Doth all the noble fubftance of Worth out, To his own fcandal. Enter Ghoft. Hor. Look, my Lord, it comes ! Ham. Angels and minifters of grace defend us! Be thou a Spirit of health, or Goblin damn'd, Bring with thee airs from heav'n, or blafts from hell, Be thy intents wicked or charitable, 8 Thou com'ft in fuch a queftionable shape, That I will speak to thee. I'll call thee Hamlet, remember a paffage throughout all our poet's works, more intricate and deprav'd in the text, of lefs meaning to outward appearance, or more likely to baffle the attempts of criticifm in its aid. It is certain, there is neither fente nor grammar as it now stands : yet with a flight alteration, I'll endeavour to cure those 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 least alloy or bafenefs or vice. It is very frequent with our poet to use the adjective of quality instead of the fubftantive fignifying the thing. Befides, I have obferved, that elsewhere, fpeaking of worib, he delights to confider it as a quality that adds weight to a perfon, and connects the word with that idea. THEOBALD. Have Have burft their cearments ?] Hamlet here fpeaks with wonder, that he who was dead should rife 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 Sepulture performed to him, fhould walk; the want of which was fuppofed to be the reafon of walking ghofts. Hamlet's wonder then should have been placed here: And fo Shakespear placed it, as we shall fee presently. For hearfed is used figuratively to fig Have burft their cearments? Why the fepulchre, nify 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 hearfed 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 holy 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 murder'd with all his fins fresh upon him, and therefore in no way to be fainted. But if this licentious use of the word canonized 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, have 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 hears'd in cano M It were too long to examine this note period by period, tho' almoft every period feems to me to contain fomething reprehenfible. The critick, in his zeal for change, writes with Yo little confideration, as to say, that Hamlet cannot call his father canonized, because we are told he was murdered with all his fins fresh upon him. 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 upon reafons prove nothing, but what every reader discovers, that' the King had been buried, which is implied by fo many adjuncts of burial, that the direct mention of earth is not neceffary, Hamlet, amazed at an apparition, which, though in all ages credited, has in all ages been confidered as the moft wonderful and most dreadful operation of fupernatural agency, enquires of the spectre, in the moft emphatick terms, why he breaks the order of nature, by returning from the dead; this he alks in a very confufed circumlocution, That thou, dead corfe, again, in compleat steel, 2 1 With thoughts beyond the reaches of our fouls? Hor. It beckons you to go away with it, Mar. Look, with what courteous action. 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, cumlocution, confounding in his fright the foul and body. Why, fays he, have thy bones, which with due ceremonies have been intombed in death, in the common ftate of departed mortals, burft 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 removed any obscurity, or added any beauty, it might have been worth a struggle, but either reading leaves the fenfe the fame. If there be any afperity in this Being a thing immortal as itself? It waves me forth again.. -I'll follow it Hor. What if it tempt you tow'rd the flood, my Or to the dreadful fummit of the cliff, And there affume fome other horrible form, 3 Which might deprive your fov'reignty of reason, And bears it roar beneath. Ham. It waves me ftill.-Go on, I'll follow thee. 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 Still am I call'd. Unhand me, gentlemen [Breaking from them. By heav'n, I'll make a Ghost of him that lets me 3-DEPRIVE your fov`reigr ty of reefon,] i. e. deprive your fov'reignty of its reafon. Nonfenfe. So'reignty of reafor is the fame as fovereign or fupreme reason: Reafon which governs man. And thus it was ufed by the best writers of those times. Sidney fays, It is time for us both to let reafon enjoy its due Joveraignti. Arcad. And King Charles, at once to betray the foveraignty of reafon in my foul. Einar Bacının. It is evident that Shak fear wrote, I fay, away.-Go on-I'll follow thee [Exeunt Ghoft and Hamlet. Hor. He waxes defp'rate 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. Hor. Heav'n will direct it. Mar. Nay, let's follow him. Ham. SCENE [Exeunt. VIII. A more remote Part of the Platform. W Re-enter Ghoft and Hamlet. HERE wilt thou lead me? speak, I'll go no further. Ghost. Mark me. Ham. I will. Ghoft. My hour is almost come, When I to fulphurous and tormenting flames Muft render up myself. Ham. Alas, poor Ghost! Ghoft. Pity me not, but lend thy ferious hearing To what I fhall unfold. Ham. Speak, I am bound to hear. Ghoft. So art thou to revenge, when thou fhalt hear. Ham. What? Ghoft. I am thy father's Spirit; Doom'd for a certain term to walk the night, 6 6-confin'd ro faft in fires ;] for the superlative mift, or very. We should read, TOO faft in fires. i.. very closely confined. The particle too is ufed frequently 5 WARBURTON. |