And with't no lefs nobility of love, (5) Queen. Let not thy mother lofe her prayers, Hamlet : Manet Hamlet. Ham. Oh, that this too-too-folid flesh would melt, Thaw, and refolve itself into a dew! (5) And with no lefs nobility of love, Than that which dearest father bears bis fon, Do I impart towards you.] But what does the King impart? We want the fubftantive govern'd of the verb. The King had declar'd Hamle this immediate fucceffor; and with that declaration, he must mean, he imparts to him as noble a love, as ever fond father tender'd to his own fon. I have ventur'd to make the text conform with this fenfe. (6) -For your intent In going back to school to Wittenberg;] The Poet ufes a prolepis here: for the univerfity at Wittenberg was open'd by Frederick the 3d elector of Saxony in the year 1502, feveral ages later in time than the date of Hamlet. But I defign'd this remark for another purpose. I would take notice, that a confiderable space of years is spent in this tragedy; or Hamlet, as a prince, fhould be too old to go to an univerfity. We here find him a scholar refident at that univerfity; but, in Aft 5th, we find him plainly 30 years old: for the gravedigger had taken up that occupation the very day on which young Hamlet was born, and had follow'd it, as he fays, thirty years. Or Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd (7) Fie on't! oh fie! 'tis an unweeded garden, That grows to feed; things rank, and grofs in nature, Hyperion to a fatyr: fo loving to my mother, (8) (7) Or that the everlasting had not fix'd That His cannon 'gainft jelf-flaughter! The generality of the editions read thus, as if the Poet's thought were, Or that the Almighty had not planted his artillery, bis refentment, or arms of vengeance against felf-murder. But the word, which I have reftor'd to the text, (and which was efpous'd by the accurate Mr. Hughes, who gave an edition of this play is the Poet's true reading. i. e. That be bad not refrain'd fuicide by his exprefs law, and peremptory prohibition. Miftakes are perpetually made in the old editions of our Poet, betwixt those two words, cannon and canon. I fhall now fubjoin my reafons why, I think, the Poet intended to fay, heaven had fix'd its injunction rather than its artillery. In the first place, I much doubt the propriety of the phrase, fixing cannon, in the meaning here fuppos'd. The military expreffion, which imports what would be necessary to the fenfe 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 mafters of it and nail it down. In the next place, to fix a canon, or law, is the term of the civilians peculiar to this business. This Virgil had in his mind, when he wrote, -Leges fixit pretio, atque refixit. Æneid. VI. So Cicero in his Philippic orations: Num figentur rursùs bæ Tabulæ, quas vos decretis veftris refixiftis? And it was the conftant cuftom of the Romans to fay, upon this occafion, figere legem; as the Greeks, before them, used the synonymous term voμev aparnai, and call'd their ftatutes thence ragamnyμara. But my laft reason, and which fways moft with me, is from the Poet's own turn and caft of thought. For, as he has done in a great many more inftances, it is the very fentiment which he falls into in another of his plays, tho' he has cloth'd it in different expreffions. (8) 'gainst felf-flaughter There is a probibition fo divine, That cravens my weak hand. -fo loving to my mother, That be permitted not the winds of beav'n Cymbeline. Vifit ber face too roughly.] This is a sophisticated reading, copied from That he might not let e'en the winds of heav'n By what it fed on ; yet, within a month, Let me not think-Frailty, thy name is woman! (9) Ere yet the falt of moft unrighteous tears from the players in fome of the modern editions, for want of under- That be might not beteene the winds of heav'n Beteene is a corruption, without 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 perfwaded, I have retriev'd the Poet's reading.- -That he might not let e'en the winds of beav'n, &c, (6) Frailty, thy name is woman!] But that it would difpleafe Mr. Pope to have it fuppos'd, that fatire can have any place in tragedy, (of which I fhall have occafion to speak farther anon) I fhould make no fcruple to pronounce this reflection a fine laconic farcafin. It is as concife in the terms, and, perhaps, more fprightly in the thought and image, than that fling of Virgil upon the sex, in his fourth Eneid. Famina. varium & mutabile fempèr Mr. Dryden has remark'd, that this is the fharpeft fatire in the feweft words, that ever was made on womankind; for both the adjectives are neuter, and animal must be understood to make them grammar. 'Tis certain, the defign'd contempt is heighten'd by this change of the gender: but, I prefume, Mr. Dryden had forgot this paffage of Sbakespeare, when he declar'd on the side of Virgil's hemistich, as the harpeft fatire he had met with. 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 myself? 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? Mar. My good lord Ham. I am very glad to fee you; good even, Sir. We'll teach you to drink deep, ere you depart, Hor. Indeed, my lord, it follow'd hard upon. My father methinks, I fee my father. Ham. In my mind's eye, Horatio. Hor. I faw him once, he was a goodly King. I shall not look upon his like again. Her. My lord, I think, I faw him yesternight. Hor. My lord, the King your father. Ham. The King my father! Hor Hor. Seafon your admiration but a while, Ham. For heaven's love, let me hear. Hor. Two nights together had these gentlemen, Stand dumb, and speak not to him. This to me And I with them the third night kept the watch; Form of the thing, each word made true and good, Ham. But where was this? Mar. My lord, upon the platform where we watcht. Ham. Did you not speak to it? Hor. My lord, I did; But anfwer made it none; yet once, methought, Itself to motion, like as it would speak: Ham. 'Tis very strange. Hor. As I do live, my honour'd lord, 'tis true; And we did think it writ down in our duty To let you know of it. Ham. Indeed, indeed, Sirs, but this troubles me. Hold you the watch to-night? Both. We do, my lord. Ham. Arm'd, fay you? · Both. |