341 in its Circumstances, is bad enough, but that the Murther of him was ftrangely unnatural; HAMLET, impatient to be told the whole Story, fays thus: Hafte me to know, that I with wings as fwift As meditation or the thoughts of love, May SWEEP to my Revenge. any HAMLET makes use of the Metaphor here of a Bird ufing it's Wings fwiftly, to exprefs his Speed in the purfuit of his Revenge. "Tis true, to sweep may carry the Senfe of gliding Smoothly, and fwiftly along; (generally, along the Surface of thing;) but I don't remember the Word ever employ'd to fignify the Action of a Bird in the Circumftances of pursuing its Prey; that is, of moving its Wings impetuously for that Purpose. In Falconry, a Hawk is faid to fweep, when the wipes her Beak after the has fed. But I obferve that our Poet, for the most Part, ufes the Word in the plain and natural Senfe, of clearing, brushing away, or trailing on the Earth. So, Second Part of HENRY VI. pag. 171. Thy Lips, that kifs'd the Queen, shall sweep the Ground. HENRY VIII. pag. 541. Pray, Sir, be patient. 'Tis as much impoffible, (Unless we swept them from the Door with Cannons.) To scatter 'em, as 'tis to make them fleep On May-day Morning, &c. ANTHONY and CLEOPATRA, pag. 373. Friends, be gone; you fhall Have Letters from me to fome Friends, that will Sweep your way for you. MACBETH MACBETH, pag. 553. And tho' I could With bare-fac'd Power fweep him from my Sight. He ufes it once, I think, to defcribe the fmooth March of a Body of Soldiers in gallant Array, and coming timely to the Succour of their Party Third Part of HENRY VI. pag. 297. And, lo! where George of Clarence SWEEPS along, Of Force enough to bid his Brother Battle. But in none of these Places, or elsewhere that I know, is it connected with the Metaphor of Wings, or introduced to denote the fwift and furious Defcent of any Fowl at its Prey, or Enemy. I had almoft forgot to take Notice, that fome of the Editors of this Play seem to have fufpected the Propriety of this Word here, by a Change which they have made of it: for both the Quarto Edition of 1703, and Mr. HUGHS's, have fubftituted in its Place May fly to my Revenge, But to proceed to my own Conjecture: There is another Word, indeed, so very near it in Sound and Writing, and fo peculiar to the Business of a Bird falling on its Prey, that, perhaps, the Poet might have wrote : Hafte me to know, that I, with Wings as fwift As Meditation or the Thoughts of Love, May SWOOP to my Revenge. I entirely fubmit this Conjecture to Judgment; but I am fure it is the very Phrafe of our Poet upon an Occafion of the like kind. MACBETH having murthered the Wife and Children of MACDUFF, the latter, upon Notice of it, falls into these mixt Exclamations of Tenderness and Refentment. Pag. 583. Various Reading, and Einendations. Did you fay, All? What, All? O Hell-kite! What? What all my pretty Chickens, and their Dam, At one fell SWOOP? And to fwoop, among Fowlers, is to fly down haftily, and catch up with the Talons, as Birds of Prey do: An Action which, I humbly conceive, our Author intended to allude to, in the vehement Resentment and Defire of Revenge, with which he inflames his HAMLET. XXXII. Ibid. Page 370. THE Ghost of HAMLET's Father, having recounted to him the Process of his Murther, proceeds to exaggerate the Inhumanity and Unnaturalness of the Fact, from the Circumstances in which he was furprized. Thus was I fleeping, by a brother's hand, Of life, of crown, of Queen at once dispatcht; †UNHOUZZLED, †UNANOINTED, † unanel'd; No reck'ning made, but sent to my account With all my imperfections on my head. To which three Words Mr POPE has fubjoined this Glofs: † unhouzzled, without the Sacrament being taken. tunanel'd, no knell rung. I am very much afraid (and as apt to believe I fhall prove it, to the Satisfaction of every Judge, before this Note is ended;) that this Passage is neither rightly read, nor, as it is read, rightly explained, throughout. In the first Place, inftead of unhouzzled it ought to be restor'd --- unhousel'd; from the old Saxon Word Word for the Sacrament, hufel. So our Etymologifts and Chaucer write it; and Spencer, accordingly, calls the Sacramental Fire, boufling Fire. This, however, is but a trivial Slip, in comparifon with the next that offers it felf. I don't pretend to know what Gloffaries Mr. POPE may have confulted, and trufts to; but whofe foever they are, I am fure their Comment is very fingular upon the Word I am about to mention. I cannot find any Authority to countenance unaneal'd in fignifying, no Knell rung. This is, if I mistake not, what the Greeks were used to call an aπağ λeyóμevor, an Interpretation that never was used but once. Nor, indeed, can I fee how this participial Adjective fhould be formed from the Subftantive Knell. It could not poffibly throw out the k, or receive in the a. İnftance in our Poet himself, where the participial the Verb fimple from this Subftantive retains the Mr. POPE writes it there. MACBETH, pag. 598. Had I as many Sons as I have Hairs, I would not wish them to a fairer Death; We have an Adjective of ; and fo The Compound Adjective, therefore, from that Derivation muft have been written, unknell'd; (or, unknoll'd;) a Word which will by no Means fill up the Poet's Verfe, were there no stronger Reasons to except against it; as it unluckily happens, there are. Let us fee what Senfe the Word unanel'd then bears. SKINNER, in his Lexicon of Old and Obfolete ENGLISH Terms, tell us, that Anealed is unctus; a Præp. Teut: An, and Ole Oleum: so that unanealed must consequently fignify, Not being anointed, or, not having the extream Unction. But what muft we then do with the Word, immediately preceding it, unanointed? For, the Addition of it is fuch a manifest and absurd Tautology, as SHAKESPEARE could not be guilty of. We must therefore have Recourse to the Various Readings, and fee if any printed Copies will help The Second Edition in Folio, the Quarto in 1637. the us out. HAM Hamlet revised by Mr. Hughs, and feveral other Impreffions, all read, instead of unanointed, DISAPPOINTED, unanel'd; as I verily believe it ought to be read. Now, the Word Appoint, among other Significations, has that of compofing, reconciling : and the Word Disappointed confequently means, unreconcil'd to Heaven, unabfolv'd, and no Appointment of Penance or Atonement made for Sin; a Work of the utmost Concern and Moment to a dying Perfon. And our Poet, I remember, in another of his Plays, as Othello is at the very Point of killing his Wife upon Sufpicion of Adultery, makes him exhort her thus: OTHELLO, pag. 587. If you bethink your felf of any Crime Unreconcil'd as yet to Heav'n and Grace, But it happens very luckily too, in Support of the Old Reading which is necessary to be reftor'd here, that the Poet has again, in another Play, made use of Appointment in this very_Senfe of Reconciliation. In MEASURE for MEASURE, Claudio is fentenced to die for having debauched a Maiden, and his Sifter brings him Word, That his Execution is to be inftant; therefore bids him prepare his Self-examination, and to make his Peace with Heaven with all Speed. MEASURE for MEASURE, pag. 361: Ifab. Lord Angelo, having Affairs to Heav'n, Intends you for his fwift Ambassador; Where you fhall be an everlasting Leiger. Therefore your best APPOINTMENT make with Speed; So |