Note return to page 1 [1] 1 we'll not carry coals.] A phrase then in use, to signify the bearing injuries.

Note return to page 2 [2] 2 Enter Benvolio.] Much of this scene is added since the first edition; but probably by Shakespear, since we find it in that of the year 1599. Mr. Pope.

Note return to page 3 [3] 3 That most are busied &c.] Edition 1597. Instead of which it is in the other editions thus, &lblank; by my own. Which then most sought, where most might not be found, Being one too many by my weary self, Pursued my humour, &c. Mr. Pope.

Note return to page 4 [4] 4 And gladly shun'd &c.] The ten lines following, not in edition 1597, but i the next of 1599. Mr. Pope.

Note return to page 5 [5] 5 Ben. Have you importun'd, &c.] These two speeches also omitted in edition 1597, but inserted in 1599. Mr. Pope.

Note return to page 6 [a] [(a) Sun. Mr. Theobald—Vulg. same.]

Note return to page 7 [a] [(a) path-ways to his ill. Oxford Editor—Vulg. path-ways to his will.]

Note return to page 8 [6] 6 Rom. She hath, and in that Sparing, &c.] None of the following speeches of this scene in the first Edition of 1597. Mr. Pope.

Note return to page 9 [7] 7 She is the hopeful lady of my earth:] This line not in the first edition. Mr. Pope.

Note return to page 10 [8] 8 Earth-treading stars that make dark heaven's light.] This nonsense should be reformed thus, Earth-treading stars that make dark even light. i. e. When the evening is dark and without stars, these earthly stars supply their place, and light it up. So again in this play, Her beauty hangs upon the cheek of night, Like a rich jewel in an Ethiop's ear.

Note return to page 11 [9] 9 A fair assembly: whither should they come? Ser. Up.— Rom. Whither? to supper? Ser. To our House.] Romeo had read over the list of invited guests; but how should he know they were invited to supper? This comes much more aptly from the Servant's answer, than Romeo's question; and must undoubtedly be placed to him.

Note return to page 12 for unattained read unattainted.

Note return to page 13 [1] 1 Nurse. Yes, Madam; yet I cannot chuse &c.] This speech and tautology is not in the first edition. Mr. Pope.

Note return to page 14 [2] 2 La. Cap. What say you, &c.] This ridiculous speech is entirely added since the first edition. Mr. Pope.

Note return to page 15 [3] 3 The date is out of such prolixity.] i. e. Masks are now out of fashion. That Shakespear was an enemy to these fooleries, appears from his writing none: and that his plays discredited such entertainments is more than probable. But in James's time, that reign of false taste as well as false politics, they came again in fashion: and a deluge of this affected nonsense overflowed the court and country.

Note return to page 16 [4] 4 Nor a without-book prologue &c.] The two following lines are inserted from the first Edition. Mr. Pope.

Note return to page 17 [5] 5 Mer. You are a Lover; &c.] The twelve following lines are not to be found in the first edition. Mr. Pope.

Note return to page 18 [6] 6 Tut! dun's the mouse, the constable's own word;] This poor obscure stuff should have an explanation in mere charity. It is an answer to these two lines of Romeo, For I am proverb'd with a grandsire's phrase. and The game was ne'er so fair, and I am done. Mercutio, in his reply, answers the last line first. The thought of which, and of the preceding, is taken from gaming, I'll be a candle-holder (says Romeo) and look on. It is true, if I could play myself, I could never expect a fairer chance than in the company we are going to: but, alas! I am done. I have nothing to play with; I have lost my heart already. Mercutio catches at the word done, and quibbles with it, as if Romeo had said, The ladies indeed are fair, but I am dun, i. e. of a dark complexion. And so replies, Tut! dun's the mouse; a proverbial expression of the same import with the French, La nuit tous les chats sont gris. As much as to say, You need not fear, night will make all your complexions alike. And because Romeo had introduced his observation with, I am proverb'd with a grandsire's phrase, Mercutio adds to his reply, the constable's own word. As much, as to say, if you are for old proverbs, I'll fit you with one; 'tis the constable's own word: whose custom was, when he summoned his watch, and assigned them their several stations, to give them what the soldiers call, the word. But this night guard being distinguished for their pacific character, the constable, as an emblem of their harmless disposition, chose that domestic animal for his word: which, in time, might become proverbial.

Note return to page 19 [7] 7 O, then I see, Queen Mab hath been with you. She is the fairies' midwife.] Thus begins that admirable speech upon the effects of the imagination in dreams. But, Queen Mab the fairies' midwife? What is she then Queen of? Why, the fairies. What! and their midwife too? But this is not the greatest of the absurdities. Let us see upon what occasion she is introduced, and under what quality. It is as a Being that has great power over human imaginations. But then the title given her, must have reference to the employment she is put upon: First then, she is called Queen: which is very pertinent; for that designs her power: Then she is called the fairies' midwife; but what has that to do with the point in hand? If we would think that Shakespear wrote sense, we must say, he wrote—the fancy's midwife: and this is a proper title, as it introduces all that is said afterwards of her vagaries. Besides, it exactly quadrates with these lines: &lblank; I talk of dreams; Which are the children of an idle brain, Begot of nothing but vain fantasie. These dreams are begot upon fantasie, and Mab is the midwife to bring them forth. And fancy's midwife is a phrase altogether in the manner of our author.

Note return to page 20 [8] 8 &lblank; and she comes In shape no bigger than an agat stone] Shape not signifying quantity but quality, in shape no bigger, must needs be a great inaccuracy of expression. I am therefore inclined to think that Shakespear read and pointed the passage thus, &lblank; and she comes In shade; no bigger than an agat-stone. i. e. she comes in the night, and is no bigger &c.

Note return to page 21 [9] 9 Sometimes she gallops o'er a lawyer's nose, And then dreams he of smelling out a suit:] The old editions have it, courtier's nose; and this undoubtedly is the true reading: and for these reasons. First, In the present reading there is a vicious repetition in this fine speech; the same thought having been given in the foregoing line, O'er lawyer's fingers who strait dream on fees: Nor can it be objected that there will be the same fault if we read courtier's, it having been said before, On courtiers' knees that dream on courtsies strait: because they are shewn in two places under different views: in the first, their foppery; in the second, their rapacity is ridiculed. Secondly, In our author's time, a court-solicitation was called, simply, a suit: and a process, a suit at law, to distinguish it from the other. The King (says an anonymous contemporary writer of the life of Sir William Cecil) called him [Sir William Cecil] and after long talk with him, being much delighted with his answers, willed his Father to find [i. e. to smell out] a suit for him. Whereupon he became suiter for the reversion of the Custos brevium office in the Common Pleas. Which the King willingly graunted, it being the first suit he had in his life. Indeed our Poet has very rarely turned his satire against lawyers and law proceedings; the common topic of later writers. For, to observe it to the honour of the English judicatures, they preserved the purity and simplicity of their first institution, long after Chicane had overrun all the other laws of Europe. Philip de Commines gives us a very frank description of the horid abuses that had infected the courts of justice in France so early as the time of Lewis XIth. Aussi desiroit fort qu' en ce Royaume on usast d'une coustume, d'un poix, d'une mesure: et que toutes ces coustumes fussent mises en françoys, en un beau Livre, pour eviter la cautelle & la pillerie des advocats: qui est si grande en ce Royaume, que nulle autre n'est semblable, & les nobles d'iceluy la doivent bien cougnoistre. At this time the administration of the law in England was conducted with great purity and integrity. The reason of this difference I take to be, that, 'till of late, there were few glossers or commentators on our laws, and those very able, honest, and concise. While it was the fortune of the other municipal laws of Europe, where the Roman civil law had a supplemental authority, to be, in imitation of that law, overloaded with glosses and commentators. And what corruption this practice occasioned in the administration of the Roman law itself, and to what a miserable condition it reduced public justice, we may see in a long and fine digression of the historian Ammianus Marcellinus; who has painted, in very lively colours, the different kinds of vermine, which infected their tribunals and courts of law: whereby the state of public justice became in a short time so desperately corrupt, that Justinian was obliged to new-model and digest the enormous body of their laws.

Note return to page 22 [1] 1 And cakes the elf-locks &c.] This was a common superstition; and seems to have had its rise from the horrid disease called the Plica Polonica.

Note return to page 23 [2] 2 Direct my suit! &lblank;] Suit, for course, way, not love suit.

Note return to page 24 [3] 3 If I profane with my unworthy hand This holy shrine, the gentle Sin is this, My lips, two blushing pilgrims, &c.] All profanations are suppos'd to be expiated either by some meritorious action or by some penance undergone and punishment submitted to. So, Romeo would here say, if I have been profane in the rude touch of my hand, my lips stand ready, as two blushing pilgrims, to take off that offence, to atone for it by a sweet penance. Our poet therefore must have wrote, &lblank; the gentle Fine is this.

Note return to page 25 [4] 4 Chorus.] This chorus added since the first edition. Mr. Pope.

Note return to page 26 [1] 1 When King Cophetua &c.] Alluding to an old ballad. Mr. Pope.

Note return to page 27 [a] [(a) Sight. Mr. Theobald.—Vulg. night.]

Note return to page 28 [2] 2 &lblank; the lazy-pacing clouds,] Thus corrected from the first edition, in the other lazy puffing. Mr. Pope.

Note return to page 29 [3] 3 Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.] i. e. you would be just what you are, altho' you were not of the house of Montague.

Note return to page 30 for woe read wooe.

Note return to page 31 [4] 4 The grey-ey'd morn &c.] These four first lines are here replac'd, conformable to the first Edition, where such a description is much more proper than in the mouth of Romeo just before, when he was full of nothing but the thoughts of his mistress. Mr. Pope.

Note return to page 32 [5] 5 Poison hath residence, and medicine power:] I believe Shakespear wrote, more accurately, thus, Poison hath residence, and medic'nal power: i. e. both poison and the antidote are lodged within the rind of this flower.

Note return to page 33 [6] 6 Two such opposed foes &lblank;] This is a modern Sophistication. The old books have it opposed—kings. So that it appears, Shakespear wrote, Two such opposed kin. Why he calls them Kin was, because they were qualities residing in one and the same substance. And as the enmity of opposed Kin generally rises higher than that between strangers, this circumstance adds a beauty to the expression.

Note return to page 34 [7] 7 More than prince of cats? &lblank;] Tybalt, the name given to the Cat, in the story-book of Reynold the Fox.

Note return to page 35 [8] 8 A gentleman of the very first house, of the first and second cause;] i. e. one who pretends to be at the head of his family, and quarrels by the book. See Note on As you like it. Act V. Scene 6.

Note return to page 36 [9] 9 Why, is not this a lamentable thing, grandsire!] Humourously apostrophising his ancestors, whose sober times were unacquainted with the fopperies here complained of.

Note return to page 37 [1] 1 Thisbé a grey eye or so, but not to the purpose.] We should read and point it thus, Thisbé a grey eye or so: But now to the purpose. He here turns from his discourse on the effects of love, to enquire after Romeo.

Note return to page 38 [2] 2 Rom. Ay nurse, what of that? both with an R. Nurse. Ah, mocker! that's the dog's name. R. is for the no, I know it begins with no other letter;] I believe, I have rectified this odd stuff; but it is a little mortifying, that the sense, when found, should not be worth the pains of retrieving it. &lblank; spissis indigna Theatris Scripta pudet recitare, & nugis addere pondus. The Nurse is represented as a prating silly creature; she says, she will tell Romeo a good joke about his mistress, and asks him, whether Rosemary and Romeo do not begin both with a letter: He says, yes, an R. She, who, we must suppose, could not read, thought he had mock'd her, and says, No, sure, I know better: our dog's name is R. yours begins with another letter. This is natural enough, and in character. R. put her in mind of that sound which is made by dogs when they snarl: and therefore, I presume, she says, that is the dog's name. R. in the schools, being called the Dog's letter. Ben Johnson in his English grammar says, R. is the Dog's letter, and hirreth in the sound. Irritata canis quod R. R. quam plurima dicat. Lucil.

Note return to page 39 [3] 3 Take my fan, and go before.] From the first Edition. Mr. Pope.

Note return to page 40 [4] 4 Tho' news be sad, &c.] These three lines not in the old edition. Mr. Pope.

Note return to page 41 [5] 5 Jesu! what haste? &c] These seven lines not in the first edition. Mr. Pope.

Note return to page 42 [6] 6 though his face be better than any man's,] We should read, be no better than another man's.

Note return to page 43 [7] 7 He is not the flower of courtesie,] i. e. No Fop; this being one of their titles at that time.

Note return to page 44 [1] 1 Will you pluck your sword out of his Pilcher by the ears?] We should read Pilche, which signifies a cloke or coat of skins, meaning the scabbard.

Note return to page 45 [a] [(a) heats' proceeding. Oxford Editor—Vulg. hearts' proceeding.]

Note return to page 46 [2] 2 Spread thy close curtain, love-performing Night, That runaways eyes may wink;] What runaways are these, whose eyes Juliet is wishing to have stopt? Macbeth, we may remember, makes an invocation to Night much in the same strain: &lblank; Come, seeling Night, Scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day, &c. So Juliet here would have Night's darkness obscure the great eye of the day, the Sun; whom considering in a poetical light as Phœbus, drawn in his carr with fiery-footed steeds, and posting thro' the heavens, she very properly calls him, with regard to the swiftness of his course, the Runaway. In the like manner our Poet speaks of the Night in the Merchant of Venice; For the close Night doth play the Runaway.

Note return to page 47 for ay read I.

Note return to page 48 [3] 3 &lblank; death-darting eye of cockatrice.] The strange lines that follow here in the common books are not in the old edition. Mr. Pope.

Note return to page 49 [4] 4 Ravenous Dove, feather'd Raven, &c.] The four following lines not in the first Edition, as well as some others which I have omitted. Mr. Pope. He might as well have omitted these, they being evidently the Players trash, and as such I have marked them with a note of reprobation.

Note return to page 50 [5] 5 A gentler judgment vanish'd from his lips,] Were the judgment pronounced, ineffectual, or made void, it might with some propriety be said to have vanish'd from his lips. I suspect Shakespear wrote, A gentler judgment even'd from his lips, i. e. came equitably from his lips. The Poet frequently uses the words even, and to even, in this sense.

Note return to page 51 [6] 6 But purgatory, torture, hell it self.] Place is the subject here spoken of, as appears from the preceding words, There is no world &c. To which purgatory and hell answer rightly; but torture is not place, but punishment. I think therefore that Shakespear wrote, But purgatory, Tartar, Hell it self. So in Twelfth-Night:—To the gates of Tartar. And in The Comedy of Errors:—No, he's in Tartar, limbo.

Note return to page 52 [7] 7 &lblank; what says My conceal'd lady to our cancell'd love?] An antithesis or opposition was here intended: but what opposition is there between conceal'd and cancell'd? Besides, she was not conceal'd, tho' he was. We should read, My conseal'd lady to our cancell'd love? And then the opposition is evident, and the sense exact. For conseal'd is a very proper designment of one just affianced to her Lover. In the same manner she herself speaks afterwards, And ere this hand, by thee to Romeo seal'd, Shall be the label to another deed &lblank; So in Midsummer Night's Dream, the marriage day is called the sealing-day. The sealing-day between my love and me.

