Sprung from neglected love. How now, Ophelia?

You need not tell us what Lord Hamlet faid,

We heard it all.

My Lord, do as you please.

But if

you hold it fit, after the Play

[Exit Ophelia.

Let his Queen-mother all alone intreat him
To fhew his griefs; let her be round with him,
And I'll be plac'd, fo pleafe you, in the ear
Of all their conference. If he find him not,
To England fend him; or confine him, where
Your wifdom beft fhall think.

King. It fhall be fo.

Madness in Great ones muft not unwatch'd go.

[Exeunt.

Enter Hamlet, and two or three of the Players.

Ham. Speak the fpeech, I pray you; as I pronounc'd it to you, trippingly on the tongue. But if you mouth it, as many of our Players do, I had as lieve, the towncrier had fpoke my lines. And do not faw the air too much with your hand thus, but use all gently; for in the very torrent, tempeft, and, as I may fay, whirlwind of your paffion, you must acquire and beget a temperance that may give it smoothnefs. Oh it offends me to the foul, to hear a robuftious perriwig-pated fellow tear a paffion to tatters, to very rags, to fplit the ears of (6) the groundlings: who for the most part are capable of nothing but (7) inexplicable dumb fhews, and noife I could have fuch a fellow whipt for o'er doing (8) Termagant; it out-berods Herod. Pray you, a

void it.

Play. I warrant your Honour.

Ham. Be not too tame neither; but let your own difcretion be your tutor. Suit the action to the word, the

(6) the groundlings] The meaner people then feem to have fat below, as they now fit in the upper gallery, who not well underftanding poetical language, were fometimes gratified by a mimical and minute reprefentation of the drama, previous to the dialogue. (7) inexplicable dumb fhews, I believe the meaning is, hers, without words to explain them.

(8) Termagant;] Termagant was a Saracen Deity, very clamorous and violent in the old moralities, Mr. PERCY.

word

word to the action, with this fpecial obfervance, that you o'er-step not the modefty of Nature; for any thing fo overdone is from the purpofe of playing; whofe end, both at the first and now, was and is, to hold as 'twere the mirror up to nature; to fhew virtue her own feature, fcorn her own image, and the very (9) age and body of the time, his form and (1) preffure. Now this over-done, or come tardy of, though it make the unskilful laugh, cannot but make the judicious grieve; the cenfure of which one muft in your allowance o'er-weigh a whole theatre of others. Oh, there be Players that I have feen play, and heard others praife, and that highly, (2) not to fpeak it profanely, that neither having the accent of chriftian, nor the gait of chriftian, pagan, or man, have so strutted and bellow'd, that I have thought fome of nature's journey-men had made men, and not made them well; they imitated humanity fo abominably.

Play. I hope, we have reformed that indifferently with us.

Ham. Oh, reform it altogether. And let thofe, that play your Clowns, fpeak no more than is fet down for them: For there be of them that will themselves laugh, to fet on fome quantity of barren fpectators to laugh too; though, in the mean time, fome neceffary question of the Play be then to be confidered. That's villainous; and fhews a moft pitiful ambition in the fool that uses it. Go make you ready. [Exeunt Players.

Enter Polonius, Rofincrantz, and Guildenftern.

How now, my Lord; will the King hear this piece of work?

(9) age and body of the time,] The age of the time can hardly pafs. May we not read, the face and body, or did the authour write, the page? The page fuits well with form and preffure, but ill with body.

(1) preffure,] Befemblance as in a print.

(2) not to speak it profanely,] Profanely feems to relate, not to the praise which he has mentioned, but to the cenfure which he is about to utter. Any grofs or indelicate language was called prefane. VOL. X.

I

Rola

Pol. And the Queen too, and that prefently. Ham. Bid the Players make hafte. [Exit Polonius. Will you two help to haften them?

Both. We will, my Lord.

Ham. What, ho, Horatio!

Enter Horatio to Hamlet.

Her. Here, fweet Lord, at your fervice. Ham. Horatio, thou art e'en as just a Man, As e'er my converfation cop'd withal.

