Which is the mightier; in his lawless fit,
Behind the arras hearing fomething ftir,
He whips his rapier out, and cries, a rat!
And, in this brainifh apprehenfion, kills
The unfeen good old man.

King. O heavy deed!

It had been fo with us, had we been there :
His liberty is full of threats to all,

To you yourself, to us, to every one.
Alas! how fhall this bloody deed be answer'd?
It will be laid to us, whofe providence

Should have kept fhort, refrain'd, and out of haunt,
This mad young man.
But fo much was our love,
We would not understand what was moft fit;
But, like the owner of a foul disease,
To keep it from divulging, let it feed
Ev'n on the pith of life. Where is he gone?

Queen. To draw apart the body he hath kill'd,
C'er whom his very madnefs, like fome ore
Among a mineral of metals base,

Shews itfelf pure. Ee weeps for what is done.
King. Gertrude, come away:

The fun no fooner shall the mountains touch,
But we will ship him hence; and this vile deed
We muft, with all our Majefty and Skill,
Both countenance and excufe. Ho! Guldenftern!

Enter Rofincrantz and Guildenftern.

Friends both, go join you with fome further aid :
Hamlet in madness hath Polonius flain,
And from his mother's closet hath he drag'd him.
Go feek him out, fpeak fair, and bring the body
Into the chapel. Pray you, hafte in this.

[Exe. Rof. and Guil. Come, Gertrude, we'll call up our wifeft friends, (56)

And

(6) Gertrude, We'll call up our wife friend, And let them know bob what we mean to do,

And what's untimely done.

As vel as the cannon to his blank,

Whole whisper o'er the world's diameter,

Transports

And let them know both what we mean to do,
And what's untimely done. For, haply, Slander
(Whofe whisper o'er the world's diameter,
As level as the cannon to his blank,

Tranfports its poifon'd fhot;) may miss our Name,
And hit the woundlefs air.-O, come away;
My foul is full of discord and difmay.

Enter Hamlet.

Ham. Safely ftowed.

Gentlemen within. Ham'et! Lord Ham'et! Ham. What noife? who calls on Hamlet? Oh, here they come.

[Exeunt.

Transports its poifon'd fhot, may miss our name,
-0, come away ;]

And hit the woundless air.

Mr. Pope takes notice, that I replace fome verfes that were imperfell, (and, tho' of a modern date, jeem to be genuine) by inferring two words. But to fee, what an accurate and faithful collator be is! I produc'd these verses in my SHAKESPEARE Reftor'd, from a quarto edition of Ham'et printed in 1637, and happen'd to fay, that they had not the authority of any earlier date in print, that I knew of, than that quarto. Upon the ftrength of this Mr. I ofe comes and calls the lines modern, tho' they are in the quarto's of 1605 and 1611, which I had not then seen, but both of which Mr. Pope pretends to have collated. The verses carry the very framp of Shake peare upon them. The coin, indeed, has been clipt from our first receiving it; but it is not fo diminish'd, but that with a small affiftance we may hope to make it pass current. 'Tis plain, the fenfe, as well as one of the verses, is defective: and a fentence beginning with the relative WHOSE, without any preceding fubftantive to which it can refer, it is as plain that the latter part of the hemiftich fell out in the printing, or was fo blind in the manufcr pt as not to he guess'd at, and therefore neceffarily came to be omitted. We have not, indeed, so much as the footsteps, or traces, of a corrupted reading to lead to an emendation; nor any means of reforing what is loft, but conjecture. I am far from affirm.ng, therefore, that I have given the Poet's very words; but the fupplement is fuch as the fentiment naturally feems to demand. The Feet has the fame thought, concerning the diffufive pow'rs of flander in another of his plays,

No, 'tis Slander;

Whofe edge is fharper than the sword, whofe tongue
Out-venomes all the worms of Nile, whole breath

Rides on the pofting winds, and duth belie

All corners of the world.

14

Cymbeline,

bnor

Enter Rofincrantz, and Guildenstern.

R. What have you done, my Lord, with the dead bɔdy ?

Ham. Compounded it with duft, whereto 'tis kin.

Re. Tell us where 'tis, that we may take it thence, And bear it to the chapel.

Ham. Do not believe it.

R. Believe what?

Ham. That I can keep your counfel, and not mine own. Pefides, to be demanded of a fpunge, what reFlication fhould be made by the fon of a King?

Ref. Take you me for a fpunge, my Lord?

