Or in th' incestuous pleasure of his bed; Then trip him, that his heels may kick at heav'n; The King rifes, and comes forward. [Exit. King. My words fly up, my thoughts remain below; Words, without thoughts, never to heaven go. [Exit. Pol. SCENE changes to the Queen's Apartment. H And that Enter Queen and Polonius. Ewill come ftraight; look, you lay home to him: Tell him, his pranks have been too broad to bear with; your Grace hath fcreen'd, and ftood between Much heat and him. I'll filence me e'en here; Pray you, be round with him. Ham. [within.] Mother, Mother, Mother. Queen. I'll warrant you, fear me not.. Withdraw, I hear him coming. [Polonius hides himself behind the Arras. Enter Hamlet. Ham. Now, mother, what's the matter? Ham. What's the matter now? that throwing my eye cafually over the fourth folio edition, printed in 1685, I found my correction there anticipated. I think myself obliged to repeat this confeffion, that I may not be accufed of pla giarifm, for an emendation which I had made before ever I faw a fingle page of that book.. Queen Queen. Have you forgot me? Ham. No, by the rood, not fo; You are the Queen, your husband's brother's wife, Where you may see the inmoft part of you. Queen. What wilt thou do? thou wilt not murder me? Help, ho. Po'. What ho, help. [Behind the Arras. [Hamlet kills Polonius. Ham. How now, a rat? dead for a ducat, dead. Pol. Oh, I am flain. Queen. Oh me, what hast thou done? Ham. Nay, I know not: is it the King? Queen. Oh, what a rash and bloody deed is this! Ham. A bloody deed; almoft as bad, good mother, As kill a King, and marry with his brother. Queen. As kill a King ? Ham. Ay, lady, 'twas my word. Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewel, [To Polonius. I took thee for thy betters; take thy fortune; If it be made of penetrable stuff: If damned custom have not braz'd it so, That it is proof and bulwark against sense. [tongue Queen. What have I done, that thou dar'ft wag thy In noise fo rude against me ? Ham. Such an act, That blurs the grace and blush of modesty ; A rhapfody of words. Heav'n's face doth glow; With triftful visage, as against the doom, Queen. Ay me! what act, That roars fo loud, and thunders in the index ? This was your husband, -Look you now, what follows; Blafting his wholesome brother. Have you eyes? (49) A station, like the berald Mercury.] The Poet employs this word in a fenfe different from what it is generally us'd to fignify: for it means here an attitude, a filent pofture, fixt demeanour of person, in oppofition to an active behaviour. So, our Poet, before, describing Octavia; Cleo. What majefty is in her gate? Remember, Mel: She creeps: Her motion and her ftation are as one. Anto. and Cleop. And I ought to obferve, (which feems no bad proof of our Author's learning and knowledge) that among the Latines, the word ftatio, in its first and natural fignification, imply'd ftantis actio: i. e. a pofture, or attitude. This Monf. FRESNOY, in his Art of Painting, has chose to express by pofitura: Quarendafque inter pofituras, luminis, umbræ, Atque futurorum jàm præfentire colorum Par crit barmoniam Which our DRYDEN has thus tranflated; " "Tis the business of a "painter, in his choice of attitudes, to foresee the effect and har << mony of the lights and fhadows, with the colours which are to "enter into the whole." And again, afterwards; Mutorumque filens Pofitura imitabitur actus, Which I think may be thus render'd; What the mate figure fhould in gefture fay. Could Could you on this fair mountain leave to feed, Nor fenfe to ecftacy was ne'er fo thrall'd, To serve in fuch a diff'rence. What devil was't, O fhame! where is thy blush? rebellious hell, To flaming youth let virtue be as wax, And melt in her own fire. Proclaim no fhame, (51) Queen. (50)-Senfe, fure, you bave, &c.] Mr. Pope has left out the quantity of about eight verfes here, which I have taken care to replace. They are not, indeed, to be found in the two elder folio's, but they carry the ftile, expreffion, and caft of thought, peculiar to our Author; and that they were not an interpolation from another hand needs no better proof, than that they are in all the oldest quarto's. The first motive of their being left out, I am perfwaded, was to fhorten Hamlet's fpeech, and confult the exfe of the actor: and the reason, why they find no place in the folio impreffions, is, that they were printed from the playboufe caftrated copies. But, furely, this can be no authority for a modern editor to confpire in. mutilating his author: fuch omiffions, rather, muft betray a want of diligence, in collating; or a want of justice, in the voluntary fifling. -Proclaim no fhame, (31) When the compulfive ardour gives the charge; And reafon pardons will.] This is, indeed, the reading of Some of the elder copies; and Mr. Pope has a strange fatality, whenever there is a various reading, of elpoufing the wrong one. The whole Queen. O Hamlet, speak no more. Ham. Nay, but to live In the rank fweat of an incestuous bed, Queen. Oh, fpeak no more; These words like daggers enter in mine ears. Ham. A murderer, and a villain! A flave, that is not twentieth part the tythe That from a fhelf the precious Diadem ftole Queen. No more. Enter Ghoft. Ham. A King of fhreds and patches Save me! and hover o'er me with your wings, [Starting up. You heav'nly guards! what would your gracious figure? Queen. Alas, he's mad Ham. Do you not come your tardy fon to chide, whole tenour of the context demands the word degraded by that judicious editor; And reafon panders will. This is the reflexion which Hamlet is making, "Let us not call it "shame, when heat of blood compells young people to indulge their "appetites; fince froft too can burn, and age, at that feafon when "judgment fhould predominate, yet feels the ftings of inclination, "and fuffers reafon to be the bawd to appetite." (52A Vice of Kings.] This does not mean, a very vicious king; as, on the other hand, in King Henry V. this Grace of Kings means, this gracious King, this honour to royalty. But here, I take it, a person, and not a quality, is to be understood. By a Vice, (as I have explain'd the word in feveral preceding notes) is meant that buffoon character, which us'd to play the fool in old plays; fo that Hamlet is here defign'd to call his uncle, a ridiculous ape of majesty; but the mimickry of a king. That, |