XIV. Act I. Scene 3. Page 355

The King, Queen, and Court, quitting the Stage, HAMLET remains, and makes a Soliloquy; beginning with this double Wish, either that his too folid Flesh would melt away into a Dew,

Or, that the Everlasting had not fixt

His CANNON 'gainst Self-flaughter.

There is a various Reading upon this Paffage, as Mr. Po PE might have obferv'd, which, in my Opinion, merits a Confideration, and, poffibly, may give us the Poet's own Words. If he wrote it as it now ftands, his Thought is, Or that the Almighty had not planted his Artillery, his Resentment, or Arms of Vengeance against Self-murther: But the Quarto Edition, published in 1703. (which, indeed, has no other Authority, than its profeffing to be printed from the Original Copy;) and the Impreffion of HAMLET fet out by Mr. Hughs, Both read,

Or that the Everlasting had not fixt
His CANON 'gainst Self-flaughter.

i. e. That he had not restrain'd Suicide by his exprefs Law, and peremptory Prohibition. It is a Word that SHAKESPEARE has ufed in fome others of his Plays; and the Mistake of the Printers is so very easy, betwixt a double and a fingle n, in Cannon and Canon, that it has actually happen'd elsewhere in our Author upon both these very Words.

CORIOLANUs, pag. 148.

Shall remain?

Hear you this Triton of the Minnows? mark you

His abfolute Shall?

Comin. 'Twas from the CANON.

Conjectural
Emendation

194329

i. e.

i. e. from the Mouth of the Law, as Mr. POPE rightly understands it; tho' the fecond Folio Edition has it corruptly, 'Twas from the Cannon. So again, on the other hand, twice in the fecond Act of King JOHN, the fecond Folio Edition has it 1;5

The Canons have their Bowels full of Wrath, &c.

And afterwards,

Their batt'ring Canon, charged to the Mouths, &c.

Tho' 'tis manifeft, in both Places, it ought to be Cannon, with a double n. I cannot help throwing in one Inftance more, because the Error has not only obtained in the old and common Modern Editions, but has likewise got a new Sanction in Mr. POPE's Edition.

TIMON, pag. 59.

Religious CANNONS, civil Laws are cruel,

Then what Should War be?

The Propagation of this Fault is manifeftly owing to the Negligence of Revifal; and all future Impreffions muft correct it, Religious Canons, &c. But to pafs from thefe Miftakes of the Prefs, there is another Passage in King JOHN, where the Poet ufes the Word Canon to fignify Decree or Ordinance, pag. 129.

The CANON of the Law is laid on him, &c.

So in CORIOLANUS, pag. 119, 120.

Where I find him, were it

At home, upon my Brother's Guard, even there
Against the hofpitable CANON would I

Wafh my fierce hand in's heart.

But befides that the Poet frequently employs the Terme, I have. two or three Reafons more which induce me to think, that, in this Place of HAMLET, he intended the Injunction, rather than

the

the Artillery of Heaven. In the first Place, I much doubt the Propriety of the Phrase, fixing Cannon, to carry the Meaning here fuppofed. The Military Expreffion, which imports what would be necessary to the Sense of the Poet's Thought, is, mounting or planting Cannon: And whenever Cannon is faid to be fix'd, it is when the Enemy become Masters of it, and nail it down. In the next Place, to fix a Canon or Law, is the Terme of the Civilians peculiar to this Bufinefs. This Virgil had in his Mind, when he wrote, Eneid VI.

Leges fixit pretio, atque refixit.

And it was the conftant Custom of the Romans to say, upon
this Occafion, figere legem; as the Greeks, before them, ufed the
Synonymous Term, .
παραπῆξαι. But my last Reason, and
which sways most with me, is from the Poet's own Turn and
Caft of Thought: For, as he has done in a great many more In-
stances, it is the very Sentiment which he falls into in another
of his Plays, tho' he has cloath'd it in different Expreffions.

After HAMLET has finifh'd the two before mentioned Wishes, False PointHe falls into this Defcant on the Groffness of the World, and ing, and vaon his Mother's hafty Marriage with his Uncle.

How weary, ftale, flat, and unprofitable []

Seem to me all the ufes of this world [?]

Fie on't! oh fie! 'tis an unweeded Garden []

That grows to Seed; things rank, and grofs in nature [ ]
Poffefs it meerly [] that it fhould come thus [.]

But two months dead! &c.

E

Befides

rious Read

ing.

Befides that the Hemistich that it should come thus,

is

very mean and bald, as well as very indifferent English; I think, the Editor ought to have taken Notice, that there is a various Reading of old Date; which I verily believe to be the true One, because it makes the Paffage much more elegant, and connective with what follows. The whole Paffage fhould be pointed, and ftand thus;

How weary, ftale, flat, and unprofitable,
Seem to me all the Ufes of this World!

Fie on't! oh, fie! 'Tis an unweeded Garden,

That grows to Seed: Things rank, and grofs in Nature,
Poffefs it meerly. --- That it should come to this! - - -
But Two Months dead! &c.

This is an Exclamation that our Poet makes his Lear, when in the Height of Agony for his Daughter's Ingratitude to him, ftopping fhort his Paffion, break into :

So likewife Cleopatra, when Anthony is rating and taxing her with Incontinence, for fuffering Cafar's Agent to kifs her hand, furprized at the Extremity of his Jealoufy, cries out, pag. 381.

Oh! Is't come to this?

So HAMLET, here, having made his general Reflexions upon the Groffness of the World, breaks into an Interjection of Surprize at once, and turns his Thoughts in particular upon his Mother's Conduct with Regard to her fecond Marriage: And fo proceeds gradually to the Confideration of her late Husband's

Tenderness

Emendation.

Tenderness to her, and a Comparifon betwixt him and her prefent Confort.

XVI. Ibid.

So excellent a king, that was, to this,
Hyperion to a Satyr: So loving to my Mother,
That he permitted not the winds of Heav'n
Visit her face too roughly,

Here, again, is a Passage in which we have a fophifticated Read-
ing, 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, read,

were

So loving to my Mother,

That he might not BETEENE the Winds of Heav'n
Vifit her Face too roughly.

'Tis true, there is no fuch Word in English, that I know of,
as beteene; and yet I am verily perfwaded, our Author's Words
fo very
like it, that it is only a Corruption from the Mif-
take of a fingle Letter, and two Words getting too close together.
See, how eafy a Change reftores you the Poet's own Words and
Meaning.