May ferpents, winding up the trees, let fall Hamlet was alfo one of thefe characters; for though Shakefpear borrowed fome part of his fable from hiftory, yet he formed Hamlet from his own imagination. He is reprefented as a brave, fenfible, and virtuous young prince; and his fentiments throughout the tragedy are exact in nature. Though this character was easily drawn, yet under Shakespear's pen we always find even the most common receive an original air. He is fcarce intro'duced, but he makes thefe reflections on his mother's conduct: That it fhould come to this! But two months dead! nay, not fo much, not two! So excellent a king, that was to this Hyperion to a fatyr: fo loving to my mother, That he permitted not the winds of heav'n To To vifit her face too roughly. Heav'n and earth! By what it fed on: And yet within a month! Oh heav'n! a brute, that wants difcourfe of reason, Would have mourn'd longer-married with mine uncle, My father's brother! but no more like my father It is not; nor it cannot come to good. But break, my heart, for I must hold my tongue, Rowe, or a French poet, would have flourished away thefe ftrokes of nature, these starts of paffion, in fing-fong flowery fimiles: But Shakespear, with the most unbounded imagination, only imitates K 3 nature, nature. Hamlet's character unfolds in. this fpeech, which is one of the finest in our immortal poet; we fee him in this, just the character which he preserves throughout the play. The Tatler juftly obferves, that the feveral emotions of mind, and breaks of paffion in it, are admirable. He has touched every circumftance that aggravated the fact, and feemed capable of hurrying the thoughts of a fon into diftraction. His father's tenderness for his mother expreffed in so delicate a particular; his mother's fondnefs for his father no lefs exquifitely defcribed; the great and amiable figure of his dead parent drawn by a true filial piety; his difdain of fo unworthy a fucceffor to his bed; but, above all, the shortness of the time between his father's death and his mother's fecond marriage, brought together with so much diforder, make up as as noble a part as any in that celebrated tragedy. The circumftance of time I never could enough admire. The widowhood had lafted two months; this is' his first reflection: But as his indignation arifes, he finks to fcarce two months; afterwards, into a month; and at laft, into a little month: But all this fo naturally, that the reader accompanies him in the violence of his paffion, and finds the time leffen infenfibly, according to the different workings of his difdain. I have not mentioned the inceft of her marriage, which is fo obvious a provocation; but cannot forbear taking notice, that when his fury is at its height, he cries, Frailty, thy name is woman! as railing at the sex in general, rather than giving himself leave to think his mother worse than others. I may add that natural question which fuddenly ftrikes him, Muft I remember? Heav'n and earth! And when his reflection grows very warm, he again breaks out, And yet within a month! Let me not think on't This ftroke is admirable: But indeed the whole is worked up with great mastery. Hamlet's character is finely fupported even in his pretended madnefs. Through that difguife we ftill fee the thoughtful prince; and when he fpeaks that celebrated foliloquy, the reflections are those of Hamlet. In the fame act, when he is with Horatio, his fentiments are the noble ones fo natural to his character: Should the poor be flatter'd? No; let the candied tongue lick abfurd pomp, And crook the pregnant hinges of the knee, Where thrift may follow fawning. And |