The expression of our author is, like many of his phrases, sufficiently
constrained and affected, but it is not incapable of explanation. The
_comma_ is the note of _connection_ and continuity of sentences; the
_period_ is the note of _abruption_ and disjunction. Shakespeare had it
perhaps in his mind to write, That unless England complied with the
mandate, _war should put a_ period _to their amity_; he altered his mode
of diction, and thought that, in an opposite sense, he might put, that
_Peace should stand a_ comma between their amities_. This is not an easy
stile; but is it not the stile of Shakespeare?
V.ii.43 (327,6) as's of great charge] _Asses_ heavily _loaded_. A
quibble is intended between _as_ the conditional particle, and _ass_ the
beast of burthen. That _charg'd_ anciently signified _leaded_, may be
proved from the following passage in _The Widow's Tears_, by Chapman,
1612.
"Thou must be the _ass charg'd with crowns_ to make way." (see 1765,
VIII, 294, 2)
V.ii.53 (327,7) The changeling never known] A _changeling_ is a _child_
which the fairies are supposed to leave in the room of that which they
steal.
V.ii.68 (328,1) To quit him] To requite him; to pay him his due.
V.ii.84 (329,2) Dost know this water-fly] A _water-fly_, skips up and
down upon the surface of the water, without any apparent purpose or
reason, and is thence the proper emblem of a busy trifler.
V.ii.89 (329,3) It is a chough] A kind of jackdaw.
V.ii.112 (330,5) full of most excellent differences] Full of
_distinguishing_ excellencies.
V.ii.114 (330,6) the card or calendar of gentry] The general preceptor
of elegance; the _card_ by which a gentleman is to direct his course;
the _calendar_ by which he is to choose his time, that what he does may
be both excellent and seasonable.
V.ii.115 (330,7) for you shall find in him the continent of what part a
gentleman would see] _You shall find him containing_ and comprising
every _quality_ which a _gentleman_ would desire to _contemplate_ for
imitation. I know not but it should be read, _You shall find him the
continent_
V.ii.119 (330,9) and yet but raw neither in respect of his quick sail]
[W: but slow] I believe _raw_ to be the right word; it is a word of
great latitude; _raw_ signifies _unripe, immature_, thence _unformed,
imperfect, unskilful_. The best account of him would be _imperfect_, in
respect of his quick sail. The phrase _quick sail_ was, I suppose, a
proverbial term for _activity of mind_.
V.ii.122 (330,1) a soul of great article] This is obscure. I once
thought it might have been, _a soul of great altitude_; but, I suppose,
_a soul of great article_, means _a soul of_ large comprehension, of
many contents; the particulars of an inventory are called _articles_.
V.ii.122 (331,2) his infusion of such dearth and rareness] _Dearth_ is
_dearness_, value, price. And his internal qualities of such value and
rarity.
V.ii.131 (331,3) Is't not possible to understand in another tongue? you
will do't, Sir, really] Of this interrogatory remark the sense ie very
obscure. The question may mean, _Might not all this be understood in
plainer language_. But then, _you will do it, Sir, really_, seems to
have no use, for who could doubt but plain language would be
intelligible? I would therefore read, _Is't possible_ not to be
understood in a mother _tongue_. You will do it, Sir, really.
V.ii.140 (331,4) if you did, it would not much approve me] If you knew I
was not ignorant, your esteem would not nuch advance my reputation. To
_approve_, is to _recommend to approbation_.
V.ii.145 (331,5) I dare not confess that, lest I should compare with him
in excellence] I dare not pretend to know him, lest I should pretend to
an equality: no man can completely know another, but by knowing himself,
which is the utmost extent of human wisdom.
V.ii.149 (332,6) in his meed] In his excellence.
V.ii.156 (332,7) impon'd] Perhaps it should be, _depon'd_. So Hudibras,
"I would upon this cause _depone_,
"As much as any I have known."
But perhaps _imponed_ is pledged, _impawned_, so spelt to ridicule the
affectation of uttering English words with French pronunciation.
V.ii.165 (332,9) more germane.] More_a-kin_.
V.ii.172 (333,1) The king, Sir, hath laid, that in a dozen passes
between yourself and him, he shall not exceed you three hits; he hath
laid on twelve for nine] This wager I do not understand. In a dozen
passes one must exceed the other more or less than three hits. Nor can I
comprehend, how, in a dozen, there can be twelve to nine. The passage is
of no importance; it is sufficient that there was a wager. The quarto
has the passage as it stands. The folio, _He hath one twelve for mine_.
V.ii.193 (333,2) This lapwing runs away with the shell on his head] I
see no particular propriety in the image of the lapwing. Osrick did not
run till he had done his business. We may read, _This lapwing_ ran
_away_--That is, _this fellow was full of unimportant bustle from his
birth_.