Note return to page 53 [8] 8 Unseemly Woman in a seeming Man! And ill beseeming Beast in seeming both!] This strange nonsense Mr. Pope threw out of his edition for desperate. But it is easily restored as Shakespear wrote it into good pertinent sense. Unseemly Woman in a seeming Man! An ill beseeming Beast in seeming groth! i. e. you have the ill beseeming passions of a brute beast in the well-seeming shape of a rational creature. For having in the first line said, he was a woman in the shape of a man, he aggravates the thought in the second, and says, he was even a brute in the shape of a rational creature. Seeming is used in both places, for seemly.

Note return to page 54 [9] 9 Why rail'st thou on thy Birth, the Heav'n and Earth, Since Birth, and Heav'n, and Earth, all three do meet, In thee at once, which thou at once would'st lose?] These were again thrown out by Mr. Pope, and for the same reason: But they are easily set right. We should read, Since Birth, and Heav'n, and Earth, all three so meet, In thee atone; which then at once would lose. i. e. Why rail you at your Birth, and at Heaven, and Earth, which are all so meet, or auspicious to you: And all three your friends, [all three in thee atone] and yet you would lose them all by one rash stroke. Why he said,—Birth, Heaven, and Earth, all three atone—was because Romeo was of noble birth, of virtuous dispositions, and heir to a large patrimony. But by suicide he would disgrace the first, offend the second, and forego the enjoyment of the third. Atone is frequently used by Shakespear in the sense of, to agree, be friendly together, &c. So in, As you like it, Then is there mirth in Heav'n When earthly things made even Atone together.

Note return to page 55 [1] 1 Scene VI.] Some few necessary verses are omitted in this scene according to the oldest editions. Mr. Pope.

Note return to page 56 [2] 2 Sir Paris, I will make a desperate tender Of my child's love: &lblank;] This was but an indifferent compliment both to Sir Paris and his Daughter: As if there were small hopes of her ever proving good for any thing. For he could not call the tender, desperate on the little prospect there was of his performing his engagement, because he is sure, he says, that his daughter will be ruled in all respects by him. We should read, Sir Paris, I will make a separate tender. i. e. I will venture separately on my own head, to make you a tender of my daughter's love without consulting her. For Sir Paris was impatient, and the mother had said, Things have fall'n out, Sir, so unluckily, That we have had no time to move our daughter.

Note return to page 57 for loaded read loathed.

Note return to page 58 [3] 3 O now I would they had chang'd voices too!] The toad having very fine eyes, and the lark very ugly ones, was the occasion of a common saying amongst the people, that the toad and lark had changed eyes. To this the speaker alludes. But sure she need not have wished that they had changed voices too. The lark appear'd to her untunable enough in all conscience: As appears by what she said just before, It is the lark that sings so out of tune, Straining harsh discords and unpleasing sharps. This directs us to the right reading. For how natural was it for her after this to add, Some say the lark and loathed toad change eyes. O, now I wot they have chang'd voices too. i. e. the lark sings so harshly that I now perceive the toad and she have changed voices as well as eyes.

Note return to page 59 [4] 4 &lblank; procures her hither?] Procures, for brings.

Note return to page 60 [a] [(a) &lblank; so keen, so quick. Oxford Editor.—Vulg. so green, so quick.]

Note return to page 61 [b] [(b) As living hence. Oxford Editor.—Vulg. As living here.]

Note return to page 62 [5] 5 Or chain me, &c.] Or walk in thievish ways, or bid me lurk Where serpents are, chain me with roaring bears, Or hide me nightly, &c. It is thus the editions vary. Mr. Pope.

Note return to page 63 [6] 6 All our whole city is much bound to him.] For the sake of the grammar, I would suspect Shakespear wrote, &lblank; much bound to hymn. i. e. praise, celebrate.

Note return to page 64 [7] 7 O woe! oh woful, &c.] This speech of exclamations is not in the edition above cited. Several other parts, unnecessary or tautology, are not to be found in the said edition; which occasions the variation in this from the common books. Mr. Pope.

Note return to page 65 [1] 1 If I may trust the flattering Truth of sleep,] This man was of an odd composition to be able to make it a question, whether he should believe what he confessed to be true. Tho' if he thought Truth capable of Flattery, he might indeed suppose her to be turn'd apostate. But none of this nonsense came from Shakespear. He wrote, If I may trust the flattering Ruth of sleep, i. e. Pity. The compassionate advertisement of sleep. This was a reasonable question; and the epithet given to Ruth suits its nature. But, above all, the character which the poet always gives us of Sleep is here well described in this reading; that it is pitiful, compassionate, the Balm of hurt minds, great Nature's second course, Chief nourisher of life's feast. &lblank; But because I had corrected it, &lblank; the flattering Ruth of sleep, the Oxford Editor would be even with me, and reads it, &lblank; the flattery of sleep, And he has done it. For tho' a reasonable man might make it a question whether he should believe a compassionate advertisement, yet who would hesitate whether he should believe a flatterer.

Note return to page 66 [2] 2 A beggarly account of empty boxes;] Tho' the boxes were empty, yet their titles, or the accounts of their contents, if like those in the shops of other apothecaries, we may be sure, were magnificent enough. I suspect therefore that Shakespear wrote, A braggartly account of empty boxes; Which is somewhat confirmed by the reading of the old Quarto of 1597; &lblank; whose needy shop is stufft With beggarly accounts of emptie boxes; Not but account may signify number as well as contents; if the first, the common reading is right.

Note return to page 67 [3] 3 The letter was not nice, &lblank;] Nice, for of trifling import.

Note return to page 68 [4] 4 Fair Juliet, that with angels &c.] These four lines from the old edition. Mr. Pope.

Note return to page 69 The Story taken from Saxo Grammaticus's Danish History.

Note return to page 70 [1] 1 The rivals of my Watch, &lblank;] Rivals, for partners.

Note return to page 71 [2] 2 Hor. A piece of him.] But why a piece? He says this as he gives his hand. Which direction should be marked.

Note return to page 72 [3] 3 Touching this dreaded sight, &lblank;] Perhaps Shakespear wrote spright.

Note return to page 73 [4] 4 Without the sensible and true avouch] I am inclinable to think that Shakespear wrote, &lblank; try'd avouch. For no one could believe a report but on a supposition of a true avouch: but many might believe it without a try'd avouch, i. e. on the credit of another.

Note return to page 74 [5] 5 He smote the sleaded Polack on the ice.] Pole-axe in the common editions. He speaks of a Prince of Poland whom he slew in battle. He uses the word Polack again, Act 2. Scene 4. Mr. Pope.

Note return to page 75 [6] 6 &lblank; and just at this dead hour,] The old quarto reads jumpe: but the following editions discarded it for a more fashionable word.

Note return to page 76 [7] 7 &lblank; who by seal'd compact, Well ratified by law and heraldry.] The subject spoken of is a duel between two monarchs, who fought for a wager, and entered into articles for the just performance of the terms agreed upon. Two sorts of law then were necessary to regulate the decision of the affair: the Civil Law, and the Law of Arms; as, had there been a wager without a duel, it had been the civil law only; or a duel without a wager, the law of arms only. Let us see now how our author is made to express this sense. &lblank; a seal'd compact Well ratified by law and heraldry. Now law, as distinguished from heraldry, signifying the civil law; and this seal'd compact being a civil-law act, it is as much as to say, An act of law well ratified by law, which is absurd. For the nature of ratification requires that which ratifies, and that which is ratified, should not be one and the same, but different. For these reasons I conclude Shakespear wrote, &lblank; who by seal'd compact Well ratified by law of heraldry. i. e. the execution of the civil compact was ratified by the law of arms; which, in our author's time, was called the law of heraldry. So the best and exactest speaker of that age: In the third kind, [i. e. of the Jus gentium] the law of heraldry in war is positive &c. Hoooker's Ecclesiastical Polity.

Note return to page 77 [8] 8 &lblank; as by that cov'nant, And carriage of the articles design'd,] The old quarto reads &lblank; as by the same comart; And this is right. Comart signifies a bargain, and Carriage of the articles, the covenants entered into to confirm that bargain. Hence we see the common reading makes a tautology.

Note return to page 78 [9] 9 Of unimproved mettle &lblank;] Unimproved, for unrefined.

Note return to page 79 [1] 1 And terms compulsative &lblank;] The old quarto, better, compulsatory.

Note return to page 80 [2] 2 &lblank; palmy State of Rome] Palmy, for victorious; in the other editions, flourishing. Mr. Pope.

Note return to page 81 [3] 3 Disasters veil'd the Sun;] Disasters is here finely used in its original signification of evil conjunction of stars.

Note return to page 82 [4] 4 &lblank; precurse of fierce events,] Fierce, for terrible.

Note return to page 83 [5] 5 And prologue to the omen coming on.] Omen, for fate.

Note return to page 84 [6] 6 Extorted treasure, &lblank;] i. e. unjustly extorted from thy subjects.

Note return to page 85 [7] 7 Th' extravagant &lblank;] i. e. got out of its bounds.

Note return to page 86 [8] 8 &lblank; high eastern till &lblank;] The old quarto has it better eastward.

Note return to page 87 [9] 9 Colleagued with this dream of his advantage,] The meaning is, He goes to war so indiscreetly, and unprepared, that he has no allies to support him but a Dream, with which he is colleagued or confederated.

Note return to page 88 [1] 1 The head is not more native to the heart, The hand more instrumental to the mouth, Than is the Throne of Denmark to thy father.] This is a flagrant instance of the first Editor's stupidity, in preferring sound to sense. But head, heart and hand, he thought must needs go together where an honest man was the subject of the encomium; tho' what he could mean by the head's being native to the heart, I cannot conceive. The mouth indeed of an honest man might, perhaps, in some sense, be said to be native, that is, allied to the heart. But the speaker is here talking not of a moral, but a physical alliance. And the force of what is said is supported only by that distinction. I suppose, then, that Shakespear wrote, The blood is not more native to the heart, &lblank; Than to the Throne of Denmark is thy father. This makes the sentiment just and pertinent. As the blood is formed and sustained by the labour of the heart, the mouth supplied by the office of the hand, so is the throne of Denmark by your father, &c. The expression too of the blood's being native to the heart, is extremely fine. For the heart is the laboratory where that vital liquor is digested, distributed, and (when weakned and debilitated) again restored to the vigour necessary for the discharge of its functions.

Note return to page 89 [2] 2 But now, my cousin Hamlet, and my son &lblank; Ham. A little more than kin, and less than kind.] The King had called him, cousin Hamlet, therefore Hamlet replies, A little more than kin, &lblank; i. e. A little more than cousin; because, by marrying his mother, he was become the King's son-in-law: So far is easy. But what means the latter part of the sentence, &lblank; and less than kind? The King, in the present reading, gives no occasion for this reflection, which is sufficient to shew it to be faulty, and that we should read and point the first line thus, But now, my cousin Hamlet.—Kind my son &lblank; i. e. But now let us turn to you, cousin Hamlet. Kind my son, (or, as we now say, Good my son) lay aside this clouded look. For thus he was going to expostulate gently with him for his melancholy, when Hamlet cut him short by reflecting on the titles he gave him. A little more than kin, and less than kind. which we now see is a pertinent reply.

Note return to page 90 [3] 3 &lblank; your father lost a father; That father, his; and the surviver bound] Thus Mr. Pope judiciously corrected the faulty copies. On which the Editor Mr. Theobald thus discants; This supposed refinement is from Mr. Pope, but all the editions else, that I have met with, old and modern, read, That father lost, lost his; &lblank; The reduplication of which word here gives an energy and an elegance which is much easier to be conceived than explained in terms. I believe so: For when explained in terms it comes to this; That father after he had lost himself, lost his father. But the reading is ex fide Codicis, and that is enough.

Note return to page 91 [4] 4 In obstinate condolement, &lblank;] Condolement, for sorrow; because sorrow is used to be condoled.

Note return to page 92 [5] 5 &lblank; a will most incorrect &lblank;] Incorrect, for untutor'd.

Note return to page 93 [6] 6 To Reason most absurd; &lblank;] Reason, for experience.

Note return to page 94 [7] 7 &lblank; throw to earth] i. e. Into the grave with your father.

Note return to page 95 [8] 8 This unprevailing woe, &lblank;] Unprevailing, for unavailing.

Note return to page 96 [9] 9 And with no less nobility of love,] Nobility, for magnitude.

Note return to page 97 [1] 1 Do I impart tow'rd you. &lblank;] Impart, for profess.

Note return to page 98 [2] 2 So excellent a King, that was, to this, Hyperion to a Satyr: &lblank;] This similitude at first sight seems to be a little far-fetch'd; but it has an exquisite beauty. By the Satyr is meant Pan, as by Hyperion, Apollo. Pan and Apollo were brothers, and the allusion is to the contention between those two Gods for the preference in musick.

Note return to page 99 [3] 3 &lblank; a beast that wants discourse of reason,] This is finely expressed, and with a philosophical exactness. Beasts want not reason, but the discourse of reason: i. e. the regular inferring one thing from another by the assistance of universals.

Note return to page 100 [4] 4 With such dexterity &lblank;] Dexterity, for quickness simply.

Note return to page 101 [5] 5 Season your admiration &lblank;] Season, for moderate.

Note return to page 102 [6] 6 &lblank; with the act of fear] Shakespear could never write so improperly as to call the passion of fear, the act of fear. Without doubt the true reading is, &lblank; with th' effect of fear.

Note return to page 103 [7] 7 His beard was grisly?] The old Quarto reads, His beard was grisl'd? no. And this is right. A natural mode of interrogation in Hamlet's circumstances.

Note return to page 104 [8] 8 Let it be treble in your silence still:] If treble be right, in propriety it should be read, Let it be treble in your silence now. But the old quarto reads, Let it be tenable in your silence still. And this is right.

Note return to page 105 [9] 9 And now no soil, nor cautel, &lblank;] From cautela, which signifies only a prudent foresight or caution; but, passing thro' French hands, it lost its innocence, and now signifies fraud, deceit. And so he uses the adjective in Julius Cæsar, Swear priests and cowards and men cautelous. But I believe Shakespear wrote, And now no soil of cautel &lblank; which the following words confirm, &lblank; doth besmerch The virtue of his will: &lblank; For by virtue is meant the simplicity of his will, not virtuous will: and both this and besmerch refer only to soil, and to the soil of craft and insincerity.

Note return to page 106 [1] 1 The sanctity and health of the whole State:] What has the sanctity of the state to do with the prince's disproportioned marriage? We should read with the old quarto safety.

Note return to page 107 [2] 2 &lblank; voice and yielding &lblank;] Yielding, for consent simply.

Note return to page 108 [3] 3 &lblank; so far to believe it,] To believe, for to act conformably to.

Note return to page 109 [4] 4 I shall th' effects &lblank;] Effects, for substance.

Note return to page 110 [5] 5 Whilst, like a puft and careless libertine,] This reading gives us a sense to this effect, Do not you be like an ungracious preacher, who is like a careless libertine. And there [Subnote: for there read then.] we find, that he who is so like a careless libertine, is the careless libertine himself. This could not come from Shakespear. The old quarto reads, Whiles a puft and reckless libertine, which directs us to the right reading, Whilest he a puft and reckless libertine. The first impression of these plays being taken from the play-house copies, and those, for the better direction of the actors, being written as they were pronounced, these circumstances have occasioned innumerable errors. So a for he every where. &lblank; 'a was a goodly King. 'A was a man take him for all in all. &lblank; I warn't it will for I warrant. This should be well attended to in correcting Shakespear.