Hor. Oh my dear Lord,

Ham. Nay, do not think, I flatter:

For what advancement may I hope from thee,
That no revenue haft, but thy good fpirits,

[Exeunt

To feed and cloath thee? Should the poor be flatter'd?
No, let the candied tongue lick abfurd Pomp,
And crook (3) the pregnant hinges of the knee,
Where thrift may follow fawning. Doft thou hear?
Since (4) my dear foul was mistress of her choice,
And could of men diftinguish, her election
Hath feal'd thee for herfelf; for thou haft been
As one in fuffering all, that fuffers nothing;
A man, that fortune's buffets and rewards
Haft ta'en with equal thanks. And bleft are thofe,
(5) Whofe blood and judgment are fo well co-mingled,
That they are not a pipe for fortune's finger,
To found what ftop the pleafe. Give me that man,
That is not paffion's flave, and I will wear him
my heart's core; ay, in my heart of heart,
As I do thee. Something too much of this.
There is a Play to-night before the King,.
One Scene of it comes near the circumftance,
Which I have told thee, of my father's death.
I pr'ythee, when thou seest that A&t a-foot,
Ev'n with the very comment of thy soul

In

(3) The pregnant binges of the knee,] I believe the fenfe of pregnant in this place is, quick, ready, prompt.

(4) my dear foul-] Perhaps, my clear soul.

(5) Wbife blood and judgment-]

According to the doctrine of the four humours, defire and confidence were feated in the blood, and judgment in the phlegm, and the due mixture of the humours made a perfect character.

Obferve

Obferve mine uncle; if his occult guilt
Do not itself unkennel in one fpeech,
It is a damned Ghoft that we have feen,
And my imaginations are as foul

As (6) Vulcan's Stithy. Give him heedful note;
For I mine eyes will rivet to his face

;

And, after, we will both our judgments join,
In cenfure of his Seeming.

Hor. Well, my Lord.

If he fteal aught, the whilft this Play is playing,
And 'fcape detecting, I will pay the theft.

SCENE V.

Rofincrantz,

Enter King, Queen, Polonius, Ophelia, Guildenstern, and other Lords attendant, with a guard carrying torches. Danish March. Sound a flourilh.

Ham. They're coming to the Play; I must be idle. Get you a place.

King. How fares our coufin Hamlet?

Ham. Excellent, i' faith, of the camelion's dish. I eat the air, promife-cramm'd. You cannot feed capons fo.

King. I have nothing with this anfwer, Hamlet; these words are not mine.

Ham. No, (7) nor mine now.————— play'd once i' th' univerfity, you fay?

-My Lord ; you [To Polonius. Pol. That I did, my Lord, and was accounted a good actor.

Ham. And what did you enact ?

Pol. I did enact Julius Cæfar, I was killed i' th' Capitol. Brutus kill'd me.

Ham. It was a brute part of him, to kill fo capital a calf there. Be the players ready?

(6) Vulcan's Stithy.] Stithy is a fn ith's anvil. (7) Nor mine now. --A man's words, fays the proverb, are his own no longer than he keeps them unfpoken.

Rof. Ay, my Lord, (8) they ftay upon your pati

ence.

Queen. Come hither, my dear Hamlet, fit by me. Ham. No, good mother, here's metal more attractive.

Pol. Oh ho, do you mark that?

Ham. Lady, fhall I tie in your lap

Oph. No, my Lord.

[Lying down at Ophelia's feet.

Ham. I mean, my Head upon your Lap?

Oph. Ay, my Lord.

Ham. (9) Do you think, I meant country matters?
Opb. I think nothing, my Lord.

Ham. That's a fair thought, to lie between a maid's
legs.

Oph. What is, my Lord!

Ham. Nothing

Oph. You are merry, my Lord.
Ham. Who, I?

Opb. Ay, my Lord.

Ham. Oh! your only jig-mafter; what should a man do, but be merry? For, look you, how chearfully my mother looks, and my father dy'd within thefe two hours.

Opb. Nay, 'tis twice two months, my Lord.

Ham. So long? (1) nay, then let the Devil wear black, for I'll have a fuit of fables. Oh heav'ns! die

two

(8) They hay upon your patience.] May if not be read more intelligibly, They lay upon your pleasure. In Macbeth it is, Noble Macbeth, we flay upon your leisure.

(9) Do you think, I me me country matters ?] I think we must head, Do you think, I meant country manners? Do you imagine that I meant to fit in your lap, with fuch rough gallantry as clowns afe to their laffes?

(1) Nay, then let the Devil wear black, FOR I'll bave a fuit of fables.] The conceit of thefe words is not taken. They are an ironical apology for his mother's chearful looks: Two months was long enough in confcience to make any dead husband forgotten. But the editors, in their nonfenfical blunder, have made Hamlet fay just the contrary. That the Devil and he would both go into mourning, tho' his mother did not. The true reading is this, Nay, then let the Devil wear black, 'FORE I'll bave a fuit of fable. Fore, i. e. before. As much as to fay, Let the Devil

wear