laft 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 knavish speech fleeps in a foolish ear. Rof. My lord, you must tell us where the body is, and go with us to the king. Ham. The body is with the king7, but the king is not with the body. The king is a thing Guil. A thing, my lord? Ham. Of nothing: bring me to him. Hide fox, and all after 9. And lie, and kifs my hand unto my mistress, "As often as an ape dees for an apple." [Exit. SCENE I cannot approve of Dr. Farmer's reading. Had our poet meant to introduce both the ape and the apple, he would, I think, have written not like, but " as an ape an apple." The two inftances above quoted fhew that any emendation is unneceffary. The reading of the quarto is, however, defenfible. MALONE. 6 A knavish Speech fleeps in a foolish ear.] This, if I mistake not, is a proverbial fentence. MALONE. 7 The body is with the king,-] This anfwer I do not comprehend. Perhaps it should be, The body is not with the king, for the king is not with the body. JOHNSON. Perhaps it may mean this. The body is in the king's house, (i. e. the prefent king's,) yet the king (i. e. he who fhould have been king) is not with the body. Intimating that the ufurper is here, the true king in a better place. Or it may mean,-the guilt of the murder lies with the king, but the king is not where the body lies. The affected obfcurity of Hamlet muft excufe fo many attempts to procure fomething like a meaning. STEEVENS. 8 Of nothing -] So, in The Spanish Tragedy: "In troth, my lord, it is a thing of nothing." And, in one of Harvey's letters," a filly bug-beare, a forry puffe of winde, a thing of nothing." FARMER. So, in Decker's Match me in London, 1631: "At what dost thou laugh? "At a thing of nothing; at thee.” Again, in Ben Jonfon's Magnetic Lady: "A toy, a thing of nothing." STEEVENS. Mr. Steevens has given here many parallelifms; but the origin of all is to be look'd for, I believe, in the 144th Pfalm, ver. 5:“ Man is like a thing King. I have fent to feek him, and to find the body. Who like not in their judgment, but their eyes; Enter ROSENCRANTZ. Or not at all.-How now? what hath befallen ? King. But where is he? Ref. Without, my lord; guarded, to know your plea fure. King. Bring him before us. Rof. Ho, Guildenstern! bring in my lord. Enter HAMLET, and GUILDERSTERN, King. Now, Hamlet, where's Polonius? King. At fupper? Where? Ham. Not where he eats, but where he is eaten a a thing of nought." The book of Common Prayer, and the translation of the bible into English, furnished our old writers with many forms of expreffion, fome of which are ftill in ufe. WHALLEY. 9 Hide fox, &c.] There is a play among children called, Hide fox, and all after. HANMER. our un The fame fport is alluded to in Decker's Satiromaftix: ". handfome-faced poet does play at bo-peep with your grace, and cries -All bid, as boys do." This paffage is not in the quarto. STEEVENS, certain certain convocation of politick worms are e'en at him. Your worm is your only emperor for diet: we fat all magcreatures elfe, to fat us; and we fat ourselves for gots: 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 fish with the worm that hath eat of a king; and eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm. King. What dost 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 heaven; fend thither to fee: if your mesfenger find him not there, feck him i' the other place yourself. But, indeed, if you find him not within this month, you fhall nofe him as you go up the flairs into the lobby. [to fome Attendants. For that which thou hast done,-muft fend thee hence The affociates tend, and every thing is bent For England. Ham. For England? King. So is it, if thou knew'ft our purposes. Ham. I fee a cherub, that fees them.-But, come; for England!-Farewel, dear mother. King. Thy loving father, Hamlet. Ham. My mother: Father and mother is man and wife; Alas, alas!] This speech, and the following, are omitted in the folio. STEEVENS. 