What is't, but to be nothing else but mad: But let that go. QUEEN. More matter, with less art. POL. Madam, I swear, I use no art at all. Mad let us grant him then: and now remains, I have a daughter; have, while she is mine; Hath given me this: Now gather, and surmise. -To the celestial, and my soul's idol, the most beautified Ophelia,' 1 To the celestial, and my soul's idol, the most beautified Ophelia,] Mr. Theobald for beautified substituted beatified. MALONE. Dr. Warburton has followed Mr. Theobald; but I am in doubt whether beautified, though as Polonius calls it, a vile phrase, be not the proper word. Beautified seems to be a vile phrase, for the ambiguity of its meaning. JOHNSON. Heywood, in his History of Edward VI. says, "Katherine Parre, queen dowager to king Henry VIII, was a woman beautified with many excellent virtues." FARMER. So, in The Hog hath lost his Pearl, 1614: "A maid of rich endowments, beautified "With all the virtues nature could bestow." Again, Nash dedicates his Christ's Tears over Jerusalem, 1594: " to the most beautified lady, the lady Elizabeth Carey." Again, in Greene's Mamillia, 1593: "although thy person is so bravely beautified with the dowries of nature." Ill and vile as the phrase may be, our author has used it again in The Two Gentlemen of Verona: That's an ill phrase, a vile phrase; beautified is a vile phrase; but you shall hear.-Thus : In her excellent white bosom, these,' &c.- POL. Good madam, stay awhile; I will be faithful. Doubt thou, the stars are fire; Doubt, that the sun doth move : Doubt truth to be a liar; But never doubt, I love. [Reads. O dear Ophelia, I am ill at these numbers; I have not art to reckon my groans: but that I love thee best, O most best, believe it. Adieu. Thine evermore, most dear lady, whilst this machine is to him, Hamlet.* "seeing you are beautified "With goodly shape," &c. STEEVENS. By beautified Hamlet means beautiful. But Polonius, taking the word in the more strictly grammatical sense of being made beautiful, calls it a vile phrase, as implying that his daughter's beauty was the effect of art. M. MASON. * In her excellent white bosom, these,] So, in The Two Gentlemen of Verona : "Thy letters "Which, being writ to me, shall be deliver'd See Vol. IV. p. 248, n. 1. STEEVENS. I have followed the quarto. The folio reads: These in her excellent white bosom, these, &c. In our poet's time the word These was usually added at the end of the superscription of letters, but I have never met with it both at the beginning and end. MALONE. O most best,] So, in Acolastus, a comedy, 1540: that same most best redresser or reformer, is God." STEEVENS. whilst this machine is to him, Hamlet.] These words VOL. XVIII. I This, in obedience, hath my daughter shown me : As they fell out by time, by means, and place, KING. Receiv'd his love? POL. But how hath she What do you think of me? KING. As of a man faithful and honourable. POL. I would fain prove so. But what might you think, When I had seen this hot love on the wing, Or given my heart a working, mute and dumb; will not be ill explained by the conclusion of one of the Letters of the Paston Family, Vol. II. p. 43: "for your pleasure, whyle my wytts be my owne." The phrase employed by Hamlet seems to have a French construction. Pendant que cette machine est a lui. To be one's own man is a vulgar expression, but means much the same as Virgil's 6 Dum memor ipse mei, dum spiritus hos regit artus. STEEVENS. more above,] is, moreover, besides. JOHNSON. If I had play'd the desk, or table-book; Or given my heart a working, mute and dumb; What might you think?] i. e. If either I had conveyed intelligence between them, and been the confident of their amours [play'd the desk or table-book,] or had connived at it, only observed them in secret, without acquainting my daughter with my discovery [giving my heart a mute and dumb working;] or And my young mistress thus did I bespeak; lastly, been negligent in observing the intrigue, and overlooked it [looked upon this love with idle sight;] what would you have thought of me? WARBURTON. I doubt whether the first line is rightly explained. It may mean, if I had locked up this secret in my own breast, as closely as it were confined in a desk or table-book. MALONE. Or given my heart a working, mute and dumb ;] The folio reads a winking. STEEVENS. The same pleonasm [mute and dumb] is found in our author's Rape of Lucrece: 7 "And in my hearing be you mute and dumb." MALONE. round-] i. e. roundly without reserve. So Polobe round with him." nius says in the third Act: " STEEVENS, Lord Hamlet is a prince out of thy sphere;] The quarto, 1604, and the first folio, for sphere, have star. The correction was made by the editor of the second folio. MALONE. 9 - precepts gave her,] Thus the folio. The two elder quartos read-prescripts. I have chosen the most familiar of the two readings. Polonius has already said to his son"And these few precepts in thy memory "Look thou charácter." STEEVENS. The original copy in my opinion is right. Polonius had ordered his daughter to lock herself up from Hamlet's resort, &c. See p. 61: "I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth, 'Which done, she took the fruits of my advice;] She took the fruits of advice when she obeyed advice, the advice was then made fruitful. JOHNSON. And he, repulsed, (a short tale to make,) Thence to a watch; thence into a weakness; Thence to a lightness; and, by this declension, Into the madness wherein now he raves, And all we mourn for. KING. Do you think, 'tis this? QUEEN. It may be, very likely. POL. Hath there been such a time, (I'd fain know that,) That I have positively said, 'Tis so, When it prov'd otherwise? KING. Not that I know. POL. Take this from this, if this be otherwise : [Pointing to his Head and Shoulder. If circumstances lead me, I will find Where truth is hid, though it were hid indeed KING. How may we try it further? POL. You know, sometimes he walks four hours together, (a short tale to make,) Fell into a sadness; then into a fast; &c.] The ridicule of this character is here admirably sustained. He would not only be thought to have discovered this intrigue by his own sagacity, but to have remarked all the stages of Hamlet's disorder, from his sadness to his raving, as regularly as his physician could have done; when all the while the madness was only feigned. The humour of this is exquisite from a man who tells us, with a confidence peculiar to small politicians, that he could find 3 Where truth was hid, though it were hid indeed "Within the centre." WARBURTON. four hours together,] we to read indefinitely Perhaps it would be better were - for hours together. TYRWHITT. I formerly was inclined to adopt Mr. Tyrwhitt's proposed emendation; but have now no doubt that the text is right. The |