Note return to page 111 [6] 6 &lblank; recks not his own reed.] That is, heeds not his own lessons. Mr. Pope.

Note return to page 112 [7] 7 Are most select and generous, &lblank;] Select, for elegant.

Note return to page 113 [8] 8 And it must follow, as the night the Day,] The sense here requires, that the similitude should give an image not of two effects of different natures, that follow one another alternately, but of a cause and effect, where the effect follows the cause by a physical necessity. For the assertion is, Be true to thyself, and then thou must necessarily be true to others. Truth to himself then was the cause, truth to others, the effect. To illustrate this necessity, the speaker employs a similitude: But no similitude can illustrate it but what presents an image of a cause and effect; and such a cause as that, where the effect follows by a physical, not a moral necessity: for if only, by a moral necessity, the thing illustrating would not be more certain than the thing illustrated; which would be a great absurdity. This being premised, let us see what the text says, And it must follow as the night the Day. In this we are so far from being presented with an effect following a cause by a physical necessity, that there is no cause at all: but only two different effects, proceeding from two different causes, and succeeding one another alternately. Shakespear, therefore, without question wrote, And it must follow as the light the Day. As much as to say, Truth to thy self, and truth to others, are inseparable, the latter depending necessarily on the former, as light depends upon the day! where it is to be observed, that day is used figuratively for the Sun. The ignorance of which, I suppose, contributed to mislead the editors.

Note return to page 114 [9] 9 &lblank; my Blessing season this in thee!] Season, for infuse.

Note return to page 115 [1] 1 Unsifted in such perilous circumstance.] Unsifted, for untried. Untried signifies either not tempted, or not refined; unsifted, signifies the latter only, tho' the sense requires the former.

Note return to page 116 [2] 2 Tender your self more dearly; Or (not to crack the wind of the poor phrase) Wronging it thus, you'll tender me a fool.] The parenthesis is clos'd at the wrong place; and we must make likewise a slight correction in the last verse. Polonius is racking and playing on the word tender, 'till he thinks proper to correct himself for the licence; and then he would say—not farther to crack the wind of the phrase by twisting and contorting it, as I have done; &c.

Note return to page 117 [3] 3 Set your intreatments at a higher rate,] I know not what to make of this reading. These intreatments were not hers but Hamlet's. Or if, in some sense, they might be called hers, as paid to her, yet they could not be called so here, for she is bid to set a high rate upon them, so certainly, not those which Hamlet made to her. I suspect Shakespear wrote, Set your intraitments at a higher rate, i. e. coyness. A word in use among the old English writers. The sense is this, Sell your coyness, before you put it off, at a higher rate than a bare command to lay it aside, and become familiar.

Note return to page 118 [4] 4 &lblank; larger tether &lblank;] A string to tye horses. Mr. Pope.

Note return to page 119 [5] 5 Breathing like sanctified and pious Bonds,] On which the editor Mr. Theobald remarks, Tho' all the editions have swallowed this reading implicitly, it is certainly corrupt; and I have been surprised how men of genius and learning could let it pass without some suspicion. What ideas can we frame to ourselves of a breathing bond, or of its being sanctified and pious, &c. But he was too hasty in framing ideas before he understood those already framed by the poet, and expressed in very plain words. Do not believe (says Polonius to his Daughter) Hamlet's amorous vows made to you; which pretend religion in them, (the better to beguile,) like those sanctified and pious vows [or bonds] made to heaven. And why should not this pass without suspicion?

Note return to page 120 [6] 6 I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth, Have you so slander any moment's leisure] The humour of this is fine. The speaker's character is all affectation. At last he says he will speak plain, and yet cannot for his life; his plain speech of slandering a moment's leisure being of the like sustian stuff with the rest.

Note return to page 121 [7] 7 This heavy-headed revel east and west,] i. e. this reveling that observes no hours, but continues from morning to night, &c.

Note return to page 122 [8] 8 &lblank; o'ergrowth of some complexion,] i. e. humour; as sanguine, melancholy, phlegmatic, &c.

Note return to page 123 [a] [(a) &lblank; The dram of base—substance of Worth out. Mr. Theobald.— Vulg. The dram of ease—substance of a doubt.]

Note return to page 124 [9] 9 Be thy intents wicked or charitable,] Some of the old editions read events; from whence I suspect that Shakespear wrote, Be thy advent wicked or charitable. i. e. thy coming.

Note return to page 125 [1] 1 &lblank;tell, Why thy canoniz'd bones, hearsed in death, Have burst ther cearments?] Hamlet here speaks with wonder, that he who was dead should rise again and walk. But this, according to the vulgar superstition here followed, was no wonder. Their only wonder was, that one, who had the rites of sepulture performed to him, should walk; the want of which was supposed to be the reason of walking ghosts. Hamlet's wonder then should have been placed here: And so Shakespear placed it, as we shall see presently. For hearsed is used figuratively to signify reposited, therefore the place where should be designed: but death being no place, but a privation only, hearsed in death is nonsense. We should read, &lblank; tell, Why thy canoniz'd bones hearsed in earth Have burst their cearments. It appears, for the two reasons 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 sainted; but for bones to which the rites of sepulture have been performed; or which were buried according to the canon. For we are told he was murder'd with all his sins fresh upon him, and therefore in no way to be sainted. 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 essential parts of sepulchral rites. Secondly, From the words, have burst their cearments, which imply the preceding mention of inhuming, but no mention is made of it in the common reading. This enabled the Oxford Editor to improve upon the emendation; so, he reads, Why thy bones hears'd in canonized earth. I suppose for the sake of harmony, not of sense. For tho' the rites of sepulture performed canonizes the body buried; yet it does not canonize the earth in which it is laid, unless every funeral service be a new consecration.

Note return to page 126 [2] 2 &lblank; us fools of nature] The expression is fine, as intimating we were only kept (as formerly, fools in a great family) to make sport for nature, who lay hid only to mock and laugh at us, for our vain searches into her mysteries.

Note return to page 127 [3] 3 &lblank; to shake our disposition] Disposition, for frame.

Note return to page 128 [4] 4 &lblank; deprive your sov'reignty of reason,] i. e. deprive your sov'reignty of its reason. Nonsense. Sov'reignty of reason is the same as sovereign or supreme reason: Reason which governs man. And thus it was used by the best writers of those times. Sidney says, It is time for us both to let reason enjoy its due soveraigntie. Arcad. And King Charles, At once to betray the soveraignty of reason in my soul. &grE;&gris;&grk;&grwg;&grn; &grb;&gra;&grs;&gri;&grl;&gri;&grk;&grhg;. It is evident that Shakespear wrote, &lblank; deprave your sov'reignty of reason. i. e. disorder your understanding and draw you into madness. So afterwards. Now see that noble and most sovereign reason like sweet bells jangled out of tune.

Note return to page 129 [5] 5 The very place] The four following lines added from the first edition. Mr. Pope.

Note return to page 130 [6] 6 &lblank; puts toys of desperation,] Toys, for whims.

Note return to page 131 [7] 7 &lblank; confin'd to fast in fires;] We should read, &lblank; too fast in fires. i. e. very closely confined. The particle too is used frequently for the superlative most, or very.

Note return to page 132 [8] 8 Thy knotty &lblank;] Or as the old quarto read knotted, for curled.

Note return to page 133 [9] 9 As meditation or the thoughts of love,] This similitude is extremely beautiful. The word, meditation, is consecrated, by the mystics, to signify that stretch and flight of mind which aspires to the enjoyment of the supreme good. So that Hamlet, considering with what to compare the swiftness of his revenge, chooses two the most rapid things in nature, the ardency of divine and human passion, in an enthusiast and a lover.

Note return to page 134 [1] 1 And duller shouldst thou be, than the fat weed That roots itself in ease on Lethe's wharf, &c.] Shakespear, apparently thro' ignorance, makes Roman-Catholicks of these pagan Danes; and here gives a description of purgatory: But yet mixes it with the pagan fable of Lethe's wharf. Whether de did it to insinuate, to the zealous Protestants of his time, that the pagan and popish purgatory stood both upon the same footing of credibility; or whether it was by the same kind of licentious inadvertence that Michael Angelo brought Charon's bark into his picture of the last judgment, is not easy to decide.

Note return to page 135 [2] 2 &lblank; at once dispatcht;] Dispatcht, for bereft.

Note return to page 136 [3] 3 Unhousel'd.] Without the sacrament being taken. Mr. Pope.

Note return to page 137 [4] 4 Unanointed,] Without extreme unction. Mr. Pope.

Note return to page 138 [5] 5 Unanel'd:] No knell rung. Mr. Pope.

Note return to page 139 [6] 6 &lblank; uneffectual fire.] i. e. shining without heat.

Note return to page 140 [7] 7 &lblank; come, bird, come.] This is the call which Falconers use to their hawk in the air when they would have him come down to them. Oxford Editor.

Note return to page 141 [8] 8 By St. Patrick, &lblank;] How the Poet comes to make Hamlet swear by St. Patrick, I know not. However at this time all the whole northern world had their learning from Ireland; to which place it had retired, and there flourished under the auspices of this Saint. But it was, I suppose, only said at random; for he makes Hamlet a student of Wittenberg.

Note return to page 142 [9] 9 Swear by my sword.] Here the poet has preserved the manners of the ancient Danes, with whom it was Religion to swear upon their swords. See Bartholine, De causis contemp. mort. apud Dan.

Note return to page 143 [1] 1 And therefore as a stranger give it welcome.] i. e. receive it to yourself; take it under your own roof; as much as to say, Keep it secret. Alluding to the laws of hospitality.

Note return to page 144 [1] 1 &lblank; drinking, [fencing.] swearing,] Fencing, an interpolation.

Note return to page 145 [a] [(a)&lblank; an utter scandal. Mr. Theobald.—Vulg. another scandal.]

Note return to page 146 [2] 2 A savageness &lblank;] Savageness, for wildness.

Note return to page 147 [3] 3 Of general assault.] i. e. such as youth in general is liable to.

Note return to page 148 [4] 4 He closes with you in this consequence;] Consequence, for sequel.

Note return to page 149 [5] 5 Good sir, or so, or friend &c.] We should read, &lblank; or sire, i. e. father.

Note return to page 150 [a] [(a)&lblank; e'en yourself. Oxford Editor.—Vulg. in your selfe.]

Note return to page 151 [6] 6 I had not quoted him. &lblank;] The old quarto reads coted. It appears Shakespear wrote noted. Quoted is nonsense.

Note return to page 152 [7] 7 This must be known; which, being kept close, might move More grief to hide, than hate to utter love.] i. e. This must be made known to the King, for (being kept secret) the hiding Hamlet's love might occasion more mischief to us from him and the Queen, than the uttering or revealing of it will occasion hate and resentment from Hamlet. The poet's ill and obscure expression seems to have been caused by his affectation of concluding the scene with a couplet.

Note return to page 153 [8] 8 To shew us so much gentry &lblank;] Gentry, for complaisance.

Note return to page 154 [9] 9 For the supply and profit of our hope,] Hope, for purpose.

Note return to page 155 *&lblank; in the full bent,] Bent, for endeavour, application.

Note return to page 156 [1] 1 My Liege, and Madam, to expostulate] The strokes of humour in this speech are admirable. Polonius's character is that of a weak, pedant, minister of state. His declamation is a fine satire on the impertinent oratory then in vogue, which placed reason in the formality of method, and wit in the gingle and play of words. With what art is he made to pride himself in his wit: That he is mad, 'tis true; 'tis true, 'tis pity; And pity 'tis, 'tis true; A foolish figure; But farewel it. &lblank; And how exquisitely does the poet ridicule the reasoning in fashion, where he makes Polonius remark on Hamlet's madness; Though this be madness, yet there's method in't: As if method, which the wits of that age thought the most essential quality of a good discourse, would make amends for the madness. It was madness indeed, yet Polonius could comfort himself with this reflexion, that at least it was method. It is certain Shakespear excels in nothing more than in the preservation of his characters; To this life and variety of character (says our great poet in his admirable preface to Shakespear) we must add the wonderful preservation of it. We have said what is the character of Polonius; and it is allowed on all hands to be drawn with wonderful life and spirit, yet the unity of it has been thought by some to be grosly violated in the excellent Precepts and Instructions which Shakespear makes his statesman give to his son and servant in the middle of the first, and beginning of the second act. But I will venture to say, these criticks have not entered into the poet's art and address in this particular. He had a mind to ornament his scenes with those fine lessons of social life; but his Polonius was too weak to be the author of them, tho' he was pedant enough to have met with them in his reading, and fop enough to get them by heart and retail them for his own. And this the poet has finely shewn us was the case, where, in the middle of Polonius's instructions to his servant, he makes him, tho' without having received any interruption, forget his lesson, and say, And then, Sir, does he this; He does—what was I about to say? I was about to say something—where did I leave? &lblank; The servant replies, At, closes in the consequence. This sets Polonius right, and he goes on, At, closes in the consequence.—Ay marry, He closes thus;—I know the gentleman, &c. which shews they were words got by heart which he was repeating. Otherwise closes in the consequence, which conveys no particular idea of the subject he was upon, could never have made him recollect where he broke off. This is an extraordinary instance of the poet's art, and attention to the preservation of Character.

Note return to page 157 [2] 2 &lblank; to expostulate] To expostulate, for to enquire or discuss.

Note return to page 158 [a] [(a)beatified. Mr. Theobald—Vulg. beautified.]

Note return to page 159 [3] 3 If I had play'd the desk or table-book, Or given my heart a working mute and dumb, Or look'd upon this love with idle sight; 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, [given my heart a mute and dumb working,] or lastly, had been negligent in observing the intrigue and over-looked it, [look'd upon this love with idle sight;] what would you have thought of me?

Note return to page 160 [4] 4 Which done, she took the fruits of my advice; And he repulsed, &lblank;] The fruits of advice are the effects of advice. But how could she be said to take them? the reading is corrupt. Shakespear wrote, Which done, see too the fruits of my advice; For, he repulsed, &lblank;

Note return to page 161 [5] 5 &lblank; a short tale to make, Fell to 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 Where truth was hid, though it were hid indeed Within the centre.

Note return to page 162 [6] 6 For if the Sun breed maggots in a dead dog, Being a good kissing carrion &lblank; Have you a daughter?] The Editors seeing Hamlet counterfeit madness, thought they might safely put any nonsense into his mouth. But this strange passage when set right, will be seen to contain as great and sublime a reflexion as any the poet puts into his Hero's mouth thoughout the whole play. We shall first give the true reading, which is this, For if the Sun breed maggots in a dead dog Being a God, kissing carrion &lblank; As to the sense we may observe, that the illative particle [for] shews the speaker to be reasoning from something he had said before: What that was we learn in these words, to be honest, as this world goes, is to be one picked out of ten thousand. Having said this, the chain of ideas led him to reflect upon the argument which libertines bring against Providence from the circumstance of abounding Evil. In the next speech therefore he endeavours to answer that objection, and vindicate Providence, even on a supposition of the fact, that almost all men were wicked. His argument in the two lines in question is to this purpose, But why need we wonder at this abounding of evil? for if the Sun breed maggots in a dead dog, which tho' a God, yet shedding its heat and influence upon carrion— Here he stops short, lest talking too consequentially the hearer should suspect his madness to be feigned; and so turns him off from the subject by enquiring of his daughter. But the inference which he intended to make, was a very noble one, and to this purpose, If this (says he) be the case, that the effect follows the thing operated upon [carrion] and not the thing operating [a God;] why need we wonder, that the supreme cause of all things diffusing its blessings on mankind, who is, as it were, a dead carrion, dead in original sin, man, instead of a proper return of duty, should breed only corruption and vices? This is the argument at length; and is as noble a one in behalf of providence as could come from the schools of divinity. But this wonderful man had an art not only of acquainting the audience with what his actors say, but with what they think. The sentiment too is altogether in character, for Hamlet is perpetually moralizing, and his circumstances make this reflexion very natural. The same thought, something diversified, as on a different occasion, he uses again in Measure for Measure, which will serve to confirm these observations: The tempter or the tempted, who sins most? Not she; nor doth she tempt; but it is I That lying by the violet in the sun Do as the carrion does, not as the flower, Corrupt by virtuous season. &lblank; And the same kind of expression in Cymbeline, Common kissing Titan.