Ham. Ay, Sir, that fokes up the King's countenance, his rewards, his authorities; but fuch officers do the King beft fervice in the end; he keeps them, like an apple, in the corner of his jaw; firft mouth'd, to be lait fwallow'd: when he needs what you have glean'd, it is but fqueezing you, and, fpunge, you fhall be dry again.

Rof. I understand you not, my Lord.

Ham. I am glad of it; a knavifh fpeech fleeps in a foolish ear.

Rf. My Lord, you must tell us where the body is, and go with us to the King.

Him. The body is with the King, but the King is not with the body. The King is a thing

Gail. A thing, my Lord?

Ham. Of nothing: bring me to him; hide fox, and all after.

Enter King.

[Exeunt.

King. I've fent to feek him, and to find the body;
How dang'rous is it, that this man goes loofe!
Yet must not we put the frong law on him;
He's lov'd of the distracted multitude,

Who like not in their judgment, but their eyes:
And where 'tis fo, th' offender's fcourge is weigh'd,
But never the offence. To bear all smooth,

This fudden fending him away must seem

Deliberate

Deliberate paufe: diseases, defp'rate grown,

By defperate appliance are reliev'd,

Or not at all.

Enter Rofincrantz.

How now? what hath befall'n ?

Ref. Where the dead body is beftow'd, my Lord,

We cannot get from him.

King. But where is he?

[fure.

R. Without, my Lord, guarded to know your plea King. Bring him before us.

Rof. Ho, Gildenstern! bring in my Lord.

Enter Hamlet, and Guildenftern.

King. Now, Hamlet, where's Polonius ?
Ham. At fupper.

King. At fupper? where?

Ham. Not where he eats, but where he is eaten; a certain convocation of politique worms are e'en at him. Your worm is your only Emperor for diet. We fat all creatures elfe to fat us, and we fat ourselves for maggots. Your fat King and your lean beggar is but variable fervice, two dishes but to one table; that's the end. King. Alas, alas!

Ham. A man may fifh with the worm that hath eat of a King, eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm. Kong. What doth thou mean by this?

Ham. Nothing, but to fhew you how a King may go a progress through the guts of a beggar. King. Where is Polonius?

Ham. In heav'n, fend thither to fee. If your meffenger find him not there, feek him i'th' other place yourself. But, indeed, if you find him not within this month, you shall nofe him as you go up the stairs into the lobby.

King. Go feek him there.

Ham. He will stay till ye come.

King, Hamlet, this deed, for thine efpecial fafety,

Which we do tender, as we dearly grieve

For that which thou haft done) muft fend thee hence

With

With fiery quickness; therefore prepare thyself,
The bark is ready, and the wind at help,
Th' affociates tend, and every thing is bent
For England.

Ham. For England?
King. Ay, Hamlet.
Ham. Good.

King. So is it, if thou knew'ft our purposes. Bam. I fee a Cherub, that sees them; but come, for England! farewel, dear mother.

King. Thy loving father, Hamlet.

Ham. My mother: father and mother is man and wife; man and wife is one flesh, and, fo, my mother. Come, for Englant

[Exit. King. Follow him at foot; tempt him with speed Delay it not, I'll have him hence to-night.

Away, for every thing is feal'd and done

[aboard;

That elfe leans on th' affair; pray you, make haste.

[Exeunt Rof. ana Guild. And, England! if my love thou hold'st at aught, (57) As my great power thereof may give thee fenfe, Since yet thy cicatrice looks raw and red After the Danish fword, and thy free awe

Pays homage to us; thou may't not coldly fet

(57) And, England, if my love thou bold' at aught, As my great pow'r thereof may give thee fenfe, Since yet thy cicatrice looks raw and red

After the Danish fword, and by free awe

Cur

Pays homage to us;] This is the only paffage in the play, from which one might expect to trace the date of the action of it: but, I'm afraid, our Author, according to his ufual licence, plays faft and loofe with time. England is here fuppos'd to have been conquer'd by the Danes, and to be a homager to that ftate. The chronology of the Danish affairs is wholly uncertain, till we come to the reign of Ivarus about the year 870 And 'tis plain from Saxo Grammaticus, that the time, in which Amlethus liv'd, was fome generations earlier than the period of Chriflianity. And the letters, which the Danish King's metlengers carred over to England, were wooden tablets. Literas ligno infculptas (ràm id celebre quondam genus chartarum erat) fecum geftantes, quibus. Britannorum regi tranfmiffi fibi juvenis occifio mandabatur. Such a fort of mandate implies, that the English King was either link'd in the dearest amity to the Dane, or in funjection

to