_Hamlet_, Act I. Sc. 5.
"My tables, my tables,--meet it is I set it down."
This line (which might have suggested to our worthy patron, Captain
Cuttle, the posy on our title-page) has, in my opinion, been misapplied
and misinterpreted; and, as I am unable to convince myself that the view
I take of it, albeit in opposition to all other readers of Shakspeare,
is wrong, I venture to remove my light from under the bushel, although
in so doing am sorely in dread of its being rudely puffed upon.
The more so, because the natural hesitation which must be felt, in any
case, when challenging for the first time the correctness of a generally
received reading, is, in this instance, greatly augmented, by finding
that an illustrious commenter upon Shakspeare--himself a great and
congenial poet--has conferred a special approbation upon the old
reading, by choosing it out as an item in his appreciation of Hamlet's
character.