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Out of his Lunacies.

Gail. We will ang sắt wad of provide ourselves;

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Moft holy and religious fear it is
To keep those many, hiány Bodies, fare,

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That live and feed upon your Majefty

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Rof: The fingle and peculiar life is bound, peculiar life is With all the ftrength and armour of the mind, To keep itself from noyance, but much more, That.ipirit, on whofe weal depends and refts The lives of many. The ceafe of Majelty v Dies not alone, but, like a gulf, doth draw What's near it with it. It's a mafly wheelford A Fixt on the fummit of the higheft mount, To whofe huge spokes ten thousand leffer things yM Are mortiz'd and adjoin'd; which, when it falls, bn A Each small annexment, petty confequence, Left I Attends the boiftrous ruin. Ne'er alone od baA Pikon diod Did the King figh, but with a general groan. 4919 King. Arm you, I pray you, to this fpeedy voyage; For we will fetters put upon this fear, widow of Which now goes too free-footed.

Both. We will hafte us." vait en inorinco pi ma [Exeunt Gentlemen.

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Enter Poloniusb maiɔd b'nobisq 10

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Pol. My Lord, he's going to his Behind the arras I'll convey myfelf

8 Out of his Lunacies.] The old quarto's read,

Out of his Brows. This was from the ignorance of the first editors; as is this anneceffary Alexandrine, which we owe to the players. The poet, I am perfuaded, wrote,

as deth hourly grow.

Out of bis Lunes.. i madness, frenzy, THEOB.

2.

ding ei alust yM mother's closet; ad consid

iw not attoto slodi 10 I take Brows read, Frows, which properly I think, is a provincial word, for perverle humours; which being, I fuppofe, notunderflood, was changed to Lunacies. But of this It am not confident. !་ •9. That spirit, on whose weal-] So the quarto. The folio gives, On whole fpirit,

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To hear the procefs. I'll warrant, the'll tax him 95,1514. home.

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And, as you faid, and wifely was it faid,tods goed of
Tis meet, that fome more audience than a mother, T
Since nature makes them partial, fhould o'er-hear
The speech, of anthem

of vantage, Fare you well, my Liege;

I'll call upon you ere you go to bed,

And tell you what I know.

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King. Thanks, dear my Lord.

Oh! my offence is rank. it fmells to heav'n,
It hath the primal, eldeft, curfe upon't;
A brother's murder. Pray I cannot,

2

Vis

Though inclination be as fharp as 't will

Ander guilt defeats my ftrong intent:

[Exit.

And, like a man to double bufinefs bound,
I ftand in paufe where I fhall firft begin,
And both neglect. What if this curfed hand
Were thicker than itfelf with brother's blood?
Is there not rain enough in the fweet heav'ns
To wash it white as fnow? Whereto ferves Mercy,
But to confront the vifage of offence?

And what's in prayer, but this two-fold force,
To be fore-ftalled ere we come to fall,

Or pardon'd being down? Then I'll look up;
My fault is paft. But oh, what form of prayer
Can ferve my turn? Forgive me my foul murder!
That cannot be, fince I am still poffeft

Of those effects for which I did the murder,

My Crown, mine own Ambition, and my Queen.

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Of vantage. By fome opportunity of fecret obfervation.

2 Though inclination be as sharp [ WILL] This is rank nonfenfe. We should read, fi

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The inclination be as sharp as

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crime does. The line immedi ately following fhews this to be the true reading,

My Aronger guilt defeats my frong intent.

WARB. I have followed the eafier. emendation of Theobald, received by Hanmer.

May

3 May one be pardon'd, and retain th' offence?,
In the corrupted currents of this world,
Offence's gilded hand may fhove by juftice;
And oft 'tis feen, the wicked prize itself
Buys out the law; but 'tis not fo above:
There, is no fhuffling; there, the action lies
In his true nature, and we ourselves compell'd,
Ev'n to the teeth and forehead of our faults,
To give in evidence, What then? what refts?
Try, what repentance can. What can it not?
Yet what can it, when one cannot repent?

