Queen. I doubt, it is no other but the main, His father's death, and our o'er-hafty marriage. Re-enter Polonius, with Voltimand, and Cornelius. King. Well, we fhall fift him.-Welcome, my good friends! Say, Voltimand, what from our brother Norway? To give th' affay of arms against your majesty. That (27) Gives bim three thousand crowns in annual fee.] This reading first obtain'd in the edition put out by the players. But all the old quarto's (from 1605, downwards) read, as I have reform'd the text. I had hinted, that threescore thousand crowns feemed a much more fuitable donative from a King to his own nephew, and the general of an army, than fo poor a pittance as three thousand crowns, a penfion fcarce large enough for a dependent courtier. I therefore reftor'd. Gives bim threefcore thousand crowns To this Mr. Pope, (very archly critical, as he imagines) has only replied, which in his ear is a verse. own, it is; and I'll venture to prove to this great mafter in numbers, that two fyllables may, by pronunciation, be refolv'd and melted into one, as eafily as two notes are fur'd in mufick and a redundance of a fyllable, that may be fo funk, has never been a breach of harmony in any language. We muft pronounce, as if 'twere written; Gi's'm three fcore thou fand crowns | But has Mr. Pope, indeed, fo long been converfant with verfe, and never obferv'd the licence of the pes proceleufmaticus: or that an anapaft That it might please you to give quiet pafs King. It likes us well; And at our more confider'd time we'll read, Mean time, we thank you for your well-took labour. anapaft is equal in time and quantity to a pondée? A few instances from the Claffics will convince him, and perfons (if there are any fuch) of fuperior learning. Γαλακτοφάγων, αβίων, δικαιοτάτων ανθρώπων. Capitibus nutantes platanos, rectafque cupreffus. Fluviorum rex Eridanus Arietat in portas & duros objice poftes. Hom. II. v. v. 6. Ennius. Lucret. Idem. Idem. Horat. Virgil. Idem. Idem. Idem. Senec. Idem. Idem. Let us now take a fhort view, whether there are not other verfes in our Author which neither can be fcan'd nor pronounc'd, without melting down fome fyllables and extending others; and yet the verfes will ftand the test of all judicious ears, that are acquainted with the licences of verfification. On bolyrood day, the gallant Hotspur there. 1 Henry IV. And that the lord of Westmorland fhall maintain. 3 Hen. VI. Thy grand father Roger Mortimer earl of March. | the Fifth. I am the fon of Hen | -ry For Henry here is made a trifyllable. As fire drives out fire, fo pi | ty pity: Ibid. Ibid. Ful. Caf And I might amafs a thousand more inftances in proof. To conclude, without this liberty of liquidating fyllables, as we may call it, how would Mr. Pope, or any body elfe, fcan this verfe in Johnson's Volpone? But Pără fites or | fub-pā | rāfites, | And yet, &c. Go Go to your reft; at night we'll feat together. Moft welcome home! Po'. This bufinefs is well ended. [Exe. Ambaf. My Liege, and Madam, to expoftulate (28) Why day is day, night night, and time is time, Queen. More matter, with lefs art. Pol. Madam, I swear, I use no art at all :- Mad let us grant him then; and now remains (28) My Liege, and Madam, to expoftulate.] There feem to me in this fpeech moft remarkable frokes of humour. I never read it without aftonishment at the Author's admirable art of preferving the unity of character. It is fo juft a fatire on impertinent oratory, (especially, of that then in vogue) which was of the formal cut, and proceeded by definition, divifion, and fubdivifion, that I think, every body must be charm'd with it. Then as to the jingles, and play on words, let us but look into the fermons of Dr. Donne, (the wittiest man of that age) and we fhall find them full of this vein only, there they are to be admired, here to be laugh'd at. Then, with what art is Polonius made to pride himself in his wit: A foolish figure.-Eut, farewel it. Again, how finely is he fneering the formal oratory in fashion, when he makes this reflection on Hamlet's raving. Tho' this be madness, yet there's method in it. As if method in a difcourfe (which the wits of that age thought the moft effential part of good writing) would make amends for the madnefs of it. This in the mouth of Polonius is exceeding fatirical. Tho' it was madness, yet he could comfort himself with the reflection that at leaft it was method, Mr. Warburton. VOL. VIII G I have I have a daughter; have, while she is mine; [He opens a letter, and reads.] To the celestial, and my foul's idol, the most beatified (29) Ophelia.- -That's an ill phrase, a vile phrase: batified is a vile phrafe; but you fhall hear-Thefe to her excellent white bofom, theft. Qeen. Came this from Hamlet to her? Pol. Good Madam, stay a while, I will be faithful. (29) To the celeftial, and my foul's idol, the most beautified Ophelia.] I have ventur'd at an emendation here, against the authority of all the copies: but, I hope, upon examination it will appear probable and reasonable. The word beautified may carry two diftinct ideas, either as applied to a woman made up of artificial beauties, (which our Poet afterwards calls, The harlot's cheek beautied with plaftring art) or as applied to a perfon rich in native charms : As in the Two Gentlemen of Verona; And partly feeing you are beautified With goodly fhape. But a As Shakespeare has therefore chofe to use it in the latter accepta tion, to exprefs natural comeliness; I cannot imagine, that, here, he would have excepted to the phrase, and call'd it a vile one. ftronger objection still, in my mind, lies against it. As celeftial and foul's idol are the introductory characteristics of Ophelia, what a dreadful anticlimax is it to defcend to fuch an epithet as beautified? On the other hand, beatified, as I have conjectur'd, raises the image: but Polonius might very well, as a Roman catholick, call it a vile phrase, i. e. favouring of prophanation; fince the epithet is peculiarly made an adjunct to the Virgin Mary's honour, and therefore ought not to be emp'oy'd in the praife of a meer mortal. Again, tho' beatified, perhaps, is no where else apply'd to an earthly beauty, yet the fame rapturous ideas are employ'd in terms purely fynonymous. Two Gent, of Verona. No Valentine indeed for facred Sylvia. Call her divine. Ibid. Love's Lab. Left. My vows was earthly, thou a heav'nly love. That fings Heav'n's praise with fuch an earth'y tongue. Ibid. And Beaumont and Fletcher, I remember, in A Wife for a Month, make a lover fubfcribe his letter to his mistress, thus;To the left Evantbe. Doubt Doubt thou, the ftars are fire, Doubt, that the fun doth move; But never doubt, I love. [Reading. Oh, dear Ophelia, I am ill at thef: numbers; I bave not Thine evermore, moft dear Lady, whilst This in obedience hath my daughter fhewn me: As they fell out by time, by means, and place, King. But how hath the receiv'd his love? King. As of a man, faithful and honourable. Pol. I would fain prove fo. But what might you think? When I had seen this hot love on the wing, (As I perceiv'd it, I must tell you that, Before my daughter told me:) what might you, Or giv'n my heart a working, mute and dumb, What might you think? no, I went round to work, advice; Thence to a watching, thence into a weakness, And all we wail for. King. Do you think this? Queen. It may be very likely. ely 2 Pol |