2 Witb firy quickness:] Thefe words are not in the quartos. 3 STEEVENS. the wind at help,] I fuppofe it should be read, man man and wife is one flesh; and fo, my mother. Come, for England. [Exit. King. Follow him at foot; tempt him with speed aboard; Delay it not, I'll have him hence to night: Away; for every thing is feal'd and done That else leans on the affair: Pray you, make hafte. [Exeunt Rof. and Guil, And, England, if my love thou hold't at aught, (As my great power thereof may give thee fenfe; Since yet thy cicatrice looks raw and red After the Danith fword, and thy free awe Pays homage to us,) thou may't not coldly fet Our fovereign procefs; which imports at full, By letters conjuring to that effects, thou may'ft not coldly fet The Our fovereign procefs;] Mr. Steevens fays, he adheres to this reading, which is found both in the folio and quarto, because to set is an expreffion used at the gaming-table. To fer a fum of money at hazard, is to take it, or to offer it as a wager; but I do not fee how that throws any light on the prefent paflage. To Jet at nought is a phrase yet in ufe, and occurs in one of our poet's plays: "To have a fon fet your decrees at nought." To fet the king's procefs coldly, may therefore perhaps mean, to value or rate it low; to fet it at nought. MALONE.. 5 By letters conjuring-] Thus the folio. The quarto reads, "By letters congruing. STEEVENS. The reading of the folio may derive fome fupport from the following paffage in The Hyftory of Hamblet, bl. let. "making the king of England minifter of his maflacring refolution; to whom he purpofed to fend him, [Hamlet,] and by letters defire him to put him to death." So alfo, by a fubfequent line : "Ham. Wilt thou know the effect of what I wrote ? "Ham. An earnest conjuration from the king," &c. The circumftances mentioned as inducing the king to fend the prince to England, rather than elsewhere, are likewife found in The Hyftory of Hamblet. Effect was formerly used for at or deed, fimply, and is fo ufed in the line before us. So, in Leo's Hiftorie of Africa, tranflated by Pory, folio, 1600, p. 253: "Three daies after this effect, there came to us a Zuum, that is, a captaine," &c. See alfo fupra, p. 340, n. 9. The verb to conjure (in the fenfe of to fupplicate,) was formerly accented on the first fyllable. So, in Macbeth: "I conjure you, by that which you profefs, "Howe'er you come to know it, answer me:" VOL. IX. A a Again, 354 The present death of Hamlet. Do it, England; A Plain in Denmark. Enter FORTINBRAS, and Forces, marching. For. Go, captain, from me greet the Danish king; Tell him, that, by his licence, Fortinbras Craves the conveyance of a promis'd march Over his kingdom. You know the rendezvous. We fhall exprefs our duty in his eye, And let him know fo. Cap. I will do't, my lord. For. Go foftly on. [Exeunt FORTINBRAS and Forces. Enter HAMLET, ROSEN CRANTZ, GUILDENSTERN,&c. whofe powers are these? Ham. Good fir?, Again, in King John: "I conjure thee but flowly; run more fast." Again, in Romeo and Juliet: "I conjure thee, by Rofaline's bright eyes",-. Again, in Meafure for Measure: "Prince, I conjure thee, as thou believ'ft," &c. MALONE: - like the beƐlick, in my blood be rages,] So, in Love's Labour's Loft: "I would forget her, but a fever, the, "Reigns in my blood." MALONE. 7 Howe'er my baps, my joys will ne'er begin.] i. e. (as Dr. John son observes,) « till I know 'tis done, I fhall be miferable, whatever befall me." This is the reading of the quarto. The folio, for the fake of rhyme, reads: "Howe'er my haps, my joys were ne'er begun." But this, I think, the poet could not have written. The king is fpeaking of the future time. To fay, till I shall be informed that a certain act has been done, whatever may befall me, my joys never bad a beginning, is furely nonfenfe. MALONE. Craves] Thus the quartos. The folio-claims. STEEVENS. 9 Good fir, &c.] The remaining part of this fcene is omitted in the folios. STEEVENS. Ham. |