Imatges de pàgina
PDF
EPUB

Worfe than the mutines in the bilboes. Rafhly,
And prais'd be rafhnefs for it-, Let us know,

Our

to doe it by the aid of a stranger, making the king of England minifter of his maffacreous resolution; to whom he purposed to send him, and by letters defire him to put him to death.

"Now, to beare him company, were affigned two of Fengon's faithful minifters, bearing letters ingraved in wood, that contained Hamlet's death, in fuch fort as he had advertised the king of England. But the fubtil Danish prince, (being at fea,) whilft his companions flept, having read the letters, and knowing his uncle's great treason, with the wicked and villainous mindes of the two courtiers that led him to the flaughter, raced out the letters that concerned his death, and instead thereof graved others, with commiffion to the king of England to hang his two companions; and not content to turn the death they had devised against him, upon their own neckes, wrote further, that king Fengon willed him to give his daughter to Hamblet in marriage." Hyft. of Hamblet, fignat. G 2.

From this narrative it appears that the faithful minifters of Fengon were not unacquainted with the import of the letters they bore. Shakfpeare, who has followed the ftory pretty closely, probably meant to defcribe their reprefentatives, Rofencrantz and Guildenstern, as equally guilty; as confederating with the king to deprive Hamlet of his life. So that his procuring their execution, though certainly not abfolutely necessary to his own fafety, does not appear to have been a wanton and unprovoked cruelty, as Mr. Steevens has fuppofed in his very ingenious obfervations on the general character and conduct of the prince throughout this piece.

In the conclufion of his drama the poet has entirely deviated from the fabulous hiftory, which in other places he has frequently followed. After Hamblet's arrival in England, (for no fea-fight is mentioned,) the king, (fays The Hyfiory of Hamblet) admiring the young prince, gave him his daughter in marriage, according to the counterfeit letters by him devised; and the next day caused the two fervants of Fengon to be executed, to fatisfy, as he thought, the king's defire.” Hyft. of Hamb. Ibid.

Hamlet, however, returned to Denmark, without marrying the king of England's daughter, who, it should feem, had only been betrothed to him. When he arrived in his native country, he made the courtiers drunk, and having burnt them to death, by setting fire to the banqueting-room wherein they fat, he went into Fengon's chamber, and killed him, "giving him (fays the relater) fuch a violent blowe upon the chine of the neck, that he cut his head clean from the fhoulders." Ibid. fignat. F 3.

He is afterwards faid to have been crowned king of Denmark.

MALONE.

8 - mutines in the bilboes.] To mutine was formerly used for to

mutiny.

Our indiscretion sometime serves us well,

When our deep plots do pall': and that should teach us,

[ocr errors][merged small]

mutiny. See p. 337, n. 6. So mutine, for mutiner, or mutineer: "un homme mutin,” Fr. a mutinous or feditious perfon. In The Misfortunés of Artbur, a tragedy, 1587, the adjective is ufed:

"Supprefleth mutin force, and practicke fraud." MALONE. The bilboes is a bar of iron with fetters annexed to it, by which mutinous or diforderly failors were anciently linked together. The word is derived from Bilboa, a place in Spain where inftruments of feel were fabricated in the utmost perfection. To understand Shakspeare's allufion completely, it should be known, that as thefe fetters connect the legs of the offenders very clofe together, their attempts to refift must be as fruitless as thofe of Hamlet, in whofe mind there was a kind of fighting, that would not let him fleep. Every motion of one must disturb his partner in confinement. The bilboes are ftill fhewn in the Tower of London, among the other spoils of the Spanish Armada. The following is the figure of .them. STEEVENS.

Rafbly,

And prais'd be rafbnefs for it,-Let us know,
Our indifcretion fometimes ferves us well,

When, &c.] Hamlet, delivering an account of his escape, begins with faying, That he rafbly-and then is carried into a reflection upon the weakness of human wisdom. I rafhly-praised be rashness for it, -Let us not think thefe events cafual, but let us know, that is, take notice and remember, that we fometimes fucceed by indifcretion, when we fail by deep plots, and infer the perpetual fuperintendance and agency of the Divinity. The obfervation is juft, and will be allowed by every human being who fhall reflect on the courfe of his own life. JOHNS. This paffage, I think, fhould be thus diftributed.

-Rafhly

(And prais'd be rashness, for it lets us know,
Our indifcretion fometimes ferves us well,

When our deep plots do fail; and that should teach us,

There's a divinity that fhapes our ends,

Rough-hew them how we will;—

Hor. That is most certain.)

Ham. Up from my cabin, &c. So that rafhly may be joined in conftruction with in the dark grop'd I to find out them. TYRWHITT.

When our deep plots de pall:1 Thus the first quarto, 1604. The editor VOL. IX.

Dd

of

There's a divinity that shapes our ends,
Rough-hew them how we will 2.
Hor. That is most certain.
Ham. Up from my cabin,

My fea-gown fearf'd about me, in the dark
Grop'd I to find out them: had my defire;
Finger'd their packet; and, in fine, withdrew
To mine own room again: making fo bold,
My fears forgetting manners, to unfeal
Their grand commiffion; where I found, Horatio,
A royal knavery; an exact command,-
Larded with many feveral forts of reafons*,
Importing Denmark's health, and England's too,
With, ho! fuch bugs and goblins in my life 3,-
That, on the fupervife, no leifure bated +,

No,

of the next quarto, for pall, fubftituted fall. The folio reads-when our dear plots do paule.