V.ii.199 (334,4) a kind of yesty collection, which carries them through
and through the most fond and winnowed opinions] [W: most fann'd] This
is a very happy emendation; but I know not why the critic should suppose
that _fond_ was printed for _fann'd_ in consequence of any reason or
reflection. Such errors, to which there is no temptation but idleness,
and of which there was no cause but ignorance, are in every page of the
old editions. This passage in the quarto stands thus: "They have got out
of the habit of encounter, a kind of misty collection, which carries
them through and through the most profane and renowned opinions." If
this printer preserved any traces of the original, our author wrote,
"the most fane and renowned opinions," which is better than fann'd and
winnow'd.
The meaning is, "these men have got the cant of the day, a superficial
readiness of slight and cursory conversation, a kind of frothy
collection of fashionable prattle, which yet carried them through the
most select and approved judgment. This airy facility of talk sometimes
imposes upon wise men."
Who has not seen this observation verified?
V.ii.201 (335,6) and do but blow them to their trials, the bubbles are
out] These men of show, without solidity, are like bubbles raised from
soap and water, which dance, and glitter, and please the eye, but if you
extend them, by blowing hard, separate into a mist; so if you oblige
these specious talkers to extend their compass of conversation, they at
once discover the tenuity of their intellects.
V.ii.216 (335,7) gentle entertainment] Mild and temperate conversation.
V.ii.234 (336,1) Since no man knows aught of what he leaves, what is't
to leave betimes?] The reading of the quarto was right, but in some
other copy the harshness of the transposition was softened, and the
passage stood thus: _Since no man knows aught of what he leaves_. For
_knows_ was printed in the later copies _has_, by a slight blunder in
such typographers.
I do not think Dr. Warburton's interpretation of the passage the best
that it will admit. The meaning may be this, Since _no man knows aught
of_ the state of life which _he leaves_, since he cannot judge what
others years may produce, why should he be afraid of _leaving_ life
betimes? Why should he dread an early death, of which he cannot tell
whether it is an exclusion of happiness, or an interception of calamity.
I despise the superstition of augury and omens, which has no ground in
reason or piety; my comfort is, that I cannot fall but by the direction
of Providence.
Hanmer has, _Since no man_ owes _aught_, a conjecture not very
reprehensible. Since _no man can call any possession certain_, what is
it to leave?
V.ii.237 (337,2) Give me your pardon, Sir] I wish Hamlet had made some
other defence; it is unsuitable to the character of a good or a brave
man, to shelter himself in falsehood.
V.ii.272 (338,5) Your grace hath laid upon the weaker side] Thus Hanmer.
All the others read,
_Your grace hath laid the odds o' the weaker side._
When the odds were on the side of Laertes, who was to hit Hamlet twelve
times to nine, it was perhaps the author's slip.
V.ii.310 (340,7) you make a wanton of me] A _wanton_ was, a man feeble
and effeminate. In _Cymbeline_, Imogen says,
"I am not so citizen a _wanton_,
To die, ere I be sick."
V.ii.346 (342,8) That are but mutes or audience to this act] That are
either mere _auditors_ of this _catastrophe_, or at most only _mute
performers_, that fill the stage without any part in the action.
V.ii.375 (344,2) This quarry cries, on havock!] Hanmer reads,
--_cries_ out, _havock!_
To _cry on_, was to _exclaim against_. I suppose, when unfair sportsmen
destroyed more _quarry_ or _game_ than was reasonable, the censure was
to cry, _Havock_.
(346) General Observation. If the dramas of Shakespeare were to be
characterised, each by the particular excellence which distinguishes it
from the rest, we must allow to the tragedy of Hamlet the praise of
variety. The incidents are so numerous, that the argument of the play
would make a long tale. The scenes are interchangeably diversified with
merriment and solemnity; with merriment that includes judicious and
instructive observations, and solemnity, not strained by poetical
violence above the natural sentiments of man. New characters appear from
time to time in continual succession, exhibiting various forms of life
and particular modes of conversation. The pretended madness of Hamlet
causes much mirth, the mournful distraction of Ophelia fills the heart
with tenderness, and every personage produces the effect intended, from
the apparition that in the first act chills the blood with horror, to
the fop in the last, that exposes affectation to just contempt. The
conduct is perhaps not wholly secure against objections. The action is
indeed for the most part in continual progression, but there are some
scenes which neither forward nor retard it. Of the feigned madness of
Hamlet there appears no adequate cause, for he does nothing which he
might not have done with the reputation of sanity. He plays the madman
most, when he treats Ophelia with so much rudeness, which seems to be
useless and wanton cruelty.
Hamlet is, through the whole play, rather an instrument than an agent.
After he has, by the stratagem of the play, convicted the king, he makes
no attempt to punish him, and his death is at last effected by an
incident which Hamlet had no part in producing.
The catastrophe is not very happily produced; the exchange of weapons is
rather an expedient of necessity, than a stroke of art. A scheme might
easily have been formed to kill Hamlet with the dagger, and Laertes with
the bowl.
The poet is accused of having shewn little regard to poetical justice,
and may be charged with equal neglect of poetical probability. The
apparition left the regions of the dead to little purpose; the revenge
which he demands is not obtained, but by the death of him that was
required to take it; and the gratification which would arise from the
destruction of an usurper and a murderer, is abated by the untimely
death of Ophelia, the young, the beautiful, the harmless, and the pious.