Note return to page 163 [7] 7 Slanders, Sir: for the satyrical slave says here, that old men, &c.] By the satyrical slave he means Juvenal in his tenth satire: Da spatium vitæ, multos da Jupiter annos: Hoc recto vultu, solum hoc & pallidus optas. Sed quàm continuis & quantis longa senectus Plena malis! deformem, & tetrum ante omnia vultum, Dissimilemque sui, &c. Nothing could be finer imagined for Hamlet, in his circumstances, than the bringing him in reading a description of the evils of long life.

Note return to page 164 [8] 8 I have of late, &c.] This is an admirable description of a rooted melancholy sprung from thickness of blood, and artfully imagined to hide the true cause of his disorder from the penetration of these two friends, who were set over him as spies.

Note return to page 165 [9] 9 shall end his part in peace;] After these words the Folio adds, the clown shall make those laugh whose lungs are tickled o'th' sere.

Note return to page 166 [1] 1 an Aiery of Children,] Relating to the play-houses then contending, the Bankside, the Fortune, &c, play'd by the children of his Majesty's chapel. Mr. Pope.

Note return to page 167 [2] 2 Hercules and his load too.] i. e. They not only carry away the world, but the world-bearer too: Alluding to the story of Hercules's relieving Atlas. This is humorous.

Note return to page 168 [3] 3 I know a hawk from a handsaw.] This was a common proverbial speech. The Oxford Editor alters it to, I know a hawk from a hernshaw. As if the other had been a corruption of the players; whereas the poet found the proverb thus corrupted in the mouths of the people. So that this critick's alteration only serves to shew us the original of the expression.

Note return to page 169 [4] 4 the first row of the rubrick] It is pons chansons in the first Folio edition. The old ballads sung on bridges, and from thence called Pons chansons. Hamlet is here repeating ends of old songs. Mr. Pope. The rubrick is equivalent. The titles of old ballads being written in red letters.

Note return to page 170 [5] 5 a chioppine.] A tight-heel'd shoe, or a slipper. Mr. Pope.

Note return to page 171 [6] 6 cried in the top of mine] i. e. whose judgment I had the highest opinion of.

Note return to page 172 [7] 7 set down with as much modesty] Modesty, for simplicity.

Note return to page 173 [8] 8 that might indite the author] Indite, for convict.

Note return to page 174 [9] 9 an honest method.] Honest, for chaste.

Note return to page 175 [1] 1 &lblank; the mobled Queen, &lblank;] Mobled or mabled, signifies veiled. So Sandys, speaking of the Turkish women, says, their heads and faces are mabled in fine linen, that no more is to be seen of them than their eyes. Travels.

Note return to page 176 [2] 2 &lblank; all his visage warm'd:] This might do, did not the old Quarto lead us to a more exact and pertinent reading, which is, &lblank; visage wan'd: i. e. turn'd pale, or wan. For so the visage appears when the mind is thus affectioned, and not warm'd or flushed.

Note return to page 177 [3] 3 &lblank; unpregnant of my cause,] Unpregnant, for having no due sense of.

Note return to page 178 [4] 4 A damn'd defeat was made. &lblank;] Defeat, for destruction.

Note return to page 179 [5] 5 More relative than this: &lblank;] Relative, for convictive.

Note return to page 180 [1] 1 Niggard of question, but of our demands Most free in his reply.] This is given as the description of the conversation of a man whom the speaker found not forward to be sounded; and who kept aloof when they would bring him to confession: But such a description can never pass but at cross-purposes. Shakespear certainly wrote it just the other way, Most free of question, but of our demands Niggard in his reply. That this is the true reading we need but turn back to the preceding scene, for Hamlet's conduct, to be satisfied.

Note return to page 181 [2] 2 We o'er-took on the way;] The old quarto reads o'er-raught corruptly, for o'er-rode. Which I think is the right reading; for o'er-took has the idea of following with design and accompanying. O'er-rode has neither: which was the case.

Note return to page 182 [3] 3 Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,] Without question Shakespear wrote, &lblank; against assail of troubles. i. e. assault.

Note return to page 183 [4] 4 &lblank; mortal coil,] i. e. turmoil, bustle.

Note return to page 184 [5] 5 &lblank; There's the respect,] Respect for consideration, motive.

Note return to page 185 [6] 6 &lblank; the whips and scorns of time,] The evils here complained of are not the product of time or duration simply, but of a corrupted age or manners. We may be sure, then, that Shakespear wrote, &lblank; the whips and scorns of th' time. And the description of the evils of a corrupt age, which follows, confirms this emendation.

Note return to page 186 [7] 7 with more offences at my beck, than I have thoughts to put them in, imagination to give them shape, or time to act them in.] What is the meaning of thoughts to put them in? A word is dropt out. We should read, &lblank; thoughts to put them in name. This was the progress. The offences are first conceived and named, then projected to be put in act, then executed.

Note return to page 187 [8] 8 his form and pressure] Pressure, for impression.

Note return to page 188 [9] 9 neither having the accent of christian, nor the gate of christian, pagan, nor man,] These words a foolish interpolation.

Note return to page 189 [1] 1 nay, then let the Devil wear black, for I'll have a suit of sables.] The conceit of these words is not taken. They are an ironical apology for his mother's chearful looks: Two months was long enough in conscience to make any dead husband forgotten. But the editors, in their nonsensical blunder, have made Hamlet say just the contrary. That the Devil and he would both go into mourning, tho' his mother did not. The true reading is this, Nay, then let the Devil wear black, 'fore I'll have a suit of sable. 'Fore i. e. before. As much as to say, Let the Devil wear black for me, I'll have none. The Oxford Editor despises an emendation so easy, and reads it thus, Nay, then let the Devil wear black, for I'll have a suit of ermine. And you could expect no less, when such a critic had the dressing of him. But the blunder was a pleasant one. The senseless editors had wrote sables, the fur so called, for sable, black, And the critic only changed this fur for that; by a like figure, the common people say, You rejoice the cockles of my heart, for the muscles of my heart; an unlucky mistake of one shell-fish for another.

Note return to page 190 [2] 2 suffer not thinking on, with the hobby-horse] Amongst the country may-games, there was an hobby-horse, which, when the puritanical humour of those times opposed and discredited these games, was brought by the poets and balladmakers as an instance of the ridiculous zeal of the sectaries: from these ballads Hamlet quotes a line or two.

Note return to page 191 for Cornets read Coronets.

Note return to page 192 [3] 3 Marry, this is miching malicho; it means mischief.] The Oxford Editor, imagining that the speaker had here englished his own cant phrase of miching malicho, tells us (by his glossary) that it signifies, mischief lying hid, and that Malicho is the Spanish Malheco; whereas it signifies, Lying in wait for the poisoner. Which, the speaker tells us, was the very purpose of this representation. It should therefore be read malhechor Spanish, the poisoner. So Mich signified, originally, to keep hid and out of sight; and, as such men generally did it for the purposes of lying in wait, it then signified to robb. And in this sense Shakespear uses the noun, a micher, when speaking of Prince Henry amongst a gang of robbers. Shall the blessed Sun of Heaven prove a micher. Shall the Son of England prove a thief? And in this sense it is used by Chaucer in his translation of Le Roman de la rose, where he turns the word lierre, (which is larron, voleur,) by micher.

Note return to page 193 [4] 4 An Anchor's cheer in prison be my scope!] i. e. May I be as closely and straitly confined as the most mortified recluse.

Note return to page 194 [5] 5 a cry of Players,] Allusion to a pack of hounds.

Note return to page 195 [6] 6 A very, very Peacock.] This alludes to a fable of the birds choosing a King, instead of the eagle a peacock. Mr. Pope.

Note return to page 196 [7] 7 Oh my lord, if my duty be too bold, my love is too unmannerly.] i. e. if my duty to the King makes me press you a little, my love to you makes me still more importunate. If that makes me bold, this makes me even unmannerly.

Note return to page 197 [8] 8 And do such bitter business as the day Would quake to look on. &lblank;] The expression is almost burlesque. The old quarto reads, And do such business as the bitter day Would quake to look on. &lblank; This is a little corrupt indeed, but much nearer Shakespear's words, who wrote, &lblank; better day, which gives the sentiment great force and dignity. At this very time, (says he) hell breathes out contagion to the world, whereby night becomes polluted and execrable; the horror therefore of this season fits me for a deed, which the pure and sacred day would quake to look on. This is said with great classical propriety. According to ancient superstition, night was prophane and execrable; and day, pure and holy.

Note return to page 198 [9] 9 To give them seals &lblank;] i. e. put them in execution.

Note return to page 199 [1] 1 Though inclination be as sharp as will;] This is rank nonsense. We should read, Tho' inclination be as sharp as th' ill; i. e. tho' my inclination makes me as restless and uneasy as my crime does. The line immediately following shews this to be the true reading, My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent:

Note return to page 200 [2] 2 May one be pardon'd, and retain th' offence?] This is a strange question; and much the same as to ask whether his offence could be remitted while it was retain'd. Shakespear here repeated a word with propriety and elegance which he employed two lines above, May one be pardon'd and retain th' effects? i. e. of his murder, and this was a reasonable question. He uses the word offence, properly, in the next line but one, and from thence, I suppose, came the blunder.

Note return to page 201 [3] 3 Yet what can it, when one cannot repent!] This nonsense even exceeds the last. Shakespear wrote, Yet what can it, when one can but repent? i. e. what can repentance do without restitution? a natural and reasonable thought; and which the transcribers might have seen was the result of his preceding reflexions. &lblank; Forgive me my soul murther! That cannot be, since I am still possest Of those effects, for which I did the murther, My Crown, my own Ambition, and my Queen. May one be pardon'd and retain th' effects? Besides, the poet could never have made his speaker say, he could not repent, when this whole speech is one thorough act of the discipline of contrition. And what was wanting was the matter of restitution: this, the speaker could not resolve upon; which makes him break out, Oh limed soul, that struggling to get free Art more engaged! &lblank; For it is natural, while the restitution of what one highly values is projected, that the fondness for it should strike the imagination with double force. Because the man, in that situation, figures to himself his condition when deprived of those advantages, which having an unpleasing view, he holds what he is possessed of more closely than ever. Hence, the last quoted exclamation receives all its force and beauty, which on any other interpretation is mean and senseless. But the Oxford Editor, without troubling himself with any thing of this, reads, Try what repentance can. What can it not? Yet what can aught, when one cannot repent. Which comes to the same nonsense of the common reading, only a little more round about. For when I am bid to try one thing, and I am told that nothing will do; is not that one thing included in the negative? But, if so, it comes at last to this, that, even repentance will not do when one cannot repent.

Note return to page 202 [4] 4 I, his sole son, do this same villain send] The folio reads foule son. This will lead us to the true reading. Which is, fal'n son, i. e. disinherited. This was an aggravation of the injury; that he had not only murder'd the father, but ruin'd the son.

Note return to page 203 [5] 5 And how his audit stands, who knows, save heaven? But in our circumstance, and course of thought, 'Tis heavy with him. &lblank;] From these lines, and some others, it appears that Shakespear had drawn the first sketch of this play without his Ghost; and, when he had added that machinery, he forgot to strike out these lines: For the Ghost had told him, very circumstantially, how his audit stood: and he was now satisfied with the reality of the vision.

Note return to page 204 [a] [(a) I'll 'sconce me even here. Oxford Editor.—Vulg. I'll silence me e'en here].

Note return to page 205 [6] 6 &lblank; takes off the rose] Alluding to the custom of wearing roses on the side of the face. See a note on a passage in King John.

Note return to page 206 [7] 7 &lblank; from the body of Contraction &lblank;] Contraction, for marriage-contract.

Note return to page 207 [8] 8 &lblank; Heav'n's face doth glow; Yea this solidity and compound mass, With tristful visage, as against the doom Is thought-sick at the act.] If any sense can be found here, it is this. The Sun glows [and does it not always] and the very solid mass of earth has a tristful visage, and is thought-sick. All this is sad stuff. The old quarto reads much nearer to the poet's sense, Heav'ns face does glow; &lblank; O'er this solidity and compound mass With heated visage, as against the doom Is thought-sick at the act. From whence it appears, that Shakespear wrote, Heav'ns face doth glow O'er this solidity and compound mass With tristful visage; and, as, 'gainst the doom, Is thought-sick at the act. This makes a fine sense, and to this effect, The sun looks upon our globe, the scene of this murder, with an angry and mournful countenence, half hid in eclipse, as at the day of doom.

Note return to page 208 [9] 9 Queen. Ay me! what act, That roars so loud, and thunders in the index? This is a strange answer. But the old quarto brings us nearer to the poet's sense by dividing the lines thus; Queen. Ah me, what act? Ham. That roars so loud, and thunders in the Index. Here we find the Queen's answer very natural. He had said the Sun was thought-sick at the act. She says, Ah me! what act? He replies, (as we should read it) That roars so loud, it thunders to the indies. He had before said Heav'n was shocked at it; he now tells her, it resounded all the world over. This gives us a very good sense where all sense was wanting.

Note return to page 209 [1] 1 &lblank; the front of Jove himself;] Alluding to the description of Phidias's Jupiter from Homer.

Note return to page 210 [2] 2 &lblank; Sense, sure, you have, Else could you not have motion: &lblank;] But from what philosophy our editors learnt this, I cannot tell. Since motion depends so little upon sense, that the greatest part of motion in the universe, is amongst bodies devoid of sense. We should read, Else could you not have notion, i. e. intellect, reason, &c. This alludes to the famous peripatetic principle of Nil sit in intellectu, quod non fuerit in sensu. And how fond our author was of applying, and alluding to, the principles of this philosophy, we have given several instances. The principle in particular has been since taken for the foundation of one of the noblest works that these latter ages have produced. It is true the Romans used motio for notio, because in thinking the Platonists supposed the mind moved and agitated. Hence &grt;&grog; &grn;&gro;&gre;&gric;&grn;, cogitare, & &grn;&groa;&grh;&grs;&gri;&grst;, cogitatio, i. e. coagitare, coagitatio. But in English this will not do.

Note return to page 211 [3] 3 &lblank; rebellious hell, If thou canst mutiny in a matron's bones &c.] Alluding to what he had told her before that her enormous conduct shewed a kind of possession, &lblank; What Devil was't, That thus hath &c. And again afterwards, For use can almost change the stamp of Nature, And master ev'n the Devil, or throw him out With wondrous potency &lblank; But the Oxford Editor, not apprehending the meaning, alters it to &lblank; rebellious heat If thou canst &c. And so makes nonsense of it. For must not rebellious lust mutiny where-ever it is quartered? That it should get there might seem strange, but that it should do its kind when it was there seems to be natural enough.