Mr. Pope and the fubfequent editors read-when our deep plots do fail: but pall and fail are by no means likely to have been confounded. I have therefore adhered to the old copies. In Antony and Cleppatra our poet has used the participle:

"I'll never follow thy pall'd fortunes more." MALONE.

2 There's a divinity that shapes our ends,

Rough hew them how we will.] Dr. Farmer informs me, that thefe words are merely technical. A wool-man, butcher, and dealer in fkervers, lately obferved to him, that his nephew (an idle lad) could only affift him in making them; "he could rough-bew them, but I was obliged to shape their ends." Whoever recollects the profeffion of Shakspeare's father, will admit that his fon might be no stranger to fuch a term. I have feen packages of wool pinn'd up with skewers. STEEV. * Larded with many feveral forts of reafons,] I am afraid here is a very poor conceit, founded on an equivoque between reafons and raifins, which in Shakspeare's time were undoubtedly pronounced alike. Sorts of raifins, fugars, &c. is the common phrafeology of fhops.-We have the fame quibble in another play. MALONE.

3 With, bo! fucb bugs and goblins in my life;] With fuch causes of terror, rifing from my character and defigns. JOHNSON.

A bug was no lefs a terrific being than a goblin. So, in Spenfer's Faery Queen, B. 2. c. 3:

As ghaftly bug does unto them affeare."
We call it at prefent a bugbear. STEEVENS.
See Vol. VI. p. 373, n. 4. MALONE.

4-no leifure bated,] Bated, for allowed. To abate, fignifies to dedu; this deduction, when applied to the perfon in whofe favour it is made is called an allowance. Hence he takes the liberty of ufing bated for allowed. WARBURTON.

N

No, not to ftay the grinding of the axe,

My head fhould be itruck off.

Hor. Is't poffible?

Ham. Here's the commiffion; read it at more leifure. But wilt thou hear now how I did proceed?

Hor. Ay, 'befcech you.

Ham. Being thus benetted round with villanies,

Or I could make a prologue to my brains,
They had begun the play;-I fat me down;
Devis'd a new commiffion; wrote it fair:
I once did hold it, as our ftatifts do",
A baseness to write fair, and labour'd much
How to forget that learning; but, fir, now
It did me yeoman's fervice: Wilt thou know
The 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 ;

No leifure bated-means, without any abatement or intermiffion of time. MALONE.

* Or 1 could make-] Or in old English fignified before. See Vol. IV. P. 540, n. 9. MALONE.

5 Being thus benetted round with villanies,

Or I could make a prologue to my brains,

They bad begun the play :-] 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 bis brains, they bad begun the play. Before he could fummon his faculties, and propofe to himself what should be done, a complete fcheme of action prefented itself to him. His mind operated before he had excited it. This appears to me to be the meaning. JOHNSON. 6-as our statifts do,] A ftatift is a ftatesman. So, in Ben Jonfon's Magnetic Lady:

Will fcrew you out a fecret from a ftatift." STEEVENS. Most of the great men of Shakspeare's times, whose autographs have been preserved, wrote very bad hands; their fecretaries very neat ones. BLACKSTONE.

7 —yeoman's fervice:] The meaning, I believe is, This yeomanly qualification was a most useful fervant, or yeoman, to me; i. e. did me eminent fervice. The ancient yeomen were famous for their military valour. These were the good archers in time past (fays Sir Tho. Smith), and the ftable troop of footmen that affraide all France." STEEV.

D d 2

As

As peace fhould ftill her wheaten garland wear,
And ftand a comma 'tween their amities;
And many fuch like ases of great charge9,-
That, on the view and knowing of these contents,
Without debatement further, more, or less,

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

Hor. How was this feal'd?

Ham. Why, even in that was heaven ordinant ;

8 As peace fhould fill her beaten garland wear,

And ftand a comma 'tween their amities;] The expreffion of our author 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. Shakspeare had it perhaps in his mind to write, That unlefs England complied with the mandate, war should put a period to their amity; he altered his mode of diction, and thought that, in an oppofite fenfe, he might put, that peace should ftand a comma between their amities. This is not an easy ftile; but is it not the ftile of Shakspeare? JOHNSON.

9ases of great charge,] Affes heavily loaded. A quibble is intended between as the conditional particle, and afs the beaft of burthen. That charg'd anciently fignified loaded, may be proved from the following paffage in The Widow's Tears, by Chapman, 1612:

"Thou must be the afs charg'd with crowns to make way."

JOHNSON, Shakspeare has fo many quibbles of his own to answer for, that there are those who think it hard he should be charged with others which he never thought of. STEEVENS.

Though the first and obvious meaning of these words certainly is, many fimilar adjurations, or monitory injunctions, of great weight and importance," yet Dr. Johnson's notion of a quibble being alfo in the poet's thoughts is fupported by two other paffages of Shakspeare, in which affes are introduced as ufually employed in the carriage of gold, a charge of no fmall weight:

"He fhall but bear them, as the afs bears gold,
"To groan and fweat under the bufinefs."

Again, in Measure for Measure:

-like an afs, whofe back with ingots bows, "Thou bear'ft thy heavy riches but a journey,

"And death unloads thee."

Julius Cæfar.

In further fupport of his obfervation, it should be remembered, that the letters in the particle as is in the midland counties ufually pronounced hard, as in the pronoun us. Dr. Johnson himself always pronounced the particle as hard, and fo I have no doubt did Shakfpeare. It is fo pronounced in Warwickshire at this day. The firft folio accordingly has affis. MALONE.

« AnteriorContinua »