For art and exercife (1) in your defence;
And for your rapier most efpecial,

That he cry'd out, 'twould be a fight indeed;

If one could match you. (2) The Scrimers of their

nation,

He fwore, had neither motion, guard, nor eye,

If you oppos'd 'em.

Sir, this report of his
Did Hamlet fo envenom with his envy,

That he could do nothing, but with and beg
Your fudden coming o'er to play with him.
Now out of this

Laer. What out of this, my Lord?

King. Laertes, was your father dear to you,
Or are you like the painting of a forrow,
A face without a heart?

Laer. Why afk you this ?

King. Not that I think, you did not love your father,
But that I know, love is begun by time,
And that I fee (3) in paffages of proof,
Time qualifies the fpark and fire of it:
There lives within the very flame of love
A kind of wick, or fnuff, that will abate it,.
And nothing is at a like goodness fill;
(4) For goodness, growing to a pleurify,

Dies in his own too much. What we would do,
We should do when we would; for this would changes,
And bath abatements and delays as many

As there are tongues, are hands, are accidents;
(5). And then this fhould is like a Spend-thrift figh

(1)

(2)

(3)

in your defence; That is, in the fcience of defence.
The Scrimers The fencers.

That

in paffages of proof,] In tranfactions of daily experience. (4) For goodness, growing to a pleurify,] I would believe, for the honour of Shakespeare, that he wrote pletbory. But I obferve the dramatic writers of that time frequently call a fulness of blood a pleurify, as if it came, not from supà, but from plus, pluris.

WARBURTON.

(5) And then this fhould is like a Spendibrift's SIGH
That burts by eafing. -] This nonfenfe fhould be read thus,
And then this fhould is like a fpendthrift's SIGN
That burts by eafing. i. e. tho' a spendthrift's entering into
L4

bonds

That burts by eafing. But to th quick o' th' ulcer
Hamlet comes back; what would you undertake
To fhew yourfelf your Father's fon indeed
More than in words?

Laer. To cut his throat i' th' church.

King. No place, indeed, fhould murder fanctuarife,
Revenge should have no bounds; but, good Laertes,
Will you do this? keep clofe within your chamber;
Hamlet, return'd, fhall know you are come home :
We'll put on those shall praise your excellence,
And fet a double varnish on the fame

The Frenchman gave you; bring you in fine together,
And wager on your heads. (6) He being remifs
Moft generous and free from all contriving,
Will not perufe the foils; fo that with ease,
Or with a little fhuffling, you may chuse

(7) A fword unbated, and in (8) a pafs of Practice
Requite him for your father.

Laer. I will do't;

And for the purpose I'll anoint my fword.
I bought an unction of a Mountebank,

bonds or mortages gives him a prefent relief from his straits, yet it ends in much greater diftreffes. The application is, if you neglect a fair opportunity now, when it may be done with ease and fafety, time may throw fo many difficulties in your way, that, in order to furmount them, you must put your whole fortune into hazard. WARBURTON.

This conjecture is fo ingenious, that it can hardly be opposed, but with the fame reluctance as the bow is drawn against a hero, whofe virtues the archer holds in veneration. Here may be ap plied what Voltaire writes to the Empress:

Le genereux François

Te combat & t'admire.

Yet this emendation, however fpecicus, is miftaken. The original reading is, not a spendthrift's figh, but a spendibrift sigh; a figh that makes an unneceffary waste of the vital flame. It is a notion very prevalent, that figbs impair the ftrength, and wear out the animal powers.

(6) He being remifs, ] He being not vigilant or cautious. (7) A fword unbated,] i. e. nct blunted as foils are. Or as one edition has it embaited or envenomed.

POPE.

(8) a pafs of practice-] Practice is often by Shakespeare, and other old writers, taken for an infidious firatagem, or privy treafon, a fenfe not incongruous to this paffage, where yet I rather believe, that nothing more is meant than a thruft for exercise.

So

So mortal, that but dip a knife in it,
Where it draws blood, no cataplafm fo rare,
Collected from all fimples that have virtue

Under the Moon, can fave the thing from death,
That is but scratch'd withal; I'll touch my point
With this contagion, that if I gall him flightly,
It may be death.