Note return to page 212 [4] 4 That from a shelf &c.] This is said not unmeaningly, but to shew, that the usurper came not to the crown by any glorious villany that carried danger with it, but by the low cowardly theft of a common pilferer.

Note return to page 213 [5] 5 &lblank; like life in excrements,] The hairs are excrementitious, that is, without life or sensation: yet those very hairs, as if they had life, start up, &c. Mr. Pope.

Note return to page 214 [a] [(a)&lblank; habits evil. Dr. Thirlby—Vulg. habit's Devil.]

Note return to page 215 [6] 6 Let the fond King &lblank;] The old quarto reads, Let the bloat King &lblank; i. e. bloated, Which is better, as more expressive of the speaker's contempt.

Note return to page 216 [7] 7 There's letters seal'd, &c.] The ten following verses are added out of the old edition. Mr. Pope.

Note return to page 217 for Ad read And.

Note return to page 218 [1] 1 &lblank; For, haply, Slander] Conjectural words of Mr. Theobald.

Note return to page 219 [2] 2 hide fox, and all after.] A diversion amongst children.

Note return to page 220 [3] 3 A man may fish with the worm &c.] Added from the old edition. Mr. Pope.

Note return to page 221 [4] 4 &lblank; large discourse] i. e. the comprehensive faculty of collecting one thing from another by abstractions.

Note return to page 222 [5] 5 Tho' nothing sure, yet much unhappily.] i. e. tho' her meaning cannot be certainly collected, yet there is enough to put a mischievous interpretation to it.

Note return to page 223 [6] 6 By his cockle hat and staff, and his sandal shoon.] This is the description of a pilgrim. While this kind of devotion was in fashion, love-intrigues were carried on under that mask. Hence the old ballads and novels made pilgrimages the subjects of their plots. The cockle-shell hat was one of the essential badges of this vocation: for the chief places of devotion being beyond sea, or on the coasts, the pilgrims were accustomed to put cockle-shells upon their hats to denote the intention or performance of their devotion.

Note return to page 224 [7] 7 the owl was a baker's daughter.] This was a metamorphosis of the common people, arising from the mealy appearance of the owl's feathers, and her guarding the bread from mice.

Note return to page 225 [8] 8 and dupt the chamber door;] We should read do'pt, i. e. do open; as don'd, immediately before, is do on.

Note return to page 226 [9] 9 Like to a murthering piece.] Such a piece as assassins use, with many barrels. It is necessary to apprehend this, to see the justness of the similitude.

Note return to page 227 [1] 1 The ratifiers and props of every word;] The whole tenour of the context is sufficient to shew that this is a mistaken reading. What can antiquity and custom, being the props of words, have to do with the business in hand? Or what idea is convey'd by it? Certainly the poet wrote; The ratifiers and props of ev'ry ward; The messenger is complaining that the riotous head had overborne the King's officers, and then subjoins, that antiquity and custom were forgot, which were the ratifiers and props of every ward, i. e. of every one of those securities that nature and law place about the person of a King. All this is rational and consequential.

Note return to page 228 [2] 2 Nature is fine in love; and where 'tis fine, It sends some precious instance of itself After the thing it loves.] This is unquestionably corrupt. I suppose Shakespear wrote, Nature is fal'n in love, and where 'tis fal'n. The cause of Ophelia's madness was grief, occasioned by the violence of her natural affection for her murder'd father; her brother, therefore, with great force of expression, says, Nature is fal'n in love, &lblank; To distinguish the passion of natural affection from the passion of love between the two sexes, i. e. Nature, or natural affection is fal'n in love. And as a person in love is accustomed to send the most precious of his jewels to the person beloved (for the love-tokens which young wenches in love send to their sweethearts, is here alluded to) so when Nature (says Laertes) falls in love, she likewise sends her love-token to the object beloved. But her most precious jewel is Reason; she therefore sends that: And this he gives as the cause of Ophelia's madness, which he is here endeavouring to account for. This quaint sentiment of Nature's falling in love, is exactly in Shakespear's manner, and is a thought he appears fond of. So in Romeo and Juliet, Affliction is represented as in love; Affliction is enamour'd of thy parts, And thou art wedded to calamity. Nay Death, a very unlikely subject one would think, is put into a love fit; &lblank; I will believe That unsubstantial death is amorous, &c.

Note return to page 229 [3] 3 O how the wheel becomes it!] We should read weal. She is now rambling on the ballad of the steward and his lord's daughter. And in these words speaks of the state he assumed.

Note return to page 230 [4] 4 there's rue for you, and here's some for me. We may call it herb of grace o' Sundays:] Herb of grace is the name the country people give to Rue. And the reason is, because that herb was a principal ingredient in the potion which the Romish priests used to force the possessed to swallow down when they exorcised them. Now these exorcisms being performed generally on a Sunday, in the church before the whole congregation, is the reason why she says, we call it herb of grace o' Sundays. Sandys tells us that at Grand-Cairo there is a species of rue much in request, with which the inhabitants perfume themselves, not only as a preservative against infection, but as very powerful against evil spirits. And the cabalistic Gaffarel pretends to have discovered the reason of its virtue, La semence de Ruë est faicte comme une Croix, & c'est paraventure la cause qu' elle a tant de vertu contre les possedez, & que l' Eglise s' en sert en les exorcisant. It was on the same principle that the Greeks called sulphur, &grQ;&gre;&gric;&gro;&grn;, because of its use in their superstitious purgations by fire. Which too the Romish priests employ to fumigate in their exorcisms; and on that account hallow or consecrate it.

Note return to page 231 [5] 5 And where th' offence is, let the great ax fall.] We should read, &lblank; let the great tax fall. i. e. penalty, punishment.

Note return to page 232 [6] 6 Importing health and graveness. &lblank;] But a warm furr'd gown rather implies sickness than health. Shakespear wrote, Importing wealth and graveness. &lblank; i. e. that the wearers are rich burghers and magistrates.

Note return to page 233 [7] 7 For goodness, growing to a pleurisie,] I would believe, for the honour of Shakespear, that he wrote plethory. But I observe the dramatic writers of that time frequently call a fulness of blood a pleurisie, as if it came, not from &grp;&grl;&gre;&gru;&grr;&grag;, but from plus, pluris.

Note return to page 234 [8] 8 And then this should is like a spend-thrift's sigh That hurts by easing; &lblank;] This nonsense should be read thus, And then this should is like a spend-thrift's sign That hurts by easing. &lblank; i. e. tho' a spendthrift's entering into bonds or mortgages gives him a present relief from his straits, yet it ends in much greater distresses. The application is, If you neglect a fair opportunity now, when it may be done with ease and safety, time may throw so many difficulties in your way, that, in order to surmount them, you must put your whole fortune into hazard.

Note return to page 235 [9] 9 A sword unbated, &lblank;] i. e. not blunted as foils are. Or as one edition has it embaited or envenomed. Mr. Pope.

Note return to page 236 [1] 1 Which time she chaunted snatches of old tunes,] Fletcher, in his Scornful Lady, very invidiously ridicules this incident. I will run mad first, and if that get not pity, I'll drown my self to a most dismal ditty.

Note return to page 237 [1] 1 an act hath three branches; it is to act, to do, and to perform;] Ridicule on scholastic divisions without distinction; and of distinctions without difference.

Note return to page 238 [2] 2 their even christian.] So all the old books, and rightly. An old English expression for fellow-christians. Dr. Thirlby.

Note return to page 239 [3] 3 Ay, tell me that, and unyoke.] i. e. when you have done that, I'll trouble you no more with these riddles. The phrase taken from husbandry.

Note return to page 240 [4] 4 A politician, &lblank; one that could circumvent God,] This character is finely touched. Our great historian has well explained it in an example, where speaking of the death of Cardinal Mazarine, at the time of the Restoration, he says, The Cardinal was probably struck with the wonder, if not the agony of that undream'd of prosperity of our King's affairs; as if he had taken it ill, and laid it to heart that God Almighty would bring such a work to pass in Europe without his concurrence, and even against all his machinations. Hist. of the Rebellion, Book 16.

Note return to page 241 [5] 5 which this ass o'er-offices;] The meaning is this. People in office, at that time, were so overbearing, that Shakespear speaking of insolence at the height, calls it Insolence in office. And Donne says, Who is he Who officers' rage and suitors' misery Can write in jest &lblank; Sat. Alluding to this character of ministers and politicians, the speaker observes, that this insolent officer is now o'er-officer'd by the Sexton, who, knocking his scull about with his spade, appears to be as insolent in his office as they were in theirs. This is said with much humour.

Note return to page 242 [6] 6 &lblank; allow'd her virgin rites,] The old Quarto reads virgin crants, evidently corrupted from chants, which is the true word. A specific rather than a generic term being here required, to answer to maiden-strewments.

Note return to page 243 [7] 7 Of bell and burial.] Burial, here, signifies interment in consecrated ground.

Note return to page 244 [8] 8 Eisel,] Vinegar: Spelt right by Mr. Theobald.

Note return to page 245 [9] 9 &lblank; against the burning Zone,] This reading is absurd in all senses. We should read, Sun.

Note return to page 246 [1] 1 When that her golden couplets &lblank;] We should read, E'er that—for it is the patience of birds, during the time of incubation, that is here spoken of. The Pigeon generally sits upon two eggs; and her young, when first disclosed, are covered with a yellow down.

Note return to page 247 [2] 2 &lblank; Rashness (And prais'd be rashness for it) lets us know; Our indiscretion sometimes serves us well, When &c.] The sense in this reading is, Our rashness lets us know that our indiscretion serves us well, when &c. But this could never be Shakespear's sense. We should read and point thus, &lblank; Rashness, (And prais'd be rashness for it) lets us know; Or indiscretion sometimes serves us well, When &c.] i. e. Rashness acquaints us with what we cannot penetrate to by plots.

Note return to page 248 [3] 3 &lblank; no leisure bated,] Bated, for allowed. To abate signifies to deduct; this deduction, when applied to the person in whose savour it is made, is called an allowance. Hence he takes the liberty of using bated for allowed.

Note return to page 249 [4] 4 Being thus benetted round with Villains, (Ere I could make a prologue to my Brains, They had begun the Play: &lblank;] The second line is nonsense. The whole should be read thus, Being thus benetted round with villains, Ere I could mark the Prologue to my Bane, They had begun the Play. i. e. They begun to act, to my destruction, before I knew there was a Play towards. Ere I could mark the Prologue. For it appears by what he says of his foreboding, that it was that only, and not any apparent mark of villany, which set him upon fingering their packet. Ere I could make the Prologue, is absurd: Both, as he had no thoughts of playing them a trick till they had played him one; and because his counterplot could not be called a prologue to their Plot.

Note return to page 250 [5] 5 As peace should still her wheaten garland wear, And stand a Comma 'tween their amities;] Peace is here properly and finely personalized as the Goddess of good league and friendship; and very classically dress'd out. Ovid says, Pax Cererem nutrit, Pacis alumna Ceres. And Tibullus, At nobis, Pax alma! veni, spicamque teneto. But the placing her as a Comma, or stop, between the amities of two Kingdoms, makes her rather stand like a cypher. The poet without doubt wrote, And stand a Commere 'tween our amities. The term is taken from a traficker in love, who brings people together, a procuress. And this Idea is well appropriated to the satirical turn which the speaker gives to this wicked adjuration of the King, who would lay the foundation of the peace of the two kingdoms in the blood of the heir of one of them. Periers in his Novels, uses the word Commere to signify a she-friend. A tous ses gens, chacun une Commere. And Ben Johnson, in his Devil's an Ass, englishes the word by a middling Gossip. Or what do you say to a middling Gossip To bring you together.

Note return to page 251 [6] 6 Doth by their own insinuation grow:] Insinuation, for corruptly obtruding themselves into his service.

Note return to page 252 [7] 7 for my complexion.] This is not English. The old Quarto reads, or my complexion—And this is right. He was going to say, Or my complexion deceives me; but the over-complaisance of the other interrupted him.

Note return to page 253 [8] 8 Sir, his definement &c.] This is designed as a specimen, and ridicule of the court-jargon, amongst the precieux of that time. The sense in English is, Sir, he suffers nothing in your account of him, though to enumerate his good qualities particularly would be endless; yet when we had done our best it would still come short of him. However, in strictness of truth, he is a great genius, and of a character so rarely to be met with, that to find any thing like him we must look into his mirrour, and his imitators will appear no more than his shadows.

Note return to page 254 [9] 9 and yet but raw neither] We should read slow.

Note return to page 255 [1] 1 I knew, you must be edified by the Margent, e'er you had done.] Horatius seem'd to wonder that Hamlet should be so well versed in this Court-jargon: But he now finds him at a loss about the meaning of the word carriages, and says, pleasantly, I knew you must be edified by the Margent e'er you had done. i. e. I knew you would have need of a comment, at last, to understand the text. In the old books the gloss or comment was usually printed in the margent of the leaf.

Note return to page 256 [2] 2 He did so, Sir, with his dug &c.] What, run away with it? The Folio reads, He did comply with his dug. So that the true reading appears to be, He did compliment with his dug. i. e, stand upon ceremony with it, to shew he was born a courtier. This is extremely humourous.

Note return to page 257 [3] 3 a kind of yesty collection, which carries them through and through the most fond and winnowed opinions; and do but blow them to their tryals, the bubbles are out.] The metaphor is strangely mangled by the intrusion of the word fond, which undoubtedly should be read fann'd; the allusion being to corn separated by the Fan from chaff and dust. But the Editors seeing, from the character of this yesty collection, that the opinions, through which they were so currently carried, were false opinions; and fann'd and winnow'd opinions, in the most obvious sense signifying tried and purified opinions, they thought fanned must needs be wrong, and therefore made it fond, which word signified in our author's time, foolish, weak or childish. They did not consider that fanned and winnowed opinions had also a different signification: For it may mean the opinions of great men and courtiers, men separated by their quality from the vulgar, as corn is separated from the chaff. This yesty collection, says Hamlet, insinuates it self into people of the highest Quality, as yest into the finest flower. The courtiers admire him, but when he comes to the trial &c.

Note return to page 258 [4] 4 Since no man has ought of what he leaves, what is't to leave betimes?] This the Editors called reasoning. I should have thought the premises concluded just otherwise: For since death strips a man of every thing, it is but fit he should shun and avoid the despoiler. The old Quarto reads, Since no man, of ought he leaves, knows, what is't to leave betimes. Let be. This is the true reading. Here the premises conclude right, and the argument drawn out at length is to this effect. It is true, that, by death, we lose all the goods of life; yet seeing this loss is no otherwise an evil than as we are sensible of it; and since death removes all sense of it, what matters it how soon we lose them: Therefore come what will I am prepared. But the ill pointing in the old book hindered the Editors from seeing Shakespear's sense, and encouraged them to venture at one of their own, though, as usual, they are come very lamely off.

Note return to page 259 [5] 5 Which have sollicited. &lblank;] Sollicited, for brought on the event.

Note return to page 260 [6] 6 And flights of angels sing thee to thy Rest!] What language is this of flights singing. We should certainly read, And flights of angels wing thee to thy Rest. i. e. carry thee to Heaven.

Note return to page 261 [7] 7 Not from his mouth,] That is, the King's.

