And in the porches of mine ears did pour
The leperous distilment; whose effect
Holds fuch an enmity with blood of man,
That, fwift as quick-filver, it courses through
The natural gates and alleys of the body;
And, with a fudden vigour, it doth poffet
And curd, like eager droppings into milk,
The thin and wholfome blood: fo did it mine
And a moft inftant tetter bark'd about,
Moft lazar-like, with vile and loathfome cruft,
All my fmooth body.

Thus was I, fleeping, by a brother's hand,

Of life, of crown, of queen, 2 at once difpatch'd: 3 Cut off even in the bloffoms of my fin,

6

4 Unhoufel'd, 5 difappointed, unaneal'd;

Νο

various effets of this root upon most of the members of a convent in Germany, who eat of it for fupper by mistake, mixed with fuccory;-heat in the throat, giddinefs, dimness of fight, and delirium. Cicut. Aquatic. c. 18.

So in Drayton. Barons Wars, p. 51.

GRAY.

"The pois'ning henbane, and the mandrake drad." In Heywood's Jew of Malta, 1633, the word is written in a different manner,

2

the blood of Hydra, Lerna's bane,.

The juice of Hebon, and Cocytus breath." STEEVENS. -ut once difpatch'd:] Dispatch'd, for bereft. WARE. 3 Cut off even in the blooms of my fin, &c.] The very words of this part of the fpeech are taken (as I have been informed by a gentleman of undoubted veracity) from an old Legend of Saints, where a man, who was accidentally drowned, is introduced as making the fame complaint. STEEVENS.

4 Unhorfeld,] Without the facrament being taken. POPE. Unanointed,] Without extreme unction. POPE. Unanel'd:] No knell rung. POPE.

In other editions,

Unbouzzled, unanointed, unaneal'd:

The ghost, having recounted the procefs of his murder, proceeds to exaggerate the inhumanity and unnaturalness of the fact, from the circumftances in which he was furprized. But thefe, I find, have been ftumbling blocks to our editors; and therefore I must amend and explain these three compound adjectives in their order. Instead of unhouzzel'd, we must reftore,

unhaufel'd,

No reckoning made, but fent to my account
With all my imperfections on my head:

Oh,

unhousel'd, i. e. without the facrament taken; from the old Saxon word for the facrament, houfel. In the next place, unanointed is a fophiftication of the text: the old copies concur in reading, difappointed. I correct,

Unhoufel'd, unappointed,

i. e. no confeffion of fins made, no reconciliation to heaven,
no appointment of penance by the church. Unaneal'd I agree
to be the poet's genuine word; but I must take the liberty to
difpute Mr. Pope's explication of it, viz. no knell rung. The
adjective formed from knell, must have been unknell'ď, or un-
knoll'd. There is no rule in orthography for finking the k in
the deflection of any verb or compound formed from knell, and
melting into a vowel. What fenfe does unaneal'd then bear?
SKINNER, in his Lexicon of old and obfolete English terms,
tells us, that aneal'd is unctus; from the Teutonic prepofition
an, and ole, i. e. oil: fo that unancal'd muft confequently fig-
nify, unanointed, not having the extreme unɛlion.
The poet's
reading and explication being afcertained, he very finely makes
his ghost complain of these four dreadful hardships; that he
had been difpatch'd out of life without receiving the hofte, or
facrament; without being reconcil'd to heaven and abjölʊ'd ;
without the benefit of extreme unction; or without fo much as
a confeffion made of his fins. The having no knell rung, I
think, is not a point of equal confequence to any of thefe;
efpecially, if we confider, that the Romish church admits the
efficacy of praying for the dead. THEOBALD.

This is a very dificult line. I think Theobald's objection to the fenfe of unaneal'd, for notified by the bell, must be owned to be very strong. I have not yet by my enquiry fatisfied myself. Hanmer's explication of unaneal'd by unprepar'd, because to anneal metals, is to prepare them in manufacture, is too general and vague; there is no refemblance between any funeral ceremony and the practice of annealing metals.

Difappointed is the fame as unappointed, and may be properly explained unprepared; a man well furnifhed with things neceffary for any enterprize, was faid to be well appointed. JOHNSON. Dr. Johnfon's explanation of the word difappointed may be countenanced by the advice which Isabella gives to her brother in Meafure for Meafure.

"Therefore your best appointment make with speed." The hope of gaining a worthlefs alliteration is all that can tempt an editor to prefer unappointed or unanointed to disappointed. MILTON

7 Oh, horrible! oh, horrible! most horrible!
If thou haft nature in thee, bear it not;
Let not the royal bed of Denmark be
8 A couch for luxury and damned incest.
But, howfoever thou purfu'ft this act,
Taint not thy mind, nor let thy foul contrive
Against thy mother aught; leave her to heaven,
And to those thorns that in her bofom lodge,
To prick and fting her. Fare thee well at once!
The glow-worm fhews the matin to be near,
And 'gins to pale his uneffectual fire 9.
Adieu, adieu, adieu! remember me.

