The dram of ale Doth all the noble substance over-froth To its own scandal." He It is clear from the context that Shakespeare makes the idea of a certain per centum of imperfection, or baṣeness, or evil, being inherent in human nature, the central one, and makes Hamlet discourse of it as "some vicious mole in nature," something" in their [men's] birth," or " some habit" acquired, that" o'er-leavened" even " the form of plausive manners." describes this defect, this imperfection, this mixture of evil, alike as "nature's livery," or " fortune's star," thus implying it may be hereditary or else the result of "evil comunications." With the King in his mind, his whole utterance having begun with a reference to his keeping wassail, he argues that, though a man be "pure as grace," and yet a qualified grace, ie., "as infinite as a man may undergo,"-in the " general censure this purity shall "take corruption from that particular fault," imperfection, baseness, or evil. This idea has a strong hold on Shakespeare's mind, as is elsewhere evidenced in the King's soliloquy, where he repeats it, as near as may be, in kind. Under this construction or view of the case, it appears to me that we are restricted in the choice of a word to use in place of eale to either evil, vile, ill, bale, or base, all of which are more or less synonymous. Bale, from the Saxon, beal, beale, meaning "misery, calamity," which was in use in such sense in Shakespeare's time, may possibly have been the very word used. Indeed, Shakespeare may have used it in the old Saxon spelling, beale, and the first letter have dropped from the form in transferring it from the imposing-stone to the press, thus giving the puzzling word eale. Base may be considered as nearly enough synonymous with evil to require no special remarks. Ill has, among its many meanings, that of evil, in connection with wickedness and depravity. is so used by Dryden, in the lines: It Vile is an adjective, but is frequently used as a noun, as when we say a man is vile, meaning he has evil habits. One view that impresses itself upon me quite strongly is in favor of beale (Saxon for bale); but that which has the most weight, and the one which I think surely conveys the sense if not the word of the author, is in favor of evil (eale being just the kind of blunder a printer could make from a blind manuscript evil). The word dram could not have been intended for a contraction from drachm, literally the 1-16 of an ounce avordupois, but was rather used in the sense of a small part or portion of the whole. The very use of this word dram at the conclusion of an outburst against intemperance shows its logical se quence. The toper does not take a drink,—he takes a dram, and the dram habit is certainly an evil one. The reading I favor would convey the idea in general that the small portion of evil pertaining to man's nature is the leaven that leavens the lump, and, unless overcome itself, overcomes the nobler sentiments and parts of a man, very much "to his own scandal." In the particular case of Hamlet's uncle there is no room for doubt,—he was already debased by it. These deductions lead me to read the passage: The dram of evil Doth all the noble substance, of a doubt, To his own scandal." While so reading it, however, I still think it may possibly read: This reading is that of the earliest printed edition (1604), containing the lines and phrases, and without the alteration of a letter, and simply restoring one that may have dropped from the form or been broken off. As the poet was alive at that date, and doubtless inspected the edition, it must have been some such mere error as this, which he thought would have been corrected, pro forma, else he would have looked to the correction himself. Should the correction of Theobold, before referred to, be preferred to the restoration, then it seems to me the singular form of the pronoun should be changed in the last line, so as to read, "their own scandal." ་་ I do not find any difficulty with the remainder of the text. Doth may be considered as used in the sense of doeth, i.e., worketh, etc.; perhaps pervade, to run through, used colloquially in the way people speak of 'doing the continent," or in these days of world-spanning, “doing the world," having reference to travelling or going through or around. Of a doubt may possibly be a corruption, as has been suggested by Mason, for o'ft corrupt, or, as Steevens reads it, for often dout, in the sense of do out; but,, considering the ambiguous use made of the preposition of by the old writers, the words were more probably used in the sense of doubtless. Putting this construction on them, the meaning of the phrase becomes clear, and makes very good sense of what possibly was the original, and which, as before stated, with the omission of a single letter, was given in the earlier folios. The suggestion of using the word evil for eale is not new, though I believe that of using beale is. I do not think, however, that evil is found in any of the early editions. Keightley, in 1865, suggested: The dram of evil Doth all the noble substance of a courtier To his own scandal." Here are four readings, from as many authorities, all agreeing upon the use of the word evil, but substituting for of a doubt, which they consider a misprint, such word or words as they think restore the text. But, why this substitution?. Is not the theory that of a doubt is more in the sense of doubtless, and that it was what Shakespeare wrote, preferable to casting around in the broad acres of imagination for a fungus growth, that, like Jonah's gourd, came up in the night-time only to wither under the noon-day sun? Yet, if substitutions are in order, why not one of these: Or, Or, Turns all the noble substance of a draught [in the stomach] The dram of grease Doth all the noble substance [of a candle] often douse Or anything else that Shakespeare never wrote! * W. V. S. WILSON. *Zachary Jackson, in 1817, suggested: The dram of ale Doth all the noble substance overdough To his own scandal." It is not improbable that ales were designated, in Shakespeare's time as well as now, by letters, thus, X, XX, XXX, and that the poet wrote X ale, which X the printer mistook for its algebraic equivalent of an unknown quantity, and supplied out of the e box as the one containing the greater quantity, on the principle possibly that "the greater contains the less. This explanation has the STRATFORD CHURCH, VICARS, AND "VANDALISM." THE parish church of Stratford-upon-Avon, in which Shakespeare was buried, Holy Trinity, has always been the most prominent feature externally in that town. We present herewith four views of the town, in 1715, 1740 (frontispiece), 1746, and in 1806, respectively, from which this fact would seem sufficiently to appear. The history of the present edifice is one which, at first, cannot be written with definiteness. The Domesday Book makes mention of a church in the town. Dugdale, in his Antiquities of Warwickshire, says the church at Stratford-on-Avon "is a very ancient structure, little less than the Conquerer's time, as I guess by the fabrick of the steeple." John of Stratford, Archbishop of Canterbury, in or about the tenth year of Edward the Third, caused to be built "the south aisle of the nave, with a chantry chapel at its eastern end," and the executors of Hugh Clopton, in the reign of Henry the Seventh, built the transept or "north and south cross." In 1358, it is recorded that the edifice was occupied by a college of priests and boy choristers settled there by Ralph of Stratford, then Bishop of London. Several royal charters were granted to the church, and its official head was designated in them "Dean of the Collegiate Church of Holy Trinity at Stratfordupon-Avon." As the family of one of its earliest benefactors, Sir Hugh Clopton, Lord Mayor of London in 1492, made the town their seat, and buried their dead beneath its pavement, it is not probable that the church was ever allowed to fall into ruin; and during Shakespeare's lifetime it must have retained its ancient condition without improvement or the encroachments of any personal taste in " restoration." Like other churches of its date, it had a timber roof, which, of course, has been from time to time renewed and replaced. "This house of God," says an authority, "grey with years, perfect in beauty, is heart and soul a glory of our storied England," and to this effect is the unanimous comment of every architect or spectator who has ever beheld it. With such a Work and such a Fame,- here in remote America, at least,-one would feel that merit of being at once mathematical and logical, and therefore should attract the attention of scientific persons, such as the Donnelly cipherists, for example. This reading naturally would follow: The dram of X ale Doth all the noble substance overfroth To his own scandal." This suggests one other reading, and one that will certainly be an acceptable one with all naval officers: |