Note return to page 262 11308001 Act II. Scene VII. Page 175. The rugged Pyrrhus, he &c.] The two greatest Poets of this and the last age, Mr. Dryden, in the preface to Troilus and Cressida, and Mr. Pope, in his note on this place, have concurred in thinking that Shakespear produced this long passage with design to ridicule and expose the bombast of the play from whence it was taken; and that Hamlet's commendation of it is purely ironical. This is become the general opinion. I think just otherwise; and that it was given with commendation to upbraid the false taste of the audience of that time, which would not suffer them to do justice to the simplicity and sublime of this production. And I reason, First, From the Character Hamlet gives of the Play, from whence the passage is taken. Secondly, From the passage itself. And Thirdly, From the effect it had on the audience. Let us consider the character Hamlet gives of it, The Play, I remember, pleas'd not the million, 'twas Caviar to the general; but it was (as I received it, and others, whose judgment in such matters cried in the top of mine) an excellent Play well digested in the scenes, set down with as much modesty as cunning. I remember, one said, there was no salt in the lines to make the matter savoury; nor no matter in the phrase that might indite the author of affection; but called it an honest method. They who suppose the passage given to be ridiculed, must needs suppose this character to be purely ironical. But if so, it is the strangest irony that ever was written. It pleased not the multitude. This we must conclude to be true, however ironical the rest be. Now the reason given of the designed ridicule is the supposed bombast. But those were the very plays, which at that time we know took with the multitude. And Fletcher wrote a kind of Rehearsal purposely to expose them. But say it is bombast, and that, therefore, it took not with the multitude. Hamlet presently tells us what it was that displeased them. There was no salt in the lines to make the matter savoury; nor no matter in the phrase that might indite the author of affection; but called it an honest method. Now whether a person speaks ironically or no, when he quotes others, yet common sense requires he should quote what they say. Now it could not be, if this play displeased because of the bombast, that those whom it displeased should give this reason for their dislike. The same inconsistencies and absurdities abound in every other part of Hamlet's speech supposing it to be ironical: but take him as speaking his sentiments, the whole is of a piece; and to this purpose, The Play, I remember, pleased not the multitude, and the reason was its being wrote on the rules of the ancient Drama; to which they were entire strangers. But, in my opinion, and in the opinion of those for whose judgment I have the highest esteem, it was an excellent Play, well digested in the scenes, i. e. where the three unities were well preserved. Set down with as much modesty as cunning, i. e. where not only the art of composition, but the simplicity of nature, was carefully attended to. The characters were a faithful picture of life and manners, in which nothing was overcharged into Farce. But these qualities, which gained my esteem, lost the public's. For I remember one said, There was no salt in the lines to make the matter savoury, i. e. there was not, according to the mode of that time, a fool or clown to joke, quibble, and talk freely. Nor no matter in the phrase that might indite the author of affection, i. e. nor none of those passionate, pathetic love scenes, so essential to modern Tragedy, But he called it an honest method. i. e. he owned, however tastless this method of writing, on the ancient plan, was to our times, yet it was chaste and pure; the distinguishing character of the Greek Drama. I need only make one observation on all this; that, thus interpreted, it is the justest picture of a good tragedy, wrote on the ancient rules. And that I have rightly interpreted it appears farther from what we find added in the old Quarto, An honest method, as wholesome as sweet, and by very much more handsome than fine, i. e. it had a natural beauty, but none of the fucus of false art. 2. A second proof that this speech was given to be admired, is from the intrinsic merit of the speech itself: which contains the description of a circumstance very happily imagined, namely Ilium and Priam's falling together with the effect it had on the destroyer.   &lblank; The hellish Pyrrhus &c. To, Repugnant to command.   Th' unnerved father falls &c. To, &lblank; So after Pyrrhus' pause. Now this circumstance, illustrated with the fine similitude of the storm, is so highly worked up as to have well deserved a place in Virgil's second Book of the Æneid, even tho' the work had been carried on to that perfection which the Roman Poet had conceived. 3. The third proof is, from the effects which followed on the recital. Hamlet, his best character, approves it; the Player is deeply affected in repeating it; and only the foolish Polonius tired with it. We have said enough before of Hamlet's sentiments. As for the player, he changes colour, and the tears start from his eyes. But our author was too good a judge of nature to make bombast and unnatural sentiment produce such an effect. Nature and Horace both instructed him, Si vis me flere, dolendum est Primùm ipsi tibi, tunc tua me infortunia lædent, Telephe, vel Peleu. Male si mandata loqueris, Aut dormitabo aut ridebo. And it may be worth observing, that Horace gives this precept particularly to shew, that bombast and unnatural sentiments are incapable of moving the tender passions, which he is directing the poet how to raise. For, in the lines just before, he gives this rule, Telephus & Peleus, cùm pauper & exul uterque, Projicit Ampullas, & sesquipedalia verba. Not that I would deny, that very bad lines in very bad tragedies have had this effect. But then it always proceeds from one or other of these causes. 1. Either when the subject is domestic, and the scene lies at home: The spectators, in this case, become interested in the fortunes of the distressed; and their thoughts are so much taken up with the subject, that they are not at liberty to attend to the poet; who, otherwise, by his faulty sentiments and diction, would have stifled the emotions springing up from a sense of the distress. But this is nothing to the case in hand. For, as Hamlet says, What's Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba? 2. When bad lines raise this affection, they are bad in the other extreme; low, abject, and groveling, instead of being highly figurative and swelling; yet when attended with a natural simplicity, they have force enough to strike illiterate and simple minds. The Tragedies of Banks will justify both these observations. But if any one will still say, that Shakespear intended to represent a player unnaturally and fantastically affected, we must appeal to Hamlet, that is, to Shakespear himself, in this matter; who on the reflection he makes upon the Player's emotion, in order to excite his own revenge, gives not the least hint that the player was unnaturally or injudiciously moved. On the contrary, his fine description of the Actor's emotion shews, he thought just otherwise. &lblank; this Player here But in a fiction, in a dream of passion, Could force his soul so to his own conceit, That from her working all his visage wan'd: Tears in his eyes, distraction in his aspect, A broken voice &c. And indeed had Hamlet esteemed this emotion any thing unnatural, it had been a very improper circumstance to spur him to his purpose. As Shakespear has here shewn the effects which a fine description of Nature, heightened with all the ornaments of art, had upon an intelligent Player, whose business habituates him to enter intimately and deeply into the characters of men and manners, and to give nature its free workings on all occasions; so he has artfully shewn what effects the very same scene would have upon a quite different man, Polonius; by nature, very weak and very artificial [two qualities, though commonly enough joined in life, yet generally so much disguised as not to be seen by common eyes to be together; and which an ordinary Poet durst not have brought so near one another] by discipline, practised in a species of wit and eloquence which was stiff, forced, and pedantic; and by trade a Politician, and therefore, of consequence, without any of the affecting notices of humanity. Such is the man whom Shakespear has judiciously chosen to represent the false taste of that audience which had condemned the play here reciting. When the actor comes to the finest and most pathetic part of the speech, Polonius cries out, this is too long; on which Hamlet, in contempt of his ill judgment, replies, It shall to the barber's with thy beard. [intimating that, by this judgment, it appeared that all his wisdom lay in his length of beard,] Pry'thee, say on. He's for a jig or a tale of bawdry. [the common entertainment of that time, as well as this, of the people] or he sleeps, say on. And yet this man of modern taste, who stood all this time perfectly unmoved with the forcible imagery of the relator, no sooner hears, amongst many good things, one quaint and fantastical word, put in, I suppose, purposely for this end, than he professes his approbation of the propriety and dignity of it. That's good. Mobled Queen is good. On the whole then, I think, it plainly appears, that the long quotation is not given to be ridiculed and laughed at, but to be admired. The character given of the Play, by Hamlet, cannot be ironical. The passage it self is extremely beautiful. It has the effect that all pathetic relations, naturally written, should have; and it is condemned, or regarded with indifference, by one of a wrong, unnatural taste. From hence (to observe it by the way) the Actors, in their representation of this play, may learn how this speech ought to be spoken, and what appearance Hamlet ought to assume during the recital. That which supports the common opinion, concerning this passage, is the turgid expression in some parts of it; which, they think, could never be given by the poet to be commended. We shall therefore, in the next place, examine the lines most obnoxious to censure, and see how much, allowing the charge, this will make for the induction of their conclusion. Pyrrhus at Priam drives, in rage strikes wide, But with the whif and wind of his fell sword Th' unnerved Father falls. And again, Out, out, thou strumpet Fortune! All you Gods, In general Synod, take away her power: Break all the spokes and fellies from her wheel, And bowl the round nave, down the hill of Heaven, As low as to the Fiends. Now whether these be bombast or not, is not the question; but whether Shakespear esteemed them so. That he did not so esteem them appears from his having used the very same thoughts in the same expression, in his best plays, and given them to his principal characters, where he aims at the sublime. As in the following passages. Troilus, in Troilus and Cressida, far outstrains the execution of Pyrrhus's sword, in the character he gives of Hector's, When many times the captive Grecians fall Ev'n in the fan and wind of your fair sword, You bid them rise and live. Cleopatra, in Antony and Cleopatra, rails at Fortune in the same manner. No, let me speak, and let me rail so high, That the false huswife Fortune break her wheel, Provok'd at my offence. But another use may be made of these quotations; a discovery of the Author of this recited Play: which, letting us into a circumstance of our Author's life (as a writer) hitherto unknown, was the reason I have been so large upon this Question. I think then it appears, from what has been said, that the Play in dispute was Shakespear's own: and that this was the occasion of writing it. He was desirous, as soon as he had found his strength, of restoring the chastness and regularity of the ancient Stage; and therefore composed this Tragedy on the model of the Greek Drama, as may be seen by throwing so much action into relation. But his attempt proved fruitless; and the raw, unnatural taste, then prevalent, forced him back again into his old Gothic manner. For which he took this revenge upon his Audience.

Note return to page 263 [1] 1 Othello, the Moor of Venice.] The story is taken from Cynthio's Novels. Mr. Pope.

Note return to page 264 [2] 2 &lblank; a Florentine, A fellow almost damn'd in a fair wife;] But it was Iago, and not Cassio, who was the Florentine, as appears from Act 3. Scene 1. The passage therefore should be read thus, &lblank; (a Florentine's A fellow almost damn'd in a fair wife; &lblank;) These are the words of Othello, (which Iago in this relation repeats,) and signify, that a Florentine was an unfit person for command, as being always a slave to a fair wife; which was the case of Iago. The Oxford Editor supposing this was said by Iago of Cassio, will have Cassio to be the Florentine; which, he says, is plain from many passages in the Play, rightly understood. But because Cassio was no married man, (tho' I wonder it did not appear he was, from some passages rightly understood) he alters the line thus, A fellow almost damn'd in a fair Phyz. A White friers' phrase.

Note return to page 265 [3] 3 Wherein the toged consuls &lblank;] Consuls, for couns'lors.

Note return to page 266 [a] [(a) toged. The old Quarto.—Vulg. tongued]

Note return to page 267 [4] 4 &lblank; must be led and calm'd] So the old Quarto. The first Folio reads belee'd: but that spoils the measure. I read let, hindered.

Note return to page 268 [5] 5 And not by old gradation &lblank;,] What is old gradation? He immediately explains gradation very properly. But the idea of old does not come into it, &lblank; where each second Stood heir to th' first. &lblank; I read therefore, Not (as of old) gradation. i. e. it does not go by gradation, as it did of old.

Note return to page 269 [6] 6 In compliment extern, &lblank;] Compliment, i. e. fulness.

Note return to page 270 [7] 7 As when, by night and negligence, the fire Is spied in populous cities.] This is not sense, take it which way you will. If night and negligence relate to spied, it is absurd to say the fire was spied by negligence. If night and negligence refer only to the time and occasion, it should then be by night, and thro' negligence. Otherwise the particle by would be made to signify time applied to one word, and cause applied to the other. We should read therefore, Is spred, by which all these faults are avoided. But what is of most weight, the similitude, thus emended, agrees best with the fact it is applied to. Had this notice been given to Brabantio before his daughter ran away and married, it might then indeed have been well enough compared to the alarm given of a fire just spied, assoon as it was begun. But being given after the parties were bedded, it was more fitly compared to a fire spred by night and negligence, so as not to be extinguished.

Note return to page 271 [8] 8 If't be your pleasure &c.] The seventeen following lines are added since the first edition, where, after the words, I beseech you, immediately follows, If she be in her chamber, &c. Mr. Pope.

Note return to page 272 [9] 9 And what's to come of my despised time,] Why despised time? We should read, &lblank; despited time. i. e. vexatious.

Note return to page 273 [1] 1 As double as the Duke's:] Rymer seems to have had his eye on this passage, amongst others, where he talks so much of the impropriety and barbarity in the style of this play. But it is an elegant Grecism. As double, signifies as large, as extensive; for thus the Greeks use &grd;&gri;&grp;&grl;&gro;&gruc;&grst;. Diosc. l. 2. c. 213. And in the same manner and construction, the Latins sometimes used duplex. And the old French writers say, La plus double. Dr. Bentley has been as severe on Milton for as elegant a Grecism. Yet virgin of Proserpina from Jove. lib. 9. ver. 396. 'Tis an imitation of the &grP;&gra;&grr;&grq;&grea;&grn;&gro;&grn; &gres;&grk; &grq;&gra;&grl;&graa;&grm;&gro;&gru; of Theocritus for an unmarried Virgin.

Note return to page 274 [2] 2 &lblank; speak, unbonnetted &lblank;] Thus all the copies read. It should be unbonnetting, i. e. without putting off the bonnet. Mr. Pope.

Note return to page 275 [3] 3 By Janus, I think, no.] There is great propriety in making the double Iago swear by Janus, who has two faces. The address of it likewise is as remarkable, for as the people coming up appeared at different distances to have different shapes, he might swear by Janus, without suspicion of any other emblematic meaning.

Note return to page 276 [3] 3 The wealthy curled darlings of our nation,] I read culled, i. e. select, chosen. Shakespear uses this word very frequently, These cull'd and choice drawn Cavaliers from France. Henry V. Curled was an improper mark of difference between a Venetian and a Moor, which latter people are remarkably curl'd by nature.

Note return to page 277 [4] 4 Judge me the world, &c.] The five following lines are not in the first Edition. Mr. Pope.

Note return to page 278 [a] [(a) Notion. Mr. Theobald.—Vulg. Motion.]

Note return to page 279 [5] 5 Bond-slaves, and Pagans &lblank;] Mr. Theobald alters Pagans to Pageants for this reason, That Pagans are as strict and moral all the world over, as the most regular Christians in the preservation of private property. But what then? The speaker had not this high opinion of pagan morality, as is plain from hence, that this important discovery, so much to the honour of paganism, was first made by our Editor.

Note return to page 280 [6] 6 There is no composition &lblank;] Composition, for consistency, concordancy.

Note return to page 281 [7] 7 As in these cases, where they aim reports,] These Venetians seem to have had a very odd sort of persons in employment, who did all by hazard, as to what, and how, they should report; for this is the sense of man's aiming reports. The true reading, without question, is, &lblank; where the aim reports. i. e. Where there is no better ground for information than conjecture: Which not only improves the sense, but, by changing the verb into a noun, and the noun into a verb, mends the expression.

Note return to page 282 [8] 8 For that it stands not &c.] The seven following lines are added since the first Edition. Mr. Pope.

