And as he drains his draughts of Rhenifh down,

The kettle-drum and trumpet thus bray youth low &

The triumph of his pledge.

Her. Is it a custom?

Ham. Ay, marry, is't:

I

I

But, to my mind, though I am native here,
And to the manner born, it is a custom

More honour'd in the breach, than the observance.
(2) This heavy-headed revel, eaft and west,
Makes us traduc'd, and tax'd of other nations;
They clepe us drunkards, and with fwinish phrafe
Soil our addition; and, indeed, it takes

From our atchievement, though perform'd at height,
(3) The pith and marrow of our attribute.
So, oft it chances in particular men,

That for fome vicious mole of nature in them,
As, in their birth, wherein they are not guilty,
Since nature cannot chufe his origin,
By the o'ergrowth of fome (4) complexion,
Of breaking down the pales and forts of reafon;
Or by fome habit, that too much o'er-leavens
The form of plaufive manners; that these men
Carrying, I fay, the ftamp of one defect,
Being nature's livery, or (5) fortune's scar,
Their virtues elfe, be they as pure as grace,
(6) As infinite as man may undergo,
Shall in the general cenfure take corruption

(2) This heavy-headed revel eaft and weft,] i. e. This revelling that obferves no hours, but continues from morning till night, &c. WARBURTON.

I fhould not have fufpected this paffage of ambiguity or obfcurity, had I not found my opinion of it differing from that of the learned critick. I conftrue it thus, This beavy-headed rewel makes us traduced east and west, and taxed of other nations.

(3) The pith and marrow of our attribute.] The best and moft valuable part of the praife that would be otherwife attributed to us. (4)-complexion,] . . humour; as fanguine, melancholy, phlegmatic, &c. WARBURTON.

(5)

fortune's fear,] In the old quarto of 1637, it is
fortune's star;

But I think fear is proper.

(6) As infinite as man may undergo,] As large as can be accumu lated upon man.

From

From that particular fault.(7) The dram of Bafe
Doth all the noble fubftance of Worth out,

To his own fcandal.

Enter Gboft.

Hor. Look, my Lord, it comes!

Ham. Angels and minifters of grace defend us!
Be thou a Spirit of health, or Goblin damnn'd,
Bring with thee airs from heav'n, or blasts from hell,
Be thy intents wicked or charitable,

Thou com'ft in fuch a (8) queftionable shape,
That I will speak to thee. I'll call thee Hamlet,
King, Father, Royal Dane: oh! answer me;
Let me not burft in ignorance; but (9) tell,

(7) -The dram of Eafe

Doth all the fubftance of a Doubt

Why

To bis own fcandal.] I do not remember a paffage throughout all our poet's works, more intricate and deprav'd in the text, of less meaning to outward appearance, or more likely to baffle the attempts of criticism in its aid. It is certain, there is neither fenfe nor grammar as it now ftands: yet with a flight alteration, I'll endeavour to cure thofe defects, and give a fentiment too, that fhall make the Poet's thought clofe nobly. The dram of Bafe (as) I have corrected the text) means the leaft alloy, or bafenefs, or vice. It is very frequent with our poet to ufe the adje&ive of quality instead of the fubftantive fignifying the thing. Befides I have obferved, that elsewhere, speaking of worth, he delights to confider it as a quality that adds weight to a perfon, and connects the word with that idea. THEOBALD.

Doth ali the noble fubftance foil with doubt.

The authour would have defpifed them both, had they been another's.

Mr. Holt reads,

Dotb all the noble fubftance oft adopt.

I think Theobald's reading may ftand.

(8) -questionable fhape,] By questionable is meent provoking quetion.

So in Macbeth,

Live you, or are you ought

That man may question.

tell,

Why tby canoniz'd bones, bear fed in DEATH,

HANMER.

Have burf their cearments ?] Hamlet here fpeaks with wonder,

that

Why thy canoniz'd bones, hearfed in death,
Have burst their cearments? Why the fepulchre,

Where

that he who was dead should rise again and walk. But this, according to the vulgar fuperftition here followed, was no wonder. Their only wonder was, that one who had the rites of fepulture performed to him, fhould walk; the want of which was supposed to be the reafon of walking ghofts. Hamlet's wonder then fhould have been placed here: And fo Shakespeare placed it, as we shall fee prefently. For bearfed is ufed figuratively to fignify repofited, therefore the place where fhould be defigned: but death being no place, but a privation only, bearfed in death is nonfenfe. We should read, -----tell,

Why thy canoniz'd bones bearfed in EARTH

Have burft their cearments.

It appears, for the two reafons given above, that earth is the true reading. It will further appear for these two other reasons. First, From the words, canoniz'd bones, by which is not meant (as one would imagine) a compliment, for, made boly or fainted; but for bones to which the rites of fepulture have been performed; or which were buried according to the canon. For we are told he was murdered with all his fins fresh upon him, and, therefore, in no way to be fainted. But if this licentious ufe of the word canoniz'd be allowed, then earth must be the true reading; for inhuming bodies was one of the effential parts of fepulchral rites. Secondly, From the words, bave burft their cearments, which imply the preceding mention of inbuming, but no mention is made of it in the common reading. This enabled the Oxford Editor to improve upon the emendation; fo, he reads,

Why thy bones bears'd in canonized earth.