[Exit.

Ham. Oh, all you hoft of heaven! oh earth! what

elfe?

And fhall I couple hell?-Oh fie! Hold, hold my heart,

MILTON has the following lines, confifting of three words each, in which it is conftantly preferved.

Unrefpited, unpitied, unrepriev'd. Par. Loft. B. 2.
-unmov'd,

Unfhaken, unfeduc'd, unterrified. B. 5.

Unhumbled, unrepentant, unreform'd. Par. Reg. B. 3. In the Textus Roffenfis we meet with two of thefe words"The monks offering themselves to perform all prieftly func"tions of houfeling and aveyling." Aveyling, I believe, is misprinted for aneyling. STEEVENS.

See Mort d'Arthur, p. iii. c. 175. "and aneled, and had all that a Chriftian man ought to have," "So when he was houfeled &c. T. T.

7 Oh, horrible! oh, horrible! most horrible!] It was ingenioufly hinted to me by a very learned lady, that this line feems to belong to Hamlet, in whofe mouth it is a proper and natural exclamation; and who, according to the practice of the stage, may be supposed to interrupt fo long a speech.

JOHNSON.

A couch for luxury-] i. e. for lewdness. So in K. Lear. To't luxury pell-mell for, &c. Again, in The Revenger's Tragedy, 1607, where the old duke, who is remarkable for his incontinence, is repeatedly called -a parch'd and juicelefs luxur. STEEVENS. 9-uneffectual fire.] i. e. fhining without heat. WARB. Uneffectual fire, I believe, rather means, fire that is no longer feen when the light of morning approaches. STEEVENS.

And

And you, my finews, grow not inftant old,
But bear me ftiffly up! Remember thee?
Ay, thou poor ghoft, while memory holds a feat
In this diftracted globe. Remember thee?
Yea, from the table of my memory

I'll wipe away all trivial fond records,
All faws of books, all forms, all preffures paft,
That youth and obfervation copied there;
And thy commandment all alone shall live
Within the book and volume of my brain,
Unmix'd with bafer matter: yes, by heaven..
O most pernicious woman!

Oh villain, villain, fmiling damned villain!
My tables-meet it is, I fet it down,

That one may fmile, and smile, and be a villain;
At leaft, I am fure, it may be fo in Denmark. [Writing.
So, uncle, there you are: now to my word;
It is; Adieu, adieu! remember me.

I have fworn it

Enter Horatio and Marcellus.

Hor. My lord, my lord

Mar. Lord Hamlet

Hor. Heaven fecure him!

Ham. So be it.

Mar. Illo, ho, ho, my lord!

Ham. Hillo, ho, ho, boy! 2 Come, bird, come.

Mar. How is't, my noble lord?

Hor. What news, my lord?

-now to my word;] Hamlet alludes to the watch word given every day in military fervice, which at this time he fays is, Adieu, Adieu, remember me.

a tragedy, 1607.

2

"Now to my watch-word.”.

So The Devil's Charter,

STERVENS.

Come, bird, come.] This is the call which falconers ufe to their hawk in the air when they would have him come down to them. HANMER.

This expreffion is used in Marfion's Dutch Courtefan, and by many others among the old dramatic writers. STEEVENS.

Ham.

Ham. Oh, wonderful!

Hor. Good, my lord, tell it.

Ham. No; you'll reveal it.

Hor. Not I, my lord, by heaven.

Mar. Nor I, my lord.

Ham. How fay you then; would heart of man once think it ?.

But you'll be fecret

Both. Ay, by heaven, my lord.

Ham. There's ne'er a villain, dwelling in all Denmark,

But he's an arrant knave.

Hor. 3 There needs no ghoft, my lord, come from the grave To tell us this.

Ham. Why right; you are i' the right: And fo without more circumstance at all,

I hold it fit, that we shake hands, and part:

You, as your business and defire fhall point you ;For every man has bufinefs and defire,

Such as it is;—and, for my own poor part,

I will go pray.

Hor. Thefe are but wild and whirling words, my lord.

Ham. I am forry they offend you, heartily;

'Faith, heartily.

Hor. There's no offence, my lord.

Ham. Yes, 4 by St. Patrick, but there is, Horatio, And much offence too. Touching this vifion here, It is an honeft ghoft, that let me tell you:

3 There needs no ghoft, &c.] This piece of humour is repeated by our author in Timon, &c. Act. 5. Sc. 2. STEEVENS.

4 by St. Patrick,-] How the poet comes to make Hamlet fwear by St. Patrick, I know not. However, at this time all the whole northern world had their learning from Ireland; to which place it had retired, and there flourished under the aufpices of this Saint. But it was, I fuppofe, only said at random; for he makes Hamlet a ftudent of Wittenberg.

WARBURTON.

For