Note return to page 283 [9] 9 By spells and medicines, bought of mountebanks;] Rymer has ridiculed this circumstance as unbecoming (both for its weakness and superstition) the gravity of the accuser, and the dignity of the Tribunal: But his criticism only exposes his own ignorance. The circumstance was not only exactly in character, but urged with the greatest address, as the thing chiefly to be insisted on. For, by the Venetian Law, the giving Love-potions was very criminal, as Shakespear. without question well understood. Thus the Law, De i maleficii & herbarie, cap. 17. of the Code intitled, Della promission del maleficio. Statuimo etiamdio, che-se alcun homo, o femina harra fatto maleficii, iquali se dimandano vulgarmente amatorie, o veramente alcuni altri maleficii, che alcun homo o femina se havesson in odio, sia frusta & bollado, & che hara consegliado patisca simile pena. And therefore in the preceding Scene, Brabantio calls them &lblank; Arts inhibited, and out of warrant.

Note return to page 284 [1] 1 And little bless'd with the soft phrase of peace;] This apology, if addressed to his mistress, had been well expressed. But what he wanted, in speaking before a Venetian Senate, was not the soft blandishments of speech, but the art and method of masculine eloquence. The old Quarto reads it, therefore, as I am persuaded, Shakespear wrote, &lblank; the set phrase of peace;

Note return to page 285 [2] 2 And with it, all my travel's history:] This line is restor'd from the old Edition. It is in the rest, And portance in my travel's history. Rymer, in his criticism on this play, has changed it to portents, instead of portance. Mr. Pope.

Note return to page 286 [3] 3 Wherein of antres vast, &c.] Discourses of this nature made the subject of the politest conversations, when voyages into, and discoveries of, the new world were all in vogue. So when the Bastard Faulconbridge, in King John, describes the behaviour of upstart greatness, he makes one of the essential circumstances of it to be this kind of table-talk. The fashion then running altogether in this way, it is no wonder a young lady of quality should be struck with the history of an adventurer. So that Rymer, who professedly ridicules this whole circumstance, and the noble author of the Characteristics, who more obliquely snears [Subnote: for snears it read snears at it.] it, only expose their own ignorance.

Note return to page 287 [4] 4 Antres.] French, Grottoes. Mr. Pope.

Note return to page 288 [5] 5 &lblank; desarts idle,] Idle, for barren; because want of culture makes barren.

Note return to page 289 [6] 6 It was my hint to speak; &lblank;] This implies it as done by a trap laid for her: But the old Quarto reads hent, i. e. use, custom.

Note return to page 290 [7] 7 &lblank; a world of sighs:] It was kisses in the later Editions: But this is evidently the true reading. The lady had been forward indeed to give him a world of kisses upon the bare recital of his story; nor does it agree with the following lines. Mr. Pope.

Note return to page 291 [8] 8 Let me speak like your self; &lblank;] It should be, like our self. i. e. Let me meditate [Subnote: for meditate read mediate.] between you as becomes a prince and common father of his people: For the prince's opinion, here delivered, was quite contrary to Brabantio's sentiment.

Note return to page 292 [9] 9 But words are words; I never yet did hear, That the bruis'd heart was pierced through the ear.] The Duke had by sage sentences been exhorting Brabantio to patience, and to forget the grief of his daughter's stoln marriage, to which Brabantio is made very pertinently to reply to this effect: My lord, I apprehend very well the wisdom of your advice; but tho' you would comfort me, words are but words; and the heart, already bruis'd, was never pierc'd, or wounded, through the ear. It is obvious that the text must be restor'd thus, That the bruis'd heart was pieced thro' the ear. i. e. That the wounds of sorrow were ever cur'd, or a man made heart-whole meerly by words of consolation.

Note return to page 293 [1] 1 My down-right violence and storm of fortunes] But what violence was it that drove her to run away with the Moor? We should read, My downright violence to forms, my fortunes.

Note return to page 294 [2] 2 The rites, for which I love him, are bereft me:] By rites can be meant no other than conjugal rites: But it is absurd to think the poet could make her commit so high an indecorum against the modesty of her character to say this. Without question Shakespear wrote, The rights, for which I love him, are bereft me: i. e. The right of sharing his dangers with him. So Othello tells the Senate, She lov'd me for the dangers I had pass'd, and she was now desirous of sharing with him what were to come; on which account he calls her afterwards, Oh, my fair warrior!

Note return to page 295 [3] 3 Nor to comply with heat, the young affects In my defunct and proper Satisfaction;] i. e. With that heat and new affections which the indulgence of my appetite has raised and created. This is the meaning of defunct, which has made all the difficulty of the passage.

Note return to page 296 [4] 4 If virtue no delighted beauty lack,] This is a senseless epithet. We should read belighted beauty. i. e. white and fair.

Note return to page 297 [5] 5 defeat thy favour with an usurped beard;] This is not English. We should read disseat thy favour. i. e. turn it out of its seat, change it for another. The word usurped directs us to this reading.

Note return to page 298 [6] 6 As luscious as locusts,] Whether you understand by this the insect or the fruit, it cannot be given as an instance of a delicious morsel, notwithstanding the exaggerations of lying travellers. The true reading is loches a very pleasant confection introduced into medicine by the Arabian physicians; and so very fitly opposed both to the bitterness and use of Coloquintida.

Note return to page 299 [7] 7 betwixt an erring Barbarian] We should read errant, that is a vagabond, one who has no house nor country.

Note return to page 300 [8] 8 &lblank; with such a snipe,] i. e. a diminitive woodcock.

Note return to page 301 [9] 9 &lblank; Hell and night] We should read Spite, i. e. love of mischief, and love of revenge.

Note return to page 302 [1] 1 And in th' essential vesture of creation Do's bear all excellency &lblank;] It is plain that something very hyperbolical was here intended. But what is there as it stands? Why this, that in the essence of creation he bore all excellency. The expression is intolerable, and could never come from one who so well understood the force of words as our Poet. The essential vesture is the same as essential form. So that the expression is nonsense. For the vesture of creation signifies the forms in which created beings are cast. And essence relates not to the form, but to the matter. Shakespear certainly wrote, And in terrestrial vesture of creation. And in this lay the wonder, That all created excellence should be contained within an earthly mortal form.

Note return to page 303 [2] 2 &lblank; if not critical.] Critical, for satirical.

Note return to page 304 [3] 3 one, that in the authority of her merit, did justly put on the vouch of very malice itself?] The editor, Mr. Theobald, not understanding the phrase, To put on the vouch of malice, has alter'd it to put down, and wrote a deal of unintelligible stuff to justify his blunder. To put on the vouch of any one, signifies, to call upon any one to vouch for another. So that the sense of the place is this, One that was so conscious of her own merit, and of the authority her character had with every one, that she durst venture to call upon malice itself to vouch for her. This was some commendation. And the character only of the clearest virtue; which could force malice, even against its nature, to do justice.

Note return to page 305 [4] 4 She that in wisdom never was so frail To change the cod's head for the salmon's tail.] Because the Italian proverb says, E méglio esser testa di Luccio che coda di sturione; meaning, that a wise man would always chuse to be in the first rank of a lower station rather than in the last of a higher.

Note return to page 306 [5] 5 profane and liberal counsellor] Liberal, for licentious.

Note return to page 307 [6] 6 I will gyve thee] i. e. catch, shackle. Mr. Pope.

Note return to page 308 [7] 7 Amen, to that sweet power.] Thus the old Quarto, in which it is followed by the other Editions. It is plainly corrupt and should be read, Amen, to that sweet Prayer! i. e. the prayer she had made that their love should increase with time.

Note return to page 309 for meet read met.

Note return to page 310 [8] 8 &lblank; Which thing to do, If this poor Trash of Venice, whom I trace For his quick hunting, stand the putting on.] A trifling, insignificant fellow may, in some respects, very well be call'd Trash; but the metaphor is not preserved. For what agreement is there betwixt trash, and quick-hunting, and standing the putting on? The allusion to the chase, Shakespear seems to be fond of applying to Rodorigo, who says of himself towards the conclusion of this Act; I follow her in the chase, not like a hound that hunts, but one that fills up the cry. I suppose therefore that the poet wrote, If this poor brach of Venice, which is a low species of hounds of the chace, and a term generally us'd in contempt: and this compleats and perfects the metaphorical allusion, and makes it much more satirical. Utilius, in his notes on Gracian, says, Racha Saxonibus canem significabat, unde Scoti bodie Rache pro cane femina habent, quod Anglis est Brache. Nos verò (he speaks of the Hollanders) Brach non quemvis canem sed sagacem vocamus. So the French, Braque, espece de chien de chasse. Menage Etimol.

Note return to page 311 [9] 9 &lblank; whom I do trace For his quick hunting, &lblank;] Just the contrary. He did not trace him, he put him on, as he says immediately after. The old Quarto leads to the true reading. &lblank; whom I do crush For his quick hunting, Plainly corrupted from cherish.

Note return to page 312 [1] 1 The meer perdition] Meer, for total.

Note return to page 313 [a] [(a) Deem, Mr. Theobald.—Vulg. Dream.]

Note return to page 314 [a] [(a) All sense of place. Oxford Editor.—Vulg. all place of sense.]

Note return to page 315 [2] 2 Unless self-charity &lblank;] Self-charity, for charity inherent in the person's nature.

Note return to page 316 [3] 3 And speak Parrot?] A phrase signifying to act foolishly and childishly. So Skelton. These maidens full mekely with many a divers flour, Freshly they dress and make sweete my boure, With spake parrot I pray you full courteously thei saye.

Note return to page 317 [a] [(a) Denotement. Mr. Theobald.—Vulg. devotement.]

Note return to page 318 [4] 4 &lblank; to this parallel course.] Parallel, for even; because parallel lines run even and equidistant.

Note return to page 319 [5] 5 I'll pour this pestilence &lblank;] Pestilence, for poison.

Note return to page 320 [6] 6 That shall enmesh them all.] A metaphor from taking birds in meshes. Mr. Pope.

Note return to page 321 [a] [(a) And hye away. Oxford Editor.—Vulg. for I'll away.]

Note return to page 322 [1] 1 His present reconciliation take.] Cassio was to be reconciled to his General, not his General to him, therefore take cannot be right. We should read make.

Note return to page 323 [2] 2 &lblank; and not in cunning,] Cunning, for design, or purpose, simply.

Note return to page 324 [3] 3 'Tis as I should entreat you wear your gloves,] Absurd. We should read, cloths.

Note return to page 325 [4] 4 They're cold dilations working from the heart, That passion cannot rule.] i. e. these stops and breaks are cold dilations, or cold keeping back a secret, which men of phlegmatic constitutions, whose hearts are not sway'd or govern'd by their passions, we find, can do: while more sanguine tempers reveal themselves at once, and without reserve. But the Oxford Editor for cold dilations reads distillations.

Note return to page 326 [5] 5 Or, those that be not, 'would they might seem none!] There is no sense in this reading. I suppose Shakespear wrote, &lblank; 'would they might seem knaves.

Note return to page 327 [6] 6 Keep leets and law-days, &lblank;] i. e. govern. A metaphor, wretchedly forced and quaint.

Note return to page 328 [7] 7 Though I, perchance, am vicious in my guess,] Not to mention that, in this reading, the sentence is abrupt and broken it is likewise highly absurd. I beseech you give your self no uneasiness from my unsure observance though I am vicious in my guess. For his being an ill guesser was a reason why Othello should not be uneasy: in propriety, therefore, it should either have been, though I am not vicious, or because I am vicious. It appears then we should read. I do beseech you, Think I, perchance, am vicious in my guess. Which makes the sense pertinent and perfect.

Note return to page 329 [8] 8 &lblank; which doth mock The meat it feeds on. &lblank;] i. e. loaths that which nourishes and sustains it. This being a miserable state, Iago bids him beware of it. The Oxford Editor reads, &lblank; which doth make The meat it feeds on &lblank; implying that its suspicions are unreal and groundless, which is the very contrary to what he would here make his General think, as appears from what follows, That cuckold lives in bliss, &c. In a word, the villain is for fixing him jealous: and therefore bids him beware of jealousy, not that it was an unreasonable but a miserable state, and this plunges him into it, as we see by his reply, which is only Oh misery!

Note return to page 330 [9] 9 &lblank; as poor as winter,] Finely expressed: Winter producing no fruits.

Note return to page 331 [1] 1 Matching thy inference.] Inference, for description, account.

Note return to page 332 [2] 2 Where virtue is, these are most virtuous.] But how can a virtuous conduct make the indifferent actions of such a character, virtuous, or most virtuous? The old Quarto reads, a little nearer the truth, Where virtue is, these are more virtuous. But Shakespear wrote, Where virtue is, these make more virtuous. i. e. where virtue is, the civil accomplishments of polite life make that virtue more illustrious, as coming off victorious from all the temptations which such accomplishements throw in the way.

Note return to page 333 [3] 3 Out of self-bounty be abus'd;] Self-bounty, for inherent generosity.

Note return to page 334 [4] 4 To grosser issues,] Issues, for conclusions.

Note return to page 335 [5] 5 My speech would fall into such vile Success,] Success, for succession, i. e. conclusion; not prosperous issue.

Note return to page 336 [6] 6 &lblank; with a learned spirit,] Learned, for experienced.

Note return to page 337 [7] 7 Tho' that her jesses &c.] A metaphor taken from Falconry. Jesses are the strings they hold a hawk by. Mr. Pope.

Note return to page 338 [8] 8 Dang'rous conceits are in their nature poisons] This line restored from the first edition compleats the sense. Mr. Pope.

Note return to page 339 [9] 9 Shall never medicine thee to that sweet Sleep, Which thou hadst yesterday.] The old Quarto reads, Which thou owedst yesterday. And this is right, and of much greater force than the common reading; not to sleep, being finely called defrauding the day of a debt of nature.

Note return to page 340 [1] 1 Farewel the neighing steed, and the shrill trump, The spirit-stirring drum, th' ear-piercing fife,] The attributes to the trumpet and fife, in the present reading, seem to be too much alike for the richness and variety of Shakespear's ideas. Besides, as the steed and trumpet in the one line were designed to be characterized by their sounds; so the drum and fife by their effects on the hearers; as appears in part from the epithet given to the drum of spirit-stirring: I would read then, The spirit-stirring drum, th' fear-'spersing fife, i. e. the fear-dispersing.

Note return to page 341 [2] 2 &lblank; abandon all remorse;] Remorse, for repentance.

Note return to page 342 [3] 3 By the world, &c.] This speech not in the first edition. Mr. Pope.

Note return to page 343 [4] 4 Give me a living reason] Living, for speaking, manifest.

Note return to page 344 [5] 5 a fore-gone conclusion;] Conclusion, for fact.

Note return to page 345 [6] 6 Othel. 'Tis a shrewd doubt, &c.] The old Quarto gives this line with the two following to Iago; and rightly.

Note return to page 346 [7] 7 &lblank; yet we see nothing done;] This is an oblique and secret mock at Othello's saying, Give me the ocular proof.

Note return to page 347 [8] 8 Now do I see 'tis true.] The old Quarto reads, Now do I see 'tis time. &lblank; And this is Shakespear's, and has in it much more force and solemnity, and preparation for what follows; as alluding to what he had said before, &lblank; No, Iago! I'll see before I doubt, when I doubt, prove; And, on the proof, there is no more but this, Away at once with love or jealousie. This time was now come.