King. Let's farther think of this;

Weigh what convenience both of time and means
(9) May fit us to our shape. If this should fail,
And that our drift look through our bad performance,
'Twere better not affay'd; therefore this project
Should have a back, or fecond, that might hold,
If this fhould (1) blast in proof. Soft let me fee
We'll make a folemn Wager on your cunnings.
I ha't

When in your motion you are hot and dry,

As make your bouts more violent to that end,
And that he calls for Drink, I'll have prepar'd him
A Chalice for the nonce; whereon but fipping,
If he by chance escape your venom'd tuck,
Our purpose may hold there..

SCENE X.

Enter Queen..

How now, fweet Queen?

Queen. One woe doth tread upon another's heel,
So faft they follow. Your fifter's drown'd, Laertes.
Laer. Drown'd! oh where?

Queen. There is a willow grows allant a Brook,
That shews his hoar leaves in the glassy stream:
There with fantastick garlands did the come,
Of crow-flowers, nettles, daifies, and long purples,
(That liberal fhepherds give a groffer name;

But our cold maids do dead men's fingers call them ;)

(9) May fit us to our shape.]. May enable us to affume proper charafters, and to act our part.

(1) blast in proof] This I believe, is a metaphor taken from a mine, which, in the proof or execution, fometimes breaks out with an ineffectual blaft.

L 5

There

;

There on the pendant boughs, her coronet weeds
Clambring to hang, an envious fliver broke
When down her weedy trophies and herself
Fell in the weeping brook; her cloaths fpread wide,
And mermaid like, a while they bore her up;
(2) Which time she chaunted fnatches of old tunes,
As one incapable of her own distress;

Or like a creature native, and indued

Unto that element: but long it could not be,
'Till that her garments heavy with their drink,
Pull'd the poor wretch from her melodious lay
To muddy death.

Laer. Alas then, fhe is drown'd!

Qteen. Drown'd, drown'd.

Laer. Too much of water haft thou, poor Ophelia, And therefore I forbid my tears.

But yet

It is our trick: Nature her custom holds,

Let shame fay what it will, When these are gone,

The woman will be out.

Adieu, my Lord!

I have a speech of fire, that fain would blaze,

But that this folly drowns it.

King. Follow, Gertrude.

How much had I to do to calm his rage!
Now fear I, this will give it ftart again;

Therefore let's follow.

[Exit.

Exeunt.

(2) Which time she chaunted fnatches of old tunes,] Fletcher, in

his Scornful Lady, very invidiously ridicules this incident.

I will run mad firft, and if that get not pity,
I'll drozon myself to a moft difmal ditty.

WARBURTON.

ACT

I

ACT V. SCENE I.

A CHURCH.

Enter two Clowns, with Spades and mattocks.

I CLOWN.

S the to be buried in chriftian burial, that wilfully feeks her own falvation?

2 Clown. I tell thee, she is, therefore (3) make her graveftraight. The crowner hath fate on her, and finds it chriftian burial..

1 Clown. How can that be, unless the drowned herfelf in her own defence?:

2 Clown. Why 'tis found fo.

1 Clown. It must be se offendendo, it cannot be else. For here lies the point; if I drown myself wittingly, it argues an act; and (4) an act hath three branches; it is to act, to do, and to perform. Argal, the drown'd herfelf wittingly.

2 Clown. Nay, but hear you, goodman Delver.

1 Clown Give me leave. Clown, here lies the water; Good: here ftands the man; Good.. If the man go to this water, and drown himfelf, it is, will he, nill he, he goes; mark you that: But if the water come to him, and drown him, he drowns not himself. Argal, he, that is not guilty of his own death, fhortens not his own life.

(3) make ber Grave ftraight.] Make her grave from east to west in a direct line parallel to the church; not from north to fouth, athwart the regular line. This, I think, is meant.

*Some, for whofe opinions I have great regard, think that ftraight is only immediately. My interpretation I have given with no great confidence, but the longer I confider it, the more I think it right.

(4) an act bath three branches; it is to act, to do, and to perform.] Ridicule on fcholaftic divifions without diftinction; and of diftinctions without difference, WARBURTON.

2 Clorun.