To fleep! perchance to dream! (22) ay, there's the rub;

For in that fleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have fhuffled off this mortal coil,
Muft give us paufe;-there's the respect
That makes calamity of fo long life,

(23) For who would bear the whips and fcorns of time, Th'oppreffor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,

Still bend reluctant to thofe ills we have,
Thro' dread of others which we know not of,
And fearful of that undifcovered fhore.

And in particular,

That undiscovered country, from whose bourn
No traveller returns,

may be very well tranflated by this of the Latin poet.

Nunc it per iter tenebricofum,

Illuc, unde negant redire quenquam.

The

(22) Ay, &c.]

Catull. III. y. II. See p. 68.

That fear is bafe

Of death, when that death doth but life difplace

Out of her place of earth: you only dread

The ftroke, and not what follows when you're dead;
There is the fear indeed.

Thefe lines are from the 2d Act of Maffinger's Virgin Martyr, who plainly took the thought from Shakespear.

(23) For, &c.] The ills of human life are very finely and concifely enumerated in the 4th Scene of the ift act of the Two Noble Kinsmen and probably the lines are Shakespear's, which may render them the more agreeable to the reader.

Since I have known frights, fury, friends' behefts,
Loves' provocations, zeal, a mistress' task,

Defire of liberty, a fever, madness,

Sickness in will, or wrestling ftrength in reason :
It hath, &c.

See Mr. Seward's note on the paffage.

For a full explanation of, the infolence of office-fee Measure for Meafure.

The pangs of defpis'd love, the law's delay,
The infolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of th'unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear,
To groan and fweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of fomething after death,
(That undiscover'd country, from whose bourn
No traveller returns) puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have,
'Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus confcience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of refolution

Is fickly'd o'er with the pale caft of thought;
And enterprizes of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lofe the name of action.

Calumny.

(24) Be thou as chafte as ice, as pure as fnow, Thou shalt not escape calumny.

A noble Mind difordered.

O, what a noble mind is here o'erthrown!
The courtier's, foldier's, fcholar's eye, tongue, fword,
Th'expectancy and rofe of the fair ftate,

The glafs of fashion, and the mould of form,
Th' obferv'd of all obfervers, quite, quite down;
I am of ladies moft deject and wretched,

That fuck'd the honey (25) of his mufic vows;
Now fee that noble and moft fovereign reafon,

(24) See Measure for Mealure, and Cymbeline,

Like

(25) The honey.] Here is a striking inftance of Shakespear's impropriety in his ufe of metaphors; the word extafie is used in the fenfe of the Greek word whence it comes, which fignifies-any emotion of the mind, whether it happens, by madness, woader, fear or any other caufe.

Like fweet bells jangled out of tune, and harsh,
That unmatch'd form and ftature of blown youth,
Blasted with ecstasy.

SCENE III. Hamlet's Directions and Advice to the Players.

Speak the fpeech, I pray you, as I pronounc'd it to you, trippingly on the tongue; but if you mouth it, as many of our players do, I had as lieve the towncrier had fpoke my lines: and do not faw the air too much with your hand thus, but ufe afl gently; for in the very torrent, tempeft, and, as I may fay, whirlwind of your paffion you must acquire and beget a temperance that may give it fmoothnefs. O, it offends me to the foul, to hear a robustious perriwig-pated fellow tear a paffion to tatters, to very rags, to split the ears of the groundlings; who (for the most part) are capable of nothing but inexplicable dumb fhews and noife: I would have fuch a fellow whipp'd for o'er-doing Termagant; it out-herods Herod; pray you avoid it.

Play. I warrant your honour.

Ham. Be not too tame neither; but let your own difcretion be your tutor: fuit the action to the word, the word to the action, with this fpecial obfervance, that you o'erftep not the modefty of nature; for any thing fo o'erdone, is from the purpofe of playing whose end both at firft and now, was and is to hold as 'twere the mirror up to nature, to fhew virtue her feature, forn her own image, and the very age and body of the time his form and preffure. Now this overdone or come tardy off, though it make the unfkilfuf laugh, cannot but make the judicious grieve: the cenfure of one of which muft, in your allowance, o'er-weigh a whole theatre of others. O, there be players, that I have feen play, and heard others praife, and that highly, (not to speak it profanely), that neither having the accent of Chriftians, nor the gait of Chriftian, Pagan, nor man, have fo ftrutted and bellowed, that I have thought

thought fome of nature's journeyman had made men, and not made them well, they imitated humanity fo abominably.

Play. I hope we have reformed that indifferently with us.

Ham. O, reform it altogether, and let those that play your clowns fpeak no more than is fet down for them; for there be of them that will themselves laugh, to fet on fome quantity of barren fpectators to laugh too, though in the mean time fome neceffary question of the play be then to be confider'd; that's villainous, and fhews a moft pitiful ambition in the fool that uses it.

SCENE IV. On Flattery, and an even-minded Man.

Nay, do not think I flatter;

For what advancement may I hope from thee,
That no revenue haft, but thy good spirits
To feed and cloath thee? Why should the

'flatter'd ?

poor be

No, let the candied tongue fick abfurd pomp,
And crook the pregnant hinges of the knee,
Where thrift may follow fawning. Doft thou hear?
Since my dear foul was mistress of her choice,
And could of men diftinguish, her election
Hath feal'd thee for herself: for thou hast been
As one in fuffering all, that fuffers nothing;
A man that fortune's buffets and rewards

Haft ta'en with equal thanks: and blest are those
Whose blood and judgment are fo well commingled,
(26) That they are not a pipe for fortune's finger,

To

(26) That, &c.]Hamlet, speaking of himself to those who would have fearch'd into his fecrets, obferves, (Sc. 7.) Why, look you now, how unworthy a thing you make of me; you would play upon me, you would seem to know my stops; you would plusk out the heart of my mystery, you would found me from my low

eft

To found what stop the please. Give me the man
That is not paffion's flave, and I will wear him
In my heart's core,-ay, in my heart of heart,

As I do thee.

SCENE VII. Midnight.

(27) 'Tis now the very witching time of night, When church-yards yawn, and hell itself breathes out Contagion to the world! Now could I drink hot blood, And do fuch bitter business, as the day

Would quake to look on. Soft! now to my mother-
O, heart, lofe not thy nature! let not ever
The foul of Nero enter this firm bofom;

Let me be cruel, not unnatural :

I will speak daggers to her, but use none.

SCENE VIII. The King's defpairing Soliloquy, and
Hamlet's Reflections on him.

O, my offence is rank, it fmells to heaven;
(28) It hath the primal, eldeft curfe upon't,
A brother's murder! Pray, I cannot,,
Tho' inclination be as fharp as will;
My ftronger guilt defeats my ftrong intent;
And like a man to double business bound,

I ftand

eft note to the top of my compafs; and there is much mufic, excellent voice in this little organ, yet cannot you make it speak. 'Sdeath, do you think I am easier to be play'd on than a pipe? Call me what inftrument you will, tho' you can fret me, you cannot play upon me.

(27) See 2 Hen. VI. A& 4. Sc. 1.

(28) It bath, &c.] This paffage has greatly perplexed all the editors, and is indeed very difficult it is read,

That of a brother's murder.

Pray I cannot, &c.

A brother's murder. Pray, alas, I cannot,
Tho' inclination be as fharp as 'twill.

-Pray