Note return to page 348 [9] 9 Arise, black vengeance, from the hollow hell.] This is a poor unmeaning epithet. The old quarto reads, Arise black vengeance, from thy hollow cell. Which the editors not knowing what to make of, alter'd it as above. It is corrupt and should be read thus, Arise black vengeance from th' unhallow'd cell. meaning the infernal regions.

Note return to page 349 [1] 1 Yield up, oh Love, thy crown and hearted throne] Hearted throne is strange nonsense. The old Quarto reads, &lblank; and harted throne: Which the editors took for a word mis-spelt, whereas it was a word miscalled. We should read, Yield up, oh Love, thy crown and parted throne. i. e. thy throne which was parted between me and Desdemona: This presents us with a fine image. The union of Othello and Desdemona was so perfect, that love divided his throne between them: which he is now bid to resume, and give to hatred.

Note return to page 350 [2] 2 &lblank; swell, bosom, &c.] i. e. swell, because the fraught is of poison.

Note return to page 351 [3] 3 &lblank; Like the Pontick Sea, &c.] This simile is omitted in the first edition: I think it should be so, as an unnatural excursion in this place. Mr. Pope.

Note return to page 352 [4] 4 &lblank; Let him command, And to obey, shall be in me remorse, What bloody business ever.] Thus the old copies read, but evidently wrong. Some editions read, Not to obey; on which the editor Mr. Theobald takes occasion to alter it to, Nor to obey; and thought he had much mended matters. But he mistook the sound end of the line for the corrupt; and so by his emendation, the deep-designing Iago is foolishly made to throw off his mask when he had most occasion for it; and without any provocation, stand before his Captain a villain confessed; at a time, when, for the carrying on his plot, he should make the least show of it. For thus Mr. Theobald forces him to say, I shall have no remorse to obey your commands how bloody soever the business be. But this is not Shakespear's way of preserving the unity of character. Iago, till now, pretended to be one, who, tho' in the trade of war he had slain men, yet held it the very stuff of th' conscience to do no contriv'd murder; when, of a sudden, without cause or occasion, he owns himself a ruffian without remorse. Shakespear wrote and pointed the passage thus, Let him command, And to obey shall be in me. Remord What bloody business ever. i. e. however the business he sets me upon may shock my honour and humanity, yet I promise to go thro' with it, and obey without reserve. Here Iago speaks in character, while the sense and grammar are made better by it. So Skelton, And if so him fortune to write and plaine, As sometimes he must vices remorde. And again, Squire, Knight, and Lord, Thus the Churche remorde.

Note return to page 353 [5] 5 My friend is dead;] I cannot but think this a very artful imitation of nature. Iago, while he would magnify his services, betrays his villany. For was it possible he could be honest who would assassinate his Friend? And not to take at this, shew'd the utmost blindness of jealousy.

Note return to page 354 [6] 6 Clown. I will catechize the world for him; that is, make questions, and by them answer.] This Clown is a Fool to some purpose. He was to go seek for one; he says, he will ask for him, and by his own questions make answer. Without doubt, we should read; and bid them answer. i. e. the world; those, whom he questions.

Note return to page 355 [7] 7 For here's a young &lblank;] We should read, strong.

Note return to page 356 [8] 8 The hearts of old, gave hands; But our new heraldry is hands, not hearts.] It is evident that the first line should be read thus, The hands of old gave hearts: Otherwise it would be no reply to the preceding words, For 'twas that hand, that gave away my heart: Not so, says her husband: The hands of old indeed gave hearts: But the custom now is to give hands without hearts. The expression of new heraldry was a satirical allusion to the times. Soon after James the First came to the Crown, he created the new dignity of Baronets for mony. Amongst their other prerogatives of honour, they had an addition to their paternal arms, of a hand gules in an Escutcheon argent. And we are not to doubt but that this was the new heraldry alluded to by our author: By which he insinuates, that some then created had hands indeed, but not hearts; that is, mony to pay for the creation, but no virtue to purchase the honour. But the finest part of the poet's address in this allusion, is the compliment he pays to his old mistress Elizabeth. For James's pretence for raising mony by this creation, was the reduction of Ulster, and other parts of Ireland; the memory of which he would perpetuate by that addition to their arms, it being the arms of Ulster. Now the method used by Elizabeth in the reduction of that kingdom was so different from this, the dignitie she conferred being on those who employed their steel and not their gold in this service, that nothing could add more to her glory, than the being compar'd to her successor in this point of view: Nor was it uncommon for the dramatic poets of that time to satirize the ignominy of James's reign. So Fletcher, in The Fair Maid of the Inn. One says, I will send thee to Amboyna i'th' East-Indies for pepper. The other replies, To Amboyna? so I might be pepper'd. Again, in the same play, a Sailor says, Despise not this pitch'd Canvas, the time was we have known them lined with Spanish Duckats.

Note return to page 357 [9] 9 &lblank; numbred &lblank; The Sun to course &lblank;] i. e. number'd the Sun's courses: Badly expressed.

Note return to page 358 [1] 1 &lblank; (unhandsome warrior as I am,)] How this came to be so blundered, I cannot conceive. It is plain Shakespear wrote, &lblank; (unhandsome wrangler, as I am. So Anthony and Cleopatra, &lblank; fie wrangling Queen.

Note return to page 359 [2] 2 &lblank; I must be circumstanc'd.] i. e. your civility is now grown conditional.

Note return to page 360 [1] 1 Naked in bed, Iago, and not mean harm? It is hypocrisy against the Devil:] This observation seems strangely abrupt and unoccasioned. We must suppose that Iago had, before they appear in this scene, been applying cases of false comfort to Othello; as that tho' the parties had been even found in bed together, there might be no harm done; it might be only for the trial of their virtue; as was reported of the Romish Saint, Robert D' Arbrissel and his Nuns. To this we must suppose Othello here replies; and like a good Protestant. For so the sentiment does but suit the character of the speaker, Shakespear little heeds how those sentiments are circumstanced.

Note return to page 361 [2] 2 The Devil their virtue tempts, and they tempt heav'n.] It is plain, from the whole tenour of the words, that the speaker would distinguish this strange fantastical presumption from other lesser kinds of indiscretion, where prudence is off its guard. But this reading does not distinguish it from any other, it being true of all who run into temptation, that the Devil their virtue tempts, and they tempt heav'n. The true reading, therefore, without question, is this, The Devil their virtue tempts not; they tempt heav'n. i. e. they do not give the Devil the trouble of throwing temptations in their way: they seek them out themselves, and so tempt heav'n by their presumption. This is a just character of the extravagance here condemned, and distinguishes it from other inferior indiscretions.

Note return to page 362 [3] 3 She is protectress of her honour too;] This is plainly intended an answer to Iago's principle, That what a man is propertied in he may give to whom he pleases, by shewing the falshood of it, in the instance of a woman's honour, which he says she is protectress of. But this is strange logic that infers from the acknowledged right of my alienating my property, that I may alienate my trust, for that protectress only signifies. Had Iago catched him arguing thus, we may be sure he would have exposed his sophistry. On the contrary he replies, on a supposition that Othello argued right from his principles, and endeavour'd to instance in a property that could not be alienated; which reduces him to this cavil, that the property instanced in was of so fantastic a nature, that one might and might not have it at the same time, Her honour is an essence that's not seen, They have it very oft that have it not. From all this I conclude, that Shakespear wrote, She is propertied of her honour too: May she give that. And then Othello's answer will be logical, and Iago's reply pertinent. Shakespear uses the same word again in Timon, &lblank; subdues and properties to his love.

Note return to page 363 [4] 4 Convinc'd] Convinc'd, for conquer'd, subdued.

Note return to page 364 [5] 5 &lblank; to confess &c.] The words between the hooks seem to be the player's trash.

Note return to page 365 [6] 6 without some instruction.] The starts and broken reflexions in this speech have something so very terrible, and shew the mind of the speaker to be in inexpressible agonies. But the words we are upon, when set right, have a sublime in them that can never be enough admired. The ridiculous blunder of writing instruction for induction (for so it should be read) has indeed sunk it into arrant nonsense. Othello is just going to fall into a swoon; and, as is common for people in that circumstance, feels an unusual mist and darkness, accompanied with horror, coming upon him. This, with vast sublimity of thought, is compared to the season of the Sun's eclipse, at which time the earth becomes shadowed by the induction or bringing over of the Moon between it and the Sun. This being the allusion the reasoning stands thus. My nature could never be thus overshadowed, and falling, as it were, into dissolution for no cause. There must be an induction of something: there must be a real cause. My jealousy cannot be merely imaginary. Ideas, words only, could not shake me thus, and raise all this disorder. My jealousy therefore must be grounded on matter of fact. Shakespear uses this word in the same sense, Richard III. A dire induction am I witness to. Marflon seems to have read it thus in some copy, and to allude to it in these words of his Fame Plots ha' you laid? inductions dangerous!

Note return to page 366 [7] 7 &lblank; in those unproper beds.] Unproper, for common.

Note return to page 367 [8] 8 And his unbookish jealousy] Unbookish, for ignorant.

Note return to page 368 [9] 9 Do you triumph, roman? do you triumph?] Never was a more ridiculous blunder than the word Roman. Shakespear wrote, Do you triumph, rogue? &lblank; Which being obscurely written the editors mistook for Rome, and so made Roman of it.

Note return to page 369 [1] 1 Fitchew!] A polecat. Mr. Pope.

Note return to page 370 [2] 2 &lblank; whose solid virtue The shot of accident nor dart of chance Could neither graze nor pierce.] But 'tis no commendation to the most solid virtue to be free from the attacks of fortune: but that it is so impenetrable as to suffer no impression. Now to graze signifies, only to touch the superficies of any thing. That is the attack of fortune: And by that virtue is try'd, but not discredited. We ought certainly therefore to read, Can neither raze nor pierce. i. e. neither lightly touch upon, nor pierce into. The ignorant transcribers being acquainted with the Phrase of a bullet grazing, and shot being mention'd in the line before, they corrupted the true word. Besides, we do not say, graze a thing; but graze on it.

Note return to page 371 [3] 3 But not your words.] This line is added out of the first edition. Mr. Pope.

Note return to page 372 [4] 4 &lblank; Turn thy complexion there, &lblank; I here look grim as hell.] We should read thence. The meaning is, in such a case as last described, Patience will have no power or efficacy; therefore let her turn herself elsewhere. I am grim and inexorable as hell.

Note return to page 373 [5] 5 &lblank; Oh thou weed! Who art so lovely fair, and smell'st so sweet That the sense akes at thee.] The fairness of the flower does not contribute, with the sweetness of the smell, to the aking of the sense. The old Quarto reads, O thou blache weed, why, art so lovely fair? Thou smell'st so sweet, that the sense akes at thee. Which the editors not being able to set right, alter'd as above. Shakespear wrote, O thou bale weed, why art so lovely fair? Thou smell'st so sweet that the sense akes at thee. Bale, i. e. deadly poisonous. Why art thou so fair to allure the admirer to destruction.

Note return to page 374 for that read than.

Note return to page 375 [4] 4 &lblank; and he, she lov'd, prov'd mad, And did forsake her: &lblank;] We should read, &lblank; and he, she lov'd, forsook her, And she prov'd mad: &lblank;

Note return to page 376 [1] 1 Put out the light, and then—Put out the light? &lblank;] So it should be printed. The meaning is, I will put out the light, and then proceed to the execution of my purpose. But the expression of putting out the light, bringing to mind the effects of the extinction of the light of life, he breaks short, and questions himself about the effects of this metaphorical extinction, introduced by a repetition of his first words, as much as to say, But hold, let me first weigh the reflexions which this expression so naturally excites.

Note return to page 377 [2] 2 Should yawn at alteration.] Yawn, for gape.

Note return to page 378 [3] 3 Oh mistress! villany &c.] This speech and the following are not in the first Edition. Mr. Pope.

Note return to page 379 [4] 4 Thou hast not half that power to do me harm, As I have to be hurt: &lblank;] Power for will: For will signifying both ability and inclination, and power signifying ability, he uses power, for inclination. But the Oxford Editor, not understanding his author's phraseology any better when he had ended, than when he had begun with him, alters, As I have to be hurt, to, As I have to bear hurt: which yet does not mend the matter, had the poet here used power in the sense of ability.

Note return to page 380 [5] 5 Are there no stones in heav'n, But what serve for the thunder? &lblank;] What occasion for other, when those would serve his purpose? For he wanted a thunderbolt for Iago. Without question, Shakespear wrote, and pointed the lines thus, Are there no stones in heav'n? For what then serves the thunder? &lblank; i. e. are there no bolts in heaven for this villain? for what purpose then serves the thunder, that instrument of its vengeance?

Note return to page 381 [6] 6 &lblank; the Ebro's temper;] In the first edition it is, Isebroke's temper. Thence corrupted, to Ice brook's.—Ebro's temper; the waters of that river of Spain, are particularly famous for tempering of steel. The finest arms in the world are the Catalonian Fusees. Mr. Pope.

Note return to page 382 [7] 7 Like the base indian threw a pearl away] The elder Quarto reads judian, and this is certainly right. And by the Judian is meant Herod, whose usage to Mariamne is so apposite to the speaker's case that a more proper instance could not be thought of. Besides, he was the subject of Tragedy at that time, as appears from the words in Hamlet, where an ill player is described, &lblank; to out-herod Herod. The metaphorical term of a pearl, for a fine woman, is so common as scarce to need examples. In Troilus and Cressida, a lover says of his mistress, There she lies a pearl. &lblank; And again, Why she is a pearl whose price &c.

Note return to page 383 [8] 8 &lblank; To you, lord Governor, Remains the censure of this hellish villain:] Rymer who had neither vigour of imagination to make a poet, or strength of judgment to make a critic, as appears from his Edgar and his Remarks on Shakespear, had yet just enough of both to play the buffoon and caviller. His criticisms on the Poets of the last age, with only a mixture of trite remarks, transcribed from the French commentators on Aristotle, are one continued heap of ignorance and insolence. Almost the only remark on Shakespear, which, I think deserves an answer, is upon Iago's character, which he thus censures. To entertain the audience (says he) with something new and surprising, against common sense and nature, he would pass upon us a close, dissembling, false, ungrateful Rascal instead of an open-hearted, frank, plain dealing soldier, a character constantly worn by them for some thousands of years in the world. This hath the appearance of sense, being founded on that rule of Nature and Aristotle, that each character should have manners convenient to the age, sex, and condition. Ætatis cujusque notandi sunt tibi mores, &c. says Horace. But how has our critic applied it? According to this rule it is confessed, that a soldier should be brave, generous, and a man of honour. This is to be his dramatic character. But either one or more of any order may be brought in. If only one, then the character of the order takes its denomination from the manners of that one. Had therefore the only soldier in this play been Iago, the rule had been transgressed, and Rymer's censure well founded. For then this eternal villain must have given the character of the soldiery; which had been unjust and unnatural. But if a number of the same order be represented, then the character of the order is taken from the manners of the majority; and this, according to nature and common sense. Now in this play there are many of the order of the soldiery, and all, excepting Iago, represented as open, generous, and brave. From these, the soldier's character is to be taken; and not from Iago, who is brought as an exception to it, unless it be unnatural to suppose there could be an exception: or that a villain ever insinuated himself into that corps. And thus Shakespear stands clear of this impertinent criticism.

Note return to page 384 N. B. The Speeches in Julius Cæsar, Antony and Cleopatra, Macbeth, Hamlet, and Othello, are chiefly placed under the Titles of those Plays.

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