I fuppofe for the fake of harmony, not of fenfe. For tho' the rite of fepulture performed canonizes the body buried; yet it does not canonize the earth in which it is laid, unless every funeral fervice be a new confecration. WARBURTON.

It were too long to examine this note period by period, tho' almost every period feems to me to contain fomething reprehenfible. The critick, in, his zeal for change, writes with fo little confideration, as to fay, that Hamlet cannot call his father canonized, because we are told be was murdered with all his fins fresh upon bim. He was not then told it, and had fo little the power of knowing it, that he was to be told it by an apparition. The long fucceffion of reafons pon reafons proves nothing, but what every reader difcovers, that the King had been buried, which is implied by fo many adjuncts of burial, that the direct mention of earth is not neceflary. Hamlet, amazed at an apparition, which, though in all ages credited, has in all ages been confidered as the most wonderful and most dreadful operation of fupernatural agency, enquires of the fpectre, in the most emphatick terms, why he breaks the order of nature, by returning from the dead; this he asks in a very confused circumlocution, confounding in his fright the foul

and

Wherein we saw thee quietly in-urn'd,
Hath op'd his ponderous and marble jaws,
To caft thee up again? What may this mean,
That thou, dead corfe, again, in compleat steel,
Revifit'ft thus the glimpfes of the moon,

Making night hideous, and (1) us fools of nature
So horribly (2) to fhake our difpofition

With thoughts beyond the reaches of our fouls?
Say, why is this? Wherefore? What should we do?
[Ghoft beckons Hamlet.

Hor. It beckons you to go away with it,
As if it fome impartment did defire
To you alone.

Mar. Look, with what courteous action
It waves you off to a removed ground:

But do not go with it.

Hor. No, by no means.

[Holding Hamlet.

Ham. It will not speak; then I will follow it.

Hor. Do not, my Lord.

Ham. Why what fhould be the fear?

I do not fet my life at a pin's fee;
And, for my foul, what can it do to that,
Being a thing immortal as itself?

It waves me forth again.- -I'll follow it

and body. Why, fays he, have thy Bones, which with due ceremonies have been intombed in death, in the common ftate of departed mortals, barft the folds in which they were embalmed? Why has the tomb in which we faw thee quietly laid, opened his mouth, that mouth which, by its weight and ftability, feemed clofed for ever? The whole fentence is this: Why doft thou appear, whom we know to be dead?

Had the change of the word remov'd any obfcurity, or added any beauty, it might have been worth a ftruggle, but either reading leaves the fenfe the fame.

If there be any afperity in this controverfial note, it must be imputed to the contagion of peevifhnefs, or fome refentment of the incivility fhown to the Oxford Editor, who is reprefented as fuppofing the ground canoniz'd by a funeral, when he only meant to fay, That the body was depofited in boly ground, in ground confecrated according to the canon.

(1) us fools of nature-] The expreffion is fine, as intimating we were only kept (as formerly, fools in a great family) to make fport for nature, who lay hid only to mock and laugh at us, for our vain fearches into her mysteries. WARBURTON.

(2) -to fake our difpofition-] Difpofition, for frame.

WARBURTON.

Hor.

Hor. What if it tempt you tow'rd the flood, my Lord?

Or to the dreadful fummit of the cliff,

That beetles o'er his Bafe into the fea;
And there affume fome other horrible form,
Which might (3) deprive your fov'reignty of reafon,
And draw you into madnefs? Think of it.
(4) The very place (5) puts toys of defperation,
Without more motive, into ev'ry bruin,

That looks so many fathoms to the fea;

And bears it soar beneath.

Ham. It waves me ftill.-Go on, I'll follow thee.

Mar. You fhall not go, my Lord.

Ham. Hold off your hands.

Mar. Be rul'd, you shall not go.
Ham. My fate cries out,

And makes each petty artery in this body
As hardy as the Nemean lion's nerve.

Still am

I call'd. Unhand me, gentlemen

[Breaking from them.

By heav'n, I'll make a Ghost of him that lets me
Go on- I'll follow thee-

I fay, away.

[Exeunt Gboft and Hamlet.

Hor. He waxes defperate with imagination.

Mar. Let's follow! 'Tis not fit thus to obey him. Hor. Have after.- -To what iffue will this come? Mar. Something is rotten in the State of Denmark.

And

(3) -DEPRIVE your sou'reignty of reason,] i. e. deprive your sov'reignty of its reafon. Nonfenfe. Sov'reignty of reafon is the fame as fovereign or fupreme reafon : Reafon which governs man. thus it was ufed by the best writers of thofe times. Sidney fays, t is time for us both to let reason enjoy its due foveraigntie. Aicid. And King Charles, at once to betray the foveraignty of reafon in my foul. Einar Baohin. It is evident that Shakespeare wrote,

-DEPRAVE your fou'reignty of reafon.

i. e. diforder your understanding and draw you into madness. So afterwards. Now fee that noble and most fovereign reafon like sweet bells jangled out of tune. WARBURTON. I believe deprive in this place fignifies fimply to take away. (4) The very place--] The four following lines added from the fiift edition.

(5)-puts toys of defperation,] Toys, for whims.

POPE.

WARBURTON.

Hor.