all the uses of this world!
Fie on't! oh fie! 'tis an unweeded garden,

That grows to feed; things rank, and grofs in nature,
Poffels it merely. That it fhould come to this!
But two months dead! nay, not fo much; nor

two

1 So excellent a King, that was, to this,

8 Nojocundhealth.] The King's intemperance is very strongly impreffed; every thing that hap. pens to him gives him occafion to drink.

9 Or that the Everlafting had not fix'd

His cannon 'gain felf flaughter!] The generality of the e'itions read thus, as if the Poet's thought were, Or that the Almighty had not planted his artillery, or arms of vengeance, against

Hyperion

Hyperion to a Satyr; fo loving to my mother,
That he might not let e'en the winds of heav'n
Vifit her face too roughly. Heav'n and earth!
Muft I remember?

him,

why, fhe would hang on

As if Increase of Appetite had grown

By what it fed on; yet, within a month,

Let me not think-Frailty, thy name is Woman!
A little month! or ere thofe fhoes were old,
With which she followed my poor father's body,
Like Niobe, all tears-Why fhe, ev'n fhe,-

O heav'n! a beast, that wants difcourfe of reason, Would have mourn'd longer-, married with mine uncle

My father's brother; but no more like my father,

be a little far-fetch'd; but it has
an exquifite beauty. By the Sa-
tyr is meant Pan, as by Hyperion,
Apollo. Pan and Apollo were bro-
thers, and the allufion is to the
contention between those two
Gods for the preference in mufick.
WARBURTON.

2. In former editions,
That be permitted not the

winds of heav'n] This is a fophiftical reading, copied from the players in fome of the modern editions, for want of understanding the Poet, whofe text is corrupt in the old impreffions: All of which that I have had the fortune to fee, concur in reading;

So loving to my mother, That he might not betcene the winds of heav'n Vifit her face too roughly. Beteene is a corruption with out doubt, but not fo inveterate a one, but that, by the change

of a fingle letter, and the feparation of two words mistakenly jumbled together, I am verily perfuaded, I have retrieved the Poet's reading.-That he might not let e'en the winds of heav'n, &c. THEOBALD.

3 —a beaft, that wants dif

Course of reason.] This is finely expreffed, and with a philofophical exactnefs. Beafts want not reafon, but the difcourfe of reafon: i. e. the regular inferring one thing from another by the affiftance of universals.

WARBURTON.

Difcourfe of renfon, as the logicians name the third operation of the mind, is indeed a philofophical term, but it is fine no otherwife than as it is proper; it cost the authour nothing, being the common language of his time. Of finding fuch beauties in any poet there is no end.

Than

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Than I to Hercules. Within a month!-
Ere yet the falt of most unrighteous tears,
Had left the fufhing in her gauled eyes,
She married.-Oh, moft wicked speed, to poft
With fuch dexterity to incestuous sheets!
It is not, nor it cannot come to Good.

But break, my heart, for I must hold my tongue.

Enter Horatio, Bernardo, and Marcellus.

Hor. Hail to your Lordship!

Ham. I am glad to fee you well;

Horatio,or I do forget my felf?

Hor. The fame, my lord, and your poor fervant

ever.

Ham. Sir, my good friend; I'll change that name
with you;

And what make you from Wittenberg, Horatio?
Marcellus!

Mar. My good lord

Ham. I am very glad to fee you; good even, Sir.
But what, in faith, make you from Wittenberg?
Hor. A truant difpofition, good my lord.
Ham. I would not hear your enemy fay fo;
Nor fhall you do mine ear that violence,
To make it Trufter of your own report
Against yourself. I know, you are no truant;

4—what make gou- A familiar phrafe for what are you doing.

5 good even, Sir. ] So the copies. Sir Th. Hanmer and Dr. Wa burton put it, ond morn ing. The alteration is of no importance, but all licence is dan gerous. There is no need of any 2

change. Between the first and eighth fcene of this act it is ap parent that a natural day must pafs, and how much of it is already over, there is nothing that can determine. The King has held a council. It may now as well be evening as morning.

But