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That on the fupervize, no leifure bated,
No, not to stay the grinding of the ax,
My head fhould be ftruck off.

Hor. Is't poffible?

Ham. Here's the Commiffion, read it at more lei fure;

But wilt thou hear now how I did proceed?
Hor. I beseech you.

Ham. Being thus benetted round with villains,
Ere I could make a prologue to my Brains,
They had begun the Play I fate me down,
Devis'd a new Commiffion, wrote it fair :

no leisure bated,] Bated, for allowed. To abate fignifies to deduct; this deduction, when applied to the perfon in whofe favour it is made, is called an allowance. Hence he takes the liberty of using bated for allowed. WARBURTON. Being thus benetted round with Villains,

(Ere I could MAKE a prologue

to my BRAINS,

They bad begun the Play] The fecond line is nonfenfe. The whole fhould be read thus, Being thus benetted round with Villains,

Ere I could MARK THE prologue to my BANE, They had begun the Play. 1. e. they begun to act to my deftruction, before I knew there was a Play towards. Ere I could mark the Prologue. For it appears by what he fays of his foreboding, that it was that only, and not any apparent mark of villany, which fet him upon fingering their packet. Ere I could make the Pro

logue, is abfurd: 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 Plat. WARBURTON.

In my opinion no alteration is neceffary. Hamlet is telling how luckily every thing fell out; he groped out their commiffion in the dark without waking them; he found himself doomed to immediate deftruction. Something was to be done for his prefervation. An expedient occurred, not produced by the comparison of one method with another, or by a regular deduction of confequences, but before he could make a prologue to his Brains, they had begun the play. Before he could fummon his faculties, and propofe to himself what should be done, a complete scheme of action prefented itself to him. His mind operated before he had excited it. This appears to me to be the meaning.

I once did hold it, as our Statists do,

A baseness to write fair, and labour'd much
How to forget that Learning; but, Sir, now
It did me yeoman's fervice. Wilt thou know
Th' effect of what I wrote ?

Hor. Ay, good my Lord.

Ham. An earneft conjuration from the King, As England was his faithful tributary,

As love between them, like the palm, might flourish, • As Peace fhould ftill her wheaten garland wear, And ftand a Comma 'tween their amities;

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picamque teneto.

But the placing her as a Comma, or ftop, between the amities of two kingdoms, makes her rather ftand like a cypher. The poet without doubt wrote,

And fand a COMMERE 'tween our amities.

The term is taken from a trafficker in love, who brings people together, a procurefs. And this Idea is well appropriated to the fatirical turn which the fpeaker 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

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in his Novels, ufes the word Commere to fignify a fhe-friend. A tous fes gens, chacun une Commere. And Ben Johnson, in his Devil's an Afs, englishes the word by a middling Goffip.

Or what do you fay to a mid-
dling Goffip

To bring you together, WAR B.
Hanmer reads,

And ftand a cement

Iam again inclined to vindicate the old reading. That the word Commere is French, will not be denied; but when or where was it Englife?

The expreffion of our authour is, like many of his phrafes, fufficiently conftrained and affected, but it is not incapable of explanation. The Comma is the note of connection and continuity of fentences; the Period is the note of abruption and disjunction. Shakespeare had it perhaps in his mind to write, That unless England complied with the mandate,'war should put a period to their amity; he altered his mode of diction, and thought that, in an U 3 oppofite

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And many fuch like As's of great charge;
That on the view and knowing of these contents,
Without debatement further, more or lefs,

He fhould the bearers put to fudden death,
Not fhriving-time allow'd.

Hor. How was this feal'd?

Ham. Why, even in that was heaven ordinant ;/ I had my father's fignet in my purse,

Which was the model of that Danish feal:T
I folded the writ up in form of th' other, I
Subfcrib'd it, gave th' impreffion, plac'd it fafely,
3 The changeling never known; now, the next day
Was our fea-fight, and what to this was fequent I
Thou know't already.

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Hor. So, Guildenstern and Rofincrantz go to't. I
"Ham. Why, man, they did make love to this
employment."

They are not near my conscience; their defeat
Doth by their own infinuation grow.
'Tis dangerous when the bafer nature comes
Between the pafs, and fell incenfed points,
Of mighty oppofites.

Hor. Why, what a King is this!

Ham. Does it not, think'ft thou, ftand me now upon?

He that hath kill'd my King, and whor'd my mother, Popt in between th' election and my hopes, th Thrown out his angle for my proper life,

And with such cozenage; is't not perfect confcience,

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<< 5 To quit him with this arm? and is't not to be

damn'd,

"To let this canker of our nature come

"In further evil?

"Hor. It must be fhortly known to him from England,

"What is the iffue of the business there.

"Ham. It will be fhort.

"The Interim's mine; and a man's life's no more "Than to fay, one.

"But I am very forry, good Horatio,

"That to Laertes I forgot myfelf;

"For by the image of my cause I fee

"The portraiture of his; I'll court his favour; "But, fure, the bravery of his grief did put me "Into a tow'ring paffion. Hor. Peace, who comes here?

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Ofr. Your Lordship is right welcome back to Denmark.

Ham. I humbly thank you, Sir. • Doft know this water-fly?

Hor. No, my good Lord.

Ham. Thy ftate is the more gracious; for 'tis a vice to know him. He hath much land, and fertile. Let a beast be Lord of beafts, and his crib fhall ftand at

5 To quit him-] To requite him to pay him his due.

6 Doft know this waterfly?] Awaterfly kips up and down

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upon the furface of the water, without any apparent purpose or reafon, and is thence the proper emblem of a bufy trifler.

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the King's meffe. 7 It is a chough; but, as I fay, fpacious in the poffeffion of dirt.

Ofr. Sweet Lord, if your Lordship were at leifure, I should impart a thing to you from his Majefty. Ham. I will receive it with all diligence of fpirit. Your bonnet to his right ufe, 'tis for the head,

Ofr. I thank your Lordship, 'tis very hot.

Ham. No, believe me, 'tis very cold; the wind is northerly.

Ofr. It is indifferent cold, my Lord, indeed. Ham. But yet, methinks, it is very fultry, and hot for my complexion.

Ofr. Exceedingly, my Lord. It is very fultry, as 'twere, I cannot tell how.-My Lord, his Majefty bid me fignify to you, that he has laid a great wager on your head. Sir, this is the matter:

Ham. I befeech you, remember

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[Hamlet moves him to put on his hat. Ofr. Nay, in good faith. For mine eafe. In good faith.-Sir, here is newly come to Court Laertes; believe me, an abfolute Gentleman, full of most excellent Differences, of very foft fociety, and great fhew: indeed, to Speak feelingly of him, he the card or kalendar of gentry for you shall find in him the continent of what part a gentleman would fee.

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may be both excellent and feafonable.

' for you shall find in him the continent of what part a gentleman would fee. You shall find him containing and comprising every quality which a gentleman would defire to contemplate for imitation. I know not but it fhould be read, You fall fina him the continent.

Ham,

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