3 May one be pardon'd, and retain th' OFFENCE; This is a ftrange queftion; and much the fame as to ask whether his offence could be remitted while it was retain'd. Shakespear here repeated a word with propriety and elegance which he employed two lines above,

May one be pardon'd, and retain th' EFFECTS?

i. e. of his murder, and this was a reasonable queftion. He ufes the word offence, properly, in the next line but one, and from thence; I fuppofe, came the blunWARBURTON.

der.

I fee no difficulty in the prefent reading. He that does not amend what can be amended, re tains his offence. The King kept the crown from the right heir.

Yet what can it, when one CANNOT repent?] This nonfenfe even exceeds the laft. ShakeSpear wrote,

Yet what can it, when one CAN

BUT repent? 2. e. what can repentance do without reflitution? a natural

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and reafonable thought; and which the tranfcribers might have feen was the refult of his preceding reflections.,

-Forgive me my foul murther! That cannot be, fince I am fill poffeft

Of those effects, for which I did the murther,

My Crown, my own Ambition, and my Queen.

May one le pardon'd, and retain -in effects?

befides, the poet could never have made his fpeaker fay, be could not repent, when this whole fpeech is one thorough act of the And difcipline of contrition. what was wanting was the matter of reftitution: this, the speaker could not refolve upon; which makes him break out,

Oh limed foul, that, struggling to get free,

Art more engaged! For it is natural, while the reftitution of what one highly values is projected, that the fondness for it fhould ftrike the imagination with double force. Because the

man,

Oh wretched ftate! oh bofom, black as death!
Oh limed foul, that, ftruggling to be free,
Art more engag'd! Help, angels! make affay!
Bow, ftubborn knees; and, heart, with ftrings of
fteel,

Be foft as finews of the new-born babe!

All may be well.

[The King retires and kneels.

SCENE

Enter Hamlet.

IX.

Ham. Now might I do it pat, now he is praying,

And now I'll do't. And fo he

And fo he goes to heav'n.
And fo am I reveng'd? that would be fcann'd,
A villain kills my father, and for that
5 I, his fole fon, do this fame villain fend

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The fenfe of the received reading is, I think, fo plain, that I am afraid left it fhould be obfcured by any attempt at illuftration. What can repentance do for a man that can not be penitent, for a man who has only part of penitence, diftrefs of confcience, without the other part, resolution of amendment.

5 I, his fole fon, do this fame

villain fend] The folio reads foule fon. This will lead us to the true reading, which

To heav'n. O, this is hire and falary, not revenge.
He took my father grofly, full of bread,

With all his crimes broad blown, as flush as May;
And how his audit ftands, who knows, fave heav'n?
But in our circumftance and courfe of thought
'Tis heavy with him. Am I then reveng'd,
To take him in the purging of his foul,
When he is fit and feafon'd for his paffage?
Up, fword, and know thou a more horrid Hent;
When he is drunk-afleep, or in his
or in his rage,
Or in th' incestuous pleafure of his bed,
At gaming, fwearing, or about fome act
That has no relifh of falvation in't

Then trip him, that his heels may kick at heav'n
And that his foul may be as damn'd and black
7 As hell, whereto it goes. My mother stays;
This phyfick but prolongs thy fickly days. [Exit.

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very natural to conclude, that with the change of a fingle letter, our author's genuine word was, Bent; i. e. drift, Scope, inclination, purpose, &c. THEOBALD.

This reading is followed by Sir T. Hanmer and Dr. Warbur ton; but Hent is probably the right word. To hent is used by Shakespeare for, to feize, to catch, to lay hold on, Hent is therefore, bold, or Jeizure. Lay hold on him, fword, at a more horrid time,

Sirene

7 As bell, hereto it goes.-] This fpeech, in which Hamlet, reprefented as a virtuous character, is not content with taking blood for blood, but contrives damnation for the man that he would punish, is too horrible ta be read or to be uttered,

The

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